Brazilian research in the field of humanities is emerging on the international scene as something of a new feature, particularly due the amount of papers published by Brazilian researchers in European and American journals. The unprecedented participation of so many South Americans in international projects is due to an investment made some decades ago to promote the training of researchers and centres that are beginning to give visible results in the international scientific community. This study therefore proposes to identify the way this has been achieved, and is divided into two parts: the first one will briefly present the main aspects of the institutional basis for postgraduate research in Brazil. In the second part we will present an overview of the effects of government policy for supporting historical research, providing a diagnosis of the major historiographical contributions of Brazilian researchers and centres dedicated to studying the medieval Iberian Peninsula, particularly institutional history and politics.