José Varandas

Biography

José Varandas is born in Lisbon (Portugal) and is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon, where he received his doctorate in 2005 with his dissertation "Bonus Rex" or "Rex Inutilis". The Peripheries and the Center. Networks of Power in the Reign of D. Sancho II (1223-1248). Has taught in the same Faculty, History and Classical Culture (Ancient Rome), Medieval History of Portugal, History of Medieval Culture, Medieval Rural History, Military History of Antiquity, History of Military Technology of Antiquity, Medieval Military History, Naval History, History of Political Ideas: Middle Ages and Medieval Art.
Has been director of the Interuniversity Master of Military History since 2013. He is also a researcher at the History Center of the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon, in the Military History Research Group.
Integrates, as a teacher, the Master's Degree in Maritime History from the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon and the Naval School and also the Ph.D. program in Maritime History of the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon and the Naval Academy. Is a member of the Portuguese Academy of History, the Navy Academy, the Portuguese Society of Medieval Studies, and the Military History Iberian Society.
Areas of scientific interest/research: Medieval History, Military History, Rural History, Naval History, History of Municipalism, and History of Institutions.
Is responsible for the Master's seminars: History of Municipalism; Warrior Societies of “Reconquista”; Weapons and Societies: Classical World; Maritime History (Ancient and Medieval), History of Military Technology, Military History: theory, methods and sources and Medieval Art Studies.
In terms of scientific research, my interests fall into three distinct areas. The first of these areas is Medieval History with a particular focus on the Medieval History of Portugal. It is to this subject that I dedicate most of my research time and it is also in this area that I produced several works as a researcher, having published the first text in 1992, in the Actas do Congreso Internacional Sobre San Bernardo e o Cister en Galicia e Portugal, vol. I, Ourense.
The second area of research concerns Military History, with particular focus on the study of the phenomenon of war in the Ancient and Medieval worlds. My interest in these two subjects was consolidated in 2005, when I created the 1st Cycle subject, Ancient Military History and, at the same time, shared, with Professor Doctor Pedro Gomes Barbosa, the subject of Medieval Military History, which I now teach. alone. On the one hand, I felt the need to diversify my research interests, pursuing an old passion. On the other hand, I wanted to contribute to the creation of a new field of training, study and research at my university, aimed at training future specialists in these areas.
The third area that I want to highlight is at the level of postgraduate training, with the Master's projects in Maritime History, and now the doctoral plan in this area, in partnership with the Naval Academy, and where I have been collaborating since the beginning, and which have produced sufficient critical mass and achieved sustained research and training processes. It has been sustained work with the Naval Academy since 2008, with more than two dozen dissertations defended and were teaching another optional subject that I teach at FLUL, History of the Navy, has been particularly relevant. I would like to mention that my work was recently mentioned and praised by the Portuguese Navy through the award of the 1st Class Military Medal of the Naval Cross, granted on 06/30/2021 by the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral António Maria Mendes Calado. The award was imposed on 01/05/2023, by Rear Admiral Valentim José Pires Antunes Rodrigues, Commander of the Naval Academy.