The extensive work of Simão José da Luz Soriano (1802-1891) was another milestone in non-academic institutional historiography. A bachelor of medicine (UC, 1842), naval officer, deputy for Angola during the Regeneration and a man of many trades, he was the son of humble parents and studied at Casa Pia and UC on a scholarship. He interrupted his studies because of the civil war, enlisting in the Coimbra academics’ battalion and accompanying the exiles to Terceira Island (1829). Commissioned by the government (it was Sá da Bandeira, Minister of War, who commissioned the work in 1861), The History of the Civil War and the Establishment of Parliamentary Government in Portugal, comprising the diplomatic, military and political history of this kingdom from 1777 to 1834 (19 vols., 1866-1890) followed on from The History of the Siege of Porto (1846-1849). In the preface, he acknowledges that he is writing “on behalf of the government” (Volume I, p. XIII) and proposes to follow European advances in “research and progress” in “historical studies”, since “the history of any people, recounting their institutions, their customs, their system of government”, should contribute to the “enlightenment and civilisation of that people” (Id., p. VII). Based on a solid set of sources, which he transcribes and publishes in an appendix, Luz Soriano considers that the “maximum interest” of the History of Portugal should begin “at the latest during the reign of D. Pedro II” because only then did the kingdom “begin to progress again on the road to enlightenment and civilisation ” (Id., pp. VIII-IX). Considering the Pombaline measures to be of great importance (which he would address in another work), he decided to begin his narrative with the reign of Queen Maria I and end it at the beginning of the reign of Queen Maria II, when liberal institutions were consolidated. In particular, he divides the period into three eras: from Queen Maria I to the first French invasion (1777-1807); the period coinciding with the Peninsular War (1808-1814); and the third, from 1815 to 1834. The positivist narrative is mixed with personal opinions and judgements due to his participation in the events he describes. He is also the author of a History of the Reign of King José and the Administration of the Marquis of Pombal (1867) and the Life of the Marquis of Sá da Bandeira (1887).

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