The creation of this Portal is closely associated to the Fernão Lopes Translation Project, the objective of which was to produce the first complete English translation of three 15th-century Portuguese chronicles authored by Fernão Lopes: The Chronicle of King Pedro, The Chronicle of King Fernando and The Chronicle of King João I, parts 1 and 2. This objective was achieved in June of 2023 with the publication of The Chronicles of Fernão Lopes (Boydell & Brewer /Tamesis, 2023), in five volumes: four containing the chronicles, and the fifth with a general index and bibliography.
Originally, when the present free access website was created at the University of Georgia, it was intended as a sort of interactive set of footnotes illustrating the printed English edition of the chronicles above, as well as any other edition. To that purpose, all entries and references in the database always indicate the respective chronicle and chapter. One other no less important objective was to build a useful tool for medievalists in general, researchers, students, and anyone with an interest for the life and times of Western Europe roughly between the mid-fourteenth and the mid-fifteenth century. This was a period of great upheaval, with strained relations between several kingdoms, reflected in the Hundred Years War, which also reached Portugal as its main contenders, England and France, intervened in other conflicts raging in the Iberian Peninsula. Fernão Lopes's chronicles offer a wealth of information not only on diplomatic and military affairs, but also on a wide range of other matters: economy, administration, monetary system, inflation, health, the survival of the lowly people at times of war and famine, and many other aspects of daily life across the social spectrum.
One other objective since its inception, was to assist the team of translators working on the English edition of Fernão Lopes's chronicles; and by extension, to encourage other translators to undertake new projects of this nature. For that purpose, the Portal includes a glossary of terms in Portuguese and their respective English equivalent. There is also a database listing and cross-referencing the chronicles, respective chapters, personalities, and place names mentioned in each one of them; this includes interactive maps, genealogies, timelines, and other notes and links to further assist in integrating the chronicles in the context of the period from 1357 to 1411, as encompassed by Lopes's work.
As a project dedicated to such extensive texts, the process of developing this website is bound to last several years. Nevertheless, as the information contained in the database can already be of use to many medievalists, it has been decided to make it public before completion. So far, the Chronicle of King Pedro of Portugal has been fully indexed, as well as numerous references in the other chronicles, though not systematically as yet. We ask users to be patient with us, as work in the Portal progresses.
For technical reasons, the website could not remain at the University of Georgia. In December 2019, it migrated to the Instituto de Estudos Medievais (IEM), at Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas (FCSH), Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal. In doing so, with the collaboration of its professors, students and IT specialists, the website can now fulfill another important objective: to serve as a research and teaching tool integrated into the IEM's Digital Humanities initiative. Despite its location in a Portuguese institution, English remains the adopted language for the website in the hope of reaching and serving a wider international network of users.
Since the migration to its new home at the IEM in Lisbon, Fernão Lopes's own city and place of work, the Portal has enjoyed the benefit of being installed in the server of an outstanding research institution populated by medievalists. In the name of the original Fernão Lopes Project Team, I offer our gratitude to the colleagues who made this migration possible, namely: Professor Maria João Branco, IEM Director, and Dr Tiago Viúla de Faria, researcher and co-Curator of this Portal. Our gratitude goes also to Professors Maria de Lurdes Rosa and Catarina Tente, former IEM Directors, for their support and encouragement. The generous funding provided by the Direção-Geral do Livro, dos Arquivos e das Bibliotecas, Portugal, and the NEH, National Endowment for the Humanities, USA, must also be acknowledged, as these were the first institutions to believe in this Project. To FCT, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal, we owe the necessary sponsoring to continue the work that keeps the Portal alive.
With the encouragement of Professor Ivo Castro, Emeritus Professor at the School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon, one other objective is in the process of being fulfilled: open access to the full text of Lopes's chronicles through the digital edition offered by Iprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda.
Together, and with the assistance of the dedicated team of IT specialists at FCSH/NOVA, we are committed to guaranteeing the long-term survival and continued development of the Fernão Lopes Portal.
May this joint and multi-faceted enterprise be rewarded with the fulfillment of one more objective - to earn for Fernão Lopes and his work the recognition they deserve internationally!
Amélia P. Hutchinson
Curator of the Fernão Lopes Portal, IEM, FCSH, NOVA University
Former Director of the Fernão Lopes Translation Project
Lisbon, 08.05.2026
