Some Reflections on the Middle Ages

The appearance of a new História de Portugal (Esfera dos Livros, 2009) always arouses some expectations, and even curiosity, particularly amongst the community of historians, and above all when one can still consider the last two similar initiatives produced in this area to be quite recent affairs. I am talking, in this latter instance, about the two collective works, one edited by Joel Serrão and A. H. de Oliveira Marques, which is not yet completed,2 and the other by José Mattoso,3 for the histories written by individuals already date from some time ago.