#210 - Rua alexandre Herculano Sky II

Alexandre Herculano de Carvalho e Araújo (March 28, 1810—September 13, 1877), Portuguese historian, was born in Lisbon of humble stock, his grandfather having been a foreman stonemason in the royal employ.

Writings

On entering parliament in 1840 he resigned the editorship to devote himself to history, but he still remained its most important contributor. Up to the age of twenty-five Herculano had been a poet, but he then abandoned poetry to Garrett, and after several essays in that direction he definitely introduced the historical novel into Portugal in 1844 by a book written in imitation of Walter Scott. Eurico treats of the fall of the Visigothic monarchy and the beginnings of resistance in the Asturias which gave birth to the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, while the Monge de Cister, published in 1848, describes the time of King John I, when the middle class and the municipalities first asserted their power and elected a king in opposition to the nobility.

From an artistic standpoint, these stories are rather laboured productions, besides being ultra-romantic in tone; but it must be remembered that they were written mainly with an educational object, and, moreover, they deserve high praise for their style. Herculano had greater book learning than Scott, but lacked descriptive talent and skill in dialogue. His touch is heavy, and these novels show no dramatic power, which accounts for his failure as a playwright, but their influence was as great as their followers were many, and they still find readers. [*]