Joaquim José da Costa de Macedo, the perpetual secretary between 1833 and 1855, played a crucial role in revitalising international contacts and restoring the institution's prestige as the foremost academic centre, as well as in reconciling members who had been divided by ideological conflicts since 1820 (see his speeches from 1838, 1843, and 1854). Costa de Macedo, who cultivated scientific friendships with French scholars, was attentive to the methodological innovations emerging from Germany, France, and Britain in the field of history, but he was never able to introduce these innovations into his own historical discourse or that of the ACL; after all, he was more of a scholar than a historian. A round him, a mong the other full, free, and corresponding members of the class, there were other scholars, both laymen and clerics, men educated in an intellectual and historiographical Ancien R é gime, who could have played a more significant role in the development and innovation of Portuguese historical studies, had this been seen as a priority for the institution or the established intellectual community—especially within the ACL and the University of Coimbra. In other words, they could have sought to adapt to a new era or fostered the institutional pursuit and integration of young historiographical talent. Despite the prevailing idea during this period of seeking to reconcile the official culture of liberalism with Portuguese historical heritage, aligning it with the academic scholarly tradition and the enhancement of historical memory and the demands of public opinion, well beyond the academic sphere, the opacity and elitist nature of the Academia das Ciências de Lisboa (ACL) made it difficult for outsiders to access the institution. This is an interpretation that only the results of a prosopographical study could confirm or refute. However, the initial findings of a systematic analysis of several hundred members suggest the persistence of a majority of clerics, titled nobles, royal officials, professors from the University of Coimbra, and mostly Portuguese men, up until the statutory liberalisation of 1852 and the consequent broadening of the membership base. The number of full members was very limited (24 in total, and sometimes even fewer), and there were clear limitations on the hierarchical progression from corresponding to free and, finally, to full members. The division into sections and their concrete work would only emerge with the new blood that Alexandre Herculano brought into the institution from that date onwards.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | (Pdf)