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Amalasuintha | Regent | Regent
According to Procopius, the Goth aristocracy wanted Athalaric to be raised in the Gothic manner, but Amalasuintha wanted him to resemble the Roman princes. Amalasuintha had close ties to the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, which would have made her adherence to Roman learning and customs especially objectionable to her fellow Goths. The regency lasted until 534, when Athalaric died from what was most likely the combination of excessive drinking (a part of Gothic culture) and a disease, probably diabetes. In order to secure the power in the Amali name, Amalasuintha created the consortium regni that allowed her to continue to rule as queen while still presenting a public face that honored conservative Gothic tradition. She then appointed her older cousin Theodahad to rule as co-regent, in which Amalasuintha would play the male character and Theodahad would play the woman, as male and female monarchs sharing powers. Masculinity is the main characteristic attributed to Amalasuintha by Procopius and Cassiodorus, because she had a strong determination and temperament.
Her tremendous influence in her position as regent can be seen in a diptych of Rufius Gennadius Probus Orestes in which she appears alongside her son, Athalaric, in 530. Deeply imbued with the old Roman culture, she gave to her son's education a more refined and literary turn than suited her Goth subjects. Conscious of her unpopularity, she banished – and afterwards put to death – three Gothic nobles whom she suspected of conspiring against her rule. At the same time, she opened negotiations with Justinian, with the view of removing herself and the Gothic treasure to Constantinople. |
Amalasuintha | Queen regnant | Queen regnant
After Athalaric's death, Amalasuintha became queen and ruled alone for a short while before making her cousin Theodahad co-ruler with the intent of strengthening her position. Theodahad was a prominent leader of the Gothic military aristocracy that opposed her pro-Roman stances, and Amalasuintha believed this duumvirate might make supporters from her harshest critics. Instead Theodahad fostered the disaffection of the Goths, and had Amalasuintha imprisoned on the island of Martana in Lake Bolsena. |
Amalasuintha | Death | Death
While imprisoned by her co-regent Theodahad, Amalasuintha was murdered while bathing on 30 April 535. The death of Amalasuintha was used by Justinian I as a reason to go to war with the Ostrogoths and attempt to reclaim Italy for the Roman Empire. According to the Eastern Roman historian Procopius, Amalasuintha was thinking about handing over Italy to Justinian around the time of her death. There is some evidence to suggest that the Byzantine Empress Theodora arranged to have Amalasuintha murdered, by conspiring with Theodahad through Justinian's ambassador Peter the Illyrian. Procopius believed that Theodora viewed Amalasuintha as a potential love rival and threat to her position as Empress. However, modern scholarship has contended that Theodora was acting on Justinian's behalf in arranging Amalasuintha's murder as it gave him clear justification to attack Theodahad.
In 536, Theodahad was deposed by Witigis, who had forcibly married Amalasuintha's daughter Matasuntha. With the people's support, Witigis had Theodahad put to death. |
Amalasuintha | Sources | Sources
The letters of Cassiodorus, chief minister and literary adviser of Amalasuintha, and the histories of Procopius and Jordanes, give us our chief information as to the character of Amalasuintha. Cassiodorus was a part of a greater pro-Roman party that desired to Romanize the traditional Ostrogothic kingship, further evidence of the pro-Roman circle that Amalasuintha surrounded herself with. |
Amalasuintha | Legacy | Legacy
thumb|upright|Amalasiuntha regina – woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493) |
Amalasuintha | Arts | Arts
The life of Amalasuintha was made the subject of a tragedy, the first play written by the young Carlo Goldoni and presented at Milan in 1733.
Romanian poet George Coșbuc wrote a poem entitled Regina Ostrogoților (The Queen of the Ostrogoths) in which Amalasuintha (as Amalasunda) speaks to Theodahad (mentioned as Teodat in the poem) shortly before he kills her.
Amalasuintha is portrayed by Honor Blackman in the 1968 film Kampf um Rom. Her character is suffocated to death in a locked bath house. |
Amalasuintha | Eponymy | Eponymy
Asteroid 650 Amalasuntha is named in her honour. Ranunculus amalasuinthae is a microspecies of Ranunculus auricomus known from Pomerania, among others from a site situated not far from the cemetery of Goths near Grzybnica. |
Amalasuintha | References | References |
Amalasuintha | Further reading | Further reading
Craddock, Jonathan Paul. Amalasuintha: Ostrogothic Successor, A.D. 526–535. PhD diss. California State University, Long Beach, 1996.
Vitiello, Massimiliano. Amalasuintha: The Transformation of Queenship in the Post-Roman World. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018.
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:535 deaths
Category:6th-century women monarchs
Category:Ostrogothic queens consort
Category:Ostrogothic kings
Category:Amali dynasty
Category:6th-century monarchs in Europe
Category:6th-century murdered monarchs
Category:6th-century Ostrogothic people
Category:6th-century Italian women
Category:6th-century Christians
Category:6th-century scholars
Category:Women scholars and academics
Category:Scholars of Latin literature
Category:Scholars of Greek language
Category:Queens regnant in Europe
Category:6th-century kings of Italy
Category:6th-century women regents
Category:6th-century regents |
Amalasuintha | Table of Content | short description, Family, Rule, Regent, Queen regnant, Death, Sources, Legacy, Arts, Eponymy, References, Further reading |
Amalric of Bena | Short description | Amalric of Bena (; ; died ) was a French theologian, philosopher and sect leader, after whom the Amalricians are named. Reformers such as Martin Luther considered him to be a proto-Protestant. |
Amalric of Bena | Biography | Biography
Amalric was born in the latter part of the 12th century at Bennes, a village between Ollé and Chauffours in the diocese of Chartres.
Amalric taught philosophy and theology at the University of Paris and enjoyed a great reputation as a subtle dialectician; his lectures developing the philosophy of Aristotle attracted a large audience. In 1204 his doctrines were condemned by the university and, on a personal appeal to Pope Innocent III, the sentence was ratified, Amalric being ordered to return to Paris and recant his errors.
His death was caused, it is said, by grief at the humiliation to which he had been subjected.
In 1209, ten of his followers were burnt before the gates of Paris and Amalric's own body was exhumed and burnt and the ashes given to the winds. The doctrines of his followers, known as the Amalricians, were formally condemned by the fourth Lateran Council in 1215. |
Amalric of Bena | Propositions | Propositions
Amalric appears to have derived his philosophical system from a selective reading of Eriugena, whose expressions he developed in a one-sided and strongly pantheistic form.
Only three propositions can be attributed to him with certainty:
that God is all (omnia sunt deus) and thus all things are one because whatever is, is God (omnia unum, quia quidquid est, est Deus);
that every Christian is bound to believe that he is a member of the body of Christ, and that this belief is necessary for salvation;
that he who remains in love of God can commit no sin.
Because of the first proposition, God himself is thought to be invisible and only recognizable in his creation.
These three propositions were further developed by his followers, who maintained that God revealed Himself in a threefold revelation, the first in the Biblical patriarch Abraham, marking the epoch of the Father; the second in Jesus Christ, who began the epoch of the Son; and the third in Amalric and his disciples, who inaugurated the era of the Holy Ghost.
Amalricians taught:
Hell is ignorance, therefore Hell is within all men, "like a bad tooth in a mouth";
God is identical with all that is, even evil belongs to God and proves God's omnipotence;
A man who knows that God works through everything cannot sin, because every human act is then the act of God;
A man who recognizes the truth that God works through everything is already in Heaven and this is the only resurrection. There is no other life; man's fulfillment is in this life alone.
Due to persecutions, this sect does not appear to have long survived the death of its founder. Not long after the burning of ten of their members (1210), the sect itself lost its importance, while some of the surviving Amalricians became Brethren of the Free Spirit. (German)
According to Hosea Ballou, then Pierre Batiffol and George T. Knight"Apocatastasis". New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. I. (1914) Amalric believed that all people would eventually be saved and this was one of the counts upon which he was declared a heretic by Pope Innocent III. |
Amalric of Bena | See also | See also
Brethren of the Free Spirit |
Amalric of Bena | References | References
Attribution:
This cites:
W. Preger, Geschichte der deutschen Mystik im Mittelalter (Leipzig, 1874, i. 167–173)
Hauréau, Histoire de la phil. scol. (Paris, 1872)
C. Schmidt, Histoire de l'Église d'Occident pendant le moyen âge (Paris, 1885)
Hefele, Conciliengeschichte (2nd ed., Freiburg, 1886)
|
Amalric of Bena | Sources | Sources
Christoph Ulrich Hahn: Geschichte der Ketzer im Mittelalter, Vol. 3 (Stuttgart, 1850)
Arno Borst: Religiöse und geistige Bewegungen im Hochmittelalter, Propyläen Weltgeschichte, Ullstein 1963, Vol. 5, p. 537
Friedrich Heer Medieval World Europe 1100-1350
Capelle, G. C., Amaury de Bène, étude sur son panthéisme formel (Paris, 1932).
Russell, J. B., The Influence of Amalric of Bene in Thirteenth Century Pantheism (Berkeley, 1957).
Category:1200s deaths
Category:12th-century births
Category:Medieval Christian universalists
Category:12th-century Christian mystics
Category:Christian universalist theologians
Category:Roman Catholic mystics
Category:Pantheists
Category:Scholastic philosophers
Category:12th-century French philosophers
Category:12th-century Christian theologians |
Amalric of Bena | Table of Content | Short description, Biography, Propositions, See also, References, Sources |
Afonso I of Portugal | Short description | Dom Afonso IOr 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 influence. (born Afonso Henriques; 1106/1109/1111December 6, 1185) nicknamed "the Conqueror" () and "the Founder" () by the Portuguese, was the first king of Portugal, from 26 July 1139 until his death on 6 December 1185. He achieved the independence of the County of Portugal, establishing a new kingdom and doubling its area with the , an objective that he pursued until his death.
Afonso was the son of Theresa of León and Henry of Burgundy, rulers of the County of Portugal. Henry died in 1112, leaving Theresa to rule alone. Unhappy with Theresa's romantic relationship with Galician Fernando Pérez de Traba and his political influence, the Portuguese nobility rallied around Afonso, who revolted and defeated his mother at the Battle of São Mamede in 1128 and became sole Count of Portugal soon afterwards. In 1139, Afonso renounced the suzerainty of the Kingdom of León and established the independent Kingdom of Portugal.
Afonso actively campaigned against the Moors in the south. In 1139 he won a decisive victory at the Battle of Ourique, and in 1147 he seized Santarém and Lisbon from the Moors, with help from men on their way to the Holy Land for the Second Crusade. He secured the independence of Portugal following a victory over León at Valdevez and received papal approval through Manifestis Probatum. Afonso died in 1185 and was succeeded by his son, Sancho I. |
Afonso I of Portugal | Early life | Early life
Afonso was the son of Theresa, the illegitimate daughter of King Alfonso VI of León, and her husband, Henry of Burgundy. He was the youngest of 4 children, with the oldest being Urraca Henriques. According to the the future Portuguese king was born in Guimarães, which was at the time the most important political centre of his parents. This was accepted by most Portuguese scholars until 1990, when Torquato de Sousa Soares proposed Coimbra, the centre of the county of Coimbra and another political centre of Afonso's progenitors, as his birthplace, which caused outrage in Guimarães and a polemic between this historian and José Hermano Saraiva. Almeida Fernandes later proposed Viseu as the birthplace of Afonso based on the , which states Afonso was born in 1109, a position followed by historian José Mattoso in his biography of the king, regardless of this, it is widely accepted that Afonso was born in Guimarães. Abel Estefânio has suggested a different date and thesis, proposing 1106 as the birth date and the region of Tierra de Campos or even Sahagún as likely birthplaces based on the known itineraries of Henry and Theresa. His place of baptism is also under suspicion: according to tradition the place is indicated as being in the Church of São Miguel do Castelo, in Guimarães; however, there are doubts because of the date of the consecration of the Church, made in 1239. There are those who argue that the baptism actually took place in the Cathedral of Braga where he was baptised by Primate Archbishop Saint Gerald of Braga, which is politically sound for Count Henry to have the highest-ranking clergy baptise his heir.
Henry and Theresa reigned jointly as count and countess of Portugal until his death on 22 May 1112 during the siege of Astorga, after which Theresa ruled Portugal as a widow. Both women, Countess Theresa and Queen Urraca, ruled alone after the deaths of their immigrant husbands, ostensibly in defence of their young children, but also in their own right. Theresa would proclaim herself queen (a claim recognised by Pope Paschal II in 1116) but was captured and forced to reaffirm her vassalage to her half-sister, Urraca of León.
It is not known who was the tutor of Afonso. Later traditions, probably started with João Soares Coelho (a bastard descendant of Egas Moniz through a female line) in the mid-13th century and ampliated by later chronicles such as the , asserted he had been Egas Moniz de Ribadouro, possibly with the help of oral memories that associated the tutor to the house of Ribadouro. Yet, contemporary documents, namely from the chancery of Afonso in his early years as count of Portucale, indicate according to Mattoso that the most likely tutor of Afonso Henriques was Egas Moniz's oldest brother, Ermígio Moniz, who, besides being the senior brother within the family of Ribadouro, became the "dapifer" and "majordomus" of Afonso I from 1128 until his death in 1135, which indicates his closer proximity to the prince.
In an effort to pursue a larger share in the Leonese inheritance, his mother Theresa joined forces with Fernando Pérez de Trava, the most powerful count in Galicia. The Portuguese nobility disliked the alliance between Galicia and Portugal and rallied around Afonso. The Archbishop of Braga, Maurice Bourdin, was also concerned with the dominance of Galicia, apprehensive of the ecclesiastical pretensions of his new rival the Galician Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, Diego Gelmírez, who had claimed an alleged discovery of relics of Saint James in his town, as a way to gain power and riches over the other cathedrals in the Iberian Peninsula. In order to stop her son Afonso from overthrowing her, Theresa exiled him when he was twelve in the year 1120. In 1122, Afonso turned fourteen, the adult age in the 12th century. In symmetry with his cousin, Afonso made himself a knight on his own account in the Cathedral of Zamora in 1125. After the military campaign of Alfonso VII against his mother in 1127, Afonso revolted against her and proceeded to take control of the county from its queen. |
Afonso I of Portugal | Path to sole rulership | Path to sole rulership
right|thumb|Statue of Afonso Henriques in Guimarães, Portugal
In 1128, near Guimarães at the Battle of São Mamede, Afonso and his supporters overcame troops under both his mother and her lover, Count Fernando Pérez de Traba of Galicia. Afonso exiled his mother to Galicia, and took over rule of the County of Portucale. Thus the possibility of re-incorporating Portucale into a Kingdom of Portugal and Galicia as before was eliminated and Afonso became sole ruler following demands for greater independence from the county's church and nobles. The battle was mostly ignored by the Leonese suzerain, who was occupied at the time with a revolt in Castile. He was also, most likely, waiting for the reaction of the Galician families. After Theresa's death in 1131, Alfonso VII of León proceeded to demand vassalage from his cousin. On 6 April 1129, Afonso Henriques dictated the writ in which he proclaimed himself Prince of Portugal or Prince of the Portuguese, an act informally allowed by Alfonso VII, as it was thought to be Afonso Henriques's right by blood, as one of two grandsons of the Emperor of Hispania.
Afonso then turned his arms against the persistent problem of the Moors in the south. His campaigns were successful and, on 25 July 1139, he obtained an overwhelming victory in the Battle of Ourique, and straight after was (possibly unanimously) proclaimed King of the Portuguese by his soldiers, establishing his equality in rank to the other realms of the Peninsula, although the first reference to his royal title dates from 1140. The first assembly of the Portuguese Cortes convened at Lamego (wherein he would have been given the crown from the Archbishop of Braga, to confirm his independence) is a 17th-century embellishment of Portuguese history. |
Afonso I of Portugal | Reign | Reign
Complete independence from Alfonso VII of León's suzerainty, however, could not be achieved by military means alone. The County of Portugal still had to be acknowledged diplomatically by the neighboring lands as a kingdom and, most importantly, by the Catholic Church and the pope. Afonso wed Mafalda of Savoy, daughter of Count Amadeus III of Savoy, and sent ambassadors to Rome to negotiate with the pope. He succeeded in renouncing the suzerainty of his cousin, Alfonso VII of León, becoming instead a vassal of the papacy, as the kings of Sicily and Aragon had done before him.
thumb|King Afonso I at the Siege of Lisbon (oil on canvas by Joaquim Rodrigues Braga)
In Portugal he built several monasteries and convents and bestowed important privileges to religious orders. He is notably the builder of Alcobaça Monastery, to which he called the Cistercian Order of his uncle Bernard of Clairvaux of Burgundy. In 1143, he wrote to Pope Innocent II to declare himself and the kingdom servants of the church, swearing to pursue driving the Moors out of the Iberian Peninsula. Bypassing any king of León, Afonso declared himself the direct liege man of the papacy. Afonso continued to distinguish himself by his exploits against the Moors, from whom he wrested Santarém (see Conquest of Santarém) and Lisbon in 1147 (see Siege of Lisbon). He also conquered an important part of the land south of the Tagus River, although this was lost again to the Moors in the following years.
Meanwhile, King Alfonso VII of León regarded the independent ruler of Portugal as nothing but a rebel. Conflict between the two was constant and bitter in the following years. Afonso became involved in a war, taking the side of the Aragonese king, an enemy of Castile. To ensure the alliance, his son Sancho was engaged to Dulce of Aragon. Finally after winning the Battle of Valdevez, the Treaty of Zamora (1143) established peace between the cousins and the recognition by the Kingdom of León that Portugal was a fully independent kingdom.
In 1169 the now old King Afonso was possibly disabled in an engagement near Badajoz, by a fall from his horse and slamming against the castle gate, and made prisoner by the soldiers of King Ferdinand II of León, his son-in-law. He spent months at the hot springs of São Pedro do Sul, but never recovered and from this time onward the Portuguese king never rode a horse again. However, it is not certain if this was because of the disability: according to the later Portuguese chronistic tradition, this happened because Afonso would have to surrender himself again to Ferdinand or risk war between the two kingdoms if he ever rode a horse again. Portugal was obliged to surrender as his ransom almost all the conquests Afonso had made in Galicia (north of the Minho River) in the previous years. This event became known in Portuguese history as the Disaster of Badajoz (o Desastre de Badajoz).
thumb|Afonso at the Battle of Ourique witnessing the Miracle of the Cross (dated 1793 by Domigos Sequeira)
In 1179 the privileges and favors given to the Catholic Church were compensated. With consistent effort by several parties, such as the primate archbishop of Braga, Paio Mendes, in the papal court, the papal bull Manifestis Probatum was promulgated accepting the new king as vassal to the pope exclusively. In it Pope Alexander III also acknowledged Afonso as king and Portugal as an independent kingdom with the right to conquer lands from the Moors.
In 1184, the Almohad caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf rallied a great Almohad force to retaliate against the Portuguese raids done since the end of a five-year truce in 1178 and besieged Santarém, which was defended by Afonso's son Sancho. The Almohad siege failed when news arrived the archbishop of Compostella had come to the defense of the city and Fernando II of León himself with his army. The Almohads ended the siege and their retreat turned into a rout due to panic in their camp, with the Almohad caliph being injured in the process (according to one version, because of a crossbow bolt) and dying on the way back to Seville. Afonso died shortly after on 6 December 1185. The Portuguese revere him as a hero, both on account of his personal character and as the founder of their nation. There are mythical stories that it took ten men to carry his sword, and that Afonso wanted to engage other monarchs in personal combat, but no one would dare accept his challenge. It is also told, despite his honourable character, that he had a temper. Several chronicles give the example of a papal legate that brought a message from Pope Paschal II refusing to acknowledge Afonso's claim as king: either after committing or saying a small offense against him or after being simply read the letter, Afonso almost killed, in his rage, the papal representative, and it took several Portuguese nobles and soldiers to physically restrain the young would-be king. |
Afonso I of Portugal | Scientific research | Scientific research
thumb|right|Tomb of Afonso Henriques in the Santa Cruz Monastery in Coimbra
In July 2006, the tomb of the king (which is located in the Santa Cruz Monastery in Coimbra) was to be opened for scientific purposes by researchers from the University of Coimbra (Portugal) and the University of Granada (Spain). The opening of the tomb provoked considerable concern among some sectors of Portuguese society and Portuguese State Agency for Architectural Patrimony (Instituto Português do Património Arquitectónico – IPPAR) halted the opening, requesting more protocols from the scientific team because of the importance of the king in the nation's heart and public thought.IPPAR: direcção nacional diz que não foi consultada sobre abertura do túmulo de D. Afonso Henriques , Público, 6 July 2006. Retrieved December 2006 (in Portuguese)n:Portuguese Culture Ministry suspends opening of Afonso I's tomb |
Afonso I of Portugal | Family | Family
In 1146, Afonso married Mafalda, daughter of Amadeus III, Count of Savoy and Mahaut of Albon, both appearing together for the first time in May of that year confirming royal charters. They had the following issue:
Henry (5 March 1147 – 1155) named after his paternal grandfather, Henry, Count of Portugal, he died when he was only eight years old. Despite being just a child he represented his father at a council in Toledo at the age of three;
Urraca (1148–1211), married King Ferdinand II of León and was the mother of King Alfonso IX. The marriage was subsequently annulled in 1171 or 1172 and she retired in Zamora, one of the villas that she had received as part of her arras, and later at the Monastery of Santa María in Wamba, Valladolid where she was buried;
Teresa (1151–1218), countess consort of Flanders due to her marriage to Philip I and duchess consort of Burgundy through her second marriage to Odo III;
Mafalda (1153after 1162). In January 1160, her father and Ramón Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, negotiated the marriage of Mafalda to Alfonso, future King Alfonso II of Aragon who at that time was three or four years old. After the death of Ramón Berenguer IV in the summer of 1162, King Ferdinand II of León convinced his widow, Queen Petronilla, to cancel the infante's wedding plans with Mafalda and for Alfonso to marry instead Sancha, daughter of Alfonso VII of León and his second wife Queen Richeza of Poland. Mafalda died in her childhood at an unrecorded date.
Sancho, the future King Sancho I of Portugal (11 November 115426 March 1211). He was baptised with the name of Martin for having been born on the saint's feast day;
John (1156–25 August 1164); and
Sancha (1157–14 February 1166/67), born ten days before the death of her mother, Sancha died before reaching the age of ten on 14 February according to the death registry at the Monastery of Santa Cruz (Coimbra) where she was buried.
Before his marriage to Mafalda, King Afonso fathered his first son with Chamoa Gómez, daughter of Count Gómez Núñez and Elvira Pérez, sister of Fernando and Bermudo Pérez de Traba:
Afonso (1140–1207). Born around 1140, according to recent investigations, he is the same person as the one often called Fernando Afonso who was the alferes-mor of the king and later Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller. His presence in the court is first recorded in 1159. In 1169 he succeeded as alferes-mor his half-brother, Pedro Pais da Maia, the legitimate son of his mother and Paio Soares da Maia.
The extramarital offspring by Elvira Gálter were:
Urraca Afonso. In 1185, her father gave her Avô, stipulating that this villa was to be inherited only by the children that she had with her husband Pedro Afonso de Ribadouro (also known as Pedro Afonso Viegas), grandson of Egas Moniz, which could indicate another previous or subsequent marriage. In 1187, she exchanged with her half-brother, King Sancho, this villa for Aveiro. She died after 1216, the year she made a donation to the Monastery of Tarouca.
Teresa Afonso. In some genealogies she appears as the daughter of Elvira Gálter, and in others as the daughter of Chamoa Gómez. Her first marriage was with Sancho Nunes de Barbosa with whom she had a daughter, Urraca Sanches, who married Gonçalo Mendes de Sousa, the father of Mendo Gonçalves de Sousa known as "Sousão". Her second husband was Fernando Martins Bravo, Lord of Bragança and Chaves, with no issue from this marriage.
King Afonso was also the father of:
Pedro Afonso (died after 1183), Lord of Arega and Pedrógão, mayor of Abrantes in 1179, alferes of King Afonso I between 1181 and 1183, and Master of the Order of Aviz. |
Afonso I of Portugal | See also | See also
Gallaecia
History of Portugal
Timeline of Portuguese history
List of Knights Templar
Portugal in the Middle Ages
Portugal in the Reconquista
Vitória S.C.
Afonso Henriques Theatre
Afonso Henriques Stadium
Alameda Dom Afonso Henriques [pt]
Avenida Dom Afonso Henriques |
Afonso I of Portugal | Notes | Notes |
Afonso I of Portugal | References | References |
Afonso I of Portugal | Bibliography | Bibliography
Category:Portuguese Roman Catholics
Category:Portuguese people of French descent
Category:Portuguese people of Spanish descent
Category:House of Burgundy-Portugal
Category:People of the Reconquista
Category:12th-century births
Category:1185 deaths
Category:Year of birth uncertain
Category:12th-century Roman Catholics
Category:Christians of the Second Crusade
Category:Counts of Portugal (Asturias-León)
Category:12th-century Portuguese monarchs
Category:Portuguese revolutionaries
Category:Founding monarchs
Category:People from Guimarães |
Afonso I of Portugal | Table of Content | Short description, Early life, Path to sole rulership, Reign, Scientific research, Family, See also, Notes, References, Bibliography |
Afonso II of Portugal | short description | Afonso II (; 23 April 118525 March 1223), also called Afonso the Fat () and Afonso the Leper (), was King of Portugal from 1211 until 1223. Afonso was the third monarch of Portugal.
Afonso was the second but eldest surviving son of Sancho I of Portugal and Dulce of Aragon. Afonso succeeded his father on 27 March 1211. |
Afonso II of Portugal | Reign | Reign
thumb|left|Afonso II as depicted in a 13th-century manuscript.
As a king, Afonso II set a different approach of government. Hitherto, his father Sancho I and his grandfather Afonso I were mostly concerned with military issues either against the neighbouring Kingdom of Castile or against the Moorish lands in the south. Afonso did not pursue territory enlargement policies and managed to ensure peace with Castile during his reign. Despite this, some towns were conquered from the Moors by the private initiative of noblemen and clergy, as when Bishop Soeiro Viegas initiated the conquest of Alcácer do Sal. This does not mean that he was a weak or somehow cowardly man. The first years of his reign were marked instead by internal disturbances between Afonso and his brothers and sisters. The king managed to keep security within Portuguese borders only by outlawing and exiling his kin.
Since military issues were not a government priority, Afonso established the state's administration and centralized power on himself. He designed the first set of Portuguese written laws. These were mainly concerned with private property, civil justice, and minting. Afonso also sent ambassadors to European kingdoms outside the Iberian Peninsula and began amicable commercial relations with most of them.
In 1220, Afonso instituted inquirições to investigate the nature of holdings and to recover whatever had been illegally taken from the crown. This issue was in response to the church's rein over Portuguese land as they supported Afonso's fight in the civil war with Sancho II. These included examination of local noble titles and rights, including investigation of properties, lands and incomes against royal charters that had been issued.
Other reforms included the always delicate matters with the pope. In order to get the independence of Portugal recognized by Rome, his grandfather, Afonso I, had to legislate an enormous number of privileges to the Church. These eventually created a state within the state. With Portugal's position as a country firmly established, Afonso II endeavoured to weaken the power of the clergy and to apply a portion of the enormous revenues of the Catholic Church to purposes of national utility. These actions led to a serious diplomatic conflict between the pope and Portugal. After being excommunicated for his audacities by Pope Honorius III, Afonso II promised to make amends to the church, but he died in Coimbra on 25 March 1223 before making any serious attempts to do so.
King Afonso was buried originally at the Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra where his body remained for nearly ten years. His remains were transferred subsequently to Alcobaça Monastery, as he had stipulated in his will. He and his wife, Queen Urraca, were buried at its Royal Pantheon. |
Afonso II of Portugal | Marriage and descendants | Marriage and descendants
In 1206, he married Urraca, daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castile and Eleanor of England. The couple were both descendants of King Alfonso VI of León. The offspring of this marriage were:
Sancho II (8 September 12074 January 1248), king of Portugal;
Afonso III (5 May 121016 February 1279), king of Portugal;
Eleanor (1211–1231), queen of Denmark
Ferdinand (1218–1246), lord of Serpa
Out of wedlock, he had two illegitimate sons:
João Afonso (d. 9 October 1234), buried in the Alcobaça monastery;
Pedro Afonso (d. after 1249), who accompanied his brother King Afonso in the conquest of Faro in 1249. He had an illegitimate daughter named Constança Peres. |
Afonso II of Portugal | See also | See also
Timeline of Portuguese history (First Dynasty)
Portugal in the Middle Ages
Portugal in the Reconquista
Siege of Alcácer do Sal |
Afonso II of Portugal | References | References |
Afonso II of Portugal | Bibliography | Bibliography
Category:Portuguese infantes
Category:House of Burgundy-Portugal
Category:People excommunicated by the Catholic Church
Category:1185 births
Category:1223 deaths
Category:People of the Reconquista
Category:People from Coimbra
Category:12th-century Portuguese people
Category:13th-century Portuguese monarchs |
Afonso II of Portugal | Table of Content | short description, Reign, Marriage and descendants, See also, References, Bibliography |
Afonso III of Portugal | Short description | Afonso IIIrare English alternatives: Alphonzo or Alphonse, or Affonso (Archaic Portuguese), Alfonso or Alphonso (Portuguese-Galician) or Alphonsus (Latin). (; 5 May 121016 February 1279), called the Boulonnais (Port. o Bolonhês), was King of Portugal and the first to use the title King of Portugal and the Algarve, from 1249. He was the second son of King Afonso II of Portugal and his wife, Urraca of Castile; he succeeded his brother, King Sancho II of Portugal, who died on 4 January 1248. |
Afonso III of Portugal | Early life | Early life
Afonso was born in Coimbra. As the second son of King Afonso II of Portugal, he was not expected to inherit the throne, which was destined to go to his elder brother Sancho.
He lived mostly in France, where he married Countess Matilda II of Boulogne in 1238, thereby becoming count of Boulogne, Mortain, Aumale and Dammartin-en-Goële jure uxoris. |
Afonso III of Portugal | Reign | Reign
thumb|A statue of Afonso in Faro, Portugal
In 1245, conflicts between his brother, the king, and the church became unbearable. Pope Innocent IV ordered Sancho II to be removed from the throne and to be replaced by the Count of Boulogne. Afonso did not refuse the papal order and consequently marched to Portugal. Since Sancho was not a popular king the order was not hard to enforce, and he fled into exile to Toledo, Castile, where he died on 4 January 1248. Until his brother's death and his own eventual coronation, Afonso retained and used the title of Visitador, Curador e Defensor do Reino (Overseer, Curator and Defender of the Kingdom).
In order to ascend the throne Afonso abdicated his rights to the county of Boulogne in 1248. In 1253, he divorced Matilda in order to marry Beatrice of Castile, illegitimate daughter of Alfonso X, King of Castile, and Mayor Guillén de Guzmán.
Determined not to make the same mistakes as his brother, Afonso III paid special attention to what the middle class, composed of merchants and small land owners, had to say. In 1254, in the city of Leiria, he held the first session of the Cortes, a general assembly comprising the nobility, the middle class and representatives of all municipalities. He also made laws intended to restrain the upper classes from abusing the least favored part of the population. Remembered as a notable administrator, Afonso III founded several towns, granted the title of city to many others and reorganized public administration.
Afonso showed extraordinary vision for the time. Progressive measures taken during his kingship include: representatives of the commons, besides the nobility and clergy, were involved in governance; the end of preventive arrests such that henceforward all arrests had to be first presented to a judge to determine the detention measure; and fiscal innovation, such as negotiating extraordinary taxes with the mercantile classes and direct taxation of the Church, rather than debasement of the coinage. These may have led to his excommunication by the Holy See and possibly precipitated his death, and his son Denis's premature rise to the throne at only 18 years old.
Secure on the throne, Afonso III then proceeded to make war with the Muslim communities that still thrived in the south. In his reign the Algarve became part of the kingdom, following the capture of Faro. |
Afonso III of Portugal | Final years and death | Final years and death
Following his success against the Moors, Afonso III had to deal with a political situation concerning the country's borders with Castile. The neighbouring kingdom considered that the newly acquired lands of the Algarve should be Castilian, not Portuguese, which led to a series of wars between the two kingdoms. Finally, in 1267, the Treaty of Badajoz was signed in Badajoz, determining that the southern border between Castile and Portugal should be the River Guadiana, as it is today.
Afonso died in Alcobaça, Coimbra or Lisbon, aged 68. |
Afonso III of Portugal | Marriages and descendants | Marriages and descendants
Afonso's first wife was Matilda II, Countess of Boulogne, daughter of Renaud, Count of Dammartin, and Ida, Countess of Boulogne. They had no surviving children. He divorced Matilda in 1253 and, in the same year, married Beatrice of Castile, illegitimate daughter of Alfonso X, King of Castile, and Mayor Guillén de Guzmán.
NameBirthDeathNotesBy Matilda II of Boulogne (–1262; married in 1238)By Beatrice of Castile (1242–1303; married in 1253)Blanche 25 February 1259 17 April 1321Lady of Las HuelgasDenis 9 October 1261 7 January 1325Succeeded him as Denis, 6th King of Portugal. Married Infanta Elizabeth of Aragon.Afonso 8 February 1263 2 November 1312Lord of Portalegre. Married Infanta Violante Manuel (daughter of Manuel of Castile).Sancha 2 February 1264 Maria 1265 Vicente12681268 Fernando12691269 By Madragana (Mor Afonso) (-?)Martim Afonso Chichorroa. 1313Natural son; Married to Inês Lourenço de Valadares.Urraca Afonso?Natural daughter. Married twice: 1st to Pedro Anes de Riba Vizela, 2nd to João Mendes de Briteiros.By Maria Peres de Enxara (?-?)Afonso Dinisa. 1310Natural son; Married to D. Maria Pais Ribeira, Lady of the House of Sousa.By Elvira Esteves (?-?)Leonor Afonso (nun)?1259Natural daughter; Nun in the Monastery of Santa Clara of Santarém.Other natural offspringFernando Afonso??Natural son; Knight of the Order of the hospital.Gil Afonso1250 31 December 1346Natural son; Knight of the Order of the hospital.Rodrigo Afonso1258about 12 May 1272Natural son; Prior of the city of Santarém.Leonor Afonso1291Natural daughter. Married twice: 1st to D. Estevão Anes de Sousa (without issue), 2nd to D. Gonçalo Garcia de Sousa, Count of Neiva (without issue).Urraca Afonso (nun)1250 4 November 1281Natural daughter; Nun in the Monastery of Lorvão. |
Afonso III of Portugal | Notes | Notes |
Afonso III of Portugal | See also | See also
Timeline of Portuguese history (First Dynasty)
Portugal in the Middle Ages
Portugal in the Reconquista |
Afonso III of Portugal | References | References
Category:Portuguese Roman Catholics
Category:Portuguese infantes
Category:House of Burgundy-Portugal
Category:People of the Reconquista
Category:1210 births
Category:1279 deaths
Category:People from Coimbra
Category:13th-century Portuguese monarchs
Category:Jure uxoris counts
Category:Counts of Mortain
Category:Counts of Aumale
Category:Counts of Dammartin
Category:Counts of Boulogne
Category:Remarried jure uxoris officeholders |
Afonso III of Portugal | Table of Content | Short description, Early life, Reign, Final years and death, Marriages and descendants, Notes, See also, References |
Afonso IV of Portugal | Short description | Afonso IVEnglish: Alphonzo or Alphonse, or Affonso (Archaic Portuguese), Alfonso or Alphonso (Portuguese-Galician) or Alphonsus (Latin). (; 8 February 129128 May 1357), called the Brave (), was King of Portugal from 1325 until his death in 1357. He was the only legitimate son of King Denis of Portugal and Elizabeth of Aragon. |
Afonso IV of Portugal | Early life | Early life
Afonso, born in Lisbon, was the rightful heir to the Portuguese throne. However, he was not Denis' favourite son, even nearly beginning conflict against him. Instead, the old king preferred his illegitimate son, Afonso Sanches. The notorious rivalry between the half-brothers led to civil war several times. On 7 January 1325, Afonso IV's father died and he became king, whereupon he exiled his rival, Afonso Sanches, to Castile, and stripped him of all the lands and fiefdom given by their father. From Castile, Afonso Sanches orchestrated a series of attempts to usurp the crown. After a few failed attempts at invasion, the brothers signed a peace treaty, arranged by Afonso IV's mother, Elizabeth.Spain and Portugal, Graeme Mercer Adam ed., J. D. Morris, 1906
In 1309, Afonso married Beatrice of Castile, daughter of King Sancho IV of Castile and María de Molina. The first-born of this union was a daughter, Maria of Portugal. |
Afonso IV of Portugal | King of Portugal and Algarve | King of Portugal and Algarve
In 1325 Alfonso XI of Castile entered a child-marriage with Constanza Manuel of Castile, the daughter of one of his regents. Two years later, he had the marriage annulled so he could marry Afonso's daughter, Maria of Portugal. Maria became Queen of Castile in 1328 upon her marriage to Alfonso XI, who soon became involved publicly with a mistress. Constanza was imprisoned in a castle in Toro while her father, Don Juan Manuel, waged war against Alfonso XI until 1329. Eventually, the two reached a peaceful accord after mediation by Juan del Campo, Bishop of Oviedo; this secured Constanza's release from prison.
The public humiliation of his daughter led Afonso IV to have his son and heir, Peter I of Portugal, marry the no less aggrieved Castilian infanta, Constanza. Afonso subsequently started a war against Castile, peace arriving four years later, through the intervention of the infanta Maria herself. A year after the peace treaty was signed in Seville, Portuguese troops played an important role in defeating the Moors at the Battle of Río Salado in October 1340. |
Afonso IV of Portugal | Later life | Later life
Political intrigue marked the last part of Afonso IV's reign, although Castille was torn by civil war after Alfonso XI died. Henry of Trastámara challenged the new King Peter of Castile, who sent many Castilian nobles into exile in Portugal. Afonso's son Peter fell in love with his new wife's lady-in-waiting, Inês de Castro. Inês was the daughter of an important noble family from Galicia, with links (albeit illegitimate) to both the royal houses of Castile and Portugal. Her brothers were aligned with the Trastamara faction, and became favorites of Peter, much to the dismay of others at the Portuguese court, who considered them Castilian upstarts. When Constanza died weeks after giving birth to their third child, Peter began living openly with Inês, recognized all her children as his and refused to marry anyone other than Inês herself. His father refused to go to war again against Castile, hoping the heir apparent's infatuation would end, and tried to arrange another dynastic marriage for him.
The situation became worse as the years passed and the aging Afonso lost control over his court. His grandson and Peter's only legitimate son, Ferdinand I of Portugal, was a sickly child, while Inês' illegitimate children thrived. Worried about his legitimate grandson's life, and the growing power of Castile within Portugal's borders, Afonso ordered Inês de Castro first imprisoned in his mother's old convent in Coimbra, and then murdered in 1355. He expected his son to give in and marry a princess, but Peter became enraged upon learning of his wife's decapitation in front of their young children. Peter put himself at the head of an army and devastated the country between the Douro and the Minho rivers before he was reconciled to his father in early 1357. Afonso died almost immediately after, in Lisbon in May.
Afonso IV's nickname the Brave alludes to his martial exploits. However, his most important accomplishments were the relative peace enjoyed by the country during his long reign and the support he gave to the Portuguese Navy. Afonso granted public funding to raise a proper commercial fleet and ordered the first Portuguese maritime explorations. The conflict with Pedro, and the explorations he initiated, eventually became the foundation of the Portuguese national epic, Os Lusíadas by Luís de Camões.
The dramatic circumstances of the relationship between father, son and Inês was used as the basis for the plot of more than twenty operas and ballets. The story with its tragic dénouement is immortalized in several plays and poems in Portuguese, such as Os Lusíadas by Luís de Camões (canto iii, stanzas 118–135), and in Spanish, including Nise lastimosa and Nise laureada (1577) by Jerónimo Bermúdez, Reinar despues de morir by Luis Vélez de Guevara, as well as a play by French playwright Henry de Montherlant called La Reine morte (The Dead Queen). Mary Russell Mitford also wrote a drama based on the story entitled Inez de Castro. Inês de Castro is a novel by Maria Pilar Queralt del Hierro in Spanish and Portuguese. |
Afonso IV of Portugal | Marriage and descendants | Marriage and descendants
On 12 September 1309, Afonso married Beatrice of Castile, daughter of Sancho IV of Castile, and María de Molina, and had four sons and three daughters. Afonso broke the tradition of previous kings and did not have any children out of wedlock.
Maria of Portugal, Queen of Castile (131318 January 1357), was the wife of Alfonso XI of Castile, and mother of the future King Peter of Castile. Due to the affair of her husband with his mistress Eleanor de Guzmán "it was an unfortunate union from the start, contributing to dampening the relations of both kingdoms";
Afonso (1315–1317), died in his infancy. Buried at the disappeared Convento das Donas of the Dominican Order in Santarém;
Denis (born 12 February 1317), died a few months after his birth, and was buried in Alcobaça Monastery;
Peter I of Portugal (8 April 132018 January 1367), the first surviving male offspring, he succeeded his father. When his wife Constanza died in 1345, Beatrice took care of the education of the two orphans, the infantes Maria and Ferdinand, who later reigned as King Ferdinand I of Portugal;
Isabel (21 December 132411 July 1326), buried at the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha in Coimbra;
John (23 September 132621 June 1327), buried at the Monastery of São Dinis de Odivelas;
Eleanor of Portugal, Queen of Aragon (1328–1348), born in the same year as her sister Maria's wedding, she married King Peter IV of Aragon in November 1347 and died a year after her marriage, succumbing to the Black Death. |
Afonso IV of Portugal | Notes | Notes |
Afonso IV of Portugal | References | References |
Afonso IV of Portugal | Bibliography | Bibliography
Category:Portuguese infantes
Category:Portuguese Roman Catholics
Category:House of Burgundy-Portugal
Category:1291 births
Category:1357 deaths
Category:Nobility from Lisbon
Category:People of the Reconquista
Category:14th-century Portuguese monarchs |
Afonso IV of Portugal | Table of Content | Short description, Early life, King of Portugal and Algarve, Later life, Marriage and descendants, Notes, References, Bibliography |
Afonso V of Portugal | Short description | Afonso V (; 15 January 1432 – 28 August 1481), known by the sobriquet the African (), was King of Portugal from 1438 until his death in 1481, with a brief interruption in 1477. His sobriquet refers to his military conquests in Northern Africa. He later became embroiled in the War of the Castilian Succession but lost and instead accepted Portuguese hegemony in the Atlantic south of the Canary Islands in exchange. |
Afonso V of Portugal | Early life | Early life
Born in Sintra on 15 January 1432, Afonso was the second son of King Edward of Portugal by his wife Eleanor of Aragon. Following the death of his older brother, Infante João (1429–1433), Afonso acceded to the position of heir apparent and was made the first Prince of Portugal by his father, who sought to emulate the English court's custom of a dynastic title that distinguished the heir apparent from the other children of the monarch. He was only six years old when he succeeded his father in 1438.
During his minority, Afonso was placed under the regency of his mother, Eleanor, in accordance with the will left by his late father. As both a foreigner and a woman, the queen was not a popular choice for regent. When the met in late 1438, a law was passed requiring a joint regency consisting of Eleanor and Pedro, Duke of Coimbra, the younger brother of the late king. The dual regency was a failure and in 1439, the named Pedro "protector and guardian" of the king and "ruler and defender" of the kingdom. Eleanor attempted to resist, but without support in Portugal she fled to Castile.
Pedro's regency was characterized by political unrest and weakened authority caused by strife with Afonso, Count of Barcelos, his half-brother and political enemy. In 1441, Afonso's V betrothal to Pedro's eldest daughter, Isabella, was arranged. The engagement caused a conflict between Pedro and the Count of Barcelos, who had wished for the monarch to marry his granddaughter.
Afonso reached the age of majority in 1446, but Pedro retained administrative power and the title of regent. Afonso and Isabella were formally married on 6 May 1447, seemingly strengthening Pedro's power at court. However, the Count of Barcelos began to wield more influence over the young king and persuaded him to dispense Pedro in July 1448. On 15 September of the same year, Afonso V nullified all the laws and edicts approved under the regency. Tensions escalated and in early 1449 Pedro marched his ducal army towards Lisbon, igniting a brief civil war. Pedro was eventually defeated and killed by Afonso V's royal forces in the Battle of Alfarrobeira in May 1449. |
Afonso V of Portugal | Rule | Rule |
Afonso V of Portugal | Administration | Administration
thumb|upright|Throne of Afonso V
Afonso financially supported the exploration of the Atlantic Ocean led by his uncle Prince Henry the Navigator. In February 1449, he granted Henry monopoly over navigation in the African Atlantic between Capes Cantin and Bojador. The grant caused conflict with John II of Castile, who asserted that conquest of Barbary and Guinea were reserved for the Castilian crown. John II was also angered by Henry's conduct in the Canary Islands and repeatedly wrote to Afonso complaining about displays of hostility, such as attacks on Castilian shipping. Tensions finally deescalated with the marriage of Afonso's youngest sister, Joan, to John II's heir, Henry, in 1455.
In 1452, Pope Nicholas V issued the papal bull , which granted Afonso V the right to reduce "Saracens, pagans and any other unbelievers" to hereditary slavery. This was reaffirmed and extended in the bull of 1455 (also by Nicholas V). These papal bulls came to be seen by some as a justification for the subsequent era of slave trade and European colonialism.
After Henry's death in 1460, his nephew Ferdinand inherited his titles and rights but the monopoly over trade reverted to the crown. In 1469, Afonso V granted Fernão Gomes the monopoly of trade in the Gulf of Guinea. |
Afonso V of Portugal | Invasion of Morocco | Invasion of Morocco
thumb|300px|Conquest of Arzila in 1471
Afonso V's interest in Africa was sparked by a desire to support Papal efforts against Islam, especially after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. A large crusade was desired but the Papacy struggled to rally the necessary forces and Afonso, having already made war preparations in Portugal, saw an opportunity to pursue military campaigns in Africa.
In 1458, Afonso V, leading an expeditionary force of 25,000 men, assaulted and captured the town of Alcácer Ceguer. After the conquest, he gave himself the title "king of Portugal and the Algarves", where the plural form of Algarve was meant to refer to both the original Kingdom of the Algarve in southern Portuguese as well as the new territories in Africa. For the next two decades, the Portuguese nobility and crown concentrated their efforts primarily on Morocco. Between November 1463 and April 1464, Afonso made multiple unsuccessful attempts to seize Tangiers from the Marinids. In August 1471, he launched another campaign with the intention of capturing the city, but his fleet was diverted by a storm to the port of Arzila. After a fierce battle, Arzila was captured. Subsequently, the nearby population of Tangiers fled and the city fell into Portuguese control. His victories earned the king the nickname of the African or . |
Afonso V of Portugal | War with Castile | War with Castile
thumb|right|A copy of the Fra Mauro map was commissioned by Afonso V in 1457. Finished on 24 April 1459, it was sent to Portugal with a letter to Prince Henry the Navigator, Afonso's uncle, encouraging further funding of exploration trips. Although the copy has been lost, the Andrea Bianco original is preserved at the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice.
Following his campaigns in Africa, Afonso V found new grounds for battle in neighboring Castile. On 11 December 1474 King Henry IV of Castile died without a male heir, leaving just one daughter, Joanna. However, her paternity was questioned; it was rumored that his wife, Queen Joan of Portugal (Afonso's sister) had an affair with a nobleman named Beltrán de La Cueva. The death of Henry ignited a war of succession, with one faction supporting Joanna and the other supporting Isabella, Henry's half-sister. Afonso V was persuaded to intervene on behalf of Joanna, his niece.
On 12 May 1475 Afonso entered Castile with an army of 5,600 cavalry and 14,000 foot soldiers. He met Joanna in Palencia and the two were betrothed and proclaimed sovereigns of Castile on 25 May. The formal marriage was delayed because their close blood-relationship necessitated a papal dispensation.
In March 1476, after several skirmishes and much maneuvering, the 8,000 men of Afonso and Prince John, faced a Castilian force of similar size in the Battle of Toro. The Castilians were led by Isabella's husband, Prince Ferdinand II of Aragon, Cardinal Mendoza and the Duke of Alba. The fight was fierce and confusing but the result was a stalemate: while the forces of Cardinal Mendoza and the Duke of Alba won over their opponents led by the Portuguese king—who left the battlefield to take refuge in Castronuño—the troops commanded by Prince John defeated and persecuted the troops of the Castilian right wing and recovered the Portuguese royal standard, remaining ordered in the battlefield where they collected the fugitives of Afonso. Both sides claimed victory, but Afonso's prospects for obtaining the Castilian crown were severely damaged.
After the battle, Afonso sailed to France hoping to obtain the assistance of King Louis XI in his fight against Castile. In September 1477, disheartened that his efforts to secure support had proved fruitless, Afonso abdicated the throne and embarked on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He was eventually persuaded to return to Portugal, where he arrived in November 1477. Prince John had been proclaimed king days prior to Afonso's arrival, but relinquished his new title and insisted that his father reassume the crown.
From 1477 to 1481, Afonso V and Prince John were "practically corulers." Afonso made preparations for a second invasion of Castile in winter 1478, but was deterred by Castilian Hermandad forces. The Treaty of Alcáçovas was finally negotiated in 1479, wherein Afonso renounced his claim to the Castilian throne in exchange for Portuguese hegemony in the Atlantic south of the Canary Islands. Although the treaty was advantageous for Portugal, the king was deeply unhappy with the provision that forced his bride and niece, Joanna, into a convent. Withdrawn and melancholic, he announced his intention to abdicate for a second time and retired to a monastery in Sintra. He died of fever shortly after, on 28 August 1481. |
Afonso V of Portugal | Marriages and descendants | Marriages and descendants
Afonso married, firstly, in 1447, his first cousin Isabella of Coimbra, with whom he had three children:
John, Prince of Portugal (29 January 1451)
Joan, Princess of Portugal (6 February 1452 – 12 May 1490) – known as Saint Joan of Portugal, or Saint Joan Princes
John II of Portugal (3 March 1455 – 25 October 1495) – succeeded his father as 13th King of Portugal
After the death of his wife in 1455, he had at least one child out of wedlock with Maria Soares da Cunha, daughter of Afonso's major valet, Fernao de Sa Alcoforado:
Álvaro Soares da Cunha (1466–1557), Noble of the Royal House, Lord of the House of Quintas in Sao Vicente de Pinheiro, Porto and Chief Guard of Pestilence in Porto |
Afonso V of Portugal | Ancestry | Ancestry |
Afonso V of Portugal | Notes | Notes |
Afonso V of Portugal | References | References |
Afonso V of Portugal | Citations | Citations |
Afonso V of Portugal | Sources | Sources
Category:1432 births
Category:1481 deaths
Category:15th-century Portuguese monarchs
Category:House of Aviz
Category:Knights of the Garter
Category:People from Sintra
Category:Portuguese exploration in the Age of Discovery
Category:Portuguese infantes
Category:Portuguese people of English descent
Category:Princes of Portugal
Category:Sons of kings |
Afonso V of Portugal | Table of Content | Short description, Early life, Rule, Administration, Invasion of Morocco, War with Castile, Marriages and descendants, Ancestry, Notes, References, Citations, Sources |
Afonso VI of Portugal | Short description | Dom Afonso VI (; 21 August 164312 September 1683), known as "the Victorious" (), was the second king of Portugal of the House of Braganza from 1656 until his death. He was initially under the regency of his mother, Luisa de Guzmán, until 1662, when he removed her to a convent and took power with the help of his favourite, D. Luís de Vasconcelos e Sousa, 3rd Count of Castelo Melhor.
Afonso's reign saw the end of the Restoration War (1640–68) and Spain's recognition of Portugal's independence. He also negotiated a French alliance through his marriage. In 1668, his brother Pedro II conspired to have him declared incapable of ruling, and took supreme de facto power as regent, although nominally Afonso was still sovereign. Queen Maria Francisca, Afonso's wife, received an annulment and subsequently married Pedro. Afonso spent the rest of his life and reign practically a prisoner.Helpful up-to-date information is available in |
Afonso VI of Portugal | Early life | Early life
Afonso was the second of three sons born to King John IV and Queen Luisa. At the age of three, he experienced an illness that resulted in paralysis on the right side of his body. The condition was believed to have also affected his intellectual abilities. His father created him 10th Duke of Braganza.Genealogy of the Dukes of Braganza in Portuguese
After the death of his eldest brother Teodósio, Prince of Brazil in 1653, Afonso became the heir apparent to the throne of the kingdom. He also received the crown-princely title 2nd Prince of Brazil. |
Afonso VI of Portugal | Reign | Reign
thumb|right|upright 1.30|Portrait of Infante D. Afonso with a Black page, by José de Avelar Rebelo, 1653
He succeeded his father, John IV, in 1656 at the age of thirteen. His mother, Luisa de Guzmán, was named regent in his father's will.
Luisa's regency continued even after Afonso came of age because he was considered mentally unfit for governing. In addition to lacking intellect, the king exhibited wild and disruptive behavior. In 1662, after Afonso terrorized Lisbon at night alongside his favorites, Luisa and her council responded by banishing some of the king's companions that were associated with the raids. Angered, Afonso took power with the help of Castelo Melhor and Luisa's regency came to an end.For overview, with bibliography, in English, see She subsequently retired to a convent,. where she died in 1666.
Afonso appointed Castelo Melhor as his private secretary (escrivão da puridade). He proved to be a competent minister. His astute military organization and sensible general appointments resulted in decisive military victories over the Spanish at Elvas (14 January 1659), Ameixial (8 June 1663) and Montes Claros (17 June 1665), culminating in the final Spanish recognition of sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza, on 13 February 1668 in the Treaty of Lisbon. |
Afonso VI of Portugal | Colonial affairs | Colonial affairs
Colonial affairs saw the Dutch conquest of Jaffna, Portugal's last colony in Portuguese Ceylon (1658), and the cession of Bombay and Tangier to England (23 June 1661) as dowry for Afonso's sister, Infanta Catherine of Braganza, who had married King Charles II of England. |
Afonso VI of Portugal | Marriage | Marriage
Melhor successfully arranged for Afonso to marry Maria Francisca of Savoy, a relative of the Duke of Savoy, in 1666, but the marriage was short-lived. Maria Francisca filed for an annulment in 1667 based on the impotence of the king. The church granted her the annulment, and she married Afonso's brother, Peter II, Duke of Beja. |
Afonso VI of Portugal | Downfall | Downfall
thumb|right|King Afonso VI imprisoned in the Palace of Sintra, by Alfredo Roque Gameiro
Also in 1667, Pedro managed to gain enough support to force Afonso to relinquish control of the government to him, and he became prince regent in 1668. While Pedro never formally usurped the throne, Afonso was king in name only for the rest of his life.The proceedings which the annulment of Afonso's marriage involved formed the basis of João Mário Grilo's 1989 film, The King's Trial. For seven years after Peter's coup, Afonso was kept on the island of Terceira in the Azores. His health broken by this captivity, he was eventually permitted to return to the Portuguese mainland, but he remained powerless and kept under guard. At Sintra he died in 1683.
The room where he was imprisoned is preserved at Sintra National Palace. |
Afonso VI of Portugal | Ancestry | Ancestry |
Afonso VI of Portugal | References | References |
Afonso VI of Portugal | Sources | Sources
Category:Portuguese infantes
Category:Dukes of Braganza
Category:Child monarchs from Europe
Category:1643 births
Category:1683 deaths
Category:Portuguese people with disabilities
Category:Princes of Brazil
Category:House of Braganza
Category:17th-century Portuguese monarchs
Category:Nobility from Lisbon
Category:Royalty and nobility with disabilities
Category:Burials at the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora
Category:Royal reburials |
Afonso VI of Portugal | Table of Content | Short description, Early life, Reign, Colonial affairs, Marriage, Downfall, Ancestry, References, Sources |
Alphonso I of Spain | There has not been a monarch known as | There has not been a monarch known as Alphonso or Alfonso I of Spain, the first king of that name of the unified Spain being Alfonso XII (1857–1885). Several precursor kingdoms have had an Alfonso I, including:
Alfonso I of Asturias (–757)
Alfonso I of Aragon and Navarre (–1134), known as the Battler
Alfonso II of Aragon, also known as Alfons I, Count of Barcelona (1157–1196), called the Chaste or the Troubadour |
Alphonso I of Spain | Table of Content | There has not been a monarch known as |
Alfonso II of Asturias | Short description | thumb|Alfonso II in the twelfth-century Libro de los Testamentos.
Alfonso II of Asturias (842), nicknamed the Chaste (), was the king of Asturias during two different periods: first in the year 783 and later from 791 until his death in 842. Upon his death, Nepotian, a family member of undetermined relation, attempted to usurp the crown in place of the future Ramiro I.
During his reign, which covered a span of 51 years, Alfonso discovered the supposed tomb of St. James the Great (called in Spanish) in the town of Compostela, which later became known as the city of Santiago de Compostela. He was the son of Fruela I and Munia, a Basque woman captured and brought back to Asturias by the former following a military campaign. |
Alfonso II of Asturias | Early life | Early life
He was born in Oviedo in 759 or 760. He was put under the guardianship of his aunt Adosinda after his father's death, but one tradition relates his being put in the Monastery of San Xulián de Samos. He was the governor of the palace during the reign of Adosinda's husband Silo. On Silo's death, he was elected king by Adosinda's allies, but the magnates raised his uncle Mauregatus to the throne instead. Alfonso fled to Álava where he found shelter with his maternal relatives. Mauregatus was succeeded by Bermudo I, Alfonso's cousin, who abdicated after his defeat at the Battle of the Burbia River. |
Alfonso II of Asturias | Alfonso proclaimed king | Alfonso proclaimed king
Alfonso was subsequently elected king on 14 September 791. Poets of a later generation invented the story of the secret marriage between his sister Ximena and Sancho, count of Saldana, and the feats of their son Bernardo del Carpio. Bernardo is the hero of a written to please the anarchical spirit of the nobles.
Alfonso moved the capital from Pravia, where Silo had located it, to Oviedo, the city of his father's founding and his birth. There he constructed churches and a palace. He built the churches of San Tirso,García de Castro Valdés, César (2008). «San Tirso (Oviedo)». Arte Prerrománico en Asturias. Ménsula Ediciones, S. L. pp. 28-30. ISBN 978-84-612-4085-2. where he is buried, and of San Julián de los Prados (aka Santullano), high above overlooking the nascent city. |
Alfonso II of Asturias | Andalusian raids into Asturias | Andalusian raids into Asturias
On accession to the throne, Hisham I, son of Abd al-Rahman I, commenced a string of military campaigns in the eastern Pyrenees and to the north-west. In 794, a raid spearheaded by Abd al-Karim dealt a major military blow to Alfonso II on the eastern fringes of the Kingdom of Asturias (Cantabria and Castile). The Asturian king asked for the assistance of the Basque Frankish vassal Belasco, master of Álava and bordering regions at the time. Abd al-Karim advanced deeper west into Asturias and pillaged the region, while his brother Abd al-Malik ventured into the western Asturian lands. |
Alfonso II of Asturias | Relations with Charlemagne and the Papacy | Relations with Charlemagne and the Papacy
Under pressure from his enemies, Alfonso II reached out to Charlemagne, sending delegations to Toulouse and Aix-la-Chapelle in 796, 797, and 798. These diplomatic efforts, proffered by Froia and later Basiliscus, may have aimed to strengthen his legitimacy and the Asturian government against ongoing internal unrest——viz., troubles in Galicia——and external attacks of the Ibn Mugait brothers, the generals Abd al-Karim and Abd al-Malik.Martínez Díez, Gonzalo (2002). «Articulación político-administrativa y las relaciones exteriores en el reinado de Alfonso II». Poder y Sociedad en la Baja Edad Media hispánica: Estudios y homenaje al profesor Luis Vicente Díaz Martín II. Coordinador, Carlos Manuel Reglero de la Fuente. Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid. pp. 724-725. ISBN 84-8448-172-7.
Alfonso was acknowledged as a king by Charlemagne and the Pope, and Asturias as a kingdom for the first time in the Royal Frankish Annals. The king showed an interest in the Frankish cult of Saint Martin of Tours, and he encouraged Carolingian Church influence in Asturias.
Alfonso's envoys to Charlemagne's courts may have also dealt with the adoptionist controversy, which had brought Bermudo's kingdom into Charlemagne's view. It seems that Carolingian support did much to spur his raid into Andalusian territory up to Lisbon, which was captured and sacked by his troops in 798. |
Alfonso II of Asturias | Later events | Later events
thumb|right|Asturias in 850
Also, during Alfonso's reign, the alleged resting place of St. James was revealed.Rucquoi, Adeline (2017). «Los reyes de Asturias y los orígenes del culto a la tumba del apóstol Santiago». Los reyes de Asturias y los orígenes del culto a la tumba del apóstol Santiago. Francisco Javier Fernández Conde, Raquel Alonso Álvarez (coord.). Oviedo: Trea. pp. 17-36. ISBN 978-84-17140-03-8. Tradition relates that in 814, the body of Saint James was discovered in Compostela and that Alfonso was the first pilgrim to the shrine at Libredón.
In 825, he defeated Saracen forces at Narón (near Ferrol) and also in year 825 Anceo (in the hills equidistant from Pontevedra and Vigo),Aramburu y Zuloaga, Félix (1996). «Alfonso II, el Casto». Asturianos Universales. Tomo VII. Madrid: Ediciones Páramo, S.A. ISBN 84-87253-26-1. and, thanks to these victories, the "repopulation" of parts of Galicia, León, and Castile was started— with charters confirming the possession of the territories.
The Crónica Sebastianense records his death in 842, saying:
tras haber llevado por 52 años casta, sobria, inmaculada, piadosa y gloriosamente el gobierno del reino
[after having held for 52 years chastely, soberly, immaculately, piously, and gloriously the government of the realm] |
Alfonso II of Asturias | References | References
Category:8th-century births
Category:842 deaths
Category:Astur-Leonese dynasty
Category:8th-century Asturian monarchs
Category:9th-century Asturian monarchs |
Alfonso II of Asturias | Table of Content | Short description, Early life, Alfonso proclaimed king, Andalusian raids into Asturias, Relations with Charlemagne and the Papacy, Later events, References |
Amarasimha | Short description | thumb|Cover of a modern copy of Amara kosha
Amarasimha (IAST: , ) was a Sanskrit grammarian and poet from ancient India, of whose personal history hardly anything is known. He is said to have been "one of the nine gems that adorned the throne of Vikramaditya," and according to the evidence of Xuanzang, this is the Chandragupta Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) who flourished about CE 375.Amarakosha compiled by B. L. Rice, edited by N. Balasubramanya, 1970, page X Other sources describe him as belonging to the period of Vikramaditya of 7th century."Amara-Simha" in Chambers's Encyclopædia. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 1, p. 311. Most of Amarasiṃha's works were lost, with the exception of the celebrated Amara-Kosha (IAST: ) (Treasury of Amara). The first reliable mention of the Amarakosha is in the Amoghavritti of Shakatayana composed during the reign of Amoghavarsha (814-867 CE)
The Amarakosha is a lexicon of Sanskrit words in three books, and hence is sometimes called the Trikāṇḍī or the "Tripartite". It is also known as "Namalinganushasana". The Amarakosha contains 10,000 words, and is arranged, like other works of its class, in metre, to aid the memory.
The first chapter of the Kosha was printed at Rome in Tamil character in 1798. An edition of the entire work, with English notes and an index by Henry Thomas Colebrooke appeared at Serampore in 1808. The Sanskrit text was printed at Calcutta in 1831. A French translation by ALA Loiseleur-Deslongchamps was published at Paris in 1839. B. L. Rice compiled the text in Kannada script with meanings in English and Kannada in 1927. |
Amarasimha | References | References
Attribution:
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Amarasimha | External links | External links
Amarakosha Sanskrit text
Category:Indian Buddhists
Category:Indian male poets
Category:4th-century Indian poets
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:Year of death unknown
Category:Sanskrit writers |
Amarasimha | Table of Content | Short description, References, External links |
Alfonso XII | short description | Alfonso XII (Alfonso Francisco de Asís Fernando Pío Juan María de la Concepción Gregorio Pelayo de Borbón y Borbón; 28 November 185725 November 1885), also known as El Pacificador (Spanish: the Peacemaker), was King of Spain from 29 December 1874 to his death in 1885.
After the Glorious Revolution of 1868 deposed his mother Isabella II from the throne, Alfonso studied in Austria and France. His mother abdicated in his favour in 1870, and he returned to Spain as king in 1874 following a military coup against the First Spanish Republic. Alfonso died aged 27 in 1885, leaving his pregnant widow, Maria Christina of Austria, as regent of Spain. Their son, Alfonso XIII, became king upon his birth the following year. Maria Christina continued as regent until Alfonso XIII came of age in 1902. |
Alfonso XII | Paternity, early life, and exile | Paternity, early life, and exile
Alfonso was born in Madrid as the eldest son of the reigning Queen Isabella II on 28 November 1857. His official father, Isabella's husband Francisco de Asís, has been generally viewed as effeminate, impotent or homosexual, leading writers to question his biological paternity. There is speculation that Alfonso's biological father may have been Enrique Puigmoltó y Mayans, a captain of the guard.Juan Sisinio Pérez Garzón, Isabel II: Los Espejos de la Reina (2004) Others have assigned the fatherhood to Federico Puig Romero, a colonel who was murdered under unclear circumstances in 1866. The relationship of the queen with Puigmoltó was so much of a public hearsay at the time that Francisco de Asís initially refused to attend the baptism ceremony of Alfonso (the heir apparent), though he was eventually forced to do so.
These rumours were used as political propaganda against Alfonso by the Carlists, and he came to be widely nicknamed "Puigmoltejo" in reference to his supposed father.Burgo Tajadura, Jaime Ignacio del (2008). Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, p. 242: "A few months later, on the night of November 28 at 10:15, the queen gave birth to a child, who in time would be Alfonso XII, to whom the tongues, more or less deridingly, gave the name of Puigmoltejo". . His mother's accession had created a second cause of instability, the Carlist Wars, where the supporters of Don Carlos, Count of Molina as King of Spain rose to have him enthroned.
In addition, within the context of the post-Napoleonic restorations and revolutions which engulfed Europe and the Americas, both the Carlistas and the Isabelino conservatives were opposed to the new Napoleonic constitutional system. Much like in Britain, which subtracted itself from the liberal constitutional process, Spanish conservatives wanted to continue with the traditional Organic Laws, such as the Fuero Juzgo, the Novísima Recopilación and the Partidas of Alfonso X. This led to a third cause of instability, the independence of most of the American possessions, recognized between 1823 and 1850.
When Queen Isabella II and her husband were forced to leave Spain by the Revolution of 1868, Alfonso accompanied them to Paris. From there, he was sent to the Theresianum in Vienna to continue his studies. On 25 June 1870, he was recalled to Paris, where his mother abdicated in his favour, in the presence of a number of Spanish nobles who had tied their fortunes to those of the exiled queen. He assumed the name Alfonso XII, for although no king of united Spain had borne the name "Alfonso", the Spanish monarchy was regarded as continuous with the more ancient monarchy represented by the 11 kings of Asturias, León and Castile also named Alfonso. |
Alfonso XII | The Republic | The Republic
thumb|left|upright|A young Alfonso with his mentor, the Duke of Sesto
After the revolution, the Cortes decided to set up a new dynasty on the throne. Prince Amadeo of Savoy, the younger son of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and a distant cousin of Alfonso by common descent from Charles III, was recognized as King of Spain in November 1870. During a tumultuous reign, Amadeo was targeted by assassination attempts and struggled with opposition from both Carlists and republicans while his own faction split. After the Carlists revolted and the Third Carlist War broke out, he abdicated and returned to Italy in early 1873.
Following Amadeo's abandonment, the First Spanish Republic was established, including the territories of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Pacific Archipelagos. The first act of President Estanislao Figueras was to extend the abolition of slavery to Puerto Rico; Cuban slaves would have to wait until 1889. The republicans were not in agreement either, and they had to contend with a war in Cuba and Muslim uprisings in Spanish Morocco. In the midst of these crises, the Carlist War continued and the Carlist party made itself strong in areas with claims over their national and institutional specificity such as Catalonia and the Basque Country. This unrest led to the creation of a group in favour of the Bourbon Restoration, led by the moderate conservative Antonio Cánovas del Castillo.
Alfonso was well-educated and cultured, especially compared to his mother. His tutors took great care to have him educated in good schools and to familiarize him with different cultures, languages and government models throughout Europe. During the Franco-Prussian War, Alfonso relocated from Paris to Geneva with his family, and then continued his studies at the Theresianum in Vienna in 1872. Cánovas began to take responsibility for Alfonso's education with the goal of shaping him into the ideal king for the planned Bourbon Restoration, and next sent him to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in England. The training he received there was severe but more cosmopolitan than it would have been in Spain, given its atmosphere at the time.
On 1 December 1874, Alfonso issued the Sandhurst Manifesto, where he set the ideological basis of the Bourbon Restoration. It was drafted in reply to a birthday greeting from his followers, a manifesto proclaiming himself the sole representative of the Spanish monarchy. At the end of 1874, Brigadier Martínez Campos, who had long been working more or less openly for the king, led some battalions of the central army to Sagunto, rallied the troops sent against him to his own flag, and entered Valencia in the king's name. Thereupon the President resigned, and his power was transferred to the king's plenipotentiary and adviser, Cánovas. With Cánovas disapproval (he detested the intervention of the military in politics), the 29 December 1875 pronunciamento of Gen. Martínez Campos in Sagunto ended the failed republic and meant the rise of the young Prince Alfonso. |
Alfonso XII | Reign | Reign
thumb|5 Peseta of Alfonso XII
Within a few days after Cánovas del Castillo took power as Premier, the new king, proclaimed on 29 December 1874, arrived at Madrid, passing through Barcelona and Valencia and was acclaimed everywhere (1875). In 1876, a vigorous campaign against the Carlists, in which the young king took part, resulted in the defeat of Don Carlos and the Duke's abandonment of the struggle.
Initially led by Cánovas del Castillo as moderate prime minister, what was thought at one time as a coup aimed at placing the military in the political-administrative positions of power, in reality ushered in a civilian regime that lasted until Primo de Rivera's 1923 coup d'état. Cánovas was the real architect of the new regime of the Restoration.
In 1881 Alfonso refused to sanction a law by which the ministers were to remain in office for a fixed term of 18 months. Upon the consequent resignation of Cánovas del Castillo, he summoned Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, the Liberal leader, to form a new cabinet.
thumb|left|Alfonso surrounded by his relative European monarchs and their spouses at Homburg Castle in 1883. Edward VII, Wilhelm I and Carlos I can be seen amongst others
In order to eliminate one of the problems of the reign of Isabel II, the single party and its destabilizing consequences, the Liberal Party was allowed to incorporate and participate in national politics, and the 'turnismo' or alternation was to become the new system. Turnismo would be endorsed in the Constitution of 1876 and the Pact of El Pardo (1885). It meant that liberal and conservative prime ministers would succeed each other ending thus the troubles.
This led to the end of the Carlist revolts and the victory over the New York-backed Cuban revolutionaries, and led to a huge backing both by insular and peninsular Spaniards of Alfonso.Ancede, M. (2020). The Spanish explorer who desecrated graves in the name of science. El Pais.
thumb|right|Photograph of Alfonso XII,
Alfonso's short reign established the foundations for the final socioeconomic recuperation of Spain, bringing an end to the political instability that had dominated Spain for the past two-thirds of a century (see History of Spain (1808–1874)). Both Europe (the coastal regions, such as the Basque Country, Catalonia, and Asturias) and the colonies in the Antilles and Pacific were able to grow steadily. Cuba and Puerto Rico prospered to the point that Spain's first train was not in Spain proper but between Havana and Güines in Cuba, and the first telegraph in Latin America was in Puerto Rico, established by Samuel Morse, whose daughter and son-in-law lived there. Upon the American invasion of Puerto Rico, ten US dollars were needed to buy one Puerto Rican peso. |
Alfonso XII | Marriages | Marriages
On 23 January 1878 at the Basilica of Atocha in Madrid, Alfonso married his first cousin, Princess María de las Mercedes, but she died, aged only 18, of typhoid fever, their marriage only lasting five months and three days.
thumb|right|King Alfonso XII and Queen Maria Christina with their daughter Mercedes in 1880
On 29 November 1879 at the Basilica of Atocha in Madrid, Alfonso married his double third cousin, Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria. During the honeymoon, a pastry cook named Otero fired at the young sovereign and his wife as they were driving in Madrid.
The children of this marriage were:
María de las Mercedes, Princess of Asturias, (11 September 188017 October 1904), married on 14 February 1901 to Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. She was titular heir to the throne of Spain from the death of her father until the posthumous birth of her brother.
María Teresa, (12 November 188223 September 1912), married to Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria on 12 January 1906
Alfonso XIII (17 May 188628 February 1941). Born posthumously. He married Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg
Alfonso had two sons by Elena Armanda Nicolasa Sanz y Martínez de Arizala (15 December 1849, in Castellón de la Plana – 24 December 1898, in Paris):
Alfonso Sanz y Martínez de Arizala (28 January 1880, in Madrid19 March 1970, in Paris), married in 1922 to María de Guadalupe de Limantour y Mariscal
Fernando Sanz y Martínez de Arizala (28 February 1881, in Madrid8 January 1925, in Pau, France), unmarried and without issue |
Alfonso XII | Death and impact | Death and impact
thumb|right|Death of Alfonso XII or The last kiss, by
In November 1885, Alfonso died aged 27 at the Royal Palace of El Pardo near Madrid. He had been suffering from tuberculosis, but the immediate cause of his death was a recurrence of dysentery."Death of the King of Spain", The Times (26 November 1885): 7.
In 1902, his widow Maria Cristina initiated a national contest to build a monument in memory of Alfonso. The winning design, by José Grases Riera, was constructed in an artificial lake in Madrid's Parque del Buen Retiro in 1922.
Coming to the throne at such an early age, Alfonso had served no apprenticeship in the art of ruling. Benevolent and sympathetic in disposition, he won the affection of his people by fearlessly visiting districts ravaged by cholera or devastated by the 1884 Andalusian earthquake. His capacity for dealing with men was considerable, and he never allowed himself to become the instrument of any particular party. During his short reign, peace was established both at home and abroad, finances were well regulated, and the various administrative services were placed on a basis that afterwards enabled Spain to pass through the disastrous war with the United States without the threat of a revolution. |
Alfonso XII | Honours | Honours
Spain: Knight of the Golden Fleece, 1857
: Grand Cross of the Tower and Sword, 1861 Retrieved 22 September 2018.
French Empire: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, March 1863
: Knight of St. Hubert, 1865
: Grand Cross of St. Charles, 7 September 1865Journal de Monaco
: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (civil), 20 February 1866
: Grand Cross of St. Stephen, 1875"A Szent István Rend tagjai"
: Grand Cross of the White Falcon, 1875Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1885), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 14
Kingdom of Prussia: Knight of the Black Eagle, 13 June 1875
Sweden-Norway: Knight of the Seraphim, 23 October 1877
: Knight of the Elephant, 8 January 1878
: Knight of the Annunciation, 4 February 1878
: Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum, 11 September 1879
: Stranger Knight Companion of the Garter, 24 October 1881Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) The Knights of England, I, London, p. 62
: Knight of the Rue Crown, 1883 |
Alfonso XII | Ancestry | Ancestry |
Alfonso XII | See also | See also
Monument to Alfonso XII
Reign of Alfonso XII
Regency of Maria Christina of Austria |
Alfonso XII | Explanatory notes | Explanatory notes |