AFONSO I HENRIQUES IN LISBON (1147)

First King of Portugal, who secured Portuguese independence and extended its boundaries.


Afonso´s father, Henry of Burgundy, was count of Portugal (1095-1112); his mother, Teresa, the illegitimate daugther of Alfonso VI of Leon and Castile, took charge of Portuguese affairs upon the death of her husband. When Afonso came of age, Teresa refused to cede her power to him, but he defeated her forces (1128) and took over the government. Though at first obliged to submit to his cousin, Alfonso VII of Leon and Castile, he began in 1139 to use the title of king. By the Treaty of Zamora (1143), Alfonso VII ended a long period of conflict by recognizing Afonso´s autonomy as the ruler of Portugal.


His independence secure, Afonso sought to extend his country´s frontiers southward by expeditions against the Muslims, capturing Santarém and Lisbon (1147), Beja (1162), Évora (1165), and Juromenha (1166). By 1185 his new realm was firmly established.