Afonso III of Portugal

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Portuguese Royalty
House of Burgundy

Afonso Henriques (Afonso I)
Children include Infanta Mafalda Infanta Urraca, Queen of Léon Infante Sancho (future Sancho I) Infanta Teresa, Countess of Flanders and Duchess of Burgundy
Sancho I
Children include Infanta Teresa, Queen of Castile Infanta Sancha, Lady of Alenquer Infanta Constança Infante Afonso (future Afonso II) Infante Pedro, Count of Urgell Infante Fernando, Count of Flanders Infanta Branca, Lady of Guadalajara Infanta Berengária, Queen of Denmark Infanta Mafalda, Queen of Castile
Afonso II
Children include Infante Sancho (future Sancho II) Infante Afonso, Count of Boulogne (future Afonso III) Infanta Leonor, Queen of Denmark Infante Fernando, Lord of Serpa
Sancho II
Afonso III
Children include Infanta Branca, Viscountess of Huelgas Infante Dinis (future Denis I) Infante Afonso, Lord of Portalegre Infanta Maria Infanta Sancha
Denis
Children include Infanta Constança, Queen of Castile Infante Afonso (future Afonso IV)
Afonso IV
Children include Infanta Maria, Queen of Castile Infante Pedro (future Peter I) Infanta Leonor, Queen of Aragon
Peter I
Children include Infanta Maria, Marchioness of Tortosa Infante Fernando (future Ferdinand I) Infanta Beatriz, Countess of Alburquerque Infante João, Duke of Valencia de Campos Infante Dinis, Lord of Villar-Dompardo John, Grand Master of the Order of Aviz (future John I) (natural son)
Ferdinand I
Children include Infanta Beatrice, Queen of Castile and Leon (future Beatrice I of Portugal)
Beatrice (disputed queen)
Children include Infante Miguel of Castile and Portugal

Afonso III (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐˈfõsu]; rare English alternatives: Alphonzo or Alphonse), or Affonso (Archaic Portuguese), Alfonso or Alphonso (Portuguese-Galician) or Alphonsus (Latin), the Bolognian (Port. o Bolonhês), the fifth King of Portugal (5 May 1210 in Coimbra – 16 February 1279 in Alcobaça, Coimbra or Lisbon) and the first to use the title King of Portugal and the Algarve, since 1249. He was the second son of King Afonso II of Portugal and his wife, Urraca, princess of Castile; he succeeded his brother, King Sancho II of Portugal , who was removed from the throne, on 4 January 1248.

As the second son of King Afonso II of Portugal, Afonso 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 Matilda, the heiress of Boulogne, in 1238, thereby becoming Count of Boulogne. In 1246, conflicts between his brother, the king, and the church became unbearable. Pope Innocent IV then ordered Sancho II to be removed from the throne and be replaced by the Count of Boulogne. Afonso, of course, did not refuse the papal order and marched to Portugal. Since Sancho was not a popular king, the order was not hard to enforce; he was exiled to Castile and Afonso III became king in 1248 after his brother's death. To ascend the throne, he abdicated from the county of Boulogne and later (1253) divorced Matilda.

Determined not to commit 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 favoured 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.

This King showed extraordinay vision for that time. Humanists and Progessists measures taken during his kingship includes: The representatives of the people were for the first time included in the governance, besides the nobility and clergy; The end of preventive arrests, all arrests by the police had to be first presented to a judge to determine the detention measure, monetary economy measures, such as the negotiation with the mercators a extraordinary taxation instead of the typical devalorization of money. The first measures of a state towards laicity, including taxation of the Catholic Church wealth. This leads to his excomunication by the holy see. This precipitated his death and his son Dom Dinis prematurelly rise to the throne with 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—Portugal thus becoming the first Iberian kingdom to complete its Reconquista.

Following his success against the Moors, Afonso III had to deal with a political situation arising from the 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, a treaty was signed in Badajoz, determining that the southern border between Castile and Portugal should be the River Guadiana, as it is today.

Ancestors

Marriages and descendants

Afonso's first wife was Matilda II of Boulogne, daughter of Renaud, Count of Dammartin, and Ida of Boulogne. She had two sons (Roberto and an unnamed one), but both died young. He divorced Matilda in 1253 and, in the same year, married Beatrice of Castile, illegitimate daughter of Alfonso X, King of Castile, and Maria de Guzman.

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.