José Luís Cardoso is Research Professor at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Portugal.

Using a wide range of fascinating archival sources, José Luís Cardoso, in the History of the Bank of Lisbon, has opened up new vistas on the early development of central banking in Portugal showing the importance of the institutional and political contexts in the management of the public debt and monetary circulation.Antoin E. Murphy, Trinity College DublinFinancing the reconstruction of war-torn Europe after the end of the Napoleonic Wars required each surviving state to develop new modes of finance and governance. Professor Cardoso demonstrates that Portugal’s postwar government faced unique problems that delayed its "Liberal Revolution" until 1820 and then the creation of its Bank of Lisbon in 1821. Only then could Portugal begin the painful adjustment to the loss of Brazil as a colony and the continued dominance of the British economy.Larry D. Neal, University of Illinois

• 1. Introduction 2. Origins and antecedents of the banking system in Portugal 3. The Portuguese revolution of 1820: historical meanings 4. The political context of 1820 and the urgent need to create a bank 5. The foundation and activity of the Bank of Lisbon 6.Concluding remarks

José Luís Cardoso is Research Professor at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Portugal.

Using a wide range of fascinating archival sources, José Luís Cardoso, in the History of the Bank of Lisbon, has opened up new vistas on the early development of central banking in Portugal showing the importance of the institutional and political contexts in the management of the public debt and monetary circulation.Antoin E. Murphy, Trinity College DublinFinancing the reconstruction of war-torn Europe after the end of the Napoleonic Wars required each surviving state to develop new modes of finance and governance. Professor Cardoso demonstrates that Portugal’s postwar government faced unique problems that delayed its "Liberal Revolution" until 1820 and then the creation of its Bank of Lisbon in 1821. Only then could Portugal begin the painful adjustment to the loss of Brazil as a colony and the continued dominance of the British economy.Larry D. Neal, University of Illinois

• 1. Introduction 2. Origins and antecedents of the banking system in Portugal 3. The Portuguese revolution of 1820: historical meanings 4. The political context of 1820 and the urgent need to create a bank 5. The foundation and activity of the Bank of Lisbon 6.Concluding remarks