The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea. Vol. IZurara, Gomes Eannes de
History
The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea. Vol. I
Zurara, Gomes Eannes de
Guinea (Region) -- Discovery and exploration -- Early works to 1800
[Endnote 106: (p. 116). _Lisbon ... profit._--The city of Lisbon,
whose name was traditionally and absurdly derived from
Ulysses--"Ulyssipo," "Olisipo," and his foundation of the original
settlement in the course of his voyages, was perhaps a greater city
under the Moors, eighth-twelfth century, than at any time before the
reign of Emmanuel the Fortunate. It was a Roman colony, but its
prosperity greatly increased under the Arab rule from A.D. 714; from
this port sailed Edrisi's Maghrarins, or Wanderers, on their voyage of
discovery in the Western Ocean, probably in the earliest eleventh
century. It was three times recovered and lost by the Christians: in
792(-812) by Alfonso the Chaste of Castille; in 851 by Ordonho I of
Leon, who held it only a few months; and in 1093(-1094) by Alfonso VI of
Leon, soon after his great defeat by the Almoravides at Zalacca (1086);
but on each occasion it was quickly retaken--in 1094 by Seyr, General of
Yusuf ibn Tashfin, the Almorvaide. In alarm at the Moslem revival,
Alfonso founded the county of Portugal in 1095, giving it in charge of
Count Henry of Burgundy and his natural daughter Theresa, to hold as a
"march" against the Moors. In 1147 Lisbon was finally recaptured by
Affonso Henriques, the first King of Portugal, in alliance with a fleet
(164 ships) of English, Flemish, German and French Crusaders on their
way to the Holy Land (Second Crusade). At this time it was said, perhaps
with exaggeration, to contain 400,000 inhabitants; its present number is
only about 240,000 (see _Cruce-signati Anglici Epistola de Expugnatione
Olisiponis_, in _Portugalliæ Monumenta Historica_, vol. i, p. 392, etc).
Before 1147 Guimaraens had been the capital of Portugal; and even down
to the time of John I, Henry's father, Lisbon was not formally the seat
of government, this being more often fixed at Coimbra. In the same
reign, Lisbon also, as a commercial port, easily distanced all rivals
within the kingdom, especially Oporto; and King John's erection of
palaces in the city, and his successful application to the Pope for the
creation of an Archiepiscopal See (thus rivalling Braga), further
contributed to give point to Azurara's words in this paragraph about
"the most noble town in Portugal." On the share of the commercial
classes of Lisbon, Lagos, etc., in Henry's schemes, see Introduction to
vol. ii, pp. x, xii.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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