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In effect, in 1894, the year of the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Infante D. Henrique, he wrote an article for the magazine Ocidente in which he countered the idea that Sagres was the spot where the town founded by the Infante on the Algarve coast had been. He also claimed that the existence of a school there where savants, cosmographers and mathematicians helped Prince Henry plan his voyages was a fantasy. In another study, still following the path of the “country of fables and romance”, Brito Rebelo considered D. Fuas Roupinho to be a legendary figure and his naval battles implausible, and he said there was not “the slightest trace in contemporary Arab or Christian writers of those desired heroic feats” (Livro […], 1903, p. XII).
Despite enjoying a strong historiographical position, Brito Rebelo continued to reveal his humility as a researcher and to point out possible errors in his interpretations, as we can see in the caveat to his book Livro de Marinharia de João de Lisboa or in the following passage: “The desire to re-establish the truth is what has guided us in our work; if we have been right in some things, our heart feels satisfied; if we have erred, may those who read us pardon us, but take into account that, following the motto of the great Infante – whose life and actions we strive to highlight, ridding it of the dreams that have even provided the opportunity to consider him evil – what moves us is only the – talent de bien faire” (“Villa do Infante”, 1894, p. 71).
This historian from the island of São Miguel established a huge number of contacts with other distinguished researchers in his area of interest as the correspondence exchanged with Ernesto do Canto reveals. In fact, the many years he spent researching in the Torre do Tombo and the knowledge he acquired about the documentation existing there meant that he was often solicited by historical researchers. His notes and hand-copied material were so famous that some of them were even acquired by the Portuguese National Library. All this research activity allowed him to forge contacts with foreign archives and led to an exchange of correspondence with various renowned foreign researchers, notably Henry Harrisse, Henri Vignaud and Konrad Haebler, with whom he discussed historiographical topics linked to the Portuguese voyages.
