Princes of Portugal, their greatness and miseries

"Master Aquilino Ribeiro accepted the task of chronicling the lives of several Portuguese figures – princes, monarchs, or simply leaders – who left more than a fleeting mark on history (...) His criterion was that of a novelist: he was interested in everything that is uncommon. For history, after all, there's not only gold, but also orichalcum. Aquilino Ribeiro looked at these great Portuguese figures and painted them, as Velázquez did, with the colours of the rainbow. As they were. Or rather, as they appeared to him. While still the work of a historian, these profiles were written by a novelist."