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Portugal Christian Reconquest
Although their empire had been defeated by the Muslim
onslaught, individual Visigothic nobles resisted, taking
refuge
in the mountain stronghold of Astúrias. As early as 737,
the
Visigothic noble Pelayo took the offensive and defeated
the
Muslims at Covadonga, for which he was proclaimed king of
Astúrias, later León. Subsequent kings of Astúrias-León,
who
claimed succession from Visigothic monarchs, were able to
retake
Braga, Porto, Viseu, and Guimarães in northern Portugal,
where
they settled Christians around strongholds. For 200 years,
this
region was a buffer zone across which the frontier between
Christians and Muslims shifted back and forth with the ebb
and
flow of attack and counterattack.
The creation of Portugal as an independent monarchy is
clearly associated with the organization of the military
frontier
against the Muslims in this area. This buffer zone between
Christian and Muslim territory was constantly being
reorganized
under counts appointed by the kings of León. The territory
known
as Portucalense was made a province of León and placed
under the
control of counts, who governed with a substantial degree
of
autonomy because of the province's separation from León by
rugged
mountains.
In 1096 Alfonso VI, king of León, gave hereditary title
to
the province of Portucalense and Coimbra as dowry to the
crusader-knight Henry, brother of the duke of Burgundy,
upon his
marriage to the king's illegitimate but favorite daughter,
Teresa. Although Henry was to be sovereign in
Portucalense, it
was recognized by all parties that he held this province
as a
vassal of the Leonese king. Henry set up his court at
Guimarães
near Braga. He surrounded himself with local barons,
appointed
them to the chief provincial offices, and rewarded them
with
lands. Bound by the usual ties of vassal to suzerain,
Henry was
expected to be loyal to Alfonso and render him service
whenever
required. Until Alfonso's death in 1109, Henry dutifully
carried
out his feudal obligations by attending royal councils and
providing military assistance in the king's campaigns
against the
Muslims. Alfonso's death plunged the kingdom of León into
a civil
war among Aragonese, Galician, and Castilian barons who
desired
the crown. Count Henry carefully stayed neutral during
this
struggle and gradually stopped fulfilling his feudal
obligations.
When he died in 1112, his wife, Teresa, inherited the
county and
initially followed her husband's policy of nonalignment.
The victor in the struggle for the Leonese crown was
Alfonso
VII, who, when he ascended the throne, decided to assert
his
suzerainity over Teresa, his aunt, and her consort, a
Galician
nobleman named Fernando Peres. Teresa refused to do homage
and
was forced into submission after a six-week war in 1127.
Her
barons, who saw their fortunes and independence declining,
took
this opportunity to align themselves with her son and the
heir to
the province, Afonso Henriques, who had armed himself as a
knight. Supported by the barons and lower nobility, Afonso
Henriques rebelled against his mother's rule. On July 24,
1128,
he defeated Teresa's army at São Mamede near Guimarães and
expelled her to Galicia, where she died in exile. Afonso
Henriques thus gained control of the province of
Portucalense, or
Portugal, as it was known in the vernacular.
Data as of January 1993
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