Theresa, Countess Of Portugal
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Theresa (
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
: ''Teresa'';
Galician-Portuguese Galician-Portuguese ( gl, galego-portugués or ', pt, galego-português or ), also known as Old Portuguese or as Medieval Galician when referring to the history of each modern language, was a West Iberian languages, West Iberian Romance languag ...
: ''Tareja'' or ''Tareixa'';
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
: ''Tarasia'') (1080 – 11 November 1130) was Countess of
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
, and for a time claimant to be its independent Queen. She rebelled against her half-sister Queen
Urraca of León and Castile Urraca (also spelled ''Hurraca'', ''Urracha'' and ''Hurracka'' in medieval Latin) is a female first name. In Spanish, the name means magpie, derived perhaps from Latin ''furax'', meaning "thievish", in reference to the magpie's tendency to collect ...
. She was recognised as Queen by
Pope Paschal II Pope Paschal II ( la, Paschalis II; 1050  1055 – 21 January 1118), born Ranierius, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 August 1099 to his death in 1118. A monk of the Abbey of Cluny, he was cre ...
in 1116, but was captured and forced to accept Portugal's vassalage to León in 1121, being allowed to keep her royal title. Her political alliance and amorous liaison with Galician nobleman
Fernando Pérez de Traba Fernando (or Fernán) Pérez de Traba (''c''.1090–1 November 1155), also Fernão Peres de Trava ( or ) in Portuguese, was a nobleman and count of the Kingdom of León who for a time held power over all Galicia. He became the lover of Countess T ...
led to her being ousted by her 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 ...
, who with the support of the Portuguese nobility and clergy, defeated her at the
Battle of São Mamede The Battle of São Mamede ( pt, Batalha de São Mamede, ) took place on 24 June 1128 near Guimarães and is considered the seminal event for the foundation of the Kingdom of Portugal and the battle that ensured Portugal's Independence. Portugues ...
in 1128.


Birth and marriage

Teresa was the
illegitimate Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as '' ...
daughter of King
Alfonso VI of León and Castile Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsul ...
by
Jimena Muñoz Jimena Muñoz or Muñiz (died 1128) was a noblewoman from the El Bierzo region of the medieval Kingdom of León, the mistress of king Alfonso VI of León and Castile during the late 1070s and early 1080s. By him she was mother of two countesses a ...
. In 1093, her father married her to a French nobleman, Henry of Burgundy, who was a nephew of Queen
Constance Constance may refer to: Places *Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English *Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada * Constance, Kentucky * Constance, Minnesota * Constance (Portugal) * Mount Constance, Washington State People * Consta ...
, a brother of the Duke of Burgundy, and a descendant of the kings of France in the male line. Henry was providing military assistance to his father-in-law against the Muslims on the Portuguese march. Between the years 1096 and 1105, Henry and his cousin
Raymond of Burgundy Raymond of Burgundy (c. 1070 – 24 May 1107) was the ruler of Galicia as vassal of Alfonso VI of León and Castile, the Emperor of All Spain, from about 1090 until his death. He was the fourth son of Count William I of Burgundy and Stephanie. ...
, husband of Queen
Urraca Urraca (also spelled ''Hurraca'', ''Urracha'' and ''Hurracka'' in medieval Latin) is a female first name. In Spanish, the name means magpie, derived perhaps from Latin ''furax'', meaning "thievish", in reference to the magpie's tendency to collec ...
, reached an agreement whereby each swore under oath that Raymond would give Henry the kingdom of Toledo and one-third of the royal treasury after King Alfonso's death and, if that was not possible, Henry would receive the kingdom of Galicia, while Henry, in turn, promised to support his cousin Raymond in securing all of the king's dominions and two-thirds of the treasury. Historians who date the pact closer to 1096 hypothesize that King Alfonso, after becoming aware of this covenant, appointed Henry governor of all the land between the
Minho River The Minho ( , ) or Miño ( , , ; cel-x-proto, Miniu) is the longest river in Galicia, sharing the border with Portugal, with a length of . By discharge, it is the fourth river of the Iberian peninsula, after the Douro, Ebro, and Tagus. The Min ...
and Santarém, governed until then by Raymond, thereby limiting his son-in-law's government to Galicia. The two cousins then, instead of being allies, would have become rivals, each vying to obtain the king's favor. Other historians however have showed that the pact could not have been made before 1103, several years after the two counts had been granted their respective title, with Henry's appointment answering the need for military command in the southwest. Upon the death of King Alfonso, Henry and Teresa continued governing these lands south of the Minho and extending to the Mondego river and valley, and later, in December 1111, under the reign of Queen Urraca, were also governing Zamora.


Reign


Struggle with sister

At first, Teresa and Henry were
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 suzerain. W ...
s of her father, but Alfonso VI died in 1109, leaving his legitimate daughter, Queen
Urraca of Castile Urraca (also spelled ''Hurraca'', ''Urracha'' and ''Hurracka'' in medieval Latin) is a female first name. In Spanish, the name means magpie, derived perhaps from Latin ''furax'', meaning "thievish", in reference to the magpie's tendency to collect ...
as the heir to the throne. Henry invaded León, hoping to add it to his lands. When he died in 1112, Teresa was left to deal with the military and political situation. She took on the responsibility of government, and occupied herself at first mainly with her southern lands, that had only recently been reconquered from the
Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...
as far as the
Mondego River The Rio Mondego () or Mondego River is the longest river entirely within Portuguese territory. It has its source in Serra da Estrela, the highest mountain range in mainland Portugal (i.e. excluding the Portuguese islands). It runs from the Go ...
. In recognizing her victory in defending
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 Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...
, she was called "Queen" by
Pope Paschal II Pope Paschal II ( la, Paschalis II; 1050  1055 – 21 January 1118), born Ranierius, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 August 1099 to his death in 1118. A monk of the Abbey of Cluny, he was cre ...
and in light of this recognition, she appears in her documents as "Daughter of Alphonso and elected by God", explicitly being called queen in an 1117 document, leading some to refer to her as the first monarch of
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
. Pope Paschal II referred to her as queen in the papal bull ''FRATRUM NOSTRUM'' issued on 18 June 1116. In 1116, in an effort to expand her power, Teresa fought her half-sister, Queen Urraca. They fought again in 1120, as she continued to pursue a larger share in the Leonese inheritance, and allied herself as a widow to the most powerful Galician nobleman for that effect. This was Fernando Pérez, Count of Traba, who had rejected his first wife to openly marry her, and served her on her southern border of the Mondego. In 1121, she was besieged and captured at
Lanhoso Lanhoso is a Portuguesa Freguesia in the Municipality of Póvoa de Lanhoso Póvoa de Lanhoso (, ) is a municipality in the district of Braga, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 21,886, in an area of 134.65 km². The present Mayor is Aveli ...
, on her northern border with Galicia, while fighting her sister Urraca. A negotiated peace was coordinated with aid from the Archbishops of
Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of St ...
and
Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
. The terms included that Teresa could go free only if she held the County of Portugal as a vassal of the Kingdom of León as she had received it initially.


Rebellions

By 1128, the Archbishop of Braga and the main Portuguese feudal nobles had had enough of her persistent Galician alliance, which the first feared could favour the ecclesiastical pretensions of his new rival, the Galician Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, Diego Gelmírez, who had just started to assert his pretensions to an alleged discovery of relics of Saint James in his town, as his way to gain power and riches over the other cathedrals in the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
. The Portuguese nobles and warlords rebelled, and the Queen was deposed after a short civil war. Her son and heir, Afonso, defeated Teresa's troops at the
Battle of São Mamede The Battle of São Mamede ( pt, Batalha de São Mamede, ) took place on 24 June 1128 near Guimarães and is considered the seminal event for the foundation of the Kingdom of Portugal and the battle that ensured Portugal's Independence. Portugues ...
near Guimarães and led her, along with the Count of Traba and their children, into exile in 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 ...
, near the Portuguese border, where the Traba had founded the monastery of Toxos Outos. Teresa died soon afterwards in 1130. She was succeeded by her son, who would eventually lead Portugal into becoming a fully independent kingdom, and later, nation state.


Issue

By
Henry, Count of Portugal Henry ( Portuguese: ''Henrique'', French: ''Henri''; c. 10661112), Count of Portugal, was the first member of the Capetian House of Burgundy to rule Portugal and the father of the country's first king, Afonso Henriques. Biographical sketch Fa ...
, Teresa had: * Urraca of Portugal (born c. 1095-after 1169), wife of
Bermudo Pérez de Traba Bermudo Pérez de Traba (died 1168), the eldest son of Count Pedro Fróilaz de Traba and his first wife Urraca Fróilaz, was a member of the most important Middle Ages, medieval lineage in Galicia, Spain, Galicia. He governed as a ''Tenant-in-chie ...
, son of count Pedro Fróilaz, with issue; * Sancha of Portugal (1097–1163). On 15 July 1129, the abbess of the Monastery of San Salvador de Ferreira de Panton acquired from Mendo Núñez and from his brother Sancho Núñez and his wife, Infanta Sancha Henriques, some properties in Estriz. One of their daughters, María Sánchez, was the abbess of the Monastery of San Salvador de Sobrado de Trives. They were also the parents of Velasco, Gil, Fernando, and Teresa Sánchez. She married, after being widowed, Fernando Mendes de Bragança, without any issue from this second marriage; * Teresa of Portugal (born c. 1098); * Henry of Portugal (1106–1110); *
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 ...
, (1109–1185), the first
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 ...
, named after his maternal grandfather, perhaps as "a reminder that the blood of the Emperor of all Hispania also ran through the veins of this grandson"; She had two daughters with count
Fernando Pérez de Traba Fernando (or Fernán) Pérez de Traba (''c''.1090–1 November 1155), also Fernão Peres de Trava ( or ) in Portuguese, was a nobleman and count of the Kingdom of León who for a time held power over all Galicia. He became the lover of Countess T ...
: *
Teresa Fernández de Traba Teresa Fernández de Traba (died 6 February 1180 in León) was the Queen consort of León (1178–1180) during the reign of Ferdinand II. Family Teresa was the illegitimate daughter of Theresa, Countess of Portugal Theresa ( Portugu ...
(d. 1180) wife of count
Nuño Pérez de Lara Nuño Pérez de Lara (died 3 August 1177) was a Castilian nobleman, politician and military leader. He began his career at the court of the Emperor Alfonso VII, during whose reign he took part in the ''repoblación'' of the Extremadura and the d ...
and, when widowed, the second wife of King
Ferdinand II of León Ferdinand II (c. 1137 – 22 January 1188), was a member of the Castilian cadet branch of the House of Ivrea and King of León and Galicia from 1157 until his death. Life Family Born in Toledo, Castile, Ferdinand was the third but second surv ...
. * Sancha Fernández de Traba (d. after March 1181). Married before 1150 count Álvaro Rodríguez de Sarria, with issue. After being widowed, she became the second wife of count
Pedro Alfonso ''Pulcher ut Absalon, virtute potens quasi Sanson, instructisque bonis, documenta tenet Salomonis''. " edrois handsome as Absalom, as strong as Samson, and he possesses the wisdom of Solomon."     —'' Poema de Almería'', ...
and, widowed again, married count Gonzalo Ruiz; without any issue from these two marriages.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Teresa of Leon, Countess of Portugal 1080 births 1130 deaths 11th-century women rulers 12th-century women rulers 11th-century Portuguese women House of Jiménez House of Burgundy Burials at Braga Cathedral Counts of Portugal (Asturias-León) People of the Reconquista Regents of Portugal Illegitimate children of Alfonso VI County of Portugal Women in medieval European warfare 12th-century counts of Portugal (Asturias-León) Women in 12th-century warfare 12th-century Portuguese women Daughters of emperors Daughters of kings