The County of Portugal ( pt, Condado de Portugal, Condado Portucalense, Condado de Portucale; in documents of the period the name used was Portugalia) refers to two successive medieval counties in the region around
Braga and
Porto
Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...
, today corresponding to littoral
northern Portugal, within which the identity of the Portuguese people formed. The first county existed from the mid-ninth to the mid-eleventh centuries as a
vassal
A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerai ...
age of the
Kingdom of Asturias
The Kingdom of Asturias ( la, Asturum Regnum; ast, Reinu d'Asturies) was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the Visigothic nobleman Pelagius. It was the first Christian political entity established after the Umayyad conquest of ...
and the
Kingdom of Galicia
The Kingdom of Galicia ( gl, Reino de Galicia, or ''Galiza''; es, Reino de Galicia; pt, Reino da Galiza; la, Galliciense Regnum) was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire north ...
and also part of the
Kingdom of León, before being abolished as a result of rebellion. A larger entity under the same name was then reestablished in the late 11th century and subsequently elevated by its count in the mid-12th century into an independent
Kingdom of Portugal
The Kingdom of Portugal ( la, Regnum Portugalliae, pt, Reino de Portugal) was a monarchy in the western Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of the modern Portuguese Republic. Existing to various extents between 1139 and 1910, it was also kn ...
.
First county
The history of the county of Portugal is traditionally dated from the ''
reconquest'' of ''Portus Cale'' (
Porto
Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...
) by
Vímara Peres in 868. He was named a count and given control of the
frontier region
The Frontier Regions (often abbreviated as FR) of Pakistan were a group of small administrative units in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), lying immediately to the east of the seven main tribal agencies and west of the settled dist ...
between the
Limia
''Limia'' is a genus of livebearing fishes belonging to the Cyprinodontiform family Poeciliidae, which includes other livebearers such as platys, swordtails (genus ''Xiphophorous''), guppies and mollies (genus ''Poecilia''). They are found i ...
and
Douro rivers by
Alfonso III of Asturias
Alfonso III (20 December 910), called the Great ( es, el Magno), was the king of León, Galicia and Asturias from 866 until his death. He was the son and successor of Ordoño I. In later sources he is the earliest to be called " Emperor of Spa ...
. South of the Douro, another border county would be formed decades later when what would become the
County of Coimbra was conquered from the Moors by
Hermenegildo Guterres. This moved the frontier away from the southern bounds of the county of Portugal, but it was still subject to repeated campaigns from the
Caliphate of Córdoba
The Caliphate of Córdoba ( ar, خلافة قرطبة; transliterated ''Khilāfat Qurṭuba''), also known as the Cordoban Caliphate was an Islamic state ruled by the Umayyad dynasty from 929 to 1031. Its territory comprised Iberia and part ...
. The recapture of Coimbra by
Almanzor in 987 again placed the County of Portugal on the southern frontier of the Leonese state for most of the rest of the first county's existence. The regions to its south were only again conquered in the reign of
Ferdinand I of León and Castile
Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...
, with
Lamego falling in 1057,
Viseu in 1058 and finally
Coimbra
Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of .
The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...
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
Gonzalo Menéndez (or Gonçalo Mendes) (''fl''. 950–997) was a Count of Portugal in the Kingdom of León. He regularly carries the title count (''comes''), the highest in the kingdom, in surviving documents. He may have used the title ''magnu ...
may have used the title ''magnus dux portucalensium'' ("grand duke of Portugal") and his son
Menendo used the title ''dux magnus'' (grand duke). It could have been this Count Gonzalo who assassinated
Sancho I of León after inviting the King to a banquet and offering him a poisoned apple. Not all historians, however, believe that Gonzalo Menéndez was responsible for the king's death and some attribute the regicide to a contemporary count named Gonzalo Muñoz.
In the late 960s Gonzalo's lands were ravaged by
Vikings
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
, and in 968, he fell out with king
Ramiro III over the latter's refusal to fight the raiders. His son Menendo had close relations with Ramiro's rival and successor,
Bermudo II, being made the king's ''
alférez'' and tutor of his son, the future king
Alfonso V. Following Alfonso's succession, Menendo would serve as regent for the boy king and married him to one of Menendo's daughters.
The county continued with varying degrees of autonomy within the Kingdom of León and, during brief periods of division, the
Kingdom of Galicia
The Kingdom of Galicia ( gl, Reino de Galicia, or ''Galiza''; es, Reino de Galicia; pt, Reino da Galiza; la, Galliciense Regnum) was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire north ...
until 1071, when Count
Nuno Mendes, desiring greater autonomy for Portugal, was defeated and killed in the
Battle of Pedroso
The Battle of Pedroso was fought on 18 January 1071, in Pedroso, near Braga, Portugal.
Forces under García II, the King of Galicia, defeated those under Nuno II Mendes, the last count of Portugal of the House of Vímara Peres. Nuno Mendes die ...
by King
García II of Galicia, who then proclaimed himself the King of Galicia and Portugal, the first time a royal title was used in reference to Portugal. 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.
Second county
In 1093, Alfonso VI nominated his son-in-law
Raymond of Burgundy as count of Galicia, then including modern Portugal as far south as Coimbra, though Alfonso himself retained the title of ''king'' over the same territory. However, concern for Raymond's growing power led Alfonso in 1096 to separate Portugal and Coimbra from Galicia and grant them to another son-in-law,
Henry of Burgundy, wed to Alfonso VI's illegitimate daughter
Theresa
Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; french: Thérèse) is a feminine given name.
It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or rea ...
. Henry chose
Guimarães
Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga.
Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCWorld Heritage Sitesince 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and ...
as the base for this newly formed county, the ''Condado Portucalense'', known at the time as ''Terra Portucalense'' or ''Província Portucalense,'' which would last until Portugal achieved its independence, recognized by the
Kingdom of León in 1143. Its territory included much of the current Portuguese territory between the
Minho River and the
Tagus River
The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally west with two main south-westward sections, to ...
.
Count Henry continued the ''Reconquista'' in western Iberia and expanded his county's dominions. He was also involved in several intrigues inside the Leonese court together with his cousin Raymond and sister-in-law
Urraca of Castile, in which he supported Raymond's ascension in return for promises of autonomy or independence for Portugal. In 1111 the Muslims conquered
Santarém. When Count Henry died in 1112, the population of the County of Portugal, including the powerful families, favored independence. Henry's widow,
Theresa
Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; french: Thérèse) is a feminine given name.
It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or rea ...
, took the reins on behalf of her young son, and allied herself with Galician nobility in order to challenge her sister queen Urraca's dominance and briefly used the title Queen.
However, she was defeated by Urraca in 1121 and forced to accept a position of feudal subservience to the Leonese state. Her own son,
Afonso Henriques
Afonso I of PortugalOr also ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' ( Latin version), sometimes rendered in English as ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', depending on the Spanish or French in ...
, took the reins of the government in 1128 after routing his mother's forces in the
Battle of São Mamede, near
Guimarães
Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga.
Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCWorld Heritage Sitesince 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and ...
. After this battle, he began to exhibit a seal with a cross and the word "Portugal", and he continued to win battles, supported by the nobles of
Entre-Douro-e-Minho
Entre Douro e Minho () is one of the historical provinces of Portugal which encompassed the country's northern Atlantic seaboard between the Douro and Minho rivers. Contemporaries often referred to the province as simply "Minho". It was one of ...
. Nevertheless:
It was his triumph in the
Battle of Ourique in 1139, which led to his proclamation as King of Portugal by his troops. Finally in 1143, his nominal overlord
Alfonso VII of León and Castile
Alfonso VII (1 March 110521 August 1157), called the Emperor (''el Emperador''), became the King of Galicia in 1111 and King of León and Castile in 1126. Alfonso, born Alfonso Raimúndez, first used the title Emperor of All Spain, alongside hi ...
recognized the ''de facto'' independence of Portugal in the
Treaty of Zamora.
List of counts
;First county
*
Vímara Peres (868–873)
*
Lucídio Vimaranes (873–924)
*
Hermenegildo González
Hermenegildo González or Mendo I Gonçalves (died between 943 and 950) was a Galician count in the 10th century Kingdom of León, '' tenente'' in Deza, and the ancestor of one of the most relevant Galaico-Portuguese lineages of the Early Mid ...
(c.924–c.950)
*
Mumadona Dias (c.924–c.950)
*
Gonzalo Menéndez
Gonzalo Menéndez (or Gonçalo Mendes) (''fl''. 950–997) was a Count of Portugal in the Kingdom of León. He regularly carries the title count (''comes''), the highest in the kingdom, in surviving documents. He may have used the title ''magnu ...
(c.950–997), self-styled "Grand Duke of Portugal"
*
Menendo González Menendo González (Portuguese and Galician: ''Mendo Gonçalves''; died 6 October 1008) was a semi-autonomous Duke of Galicia and Count of Portugal (997–1008), a dominant figure in the Kingdom of León. He was the royal ''alférez'', the king's a ...
(997–1008)
*
Alvito Nunes Alvito Nunes or Aloyto Núñez (died 1015) was an 11th-century Count of Portugal. Following the death of Menendo González in 1008, he governed the county jointly with Toda, count Menendo's widow.
Alvito Nunes was killed by Vikings during a bloody ...
(1008–1015)
*
Nuno Alvites Nuno Alvites, also referred to as Nuno or Nuño Aloitiz (''fl.'' 10171028), was a count of Portugal, a descendant of the first count, Vímara Peres as the son of Count Alvito Nunes and Gontina.
His presence is recorded for the first time in 1017. ...
(1017–1028)
*
Ilduara Mendes Ilduara Mendes or Ilduara Menéndez (attested 10251058), was a Countess of Portugal, and regent of Portugal during the minority of her son.
Life
Daughter of Count Menendo González and his wife Tutadomna Moniz, Ilduara had several brothers and s ...
(1017–1028, as regent for son)
*
Mendo Nunes Mendo Nunes (Spanish: Menendo Núñez; (1020/10281050/1054) was a Count of Portugal from the family of Vímara Peres as the son of Nuno Alvites and Ilduara Mendes.
Biographical sketch
Mendo succeeded his father, who died in 1028, in the governanc ...
(1028–1050)
*
Nuno Mendes (1050–1071)
;Second county
*
Henry (1096–1112)
*
Theresa
Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; french: Thérèse) is a feminine given name.
It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or rea ...
(1096-1128)
*
Afonso (1128–1143)
;Family tree
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:County of Portugal
County of Portugal
History of Portugal by polity
9th century in Portugal
10th century in Portugal
11th century in Portugal
12th century in Portugal
States and territories established in the 860s
States and territories disestablished in 1139
868 establishments
1139 disestablishments in Europe
9th-century establishments in Portugal
12th-century disestablishments in Europe
Reconquista
Kingdom of Asturias