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Afonso I[a] (Portuguese pronunciation:[ɐˈfõsu]; 1106/1109/1111 – 1185), also calledAfonso Henriques, nicknamedthe Conqueror (Portuguese:O Conquistador) andthe Founder (Portuguese:O Fundador)[2][3] by thePortuguese, was the firstking of Portugal. He achieved the independence of theCounty of Portugal, establishing a new kingdom and doubling its area with theReconquista, an objective that he pursued until his death.
Afonso was the son ofTheresa of León andHenry of Burgundy, rulers of the County of Portugal. Henry died in 1112, leaving Theresa to rule alone. Unhappy with Theresa's romantic relationship withGalicianFernando Pérez de Traba and his political influence, the Portuguese nobility rallied around Afonso, who revolted and defeated his mother at theBattle of São Mamede in 1128 and became sole Count of Portugal soon afterwards. In 1139, Afonso renounced thesuzerainty of theKingdom of León and established the independentKingdom of Portugal.
Afonso actively campaigned against the Moors in the south. In 1139 he won a decisive victory at theBattle of Ourique, and in 1147 he seizedSantarém andLisbon from the Moors, with help from men on their way to theHoly Land for theSecond Crusade. He secured the independence of Portugal following avictory over León at Valdevez and received papal approval throughManifestis Probatum. Afonso died in 1185 and was succeeded by his son,Sancho I.
Afonso was the son ofTheresa, theillegitimate daughter of KingAlfonso VI of León, and her husband,Henry of Burgundy. He was the youngest of 4 children, with the oldest beingUrraca Henriques. According to theCrónica de Portugal de 1419 the future Portuguese king was born inGuimarães, which was at the time the most important political centre of his parents. This was accepted by most Portuguese scholars until 1990, when Torquato de Sousa Soares proposed Coimbra, the centre of the county of Coimbra and another political centre of Afonso's progenitors, as his birthplace, which caused outrage in Guimarães and a polemic between this historian andJosé Hermano Saraiva. Almeida Fernandes later proposedViseu as the birthplace of Afonso based on theChronica Gothorum, which states Afonso was born in 1109, a position followed by historianJosé Mattoso in his biography of the king,[4] regardless of this, it is widely accepted that Afonso was born in Guimarães. Abel Estefânio has suggested a different date and thesis, proposing 1106 as the birth date and the region ofTierra de Campos or evenSahagún as likely birthplaces based on the known itineraries of Henry and Theresa.[5][6] His place of baptism is also under suspicion: according to tradition the place is indicated as being in theChurch of São Miguel do Castelo, in Guimarães; however, there are doubts because of the date of the consecration of the Church, made in 1239. There are those who argue that the baptism actually took place in theCathedral of Braga where he was baptised byPrimateArchbishop SaintGerald of Braga,[7][8] which is politically sound for Count Henry to have the highest-ranking clergy baptise his heir.
Henry and Theresa reigned jointly as count and countess of Portugal until his death on 22 May 1112 during the siege ofAstorga,[9] after which Theresa ruled Portugal alone.[10] She would proclaim herself queen (a claim recognised byPope Paschal II in 1116) but was captured and forced to reaffirm hervassalage to her half-sister,Urraca of León.[10]
It is not known who was the tutor of Afonso. Later traditions, probably started withJoão Soares Coelho (a bastard descendant ofEgas Moniz through a female line) in the mid-13th century and ampliated by later chronicles such as theCrónica de Portugal de 1419, asserted he had been Egas Moniz de Ribadouro, possibly with the help of oral memories that associated the tutor to the house of Ribadouro. Yet, contemporary documents, namely from the chancery of Afonso in his early years as count of Portucale, indicate according to Mattoso that the most likely tutor of Afonso Henriques was Egas Moniz's oldest brother,Ermígio Moniz, who, besides being the senior brother within the family of Ribadouro, became the "dapifer" and "majordomus" of Afonso I from 1128 until his death in 1135, which indicates his closer proximity to the prince.[11][12]
In an effort to pursue a larger share in the Leonese inheritance, his mother Theresa joined forces withFernando Pérez de Trava, the most powerful count inGalicia.[10] The Portuguese nobility disliked the alliance between Galicia and Portugal and rallied around Afonso. TheArchbishop of Braga,Maurice Bourdin, was also concerned with the dominance of Galicia, apprehensive of the ecclesiastical pretensions of his new rival the GalicianArchbishop of Santiago de Compostela,Diego Gelmírez, who had claimed an alleged discovery of relics ofSaint James in his town, as a way to gain power and riches over the other cathedrals in the Iberian Peninsula. In order to stop her son Afonso from overthrowing her, Theresa exiled him when he was twelve in the year 1120. In 1122, Afonso turned fourteen, the adult age in the 12th century. In symmetry with hiscousin, Afonso made himself aknight on his own account in theCathedral of Zamora in 1125. After the military campaign of Alfonso VII against his mother in 1127, Afonso revolted against her and proceeded to take control of the county from its queen.
In 1128, nearGuimarães at theBattle of São Mamede, Afonso and his supporters overcame troops under both his mother and her lover, CountFernando Pérez de Traba ofGalicia. Afonso exiled his mother to Galicia, and took over rule of the County of Portucale.[10] Thus the possibility of re-incorporating Portucale into a Kingdom of Portugal and Galicia as before was eliminated and Afonso became sole ruler following demands for greater independence from the county's church and nobles. The battle was mostly ignored by the Leonesesuzerain, who was occupied at the time with a revolt in Castile. He was also, most likely, waiting for the reaction of the Galician families. After Theresa's death in 1131,Alfonso VII of León proceeded to demand vassalage from his cousin. On 6 April 1129, Afonso Henriques dictated thewrit in which he proclaimed himself Prince of Portugal or Prince of the Portuguese, an act informally allowed by Alfonso VII, as it was thought to be Afonso Henriques's right by blood, as one of two grandsons of theEmperor of Hispania.
Afonso then turned his arms against the persistent problem of the Moors in the south. His campaigns were successful and, on 25 July 1139, he obtained an overwhelming victory in theBattle of Ourique, and straight after was (possibly unanimously) proclaimed King of the Portuguese by his soldiers, establishing his equality in rank to the other realms of the Peninsula, although the first reference to his royal title dates from 1140. The first assembly of thePortuguese Cortes convened atLamego (wherein he would have been given the crown from the Archbishop of Braga, to confirm his independence) is a 17th-century embellishment of Portuguese history.[clarification needed]
Complete independence from Alfonso VII of León'ssuzerainty, however, could not be achieved by military means alone. The County of Portugal still had to be acknowledged diplomatically by the neighboring lands as a kingdom and, most importantly, by theCatholic Church and thepope. Afonso wedMafalda of Savoy, daughter of CountAmadeus III of Savoy, and sent ambassadors to Rome to negotiate with the pope. He succeeded in renouncing the suzerainty of his cousin, Alfonso VII of León, becoming instead a vassal of the papacy, as the kings of Sicily and Aragon had done before him.
King Afonso I at theSiege of Lisbon (oil on canvas by Joaquim Rodrigues Braga)
In Portugal he built several monasteries and convents and bestowed important privileges to religious orders. He is notably the builder ofAlcobaça Monastery, to which he called theCistercian Order of his uncleBernard of Clairvaux ofBurgundy. In 1143, he wrote toPope Innocent II to declare himself and the kingdom servants of the church, swearing to pursue driving the Moors out of the Iberian Peninsula. Bypassing any king of León, Afonso declared himself the directliege man of the papacy. Afonso continued to distinguish himself by his exploits against the Moors, from whom he wrestedSantarém (seeConquest of Santarém) andLisbon in 1147 (seeSiege of Lisbon).[13] He also conquered an important part of the land south of theTagus River, although this was lost again to the Moors in the following years.
Meanwhile, King Alfonso VII of León regarded the independent ruler of Portugal as nothing but a rebel. Conflict between the two was constant and bitter in the following years. Afonso became involved in a war, taking the side of the Aragonese king, an enemy of Castile. To ensure the alliance, his sonSancho was engaged toDulce of Aragon. Finally after winning theBattle of Valdevez, theTreaty of Zamora (1143) established peace between the cousins and the recognition by the Kingdom of León that Portugal was a fully independent kingdom.
In 1169 the now old King Afonso was possibly disabled in anengagement near Badajoz, by a fall from his horse and slamming against the castle gate, and made prisoner by the soldiers of KingFerdinand II of León, his son-in-law. He spent months at thehot springs of São Pedro do Sul, but never recovered and from this time onward the Portuguese king never rode a horse again. However, it is not certain if this was because of the disability: according to the later Portuguese chronistic tradition, this happened because Afonso would have to surrender himself again to Ferdinand or risk war between the two kingdoms if he ever rode a horse again. Portugal was obliged to surrender as his ransom almost all the conquests Afonso had made in Galicia (north of theMinho River) in the previous years.[13] This event became known in Portuguese history as the Disaster of Badajoz (o Desastre de Badajoz).
Afonso at theBattle of Ourique witnessing the Miracle of the Cross (dated 1793 by Domigos Sequeira)
In 1179 the privileges and favors given to theCatholic Church were compensated. With consistent effort by several parties, such as theprimatearchbishop of Braga,Paio Mendes, in the papal court, thepapal bullManifestis Probatum was promulgated accepting the new king as vassal to the pope exclusively. In itPope Alexander III also acknowledged Afonso as king and Portugal as an independent kingdom with the right to conquer lands from the Moors.
In 1184, the Almohad caliphAbu Yaqub Yusuf rallied a greatAlmohad force to retaliate against the Portuguese raids done since the end of a five-year truce in 1178 and besiegedSantarém, which was defended by Afonso's sonSancho. The Almohad siege failed when news arrived thearchbishop of Compostella had come to the defense of the city and Fernando II of León himself with his army. The Almohads ended the siege and their retreat turned into a rout due to panic in their camp, with the Almohad caliph being injured in the process (according to one version, because of acrossbow bolt) and dying on the way back toSeville. Afonso died shortly after on 6 December 1185. The Portuguese revere him as a hero, both on account of his personal character and as the founder of their nation.[13] There are mythical stories that it took ten men to carry his sword, and that Afonso wanted to engage other monarchs in personal combat, but no one would dare accept his challenge. It is also told, despite his honourable character, that he had a temper. Several chronicles give the example of a papal legate that brought a message fromPope Paschal II refusing to acknowledge Afonso's claim as king: either after committing or saying a small offense against him or after being simply read the letter, Afonso almost killed, in his rage, the papal representative, and it took several Portuguese nobles and soldiers to physically restrain the young would-be king.
In July 2006, the tomb of the king (which is located in theSanta Cruz Monastery inCoimbra) was to be opened for scientific purposes by researchers from theUniversity of Coimbra (Portugal) and theUniversity of Granada (Spain). The opening of the tomb provoked considerable concern among some sectors of Portuguese society and Portuguese State Agency for Architectural Patrimony (Instituto Português do Património Arquitectónico –IPPAR) halted the opening, requesting more protocols from the scientific team because of the importance of the king in the nation's heart and public thought.[14][15]
Henry (5 March 1147 – 1155[18][19]) named after his paternal grandfather,Henry, Count of Portugal, he died when he was only eight years old. Despite being just a child he represented his father at a council inToledo at the age of three;[20]
Urraca (1148–1211[20][21]), married KingFerdinand II of León and was the mother of KingAlfonso IX. The marriage was subsequently annulled in 1171 or 1172 and she retired inZamora, one of the villas that she had received as part of herarras, and later at the Monastery of Santa María inWamba, Valladolid where she was buried;[22]
Mafalda (1153[20][19] – after 1162). In January 1160, her father andRamón Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, negotiated the marriage of Mafalda to Alfonso, future KingAlfonso II of Aragon[18][25] who at that time was three or four years old. After the death of Ramón Berenguer IV in the summer of 1162, King Ferdinand II of León convinced his widow, QueenPetronilla, to cancel theinfante's wedding plans with Mafalda and for Alfonso to marry insteadSancha, daughter ofAlfonso VII of León and his second wife QueenRicheza of Poland.[26] Mafalda died in her childhood at an unrecorded date.
Sancho, the future KingSancho I of Portugal (11 November 1154[19] – 26 March 1211). He was baptised with the name of Martin for having been born on thesaint's feast day;[20]
Sancha (1157–14 February 1166/67), born ten days before the death of her mother, Sancha died before reaching the age of ten[19][28] on 14 February according to the death registry at the Monastery of Santa Cruz (Coimbra) where she was buried.[18]
Afonso (1140–1207). Born around 1140,[31] according to recent investigations, he is the same person as the one often called Fernando Afonso who was thealferes-mor of the king and later Grand Master of theKnights Hospitaller. His presence in the court is first recorded in 1159. In 1169 he succeeded as alferes-mor his half-brother, Pedro Pais da Maia, the legitimate son of his mother and Paio Soares da Maia.[32][33]
The extramarital offspring by Elvira Gálter were:
Urraca Afonso.[34] In 1185, her father gave herAvô, stipulating that this villa was to be inherited only by the children that she had with her husband Pedro Afonso de Ribadouro (also known as Pedro Afonso Viegas), grandson ofEgas Moniz,[35] which could indicate another previous or subsequent marriage. In 1187, she exchanged with her half-brother, King Sancho, this villa forAveiro. She died after 1216, the year she made a donation to the Monastery of Tarouca.[36]
Teresa Afonso. In some genealogies she appears as the daughter of Elvira Gálter,[37] and in others as the daughter of Chamoa Gómez. Her first marriage was with Sancho Nunes de Barbosa with whom she had a daughter, Urraca Sanches, who married Gonçalo Mendes de Sousa, the father of Mendo Gonçalves de Sousa known as "Sousão".[38] Her second husband was Fernando Martins Bravo, Lord ofBragança andChaves, with no issue from this marriage.[38]
^Or alsoAffonso (ArchaicPortuguese-Galician) orAlphonso (Portuguese-Galician) orAlphonsus (Latin version), sometimes rendered in English asAlphonzo orAlphonse, depending on the Spanish or French influence.
^Although theAnnales D. Alfonsi Portugallensium Regis, record that the wedding of Alfonso and Mafalda was celebrated in 1145, it was not until a year later, in May 1146, when they both appear in royal charters. Historian José Mattoso refers to another source,Noticia sobre a Conquista de Santarém (News on theConquest of Santarém), which states that the city was taken on 15 May 1147, less than a year after their marriage. Since at that time no wedding ceremony could be performed duringLent, Mattoso suggests that the marriage could have taken place in March or April 1146, possibly on Easter Sunday which fell on 31 March of that year.[16]
^Mattoso, José (1985).João Soares Coelho e a gesta de Egas Moniz. In Portugal Medieval: Novas Interpretações. Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional – Casa da Moeda. pp. 409–435.
^Mattoso, José (2007).D. Afonso Henriques. Lisboa: Temas e Debates. pp. 35–38.ISBN978-972-759-911-0.
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Calderón Medina, Inés (2008). "La nobleza portuguesa al servicio del rey de León 1157–1187. Pero Pais de Maia y Vasco Fernandes de Soverosa".Actas IV Simposio Internacional de Jóvenes Medievalistas, Lorca 2008(PDF) (in Spanish). Universidad de Murcia, Sociedad Española de Estudios Medievales, Ayuntamiento de Lorca, et al. pp. 39–50.ISBN978-84-8371-801-8.Archived(PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.
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Sotto Mayor Pizarro, José Augusto (1997).Linhagens Medievais Portuguesas: Genealogias e Estratégias (1279–1325) (in Portuguese). Vol. I. Oporto: Doctorate thesis, author's edition.hdl:10216/18023.
Torres Sevilla-Quiñones de León, Margarita Cecilia (1999).Linajes nobiliarios de León y Castilla: Siglos IX–XIII (in Spanish). Salamanca: Junta de Castilla y León, Consejería de educación y cultura.ISBN84-7846-781-5.
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