摘要：Biographical studies have recently recovered their importance as a relevant historiographic tool for the study of the past. In fact, the role of the individual as a historical agent has acquired a renewed status as researchers and the public at large have accepted that the definition of structures and events, cycles of prices, deaths and births, production, political systems or social architectures are just one perspective for the understanding of history, even though they continue to be necessary for its full knowledge. Structuralism has helped to convey a perception of major historical phenomena, but it has not been able to explain many events or to emphasize the contribution made by so many individuals in bringing about great changes. In other words, it has been unable to highlight the importance of individual determination as an agent of History. The project known as the “Biographies of the Kings of Portugal”, published in 34 volumes by the Círculo de Leitores, with the collaboration of the Centro de Estudos dos Povos e Culturas de Expressão Portuguesa da Universidade Católica Portuguesa, has sought, first of all, to fill a major gap in our historiography, since many monarchs had never before been subjected to any form of academic biographical study.
