Portugal FORMATION OF THE MONARCHY
Afonso Henriques, founder and first king of Portugal (r. 1139-85)
Courtesy Embassy of Portugal, Washington
Figure 2. The Reconquest, 1185-1250
Afonso Henriques was a robust, visionary young man of
about
twenty years of age when he acquired control of the
province of
Portugal. He was anxious to free himself from León and
establish
his own kingdom. Consequently, he invaded Galicia and
defeated
Fernando Peres and the Galician barons at the Battle of
Cerneja.
This action brought a response from Alfonso VII, who had
in the
meantime proclaimed himself emperor. He ordered the
Galician
barons to make war on Afonso Henriques, who, threatened by
Muslims from the south recently reinvigorated by the
Almohads
from Morocco, made peace with Alfonso VII in 1137 at Tuy.
Data as of January 1993
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