But a peace was negotiated (Treaty of Lanhoso) by the archbishops Diego Gelmírez and Burdino of Braga,[3] rival churchmen whose wealth and military resources enabled them to dictate terms.

[4] During the next five years she lavished wealth and titles upon her lover, Fernando Pérez de Traba, count of Trava, thus estranging her son, the archbishop of Braga and the nobles.

Near Guimarães, at the Battle of São Mamede (1128) he overcame the troops under his mother's lover and ally, Count Fernando Pérez de Traba, making her his prisoner and exiling her forever to a monastery in León.

Afonso succeeded in conquering part of Galicia, but in attempting to capture the frontier fortress of Badajoz he was wounded and forced to surrender to Ferdinand II of León (1169).

[5] Legend has magnified the victory into the rout of 200,000 Muslims under five kings; but so far was the battle from being decisive that in 1140 the Moors were able to seize the fortress of Leiria, built by Afonso in 1135 as an outpost for the defence of Coimbra, his capital.

But on March 15, 1147 Afonso stormed the fortress of Santarém,[2][6] and about the same time a band of crusaders on their way to Palestine landed at Porto on 16 June 1147, and volunteered for the impending siege of Lisbon.

[2][8] At this time, however, the Almohad Caliphate had triumphed in Africa and invaded the Iberian Peninsula, where they were able to check the Portuguese reconquest, although isolated bands of crusading adventurers succeeded in establishing themselves in various cities of Alentejo.

[2][9] In 1171 Afonso concluded a seven years truce with the Moors; weakened by his wound and by old age, he could no longer take the field, and when the war broke out afresh he delegated the chief command to his son Sancho.

He had laid the foundation of its navy and had strengthened, if he did not inaugurate, that system of co-operation between the Crown and the military orders which afterwards proved of incalculable service in the maritime and colonial development of the nation.

Lisbon had already (1179) received a charter from Afonso I. Sancho also endeavoured to foster immigration and agriculture, by granting estates to the military orders and municipalities on condition that the occupiers should cultivate or colonize their lands.

He had insisted that priests should accompany their flocks in battle, had made them amenable to secular jurisdiction, had withheld the tribute due to Rome and had even claimed the right of disposing of ecclesiastical domains.

As Sancho was in weak health and had no means of resisting Papal pressure, he made full submission (1210); and after bestowing large estates on his sons and daughters, he retired into Alcobaça Monastery, where he died in March 1211.

[2][11] The reign of Afonso II is noteworthy for the first meeting of the Portuguese Cortes, to which the upper hierarchy of the Church and the nobles (fidalgos and ricos homens) were summoned by royal writ.

The king (1211–1223), was no warrior, but in 1212 a Portuguese contingent aided the Castilians to defeat the Moors in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, and in 1217 the ministers, bishops and captains of the realm, reinforced by foreign crusaders, retook Alcácer do Sal.

[2][12] Afonso II repudiated the will of his father, refused to surrender the estates left to his brothers, who went into exile, and only gave up the property bequeathed to his sisters after a prolonged civil war in which Alfonso IX of León took part against them.

His attempts to strengthen the monarchy and fill the treasury at the expense of the Church resulted in his excommunication by Pope Honorius III, and Portugal remained under interdict until Afonso II died on 25 March 1223.

To secure the removal of the interdict the leading statesmen who were identified with the policy of his father Gonçalo Mendes the chancellor, Pedro Annes, the lord chamberlain (mordomo-mor), and Vicente, dean of Lisbon, resigned their offices.

Estêvão Soares, archbishop of Braga, placed himself at the head of the nobles and churchmen who threatened to usurp the royal power during Sancho II's minority, and negotiated an alliance with Alfonso IX, by which it was arranged that the Portuguese should attack Elvas, the Castilians Badajoz.

He continued the crusade against the Moors, who were driven from their last strongholds in Alentejo, and in 1239–1244, after a dispute with Rome which was once more ended by the imposition of an interdict and the submission of the Portuguese ruler, he won many successes in the Algarve.

The pope issued a bull of deposition in favour of Afonso, who reached Lisbon in 1246; and after a civil war lasting two years Sancho II retired to Toledo, where he died in January 1248.

[15] The monarchy owed its triumph to its championship of national interests, to the support of the municipalities and military orders, and to the prestige gained by the royal armies in the Moorish and Castilian wars.

He encouraged maritime trade by negotiating a commercial treaty with England (1294) and forming a royal navy (1317) under the command of a Genoese admiral named Emanuele Pessagno (Manuel Pessanha).

He arranged that his daughter Maria should wed Alfonso XI of Castile (1328), but the marriage precipitated the war it was intended to avert, and peace was only restored (1330) after Queen Isabella had again intervened.

Peter, the heir, afterwards married Constance, daughter of the duke of Peñafiel (near Valladolid), and Afonso IV brought a strong Portuguese army to aid the Castilians against the Moors of Granada and their African allies.

[21] The foreign policy of Denis, Afonso IV and Peter I had been, as in rule, successful in its main object, the preservation of peace with the Christian kingdoms of Iberia; in consequence, the Portuguese had advanced in prosperity and culture.

In 1381 Richard II of England despatched a powerful force to Lisbon, and betrothed his cousin Prince Edward to Beatrice, only child of Ferdinand, who had been recognized as heiress to the throne by the Cortes of Leiria (1376).

[21] Leonor had long carried on a relationship with the count of Ourém, who engaged in various intrigues with England and Castile, and whose influence was resented by the leaders of the aristocracy, while her tyrannical rule also aroused Rebellion of bitter opposition.

The malcontents chose D. John, 1383. grand-master of the knights of Aviz and illegitimate son of Peter I, as their leader, organized a revolt in Lisbon, and assassinated the count of Ourém within the royal palace (December 6, 1383).

In 1384 a Castilian army invested Lisbon, but encountered a heroic resistance, and after five months an outbreak of plague compelled them to end the siege, John I of Castile, discovering or alleging that Leonor had plotted to poison him, imprisoned her in a convent at Tordesillas, where she died in 1386.

Against such a combination the Castilians were powerless; Denis, eldest son of Inês de Castro, claimed the Portuguese throne and invaded Portugal in 1398, but his troops were easily crushed.