The regions to its south were only again conquered in the reign of Ferdinand I of León and Castile, with Lamego falling in 1057, Viseu in 1058 and finally Coimbra in 1064.

The leaders of the first county of Portugal reached the height of their power in the late 10th century, when Count Gonzalo Menéndez may have used the title magnus dux portucalensium ("grand duke of Portugal") and his son Menendo used the title dux magnus (grand duke).

[3] In the late 960s Gonzalo's lands were ravaged by Vikings, and in 968, he fell out with king Ramiro III over the latter's refusal to fight the raiders.

The independent county was abolished, its territories remaining within the crown of Galicia, which was in turn subsumed within the larger kingdoms of García's brothers, Sancho II and Alfonso VI of León and Castile.

[citation needed] Her own son, Afonso Henriques, took the reins of the government in 1128 after routing his mother's forces in the Battle of São Mamede, near Guimarães.

[10] Finally in 1143, his nominal overlord Alfonso VII of León and Castile recognized the de facto independence of Portugal in the Treaty of Zamora.