The Story of the Nations: PortugalStephens, H. Morse (Henry Morse)
History
The Story of the Nations: Portugal
Stephens, H. Morse (Henry Morse)
Portugal -- History
Count Henry was the second son of Henry, who was the third son of
Robert, first Duke of Burgundy, and he was like his father and
grandfather, a knight of the old French school, combining a passionate
love for adventure and for war with an ambitious and self-seeking
temperament. He had come to Spain to the assistance of the Christians,
as much with the purpose of founding a dynasty as for the love of war,
and from the first he turned his thoughts more to the hope of succeeding
his father-in-law, Alfonso VI., in one at least of his kingdoms, than to
carving a kingdom for himself out of the dominions of the Arab caliphs.
He received his county of Portugal, the dowry of his wife, Theresa,
illegitimate daughter of Alfonso VI., as a direct fief of the crown of
Gallicia, one of the three kingdoms of his father-in-law. This kingdom
Alfonso had granted, as a fief, not as a kingdom, to Count Raymond of
Toulouse, who had married his legitimate daughter, Urraca, and Count
Henry highly disapproved of being in some sort a feudatory of his
fellow-adventurer. At first the jealousy between Henry and Raymond did
not show itself; for Count Henry had to fight hard to defend his
southern frontiers against the incursions of the Mohammedan general
Seyr. To his help he summoned the chivalry of France, and the knights of
his native country flocked to his assistance, and were promoted to high
military positions and to feudal dignities by him. Battle succeeded
battle without either side gaining any decisive victory, until after
seven years’ hard fighting both Christians and Moors decided to rest
awhile to recover from their exhaustion.
Count Henry was, however, too much the restless knight of the Middle
Ages to remain quiet long. Since his Portuguese warriors were weary, and
the battle-ground for miles on each bank of the Tagus was laid utterly
waste, he could fight no longer in his own country against the
unbelievers, and so hurried off in 1103 with Maurice, Bishop of Coimbra,
to fight them in Palestine. For two years he served in the expedition
known as the Second Crusade, and when he returned he was still ready for
more fighting at home. His restlessness was typical of his epoch. The
knights of the Crusades were always knights-errant, always in search of
adventure, and never satiated with war. This spirit was encouraged by
the Church, and while the Almoravide caliph Yūsuf was organizing his
military forces for a fresh assault on the Christians, Count Henry, on
the other hand, went off in search of adventure abroad, leaving his
county under the government of his wife, Theresa.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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