[869 - 1249] The Reconquista and Founding of the Kingdom

The year is 868. The Iberian Peninsula is not as we know it. For over a century and a half, the verdant lands south of the Cantabrian Mountains have been Al-Andalus, a sophisticated and powerful emirate ruled from Córdoba. Yet, in the rugged Christian kingdoms of the north, a different current is stirring. It is not yet a grand, unified crusade, but a slow, grinding pressure southward—a reconquest of lands considered lost. In this year, a nobleman from Galicia, a warrior named Vímara Peres, is ordered by the King of Asturias to march south. He crosses the Minho River, pushing back the local Moorish lords, and secures the strategic territory between the Minho and Douro rivers. On the banks of the Douro, he establishes a fortified settlement at the site of the old Roman town of Portus Cale. This new frontier territory, the County of Portucale, is born. It is a small, violent, and precarious foothold, but its name holds the seed of a future nation.

Life in this early county is a tapestry woven from threads of conflict and coexistence. The land is fertile, the rivers rich with fish, but the threat of raids from the south is constant. Small stone watchtowers dot the hills, their bells ready to warn of approaching danger. Society is a mixture: hardy Christian settlers from the north, indigenous Mozarabs—Christians who had lived under Muslim rule for generations, adopting many of their customs and speaking a dialect laced with Arabic—and the ever-present Moorish ‘other’ across the shifting border. A farmer ploughing his field with a team of oxen might well have been a soldier the day before, his simple tunic and leather sandals exchanged for a mail shirt and iron helmet. This is the crucible where a unique identity begins to form, hardened by necessity and shaped by a perpetual state of war.

Two centuries flicker past. The County of Portucale remains a vassal, a prize passed between the larger Christian powers of León and Castile. Then, in the late 11th century, two figures arrive who will change everything. Count Henry of Burgundy, a French nobleman and an ambitious, battle-hardened knight, is granted the county for his military service. His wife is Teresa, the clever and equally ambitious illegitimate daughter of King Alfonso VI of León and Castile. Together, they are a formidable power couple. They govern not as mere caretakers, but as dynasts. They strengthen castles, grant charters to towns, and mint their own coins, subtly asserting an independence they do not officially possess. They have a son, and they name him Afonso. It is a name that will echo through the ages.

The boy, Afonso Henriques, grows up in a court seething with ambition. When his father Henry dies, his mother Teresa assumes the regency, but her political alliances and a romantic liaison with a Galician nobleman threaten to submerge the county back into the fold of its powerful neighbours. The Portuguese nobles, fearing the loss of their growing autonomy, rally around the young Afonso. The result is inevitable and tragic: civil war. In 1128, at the Battle of São Mamede, just outside the capital of Guimarães, Afonso’s forces clash with those loyal to his mother. He is victorious. He captures his own mother and forces her into exile, securing his undisputed control of the county. It is a brutal act, but for Afonso and his followers, it is the first true declaration of Portuguese independence.

But a count is not a king. Afonso Henriques spends the next decade proving his worth on the battlefield, pushing the frontier ever southward. His defining moment comes on a sweltering summer day in 1139, on the plains of Ourique in the Alentejo. Massively outnumbered by the armies of five Moorish taifa kings, Afonso’s small force prepares for annihilation. It is here that legend solidifies into national myth. As the story is told, on the morning of the battle, Christ appeared to Afonso in a vision, promising him victory and a crown for his descendants. Fired with divine purpose, his army smashes the Almoravid forces in a stunning victory. In the aftermath, his soldiers lift him on his shield and proclaim him their king: Afonso I, King of Portugal. He adopts the five blue shields of the defeated kings, arranged in a cross, as his royal standard—the very heart of the Portuguese flag to this day.

Now a king, Afonso’s ambition knows no bounds. His gaze falls on the most strategic cities still in Moorish hands. In 1147, he targets Santarém, a formidable fortress perched above the Tagus River. Spurning a long siege, Afonso leads a small party of knights on a daring covert assault under the cover of darkness. They scale the walls, overwhelm the surprised sentries, and open the gates for the main army. The city falls in a matter of hours. This victory paves the way for the grandest prize of all: Lisbon. The city, then called ‘Al-Ushbuna’, is a wealthy and cosmopolitan port with formidable walls running from the river up to the hill where a mighty castle stands. Afonso knows he cannot take it alone. His timing is perfect. A fleet of some 164 ships, carrying around 13,000 crusaders from England, Germany, and Flanders en route to the Holy Land, docks in Porto. Afonso persuades them to help, promising them the plunder of the city and the grace of God for fighting the infidel in Iberia.

What follows is a brutal seventeen-week siege. Catapults hurl massive stones against the walls, while siege towers are painstakingly built and rolled towards the ramparts. Inside the city, starvation and disease take their toll. Outside, the diverse crusader camp is rife with tension, but unified by the goal. Finally, in late October 1147, the defenders surrender. Despite Afonso’s promises of safe conduct, a massacre ensues as the crusaders pour into the city, looting and killing for days. It is a dark chapter, but a decisive one. The great mosque is immediately consecrated as the Sé Cathedral of Lisbon, and the city becomes the new heart of the growing kingdom. The conquest of Lisbon marks a point of no return; Portugal is here to stay.

To secure these vast, newly conquered territories, the kings of Portugal employ a brilliant strategy of settlement and defense. They rely heavily on the military-religious orders like the Knights Templar and the Order of Avis. These warrior-monks, bound by vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, are granted huge tracts of land on the frontier. In return, they build some of the most advanced castles in Europe, like the breathtaking Templar stronghold at Tomar, and patrol the dangerous borders. To populate the land, the crown issues royal charters, or `forais`, to new and existing towns. These charters offer remarkable freedoms and tax exemptions to anyone willing to move south and settle. This creates a society with a powerful incentive for expansion and a class of free men—merchants, artisans, and even peasants—who enjoy rights that are the envy of serfs in other parts of Europe.

After Afonso the Conqueror’s long and glorious reign, his successors continue the southward march. His son, Sancho I, earns the nickname ‘the Populator’ for his tireless work in establishing towns and filling the empty lands with people. The final push comes in the mid-13th century under King Afonso III. After consolidating royal power and resolving disputes with the Church, he turns his full attention to the last remaining Moorish bastion in the south: the coastal kingdom of the Algarve. Between 1249 and 1250, his forces, aided by Castilian knights and military orders, sweep through the region, capturing the cities of Faro, Loulé, and Aljezur. With the fall of the Algarve, the Portuguese Reconquista is complete. Nearly four hundred years after Vímara Peres first crossed the Minho, the Kingdom of Portugal has established the continental borders it still holds today. It is the first nation in Iberia to finish its reconquest. With its land borders now stable and its identity forged in centuries of conflict, Portugal is free to turn its gaze away from the peninsula and towards the vast, unexplored horizon of the Atlantic Ocean. The age of conquest is over; the age of discovery is about to begin.