Chief Chronicler of the Kingdom (Portuguese: Cronista-Mor do Reino) was a courtly position in the Kingdom of Portugal, formally instituted in 1434 by King Edward I. The Chief Chronicler was the official authority on Portuguese historiography,[1] and the post was soon associated to the post of Keeper of the Royal Archives, already centralised in an autonomous way in the 1370s — a singularity in late medieval history in both its precocious creation and organisation.[2]
The first to occupy the position was Fernão Lopes, in 1434. The last occupant was writer and politician Almeida Garrett, who was sacked in 1841, after fiercely criticising António José de Ávila (who was then Minister of the Exchequer), and no one was appointed to replace him. The following year, Minister of the Kingdom Costa Cabral issued a decree extinguishing the position of Chief Chronicler and transferring its responsibilities to the Keeper of the Royal Archives.[3]
- ^ Blackmore, Josiah (2002). Manifest Perdition: Shipwreck Narrative and the Disruption of Empire. University of Minnesota Press. p. 47. ISBN 0-8166-3849-7.
- ^ Costa Gomes, Rita (2005). "Zurara and the Empire: Reconsidering Fifteenth-Century Portuguese Historiography". Storia della Storiografia. 47: 56–89. ISBN 9788816720473. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
- ^ Decree. 30 November 1842. Retrieved 2018-04-03.