County of Portugal | |||||||||||||||||
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| 868–1071 1096–1139 | |||||||||||||||||
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 Second County of Portugal | |||||||||||||||||
| Status | County within the Kingdoms ofAsturias,Galicia, andLeón | ||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Guimarães (868–1131) Coimbra (1131–1139) | ||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||||||||||
| Religion |
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| Demonym | Portuguese | ||||||||||||||||
| Government | Feudal monarchy | ||||||||||||||||
| Count of Portucale | |||||||||||||||||
• 868–873 | Vímara Peres(first of the first county, from the House of Vímara) | ||||||||||||||||
• 1050–1071 | Nuno II Mendes(last of the first county, from the House of Vímara; Annexation to theKingdom of Galicia) | ||||||||||||||||
• 1096–1112 | Henry(first of second county, from the house of Burgundy) | ||||||||||||||||
• 1112–1139 | Afonso Henriques(last of the second county) | ||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||
• Established | 868 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1139 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | Portugal Spain | ||||||||||||||||
TheCounty of Portugal (Galician-Portuguese:Comtato de Portugalle; referred to asPortugalia in contemporary documents)[1] refers to two successive medieval counties in the region aroundGuimarães andPorto, today corresponding to litoralnorthern Portugal, within which the identity of thePortuguese people formed. The first county existed from the mid-ninth to the mid-eleventh centuries as avassalage of theKingdom of Asturias and theKingdom of Galicia and also part of theKingdom of León, before being abolished as a result of rebellion. A larger entity under the same name was then reestablished in the late 11th century and subsequently elevated by its count in the mid-12th century into an independentKingdom of Portugal.
The history of the county of Portugal is traditionally dated from thereconquest ofPortus Cale (Porto) byVímara Peres in 868. He was named a count and given control of thefrontier region between theLimia andDouro rivers byAlfonso III of Asturias. South of the Douro, another border county would be formed decades later when what would become theCounty of Coimbra was conquered from the Moors byHermenegildo Guterres. This moved the frontier away from the southern bounds of the county of Portugal, but it was still subject to repeated campaigns from theCaliphate of Córdoba. The recapture of Coimbra byAlmanzor in 987 again placed the County of Portugal on the southern frontier of the Leonese state for most of the rest of the first county's existence. The regions to its south were only again conquered in the reign ofFerdinand I of León and Castile, withLamego falling in 1057,Viseu in 1058 and finallyCoimbra in 1064.
The leaders of the first county of Portugal reached the height of their power in the late 10th century, when CountGonzalo Menéndez may have used the titlemagnus dux portucalensium ("grand duke of Portugal") and his sonMenendo used the titledux magnus (grand duke). It could have been this Count Gonzalo who assassinatedSancho I of León after inviting the King to a banquet and offering him a poisoned apple.[2] Not all historians, however, believe that Gonzalo Menéndez was responsible for the king's death and some attribute the regicide to a contemporary count named Gonzalo Muñoz.[3]
In the late 960s Gonzalo's lands were ravaged byVikings, and in 968, he fell out with kingRamiro III over the latter's refusal to fight the raiders. His son Menendo had close relations with Ramiro's rival and successor,Bermudo II, being made the king'salférez and tutor of his son, the future kingAlfonso V. Following Alfonso's succession, Menendo would serve as regent for the boy king and married him to one of Menendo's daughters.
The county continued with varying degrees of autonomy within the Kingdom of León and, during brief periods of division, theKingdom of Galicia until 1071, when CountNuno Mendes, desiring greater autonomy for Portugal, was defeated and killed in theBattle of Pedroso by KingGarcía II of Galicia, who then proclaimed himself the King of Galicia and Portugal, the first time a royal title was used in reference to Portugal. The independent county was abolished, its territories remaining within the crown of Galicia, which was in turn subsumed within the larger kingdoms of García's brothers,Sancho II andAlfonso VI of León and Castile.
In 1093, Alfonso VI nominated his son-in-lawRaymond of Burgundy as count of Galicia, then including modern Portugal as far south as Coimbra, though Alfonso himself retained the title ofking over the same territory. However, concern for Raymond's growing power led Alfonso in 1096 to separate Portugal and Coimbra from Galicia and grant them to another son-in-law,Henry of Burgundy, wed to Alfonso VI's illegitimate daughterTheresa.[4][5] Henry choseGuimarães as the base for this newly formed county, theCondado Portucalense, known at the time asTerra Portucalense orProvíncia Portucalense,[6] which would last until Portugal achieved its independence, recognized by theKingdom of León in 1143. Its territory included much of the current Portuguese territory between theMinho River and theTagus River.[6]
Count Henry continued theReconquista in western Iberia and expanded his county's dominions. He was also involved in several intrigues inside the Leonese court together with his cousin Raymond and sister-in-lawUrraca of Castile, in which he supported Raymond's ascension in return for promises of autonomy or independence for Portugal. In 1111 the Muslims conqueredSantarém.[7] When Count Henry died in 1112, the population of the County of Portugal, including the powerful families, favored independence. Henry's widow,Theresa, took the reins on behalf of her young son, and allied herself with Galician nobility in order to challenge her sister queen Urraca's dominance and briefly used the title Queen.[8][9] However, she was defeated by Urraca in 1121 and forced to accept a position of feudal subservience to the Leonese state.[citation needed] Her own son,Afonso Henriques, took the reins of the government in 1128 after routing his mother's forces in theBattle of São Mamede, nearGuimarães. After this battle, he began to exhibit a seal with a cross and the word "Portugal", and he continued to win battles, supported by the nobles ofEntre-Douro-e-Minho.[10] Nevertheless:
Even then, between 1128 and 1139 he never used the title of king, but rather that ofprinceps orinfante, which means, in fact, that he could not resolve on his own account, the issue of his political category; that is, he had to admit that it depended on the consent of Alfonso VII who was, in fact, the legitimate heir of Alfonso VI. Also, he never used the title of "count" which would place him in a clear position of dependence vis-à-vis the king of León and Castile. (translation)[11]
It was his triumph in theBattle of Ourique in 1139, which led to his proclamation as King of Portugal by his troops.[10] Finally in 1143, his nominal overlordAlfonso VII of León and Castile recognized thede facto independence of Portugal in theTreaty of Zamora.[12]
