Revista de História was the journal of the Portuguese Society for Historical Studies (1911-1928). Published quarterly (single issue price 300 reis, annual subscription 1$200), it was later grouped into 16 volumes, each comprising four issues. Fidelino de Figueiredo (1888-1967), who was renowned for his extensive work in the field of history and literary criticism, was its director and main contributor. In fact, Fidelino was a central figure in both the creation and promotion of the SPEH and the RH. This was a personal project, an attempt at historiographical orientation with a certain ideological horizon.

The embryo of what would become RH can be found in one of Fidelino’s main early essays, O Espírito Histórico (The Historical Spirit, 1910). A programmatic text written a few days after the events of the Republican Revolution of 5 October, it reveals the author’s historiographical and ideological foundations, averse to historiographical (and political) positivism and to the ‘neophilia’ which, in his view, had found a banner in the republican revolution, far removed from Portuguese historical or traditional elements. According to his overall interpretation, it was a period of “general denationalisation” and decline of the Portuguese (and Spanish) people, with a “lack of historical vigour”. This essay also contains a clear allusion to the recent revolution, suggesting that the development of a “historical spirit” would bring a more serene view of the problems of the present, giving rise to a moderate stance towards major social and political changes. Thus, two important elements contributed to his clearly nationalist programme: a pedagogy of the nation centred on history and with a scientific basis (in his view, the driving force behind progress in other European countries), which could be achieved through the creation of an institution in : “It is therefore urgent that, in the reform of higher education, a centre for national studies be created or, at least, even if scattered, these are well represented. (...) It was also of the utmost urgency, as it was of the utmost opportunity and effectiveness, to found a history journal, where all the monographs and all the elements that contributed to this sacred task of nationalising the country could be collected” (O Espírito Histórico, 1st ed., 1910, p. 12).

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | (Pdf)