The beginnings of the kingdom of Portugal. Argumentation and politics in the "Second Dialogue" of Pedro Mariz

Dialogos de Varia Historia by Pedro de Mariz is the first work in Portuguese dedicated to historiographical vulgarization. Written in dialogical mode, at the end of the 16th century, this publication had a significant editorial success, contributing thus to the wider dissemination of a set of political and cultural positions prevailing at the time. This article examines some of these vectors, based on part of Mariz' "Second Dialogue" which focuses on the beginnings of the Portuguese kingdom. It identifies as preponderant the themes of the valuation of Portugal in the context of the Iberian Union, and the superior value of these kingdom's mission in the framework of the manichaean vision of an Europe fractured in political and religious terms; the encomium of the kings of Portugal, especially the founder, Afonso Henriques, that can be articulated with the movements aiming at the canonization of this king, carried out by Santa Cruz of Coimbra and Alcobaca monasteries; and also, on a more personal level, the defence of the dignity and reputation of the "History connoisseur", which of course reflects on the author's own image.