Portugal in the Reconquista

Portuguese participation in the Reconquista occurred from when the County of Portugal was founded in 868 and continued for 381 years until the last cities still in Muslim control in the Algarve were captured in 1249. Portugal was created during this prolonged process and largely owes its geographic form to it.

The Portuguese Reconquista involved the participation of north European crusaders passing through Portuguese coasts en route to the Holy Land, such as Englishmen, French, Flemings, Normans and Germans, most notably at the conquest of Lisbon in 1147, but also in 1142, 1154, 1189, 1191 and 1217. Many settled in Portugal at the invitation of king Afonso I or his son and successor Sancho I.^[1]

While the initial stages of the Portuguese Reconquista were marked by the participation of the upper aristocracy, as the frontier was steadily pushed further south initiative was yielded to minor nobles, town militiamen and peasant knights willing to go on lengthy campaigns. The final stages of Portuguese military effort in the south were mostly undertaken by the military Orders, most notably the Knights of Santiago and the Templars, but also the Order of Calatrava and Hospitallers to a lesser degree. The threat of Muslim raids also prompted the creation of the Portuguese Navy, the oldest in the world still in operation.

While the Count of Portugal was a major vassal of León, at the time of independence, the economy of Portugal was relatively underdeveloped, and there was no mint in the country.^[2] The capture of spoils or extraction of tribute provided momentary income but it was largely unreliable.^[2] Defensive needs motivated the settlement and economic development of the territory and this in turn provided the means for further expansion. Religious Orders such as the Cistercians led the way in agricultural development through a system of granges worked by lay brothers who enabled them to maintain agricultural and cattle enterprises of a sophistication and scale previously unheard of in Portugal.^[2] The military Orders later adopted similar economies and scale and introduced notably sophisticated methods of production, irrigation and fortification.^[3] As Islam receded, Portuguese cities became steadily more prosperous and larger, with signs of an international Portuguese maritime trade appearing by the thirteenth century.^[3][4]

The expansion of Portugal was vital to the legitimization of Afonso I as an independent sovereign, with the Papal decree Manifestis Probatum acknowledging Afonsos efforts in the reconquest of territory back to Christendom as "manifestly proven" and his claims to the title of king as worthy of recognition.^[5]