Luís Serrão Pimentel, Manuel de Azevedo Fortes: a construção da engenharia militar portuguesa

The building of a professional identity is a complex and long process, largely based on the ability to build a corpus of knowledge only mastered by those who are part of that specific group. One may claim that it is almost an initiatory rite in which schools, textbooks and networks of personal contacts playa critical role in transmitting skills and knowledge, as well as a specific professional profile. This chapter focuses on two key figures in the process of building the Portuguese community of engineers and bridging it with their European counter parts during the 17th and the first half of the 18th century: Luís Serrão Pimentel and Manuel de Azevedo Fortes. Luís Serrão Pimentel authored the book Methodo Lusitânico (PortugueseMethod) the main reference for the 17th century Portuguese model of fortifi‑cation used not only in Portugal, but also through out the empire. Manuel de Azevedo Fortes was trained abroad and upon his return to Portugal turned into the leading figure in the building of the Portuguese community of engineers. His book O Engenheiro Português (Portuguese Engineer) shaped a new generation of military engineers in Portugal.The analysis of these two case studies shows, on the one hand, the importance of the circulation of military engineering treaties during the 17th and early18th centuries in Europe as cornerstones of a transnational professional identity and, on the other, how national agendas built their own trajectories for appropriating this common knowledge.