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Portugal Territorial Enlargement
Afonso Henriques was a brilliant military commander and
during his reign reconquered more Muslim territory than
any other
of the Christian kings on the peninsula. He established
his
capital at Coimbra, and as early as 1135 he built a castle
at
Leiria. In 1147 he took advantage of a series of religious
rebellions among the Muslims, and, with the help of a
passing
fleet of English, Flemish, and German crusaders bound for
Palestine, captured Lisbon after a seventeen-week siege.
Continued internecine fighting among the Muslims, Lisbon's
strategic location, and additional help from passing
fleets of
crusaders eventually allowed Afonso Henriques to advance
across
the Tagus and capture and hold large sections of the
Alentejo. As
a result of this vigorous prosecution of the reconquest,
the pope
officially recognized Afonso Henriques as king of Portugal
in
1179 and granted him all conquered lands over which
neighboring
kings could not prove rights. At his death in 1185, Afonso
Henriques had carved out an officially recognized
Christian
kingdom that extended well into Muslim Iberia.
Sancho I (r.1185-1211), Afonso Henriques's son and
heir,
continued to enlarge the realm. In 1189 he captured the
Muslim
castle at Alvor, the city of Silves, and the castle at
Albufeira.
These territories however, were retaken by the Muslims and
had to
be reconquered by his son and heir, Afonso II (r.1211-23).
With
the help of his brother-in-law, Alfonso VIII of Castile,
Afonso
retook territory in the Alentejo, fighting major battles
at Navas
de Tolosa in 1212 and Alcácer do Sal in 1217. Sancho II
(r.1223-48) conquered additional territory in the Alentejo
and
carried the reconquest into the Algarve, where Muslim
armies were
defeated at Tavira and Cacela in 1238. The reconquest was
completed by Afonso III (r.1248-79) in 1249 when he
attacked and
defeated an isolated enclave of Muslims ensconced at Faro
in the
Algarve. This last battle, which extended Portuguese
territory to
the sea, established the approximate territorial limits
Portugal
has had ever since
(see
fig. 2).
Data as of January 1993
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