Afonso I of Portugal

King of Portugal (r. 1139-1185)

• Born: c. 1108
• Birthplace: Guimarães, Portugal
• Died: December 6, 1185
• Place of death: Coimbra, Portugal

Through astute leadership in military victories over Muslims and Christian Iberian neighbors, Afonso created the independent monarchy of Portugal and became its first king.

Early Life

In 1087, many French knights were invited by Christians of the Iberian Peninsula to help in the fight against the Muslim Almoravids. These Moroccan warriors had invaded the divided Islamic areas of Spain, and through military victories were uniting the Muslims and threatening the Christian kingdoms. One of the French nobles was Henry of Burgundy, who ingratiated himself with the emperor of León, Alfonso VI, and married his illegitimate daughter, Princess Teresa. The county of Portugal was conferred on Henry by his father-in-law. He was charged with the defense of the western frontier from the Muslims. Henry established his court at Guimarães, in northern present-day Portugal. It was close to Braga, which had been restored as a bishopric in 1070. One of Henry's successes was helping to achieve papal recognition of Braga's elevation to a metropolitanate.

Sometime around 1108, Teresa gave birth to a son, Afonso. The prince was reared at the court, where he was surrounded by Portuguese barons who had been appointed by Henry to be his chief officers. Henry's policy was to reward native aristocrats with estates, thus winning their loyalty and identifying his rule with the Portuguese.

Henry died in 1112, leaving Afonso, not yet five years of age, as his heir. Teresa became the regent of Portugal and used the title of queen. It was argued that this term was appropriate, as she was the daughter of an emperor. Teresa's rule was characterized by complicated intrigues. She took a lover, Fernando Peres, a Galician noble, and they produced a daughter. Teresa and Peres attempted to expand the Portuguese domain to the north, cutting into Galicia. Alfonso VII of León, Teresa's half brother, invaded Portugal in 1127, and she was forced to surrender the territory she had acquired in southern Galicia.

Young Afonso was maturing in a society that was in constant preparation for warfare. Theoretically, the enemies were the Muslims to the south, but in actuality, fellow Christians to the north in Galicia and to the east in León and Castile were a constant threat to the physical integrity of the county.

The Portuguese barons blamed Teresa and her Galician paramour for a decline in their fortunes. They began to range themselves behind someone they considered one of them: Afonso. On July 24, 1128, on the field of São Mamede, near Guimarães, the army of Teresa and Fernando faced Afonso's barons. The young count was victorious, capturing his mother and her lover and expelling them. Afonso, Portuguese born and bred, became the ruler of the county.

Life's Work

Afonso was in his early twenties when he gained control of Portugal. No contemporary likeness of him exists, but the chronicles describe him as a man of gigantic stature with a flowing beard and enormous strength. It is also clear that he had a calculating and shrewd mind. From the beginning, he seems to have aspired to the creation of an independent Portuguese kingdom.

In the first decade of his reign (1128-1138), he was involved with various skirmishes with his Christian neighbors, and he was compelled to make token political submission to the authority of Castile. On the ecclesiastical front, Afonso was more successful in this earlier period. A resourceful and diplomatic Cluniac priest, John Peculiar, became his disciple and ally. Afonso had him installed in the episcopal office in Oporto and then saw him elevated to the archbishopric of Braga. After long and complicated intrigues, the bishop and the count achieved the jurisdictional independence of the Portuguese church from Santiago de Compostela and Toledo.

In the political arena, a new Muslim invasion of southern Iberia offered Afonso an opportunity to extend his authority southward. According to the royal chronicles, Afonso and his Portuguese army encountered the Almohad forces at a place known as Ourique. On the night before the battle, a vision of Jesus Christ inspired Afonso, so that on the next day, July 25, 1139, the Feast of Saint James, the outnumbered Portuguese were able to route the Islamic forces. The results of this encounter were impressive. Christian strongholds were established south of Coimbra, and the important Muslim city of Santarém was forced to pay tribute.

Afonso's success at Ourique may have convinced him to declare the fullness of his dominion in Portugal, which he considered to be the area north of the Tagus River. Documents of the time reveal that after 1139, instead of referring to himself as simply infans or princeps, as he had in the past, he adopted the title of Portugalensium rex; this was a virtual declaration of independence. By placing his kingdom under papal protection and pledging loyalty to the Holy See, he took another significant step to strengthen and secure his independence. Proclaiming himself a knight of Blessed Peter and of the Roman Empire, he promised to pay an annual tribute of four ounces of gold in return for papal protection. A formal document setting forth these terms was published on December 13, 1143. Earlier that year, Alfonso VII met Afonso at Zamora and, evidently accepting the fait accompli, recognized him as king of Portugal. In the spring of 1144, Pope Lucius II wrote to Afonso graciously accepting the proffered tribute and extending protection, but the letter was addressed simply to the Portugalensium dux. Not until 1179, when the independence of Portugal was firmly established, did Pope Alexander II address Afonso as king.

The mid-twelfth century was the era of the early Crusades, and Afonso actually used the Crusaders who often put into Portuguese ports on their way to Palestine. In 1140, with the help of a fleet staffed by many Englishmen, he forced Muslim Lisbon to pay him tribute. By 1147, he was ready to denounce his truce with the Moors, and in that year he captured Santarém on the Tagus.

In May of the same year, a fleet of 164 ships and almost 13,000 men, with contingents from Germany, Flanders, Normandy, and England, set sail from Dartmouth, England. They arrived at Oporto, where they were greeted by the bishop, who invited them to aid the king in an attack on Lisbon. The bishop declared that this was a just war, worthy of their talents: “Act like good soldiers, for the sin is not in fighting war, but in fighting for the sake of booty.” When the fleet reached Lisbon on June 28, Afonso outlined his proposals, and an alliance was concluded. He guaranteed to the Crusaders the plunder of Lisbon and the ransom of captives; those who wished to settle there would be given lands and would be assured the protection of their native customs and liberties. The king also exempted them and their descendants from the payment of tolls in any part of his realm. He promised to continue the siege until surrender unless he was forced to desist because of mortal illness or an attack on his kingdom from some other quarter.

The archbishop of Braga was sent to persuade the Muslims to surrender. He charged that they had “held our cities and lands already for 358 years,” and he urged them to “return to the homeland of the Moors.” When this drew a negative response, the siege commenced in earnest. Catapults and towers were constructed, and the city was blockaded on all sides. The defenders appealed in vain to their fellow Muslims for relief, but at least one of their messengers was captured by the Christians, who realized their enemies’ plight. When the Muslims became aware that their chances of victory were steadily lessening, they eventually asked for a truce to negotiate the terms of surrender. After a siege of seventeen weeks, the Christians made their triumphal entrance into Lisbon on October 24, 1147. Although the Muslims were permitted to leave freely, the city was sacked and many were killed. The conquest of Lisbon, which has been described by one Anglo-Norman priest, rivals the capture of Toledo (1085) and Saragossa (1118) in importance.

Afonso set to work to repopulate the newly conquered lands. Crusaders who were willing to settle received land grants near the Tagus. The Templars were given castles for the defense of the valley, and the Cistercians established monasteries to foster agricultural development. Throughout Afonso's long reign, raiding and counter-raiding persisted. He carried his frontiers beyond the Tagus Valley, annexing Beja in 1162 and Évora in 1165. Afonso's battling days came to an end when he was wounded in a skirmish with Christians at Badajoz. His leg was fractured, and he was no longer able to ride. Captured by his opponents, he was held for two months while his vassals raised ransom funds. As part of the agreement to gain his freedom, he renounced any claim to Galicia.

Afonso had renewed his connection with the House of Burgundy by marrying Mafalda, the daughter of a count of Savoy. He associated his son, Sancho I, with his power, knighting him at Coimbra in 1170. When Afonso died in 1185, his son inherited a stable and independent monarchy and his father's plans for driving the Moors out of the lands south of the Tagus.

Significance

It could be argued that were it not for Afonso I the Iberian Peninsula would be politically united today. Through his military, ecclesiastical, and political victories, he underscored the distinctiveness of the westernmost regions of Iberia. Through his successful negotiations with the Papacy and his military prowess, he achieved the recognition of Portugal as an independent kingdom, the fifth into which the Christian-dominated part of the peninsula was divided. The other kingdoms were Castile, León, Aragon, and Navarre.

In modern republican Portugal, 1139 is accepted as the birth date of the State of Portugal, and Afonso I is considered the father of his nation. Similar sentiments were expressed by contemporaries of Afonso. The Chronica Gothorum expressed the era's view:

He received the Kingdom and the Lord, through him, extended the frontiers of the Christians and expanded the bounds of the faithful people from the River Mondago, that flows by the walls of Coimbra, to the River Guadalquivir, that flows by the City of Seville, and from the Great Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

The Portuguese Monarchy, 1139-1640

Reign

• Ruler

1139-1185

• Afonso I

1185-1211

• Sancho I

1211-1223

• Afonso II

1223-1245

• Sancho II

1245-1279

• Afonso III

1279-1325

• Diniz (Denis)

1325-1357

• Afonso IV

1357-1367

• Peter I

1367-1383

• Ferdinand I

1385-1433

• John I of Avis

1420’s-1460

• Golden age of Portuguese exploration: Prince Henry “the Navigator” underwrites naval expeditions

1433-1438

• Edward I

1438-1481

• Afonso V

1481-1495

• John II

1495-1521

• Emanuel I

1521-1557

• John III

1557-1578

• Sebastian I

1578-1580

• Cardinal Henry

1580-1598

• Philip I of Portugal (Philip II of Spain)

1598-1621

• Philip II of Portugal (Philip III of Spain)

1621-1640

• Philip III of Portugal (Philip IV of Spain)

1640

• Revolt of Portugal

Bibliography

Dos Passos, John. The Portugal Story: Three Centuries of Exploration and Discovery. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1969. The author, a fluent and engaging stylist, focuses on the emergence of the Portuguese empire, summarizing Afonso’s achievements and recounting the siege of Lisbon.

Kennedy, Hugh. Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus. New York: Longman, 1996. Presents a history of the Muslims in Spain and Portugal, including the time of Afonso’s reign up to 1385. Also includes discussion of the Muslim Almoravids and the Almohad.

Livermore, Harold V. A New History of Portugal. 2d ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976. Excellent chapters on the origins of Portugal. Clearly traces Portugal’s history from county to kingdom and discusses Afonso as the founder of Portugal, the conqueror of Lisbon, and an agricultural hero.

Marques, A. H. de Oliveira. The History of Portugal: From Lusitania to Empire. 2d ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976. One of Portugal’s outstanding contemporary historians traces Afonso’s career in the chapter “The Formation of Portugal.” This author stresses social history and provides the reader with convincing glimpses of life in both Christian and Muslim medieval Portugal.

O’Callaghan, Joseph F. A History of Medieval Spain. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1983. This massive survey of the history of the Iberian Peninsula from 415 to 1479 places the career of Afonso in the context of the surging Christian Reconquest of the twelfth century. An excellent place to begin a bibliographic search for additional aspects of this era in Portuguese history.

Payne, Stanley G. A History of Spain and Portugal. 2 vols. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1973. The chapter in Volume 1 on the emergence of Portugal provides an excellent survey of the medieval era in that region of the Iberian Peninsula. Places the story of Afonso within an Iberian-wide context.

Power, Daniel, and Naomi Standen, eds. Frontiers in Question: Eurasian Borderlands, 700-1700. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999. Chapter 2 explores the conflicts and tensions between the overlapping “borders” and “boundaries” of Muslims and Christians in the Iberian Peninsula in the time immediately preceding Afonso’s birth. Includes bibliography and index.

Stephens, H. Morse. The Story of Portugal. 1891. Reprint. New York: AMS Press, 1971. This classic survey of Portuguese history includes an extended chapter on Portugal becoming a kingdom under the reign of Afonso. The author calls his work “an episodical history.”