ALPHONSO

This article appears in Volume V01, Page 733 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: ALM-ANC

ALPHONSO , the common English spelling of Affonso, Alonso and Alfonso, which are respectively the Galician, the Leonese and the Castilian forms of Ildefonso (Ildefonsus), the name of a saint and archbishop of Toledo in the 7th century. The name has been borne by a number of Portuguese and Spanish kings, who are distinguished collectively below.
Portuguese Kings.-ALPHONs0 I. (Affonso Henriques), son of

Henry

Burgundy

BURGUNDY

, count of Portugal, and Teresa of Castile, was born at Guimaraes in 1094. He succeeded his Kings of father in 1112, and was placed under the tutelage of po r+8.,, his mother. When he came of age, he was obliged to
wrest from her by force that power which her vices and incapacity had rendered disastrous to the state. Being proclaimed sole ruler of Portugal in 1123, he defeated his mother's troops near Guimaraes, making her at the same time his prisoner. He also vanquished Alphonso Raymond of Castile, his mother's ally, and thus freed Portugal from dependence on the crown of Leon. Next turning his arms against the Moors, he obtained, on the 26th July 1139, the famous victory of Ourique, and immediately after was proclaimed king by his soldiers. He assembled the

Cortes

CORTES
CORTES, HERNAN

of the kingdom at Lamego, where he received the crown from the archbishop of Braganza; the assembly also declaring that Portugal was no longer a dependency of Leon. Alphonso continued to distinguish himself by his exploits against the Moors, from whom he wrested

Santarem

SANTAREM

in 1146 and Lisbon in 1147. Some years later he became involved in a war that had broken out among the kings of Spain; and in 1167, being disabled during an engagement near Badajoz by a fall from his horse, he was made prisoner by the soldiers of the king of Leon, and was obliged to surrender as his

ransom

RANSOM (from Lat. redemptio, through Fr. rancon)

almost all the conquests he had made in

Galicia

. In 1184, in spite of his

great

GREAT

age, he had still sufficient energy to relieve his son Sancho, who was besieged in

Santarem

SANTAREM

by the Moors. He died shortly after, in 1185. Alphonso was a man of gigantic stature, being 7 ft. high according to some authors. He is revered as a saint by the Portuguese, both on account of his personal character and as the founder of their kingdom.

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