The period that saw what the more traditional/traditionalist historiography of the 20th century tended to label the “formation of Portugal ” or the “birth of nationality” has proven one of the most intensely researched periods in recent decades and has correspondingly seen the most significant renewal. This certainly still remains one of the periods that attracts the most interest, controversy and debate, even among non-academic audiences, precisely because it reflects the period during which questions surrounding identity construction and the definition of the kingdom’s boundaries – physically and mentally, as well as the interrelationships with the other social bodies and the other Iberian kingdoms – Christian and Islamic – were definitively set down.

Aimed at a broad public, but particularly catering for primary and secondary school teachers, the course aims to provide up-to-date and well-founded perspectives on each of the kings of this period, their governing action, their relationships with other social groups, their influence on the construction and ordering of the kingdom and its space and interactions with the other peninsular kingdoms (Christian and Muslim), so as to understand what led to the kingdom of Portugal gradually asserting itself in an often hostile environment, facing both internal and external problems and constant change. Complementing these biographical analyses, the course also provides a framework for understanding how all these actors emerged out of a common political, administrative, cultural and artistic context. No less important is the analysis of the construction of the memory of these kings, which played and still plays a central role in the collective imagination of Portuguese society.

Organisation: Institute of Medieval Studies (IEM – NOVA-FCSH); Monastery of Batalha / DGPC; Training Centre of the Cooperation and Learning Network (CFRCA) – Competence Centre “Between Sea and Mountain” (CCEMS)

Support: Extremadura Heritage Study Centre (CEPAE)

Organising Commission: Amélia Aguiar Andrade, Maria João Branco, João Luís Inglês Fontes, Joherem Ruivo, António Rodrigues