, first Burgundy
King of Portugal.
Origins Henry, Count of Portugal, a grandson in the senior line of
Robert I, Duke of Burgundy, had joined the
Reconquista in the
Iberian Peninsula in the late 11th century. After conquering parts of Galicia and northern Portugal on behalf of
Alfonso VI of León, he married Alfonso's illegitimate daughter,
Teresa, and was given the County of Portugal as a fief under the
Kingdom of León. His son,
Afonso Henriques, became King of Portugal after defeating his mother in the
Battle of São Mamede in 1128. It was only in 1179 that
Pope Alexander III recognized Portugal as an independent state, recognition, at the time, needed for total acceptance of the kingdom in the
Christian world. On his mother's side, Afonso I of Portugal is connected to the
Jiménez dynasty, and through
Sancha of León, to the
Astur-Leonese dynasty, making him a descendant of
Pelagius of Asturias. As the
Chronicle of Alfonso III identifies Pelagius as a grandson of
Chindasuinth, this would make Afonso I the descendant of
Liuvigild. Liuvigild was King of the
Visigoths in the 6th century (see
Visigothic dynasty), who conquered the
Suebi Kingdom, thus controlling most of the Iberian Peninsula (and all of what would be Portugal, see
Visigothic Kingdom). On his father's side, Afonso I of Portugal is connected to the
Capetian dynasty, a branch of the
Frankish Robertians that goes back to
Robert II, Count of Hesbaye in the 9th century.
Kings of Portugal , King of Portugal and
Count of Boulogne. The kings that succeeded Afonso I continued the
Reconquista of the
Iberian Peninsula against the
Moors.
Afonso III conquered the
Algarve and adopted the title of
King of Portugal and the Algarve. The borders of Portugal were defined in the
Treaty of Alcanizes (1297) when king
Dinis I, son of Afonso III, started developing the kingdom's land.
Demise In 1383
Beatrice, princess of Portugal and heir to the throne married
John I of Castile. When
Ferdinand I (her father) died during the same year the kingdom entered a period of anarchy called the
1383-1385 Crisis, threatened with a possible annexation by
Castile. This period ended in 1385 with the victory of the Portuguese in the
Battle of Aljubarrota and a new dynasty began with
John I, Master of Aviz (illegitimate son of Peter I), thus called the
House of Aviz. ==Burgundian monarchs==