Dom Afonso Henriques, was born in Coimbra and died in 1185 in Galicia, having been raised by Soeiro Mendes de Sousa and his wife in the Portucalense County where he obtained a noble education in the political aspect.
It is in 1120 and together with Dom Paio, Archbishop of Braga that D. Afonso Henriques assumes a political position contrary to that of his mother.
In the year of 1122 becomes knight in the Cathedral of Zamora, returning thus to the County Portucalense in 1128 where it is faced and it conquers the hosts of Fernão Peres de Trava in Batalla de São Mamede finishing by assuming the government of the county Portucalense, with the objective of their independence.
D. Afonso Henriques defines a policy based on the defense of the county against Leon and Castile to the north and East and against the Moors to the south.
D. Afonso Henriques begins negotiations with the Holy See with the objective of being able to see the independence of his kingdom recognized in order to guarantee the full autonomy of the Portuguese Church.
It is in 1131 that Dom Afonso Henriques founded the Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra as well as having several castles built, especially the Castle of Leiria, built in 1135, because it was one of the strategic points for the development of the reconquest.
In 1139 he wins the Battle of Ourique against the Moors, at which point he becomes King.
In 1147, Dom Afonso Henriques conquers the city of Santarém and Lisbon.
In 1162 Dom Afonso Henriques conquered Évora and Beja and it is only in 1179 with the Bull Manifesto Probatory of Pope Alexander III that D. Afonso Henriques is appointed and recognized as King.
Upon his death in 1185 D. Afonso Henriques gave his son Dom Sancho I a perfectly defined and independent territory.
D. Mafalda de Saboia, Countess of Saboia, Piemonte and Maurienne, also known as Matilde, was the first queen of Portugal from 1146 until the date of her death.
Daughter of Count Amadeu III of Saboia and his wife Mafalda de Albon.
She was married for twelve years to D. Afonso Henriques, the first King of Portugal.
The Wedding Ceremony between King Afonso Henriques and the future Queen took place in the year 1146.
Of her life little is known, however, historians refer to Queen D. Mafalda of Saboia as having been a woman with a “difficult shape and of real stubbornness.
A bad temper is attributed, as well as a certain stubbornness to the Queen, due to the constant conflicts between the queen and the prior of Santa Cruz de Coimbra, São Teotónio.
It is said that the Queen was in the labor of one of her children and that when she realizes that she is in serious danger of life, she orders to call the Prior in order to obtain the blessing of St. Teotonius. Once blessed, the Queen can give birth and survive.
As a form of deep gratitude to the prior D. Mafalda orders to make a picture in his honor.
The friendship between Queen D. Mafalda and the prior turned out to be temporary because the prior had not allowed D. Mafalda to enter the inner cloister of the Monastery of Santa Clara so as not to violate the rules of the institution.
D. Mafalda de Saboia does not accept the decision and position taken by the prior and as a reaction has him persecuted.
From his marriage to D. Afonso Henriques were born seven children, one of whom, D. Sancho, second king of Portugal.
The first queen of Portugal died about thirty years ago, on December 3 or 4, 1157, following the birth of the Infanta D. Sancha.
In 1282 he married Isabel of Aragon, who would be known as Queen Santa. During 46 years of reign he was one of the main responsible for the creation of the national identity and the rise of the conscience of Portugal as a nation-state: in 1297, after the conclusion of the Reconquest by his father, he defined the frontiers of Portugal in the Treaty of Alcanizes, pursued relevant judicial reforms, instituted the Portuguese language as the official language of the court, created the first Portuguese University and freed the Military Orders in the national territory of foreign influences.
Its centralizing policy was articulated with important economic development actions – such as the creation of countless counties and fairs.
D. Dinis ordered the exploration of the copper, silver, tin and iron mines and also organized its export to other European countries.
In 1308 he signed the first Portuguese trade agreement with England.
In 1312 he founds the Portuguese navy, naming as the 1st Admiral of Portugal, the Genoese Manuel Pessanha.
She was a great lover of arts and letters. Having been a famous troubadour, he cultivated the Cantigas de Amigo, Amor and satire, and contributed to the development of troubadour poetry in the Iberian peninsula. He is thought to have been the first truly Portuguese monarch, having always signed with his full name. Worship and great curiosity of both letters and sciences, he was the great impeller of the translation of many works for Portuguese, among which are the treatises of his grandfather D. Afonso X, the Sage.
D. Dinis, responsible for the creation of the first Portuguese University, initially installed in the area of the current Largo do Carmo in Lisbon and by itself transferred to Coimbra in 1308.
After his death, in 1325 he was succeeded by his legitimate son, Afonso IV of Portugal.
It was popularly known as Queen Santa Isabel, having been beatified and later canonized.
The Miracle of the Roses is the legend that comes to give the name to the Queen of Queen Santa Isabel. According to legend, the queen leaves Sabugal Castle on a winter morning to distribute bread to the most disadvantaged, surprised by the sovereign, who asks her where she went and what she carried in her lap, the queen would have exclaimed: They are roses, Lord! São Rosas. Suspicious, D. Dinis replies: Roses, in January?
D. Isabel then exposes the contents of the lap of her dress and from it only roses fall, instead of the bread that the Queen took in the sneaks of the King.
The first written record of the miracle of roses is found in the Chronicle of the Friars Minor.
D. Isabel would have been an extremely pious queen, where much of her time was dedicated to prayer and to helping the most disadvantaged.
Due to her extreme dedication, the queen still alive began to enjoy a reputation as a saint, having been beatified by Pope Leo X in 1516, being canonized in 1742 by Pope Benedict XIV.
Her tomb is today in the Convent of Santa Clara-a-Nova, a convent in Coimbra, where the Queen wore the habit of the Order of the Poor Clares, an Order to which she dedicated herself in the last years of her life.
D. Pedro is known for the forbidden relationship with Inês de Castro, his Galician wife Constança Manuel.
After the death of his wife, Pedro announced in 1360, the marriage with his beloved Inês, a marriage that was carried out in secret and before his death, and his intention was to see Inês remembered as Queen of Portugal.
Legend tells that Pedro would have unearthed the body of Ines, crowning her as Queen of Portugal, and forcing the nobles to proceed to the ceremony of the royal hand-kissing, on pain of death.
Soon after, D. Pedro ordered to build two tombs (true masterpieces of Gothic sculpture in Portugal), which were placed in the transept of the church of the Monastery of Alcobaça so that on the day of Judgment the eternal lovers, then resurrected, immediately if they could see.
As king, Peter proved to be a good steward, brave in defending the country against papal influence (it was he who promulgated the famous Royal Benevolent, which prevented the free circulation of ecclesiastical documents in the country without his express permission), and was fair in the most disadvantaged sections of the population.
His reign was the only one in the fourteenth century without war and marked by financial prosperity.
Is tomb is in the Monastery of Santa Maria de Alcobaça.
D. Inês de Castro, was a noble Galician, posthumous queen of Portugal, loved by the future king D. Pedro I of Portugal, of whom she had four children. It was executed by order of D. Pedro’s father, King D. Afonso IV.
On August 24, 1339, at the Lisbon Cathedral, the marriage of the Infant Pedro I of Portugal, heir to the Portuguese throne, took place with D. Constança Manuel, but it was for one of the women of D. Constança, D. Inês de Castro , for whom Don Pedro would fall in love.
Under the pretext of morality, D. Afonso IV does not approve of the relationship, and exiles D. Agnes in the castle of Albuquerque in 1344.
Legend has it that distance does not erase the love they feel for each other where the two regularly wrote letters to one another with eternal swearings of love.
In October of the following year D. Constance dies in giving birth to the future king, D. Fernando I of Portugal. Widowed, D. Pedro, D. Inês returns from exile and the two begin to live together.
On January 7, 1355, the king gave in to the pressures of his advisers and taking advantage of Don Pedro’s absence on a hunting expedition, he went with Pêro Coelho; Álvaro Gonçalves and Diogo Lopes Pacheco to Santa Clara where D. Agnes is executed, as decided by the council.
According to legend, the tears spilled on the river Mondego by the death of Ines would have created the Tears Fountain of Quinta das Lágrimas, and some reddish algae that grew there would be his blood shed.
D. Pedro revolts against D. Afonso IV and after months of conflict, the Queen D. Beatriz can intervene and make seal the peace.
D. Pedro did not rest until he could avenge his beloved, having pursued the assassins of D. Ines, until they were caught and executed.
D. Pedro ordered the construction of the two splendid tombs of D. Pedro I and D. Inês de Castro in the Monastery of Alcobaça, where he transferred the body of his beloved Ines in 1361 or 1362.
In 1367 D. Pedro finally joins D. Inês de Castro in the Monastery of Alcobaça.
The beginning of the reign of D. Fernando was marked by foreign policy.
When D. Pedro I of Castile (1350-1369) died without leaving male heirs, D. Fernando, as great-grandson of D. Sancho IV of Castile, by means of feminine, declares himself heir of the throne.
The king falls in love with D. Leonor Teles de Menezes, the wife of one of his courtiers and after the rapid annulment of the first marriage of D. Leonor, D. Fernando married her publicly on May 15, 1372 in the Monastery of Leça of Balio.
During his reign D. Fernando orders to repair and build castles as well as orders the construction of new walls in Lisbon and Porto.
During the reign of D. Fernando the market relations with the foreigner were also extended.
The development of the navy was strongly supported, resulting in the creation of Companhia das Naus.
D. Fernando dies in 1383, coming to an end the dynastic line of the Burgundian dynasty.
D. Leonor Teles is named regent in the name of the daughter and of D. John I of Castile, assuming a transition in nothing pacifica.
Responding to the appeals of a large part of the Portuguese to keep the country independent, D. João, master of Aviz and bastard brother of D. Fernando, declares himself king of Portugal. The result was the crisis of 1383-1385, a period of interregnum, where political and social chaos dominated.
D. John became the first king of the Avis Dynasty in 1385.
In 1875, Joaquim Possidónio da Silva ordered the funerary monument of D. Fernando from the Convent of São Francisco in Santarém to the Carmo Archaeological Museum (where it still stands today), in order to safeguard its integrity and dignity.
In his reign the islands of Porto Santo (1418), the Island of Madeira (1419) and the Azores (1427) were discovered.
She became queen consort of Portugal through the marriage with King João I and agreed within the scope of the Luso-English Alliance.
D. Duarte I was born in Viseu, nicknamed “the Eloquent” and “King Philosopher”, was King of Portugal from 1433 until his death.
He was the eldest son of King John I and his wife, Queen D. Filipa de Lencastre.
Duarte received his name in honor of his mother’s grandfather, King Edward III of England.
From a very young age, D. Duarte accompanied his father in the affairs of the kingdom, thus becoming an heir prepared to reign.
In 1412 he was formally elected by his father his right arm.
Unlike D. João I, D. Duarte was a monarch concerned to create consent among the courts, where during his short five-year reign he convened the courts about five times in order to discuss state matters.
D. Duarte continued the policy of encouraging both maritime exploration and conquest in Africa.
In 1437, his brothers, Henrique and Fernando, convinced him to attack Morocco, in order to consolidate the Portuguese presence in North Africa, where it was intended to create a base for the exploration of the Atlantic Ocean.
The campaign was unsuccessful and the city of Tangier ended up not being conquered, costing the defeat Prince Fernando himself was captured and died in captivity, for refusing to be released in return for the return of Ceuta, which earned him the nickname of “Holy Infante”.
D. Duarte himself died shortly after the plague.
Outside the political sphere, D. Duarte was a man interested in culture and knowledge, having written books of poetry and prose.
D. Manuel I was born in Alcochete in the year 1469, dubbed “The Adventurer”, was King of Portugal from 1495 until his death.
He was the youngest son of Infante Fernando, Duke of Viseu son of King Duarte I, and his wife the Infanta Beatriz de Portugal, granddaughter of King João I.
D. Manuel ascends to the throne after the death of his cousin King John II, who had no legitimate heirs and appoints D. Manuel as his successor.
In fact, he was the only one to ascend the throne without being a first degree relative or descendant of the predecessor.
For his coronation he benefited from the death of all six claimants who had priority over him, including the King’s own son.
The Portuguese explorations initiated by its predecessors continued, which led to the discovery of the maritime route to India and Brazil, two important discoveries for the expansion of the Portuguese empire.
In his reign and despite his initial resistance to fulfill the clauses of his marriage to Dona Maria de Aragon, Manuel asked the Pope in 1515 to install the Inquisition in Portugal, a request that was granted only in the following reign, before new request of D. João III.
With the resulting prosperity of commerce and in particular of the spices, D. Manuel realizes numerous works whose architectonic style was known like the Manueline style.
For her exemplary life, for having been a merciful queen and also for her Christian virtues, she has attained to some historians the nickname of “The Perfect Princess.”
Queen Leonor of Avis is the third and last Portuguese consort born in Portugal, the first being Leonor Teles and the second her aunt, and her mother-in-law, Isabel de Avis, wife of Afonso V.
D. Leonor de Avis was also the first of the occupants of the Portuguese throne with Bragança blood, for her maternal grandmother, the infant Isabel de Barcelos, daughter of the first Duke of Bragança.
Leonor was destined to be born to D. João II of Portugal the “Perfect Prince” by the will and promise of his uncle Afonso V, to his only brother and best friend, the infant D. Fernando.
D. Leonor, married with his cousin D. João, only 12 years old, and D. João 15 himself.
D. Sebastião nicknamed “the Desire” and “the Sleeper”, was King of Portugal from 1557 until his death.He was the son of Joao Manuel, Prince of Portugal and Joana of Austria.
D. Sebastião ascends to the throne with only three years of age and after the death of its grandfathers the king D. João III. Initially and due to his young age, D. Sebastião began with a minority regency, led first by his grandmother Queen Catherine of Austria and later by her great-uncle Cardinal Henry of Portugal.
In 1568 D. Sebastião assumed the government at the age of fourteen.
Motivated to revive the glories of the Reconquest, D. Sebastião decides to arm an army in Morocco, planning a crusade, after Mulei Mohammed requested his help to recover the throne.
On August 4, 1578, the battle of Alcácer-Quibi ocurred, where Portugal suffered a defeat at the hands of the Sultan Abd al-Malik (Mulei Moluco), in which much of the army was lost.
He died in North Africa, in the battle of Alcácer Quibir, leaving no descendants, paving the way for the delivery of the Portuguese crown to the Filipes of Spain.
It is said that D. Sebastião, when he was advised to surrender and surrender his sword to the victors, that the king refused with haughtiness, saying: “Real liberty will only be lost with life.” and we are told that on hearing them, the knights invested against the infidels.
D. Sebastian followed them and disappeared in the eyes of everyone involved in the crowd, leaving the doubt about their true end.
Around him was born the myth of “Sebastianism,” the hope that one day he would return, on a foggy morning, to save the country from all its troubles.
D. Jose I, dubbed “the Reformer”, was King of Portugal from 1750 until his death.
He was the third son of King John V and his wife Queen Mary Anna of Austria.
The reign of D. José I is mainly marked by the policies of his Secretary of State, the Marquis of Pombal, who reorganized the laws, the economy and the Portuguese society, transforming Portugal into a modern country.
On November 1, 1755, D. José I and his family survived the destruction of the Royal Palace in the Lisbon Earthquake because they were at that time strolling in Santa Maria de Belém.
After this date, D. José I wins a phobia of stone and lime buildings, living the rest of his life in a luxurious tent complex in Alto da Ajuda, Lisbon.
From his reign stands out the event of attempted regicide that occurred on September 3, 1758 and the subsequent trial of the Tavora.
The Marquises of Távora, the Duke of Aveiro and close relatives accused of his organization were executed or placed in prison.
The whole reign is characterized by the creation of institutions, especially in the economic and educational field, in order to adapt the country to the great transformations that had taken place.
It is founded the Royal Board of Commerce, the Royal Treasury, the Royal Board of Treasury; Higher education is reformed, secondary education is created (College of Nobles, Class of Commerce) and primary school (royal masters); the army is reorganized.
In matters of foreign policy, José maintained the policy of neutrality adopted by his father.
Of note is also the severance of relations with the Holy See, which lasted 10 years.
He lies in the Bragança Pantheon, at the monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon.
D. Maria, nicknamed “the Mercifull” and “the Madwoman”, was Queen of Portugal from 1777 until her death.
Her first act as queen was the dismissal and exile of the court of the Marquis of Pombal, who never could forgive the brutal form as he treated the Távora family during the Tavora Process.
Queen, dedicated to social works, granted asylum to numerous French aristocrats who had escaped the terror of the French Revolution (1789-1799).
A melancholy and extremely Catholic Queen of such a sensitive nature that when several men entered a church with the intention of stealing precious possessions and scattered wafers on the floor, she decreed nine days of mourning, postponed public affairs, and accompanied her on foot with a candle to procession of penance that toured Lisbon.
Hers reign was of great legislative, commercial and diplomatic activity, in which one can highlight the trade treaty that he signed with Russia in 1789.
She developed culture and science,
In the area of social assistance, he founded Casa Pia de Lisboa.
Disabled, Maria lived in Brazil for eight years, always in an unhappy state.
Shee died in the Convent of Carmo, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, on March 20, 1816, at the age of 81. After the funeral ceremonies, her body was buried in the Ajuda Convent, also in Rio de Janeiro. With her death, Prince Regent John was acclaimed King of Portugal and Brazil.
In 1821, after the return of the Royal Family to Portugal, her remains were transferred to Lisbon and buried in a tomb in the Estrela Basilica, a church that the queen herself ordered to be built.