After the Muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in the year 711, a task of recovering the territories of Roman and Visigothic Hispania began almost immediately, which would take more than seven centuries conclude. In this period the ever-increasing Christian possessions were formed into different kingdoms, counties and principalities that came into conflict with each other almost as often as with the Muslims.
The initial nucleus of resistance of the kingdom of Asturias later moved to León and housed in the northwest part the county of Galicia (which on many occasions tried to become independent from León) and the so-called Portucalense County, whose borders were delimited by the Miño river to the north and by the Duero to the south. This county sometimes depended on Galicia and in others it was governed by an independent count; yes, always submitted to the kingdom of León. The first count of Portugal was Diogo Fernándes.
In the year 1095, King Alfonso VI of León granted the county of Galicia to his legitimate daughter Urraca and her husband, Raymond of Burgundy, while granting dominion over the county of Portugal and Coimbra to his natural daughter Teresa and her husband Enrique de Borgoña (Raimundo's cousin). He soon passed away, so Teresa assumed control of the county along with her son Alfonso Enríquez (or Henriques).
In 1109 King Alfonso VI died and his crown was inherited by his daughter Urraca. Her relations with her stepsister Teresa de Ella and Alfonso Henriques were not good and there were constant clashes between Leonese and Portuguese, who took advantage of the delicate situation of the queen as a result of her stormy marriage with the king of Aragon Alfonso I the Battler. The situation did not improve when Urraca died in 1126 and was succeeded by her son Alfonso VII, who in 1127 besieged Alfonso Henriques in Guimaraes. The siege was lifted when the Portuguese swore allegiance to the Leonese.
But very soon Alfonso Henriques was to become the dominant force in the county of Portugal and the main protagonist of the Portuguese independence of the kingdom of León. He first faced his mother, whom he defeated at the battle of San Mamede (1128), along with a Galician army that had come to Teresa's aid. Later, in 1139, he achieved a historic victory over the Almoravids at the Battle of Ourique. The details of that battle were enriched and mythologized over the centuries, increasing the number of defeated enemies and narrating the help of Santiago (later replaced by Saint George), but there is no doubt about its importance as an essential element of the construction of the Portuguese national identity.
After the great victory at Ourique, members of the army acclaimed Alfonso Henriques as King of Portugal (although some sources doubt the veracity of this assertion), an appointment that was confirmed in the so-called Cortes de Lamego. But that did not entail the recognition of this dignity by Alfonso VII. The Portuguese tried to take advantage of the difficulties of the Leonese in the east of his kingdom to prosper in his conquests, although an Almoravid attack caused him to focus on repelling the Arabs.
After verifying that neither the Portuguese nor the Leonese could defeat their rival, in the year 1143 Alfonso VII and Alfonso Henriques met in Zamora. The man from Leon was especially worried about being recognized as Imperator totius Hispaniae, so he had no qualms about recognizing Alfonso Henriques as king of Portugal, as long as he swore allegiance to him (he also designated his natural daughter Urraca as queen of Asturias, but that did not imply the independence of that kingdom from that of Asturias). Lion). In fact, it was better for his imperial dignity that the one who swore fealty to him was a king and not a count.
But the Portuguese, already Alfonso I, was not satisfied with this situation and immediately asked the Pope to take the kingdom of Portugal as his vassal, which would free him from the oath taken to the Leonese The Pope accepted the vassalage, but did not dare to grant him the treatment of king, possibly fearing the reaction of Alfonso VII, who did indeed send a protest to the pontiff a few years later. It was not until 1179 that Rome would recognize the kingdom of Portugal.
When Alfonso VII died in 1157 he divided his kingdom between his sons Sancho III, whom he granted Castile, and Fernando II, who inherited León, Asturias and , in theory, Portugal. I say in theory, because in practice Portugal already exercised as an independent kingdom; Furthermore, after the emperor died and his kingdom was divided among his sons, that figure of Imperator no longer existed. to which the king of Portugal should swear as a vassal. Fernando II married the daughter of Alfonso Henriques, named Urraca, which did not prevent both monarchs from having constant conflicts. Ferdinand repopulated Ciudad Rodrigo, from which he repeatedly harassed the neighboring kingdom and even took the Portuguese king prisoner, but ended up freeing him.
The marriage of Fernando II and Urraca was agreed in Lérez (Pontevedra) in 1165. It is not ruled out that in the mind of Fernando II there was the possibility that a son of this union could unite the two kingdoms again. The text of the Treaty of Lérez is not preserved, but it probably established the mutual recognition of both kingdoms on an equal basis and surely some kind of distribution of the Muslim lands between one and the other.
From then on Portugal would maintain its independence and would play its part in the carousel of alliances, wars, marriages and conquests of the medieval kingdoms of the Peninsula. Even for a time in the 16th century it came to be unified under the same crown as the rest of the Peninsula… but that's another story.
Image| Alfonso Henriques. Via Wikimedia commons.
Fonts| Jose Ignacio Ortega Cervigon. Brief history of the Crown of Castile
Lionheart.
Another Story