The Portuguese House of Burgundy ( pt, Casa de Borgonha) or the Afonsine Dynasty (''Dinastia Afonsina'') was a Portuguese dynasty that ruled the

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 kno ...

from its founding until the 1383–85 Portuguese Interregnum. The house was founded by Henry of Burgundy, who became

Count of Portugal 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, today corresp ...

in 1096. His 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 inf ...

, was proclaimed

King of Portugal This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Through the n ...

following his victory at the Battle of Ourique in 1139. Burgundian monarchs would rule Portugal through much of its early formation, including the formalization of the Portuguese language under King Dinis I, the first

Portuguese parliament The Assembly of the Republic (Portuguese: ''Assembleia da República'', ), commonly referred to as simply Parliament (Portuguese: ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral parliament of Portugal. According to the Constitution of Portugal, the parliament ...

, under King Afonso II, and the conquest of the

Kingdom of the Algarve The Kingdom of the Algarve (Portuguese: ''Reino do Algarve'', from the Arabic ''Gharb al-Andalus'' ), after 1471 Kingdom of the Algarves (Portuguese: ''Reino dos Algarves''), was a nominal kingdom within the Kingdom of Portugal, located in the sou ...

, under King Afonso III. Numerous princes of the house took up thrones across Europe, such as Ferdinand I, Count of Flanders and

Peter I, Count of Urgell Peter I ( pt, Pedro, ) (23 February 1187 - 2 June 1258) was the second son of King Sancho I of Portugal and his wife Dulce, infanta of Aragon, and would eventually become Count of Urgell and Lord of the Balearic Islands. Biography Peter was bo ...

. Similarly, many princesses became royal consorts, including Berengaria, Queen of Denmark, Leonor, Queen of Aragon, and Teresa, Duchess of Burgundy, among others.

History

Origins

Henry, Count of Portugal, a grandson in the senior line of Robert I, Duke of Burgundy, had joined the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula in the late 11th century. After conquering parts of Galicia and northern Portugal on behalf of Alfonso VI of León, he married Alfonso's illegitimate daughter, Teresa, and was given the County of Portugal as a fief under the

Kingdom of León The Kingdom of León; es, Reino de León; gl, Reino de León; pt, Reino de Leão; la, Regnum Legionense; mwl, Reino de Lhion was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 when t ...

. His son,

, became King of Portugal after defeating his mother in the Battle of São Mamede in 1128. It was only in 1179 that

Pope Alexander III Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland ( it, Rolando), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181. A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a con ...

recognized Portugal as an independent state,António Henrique R. de Oliveira Marques, ''History of Portugal: From Lusitania to Empire'', (Columbia University Press, 1972), 43. recognition, at the time, needed for total acceptance of the kingdom in the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

world. On his mother's side, Afonso I of Portugal is connected to the Jiménez dynasty, and through Sancha of León, to the Astur-Leonese dynasty, making him a descendant of Pelagius of Asturias. As the

Chronicle of Alfonso III The ''Chronicle of Alfonso III'' ( la, Chronica Adefonsi tertii regis) is a chronicle composed in the early tenth century on the order of King Alfonso III of León with the goal of showing the continuity between Visigothic Spain and the later Chris ...

identifies Pelagius as a grandson of Chindasuinth, this would make Afonso I the descendant of Liuvigild. Liuvigild was King of the Visigoths in the 6th Century a.C. (see Visigothic dynasty), who conquered the

Suebi Kingdom The Kingdom of the Suebi ( la, Regnum Suevorum), also called the Kingdom of Galicia ( la, Regnum Galicia) or Suebi Kingdom of Galicia ( la, Galicia suevorum regnum), was a Germanic post-Roman kingdom that was one of the first to separate from ...

, thus controlling most of the Iberian Peninsula (and all of what would be Portugal, - see Visigothic Kingdom). On his father's side, Afonso I of Portugal is connected to the

Capetian dynasty The Capetian dynasty (; french: Capétiens), also known as the House of France, is a dynasty of Frankish origin, and a branch of the Robertians. It is among the largest and oldest royal houses in Europe and the world, and consists of Hugh Cape ...

, a branch of the Frankish Robertians that goes back to Robert II, Count of Hesbaye in the 9th a.C.

Kings of Portugal

The kings that succeeded Afonso I continued the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula against the Moors. Afonso III conquered the Algarve and adopted the title of ''King of Portugal and the Algarve''. The borders of Portugal were defined in the

Treaty of Alcanizes A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal perso ...

(1297) when king

Dinis I Denis (, ; 9 October 1261 – 7 January 1325 in Santarém), called the Farmer King (''Rei Lavrador'') and the Poet King (''Rei Poeta''), was King of Portugal. The eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile, an ...

, son of Afonso III, started developing the kingdom's land.

Demise

In 1383 Beatrice, princess of Portugal and heir to the throne married John I of Castile. When

Ferdinand I Ferdinand I or Fernando I may refer to: People * Ferdinand I of León, ''the Great'' (ca. 1000–1065, king from 1037) * Ferdinand I of Portugal and the Algarve, ''the Handsome'' (1345–1383, king from 1367) * Ferdinand I of Aragon and Sicily, '' ...

(her father) died during the same year the kingdom entered a period of anarchy called the 1383-1385 Crisis, threatened with a possible annexation by Castile. This period ended in 1385 with the victory of the Portuguese in the Battle of Aljubarrota and a new dynasty began with John I, Master of Aviz (illegitimate son of Peter I), thus called the

House of Aviz The House of Aviz (Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Casa de Avis''), also known as the Joanine Dynasty (''Dinastia Joanina''), was a dynasty of Portuguese people, Portuguese origin which flourished during the Portuguese Renaissance, Renaissance ...

Burgundian monarchs

Ferdinand I of Portugal - Chronique d' Angleterre (Volume III) (late 15th C), f

Symbols

Coats of arms

Family tree of the Portuguese House of Burgundy

Footnotes

External links

(Portuguese) The Portuguese monarchs of Burgundy and their history
{{Royal houses of Portugal 1139 establishments in Europe 1383 disestablishments in Europe 14th-century disestablishments in Portugal 12th-century establishments in Portugal gl:Dinastía de Borgoña