[4] In the 1188 Treaty of Seligenstadt, Urraca was betrothed to the future King Alfonso IX of León, despite the fact that both were young children at the time.

Despite not being able to rule themselves, the daughters held unique power because they were the only way for their husbands to legitimate their claims to the Castilian throne if there were no surviving male heirs.

In this same treaty, Berenguela, Urraca's eldest sibling, was designated as Alfonso's heir so long as no living male offspring survived.

While this position was surrendered when her brothers, Ferdinand (1189–1211) and Henry (1204–1217), were born Berenguela was the presumed heir to the kingdom of Castile for most of Urraca's childhood, and their parents only had daughters to continue their legacy.

This emphasizes Alfonso VIII and Leonor's dedication to not only having male heirs to one day take the throne, but to properly nurture them into people of sound moral character.

His older sister, Berenguela, had been trained to be the ruler of Castile, therefore, it was she who took the role of regent for her younger brother until he was ready to take the throne.

[4] The first recorded mention of Urraca occurs in the 1187 foundation charter for the Cistercian convent of Santa Maria de Las Huelgas en Burgos.

Royal estates including Monte Mor, Isguiera, Alenquer, and the monasteries of Bouças and Arouca thus came under the control of these women upon the king's death in 1211 CE.

While Sancho I showed particular favor to his daughter Sancha, who also inherited his personal belongings, his will clearly emphasized the broader power of royal women within Portugal, as he intended for these estates to stay in the hands of his female descendants rather than his son, and heir, Afonso II.

When Sancho I eventually died, these properties did in fact go to his daughters; Afonso II, however, did not intend to keep the promise that he made to his father, as he considered the will to be invalid.

Afonso's case argued based on Latin laws that do not allow women, no matter their royal status, to inherit land upon the passing of their parents.

This decision upheld what Sancho had intended for his daughters and how he wanted them to inherit land and property, and that Afonso II had no right to contest their claims.

The forces of Teresa, Sancha, Mafalda, and Alfonso IX put up a valiant fight, at one point holding half of the kingdom of Portugal; ultimately, however,  they were unable to defeat him, and by the end of his reign in 1223 CE he was able to regain most of the territories that he had lost.

In addition to Afonso's ongoing battles with his sisters and their Leonese allies, he also took part in the broader, centuries-long campaigns against Iberia's Muslim states (the so-called "Reconquista") waged by his Christian neighbors.

While Afonso II waged fewer campaigns against Muslim forces than some of his predecessors, he fought alongside his father-in-law Alfonso VIII at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, an important battle which greatly weakened the Almohad kingdom in southern Spain and which marked a turning point in efforts to reassert Christian control over the peninsula.

[3] Afonso II, however, was adamant that these concessions should be reversed in order to increase his own resources and strengthen the position of the crown vis-a-vis its opponents (in particular, his rebellious sisters).

These efforts led to tensions and outright hostility between the king, his clergy, and the papacy, as Afonso II began to rebel against the conditions that were agreed upon between his predecessors and the Catholic Church.

Working in concert with her husband, Urraca pushed the Kingdom of Portugal forward, while also leaving various problems for her son and his successors to solve in the future.

Desiring to distance himself from the sedentary rule of his father Afonso II, King Sancho recognized the importance of being regarded as a defender of the realm and faith by both the common people and papacy.

[5] The monarchy had long been at odds with the clergy, but Sancho believed that leading the Christian crusade against Muslim forces in the south would bolster the ministry's support of his kingship.

While Sancho promised the clergy and his citizens that he would be a staunch defender of the Christian faith, devoting himself to warfare against his enemies, it soon became clear that his thoughts were not on battle.

King Sancho II of Portugal, deprived of power and a kingdom, died in exile on 4 January 1248 in Toledo, Spain where his cousin, Urraca's nephew, Ferdinand III reigned.

Though at first Afonso seemed to represent foreign power which led to distrust by the people, his improvements and additions to Portugal, including the founding of monasteries and nunneries, brought him much respect and a good reputation.

King Afonso's positive reputation was questioned when he desired to marry Beatrice of Castile while his previous wife, Matilda of Boulogne, was still alive.

This greatly upset the papacy, who had been supporters of Afonso since his ascension, and led to the marriage between the king and Beatrice, which occurred in 1253, to be delegitimized until after Maud's death in 1258.

Fernando led troops of his own and acted as lieutenant to his brother, King Sancho III of Portugal, during the Portuguese reconquest of the Holy Lands, but was disliked by the papacy due to his violent ways, enough so that he was excommunicated in 1237.

Conflict had broken out over the election of Bishop Estevão Gomes due to King Sancho's obvious involvement in the clergyman's rise to power.

The Lord of Serpa was granted a heavy penance, which included financial restitutions, apologies, and promises to continue fighting on the frontier.

The large monastic complex was gifted to the Cistercians, the same religious order that inhabited Santa Maria de Las Huelgas, to recognize their support of King Afonso I's conquest of Santarem.

Also present in the monastery are the tombs of King Pedro I, great-great-grandson of Urraca, and his mistress, Inês de Castro, some of the best representations of Gothic sculpture in Portugal.