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THE TEAM
CONTACT
Damião António Peres graduated after completing the Higher Course of Letters at Lisbon University, then went on to follow a teaching career as a secondary school history teacher. He was given a place at the Liceu Passos Manuel in Lisbon, later moving to the Liceu Jaime Moniz in Funchal where he remained as a teacher and later as principal from 1912 to 1915; it was there that he began his career as a researcher and where he published his first book, Madeira sob os donatários (Madeira under the Donee Captains), in 1914. Another outcome of the time he spent in Madeira was an annotated edition of Gaspar Frutuoso’s Livro 2º das Saudades da Terra (2nd Book of Nostalgic Longings for my Homeland), Porto, 1925, as well as various studies on regional history.
In 1915 he moved to the Liceu Gil Vicente in Lisbon and in 1917 published a thought-provoking book of medieval political history about D. João I. He read in great detail the chronicles of Fernão Lopes and advanced innovative ideas about the 1383-1385 crisis and the solution that led to the enthronement of the Master of Aviz. In particular, he interpreted with a certain perspicacity the arguments put forward by João das Regras that led to the throne being declared vacant in order to proceed with the election of D. João I. He could understand how the most important nobles were organised around the Infante D. João (son of Inês de Castro); he saw clearly how the actions of Álvaro Pais and the role of the popular forces were the main dynamic behind the revolution; he recognized João Afonso as being the author of the proposal leading to the conquest of Ceuta. The second part deals with the ‘Internal Organisation’ of the Kingdom, with particular attention paid to the centralisation of power, “a single power before which everything had to bow” (p. 68). He even put forward the idea that there was a “plan to concentrate power”, which is perhaps somewhat excessive, with this centralisation becoming a well-established topic in Portuguese historiography. The third part deals with the ‘Economic Situation’: he focuses on trade and does not leave out Fernão Lopes’ famous page in which he refers to the four or five hundred cargo vessels that at times lay at anchor in the port of Lisbon (p. 92). He mentions the so-called “profound decadence” in agriculture which he says is “a sad state of affairs” (p. 99). D. Fernando wanted to provide an urgent remedy for this by passing a law, the Lei das Sesmarias, which was “radical in its procedures” and “was the violent cautery that the King believed ought to be applied as the remedy” (p. 101). This law would later be confirmed by D. João I along with other measures although it did not lead to the desired recovery. In addition, the author does not fail to mention the measures taken by the King to solve the difficulties caused by the shortage of manual labourers in the kingdom. In the fourth and final part, the ‘Intellectual Situation’, he pays a great deal of attention to the University. Although he highlights the popular forces and their decisive importance for the profound transformation that Portugal underwent, it must be recognised however that Damião Peres does not show any great sensibility for analysing social structures and movements, a characteristic of his work that is evident even in these first texts.
