Coimbra
Coimbra is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of 319.40 square kilometres, the fourth-largest urban centre in Portugal, it is the largest city of the district of Coimbra, the Centro region and the Baixo Mondego subregion. About 460,000 people live in the Região de Coimbra, comprising 19 municipalities, among the many archaeological structures dating back to the Roman era, when Coimbra was the settlement of Aeminium, are its well-preserved aqueduct and cryptoporticus. Similarly, buildings from the period when Coimbra was the capital of Portugal still remain, during the Late Middle Ages, with its decline as the political centre of the Kingdom of Portugal, Coimbra began to evolve into a major cultural centre. This was in part helped by the establishment the University of Coimbra in 1290. Apart from attracting many European and international students, the university is visited by tourists for its monuments. The city, located on a hill by the Mondego River, was called Aeminium in Roman times and it fell under the influence, administratively, of the larger Roman villa of Conímbriga, until the latter was sacked by the Sueves and Visigoths between 569 and 589 and abandoned.
It became the seat of a diocesis, replacing Conímbriga, the limestone table on which the settlement grew has a dominant position overlooking the Mondego, circled by fertile lands irrigated by its waters. Vestiges of this history include the cryptoporticus of the former Roman forum. The move of the settlement and bishopric of Conimbriga to Aeminium resulted in the change to Conimbriga. The first Muslim campaigns that occupied the Iberian peninsula occurred between 711 and 715, with Coimbra capitulating to Musa bin Nusair in 714, remnants of this period include the beginnings of the Almedina and the fortified palace used by the citys governor. The Christian Reconquista forced Muslim forces to abandon the region temporarily, successively the Moors retook the castle in 987–1064 and again in 1116, capturing two castles constructed to protect the territory, in Miranda da Beira and in Santa Eulália. Henry expanded the frontiers of the County, confronting the Moorish forces, in order to confirm and reinforce the power of the concelho he conceded a formal foral in 1179.
The city was encircled by a wall, of which some remnants are still visible like the Almedina Gate. Meanwhile, on the periphery, the municipality began to grow in various agglomerations, notably around the monasteries and convents that developed in Celas, Santa Clara, Santo António dos Olivais. It stood too close to the river, and frequent floods forced the nuns to abandon it in the 17th century, the Queens magnificent Gothic tomb was transferred to the new convent. The ruins of the old convent were excavated in the 2000s, in the 15th and 16th centuries, during the Age of Discovery, Coimbra was again one of the main artistic centres of Portugal thanks to both local and royal patronage. The University of Coimbra, was founded as a Studium Generale in Lisbon in 1290 by King Dinis I, the University was relocated to Coimbra in 1308, but in 1338 the King D. Afonso IV make the University return to Lisbon
Lisbon Cathedral
The Lisbon Cathedral, often called simple the Sé, is a Roman Catholic church located in Lisbon, Portugal. The oldest church in the city is the see of the Archdiocese of Lisbon, since the beginning of the construction of the cathedral, in the year 1147, the building has been modified several times and survived many earthquakes. It is nowadays a mix of different architectural styles and it has been classified as a National Monument since 1910. Lisbon has been the seat of a bishopric since the 4th century AD, in the year 1147, the city was reconquered by an army composed of Portuguese soldiers led by King Afonso Henriques and North European crusaders taking part on the Second Crusade. An English crusader named Gilbert of Hastings was placed as bishop, and this first building was completed between 1147 and the first decades of the 13th century in Late Romanesque style. At that time the relics of St Vincent of Saragossa, patron saint of Lisbon, were brought to the cathedral from Southern Portugal.
In 1498, Queen Eleanor of Viseu founded the Irmandade de Invocação a Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia de Lisboa in one of the chapels of the cloister of the cathedral. This brotherhood evolved into the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, earthquakes have always been a problem for Lisbon and its cathedral. During the 14th and 16th centuries there were several of them, but the worst of all was the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, the cloisters and many chapels were ruined by the quake and the fire that followed. The cathedral was rebuilt and, in the beginning of the 20th century, was given the appearance that it has today after a profound renovation. In recent years the central courtyard of the cloister has been excavated and shows signs of the Roman, Lisbon cathedral is a Latin cross building with three aisles, a transept and a main chapel surrounded by an ambulatory. The church is connected with a cloister on the Eastern side, the main façade of the cathedral looks like a fortress, with two towers flanking the entrance and crenellations over the walls.
This menacing appearance, seen in other Portuguese cathedrals of the time, is a relic from the Reconquista period, when the cathedral could be used as a base to attack the enemy during a siege. From its first building period, Lisbon cathedral has preserved the West façade with a window, the main portal, the North lateral portal. The portals have interesting sculptured capitals with Romanesque motifs, the nave is covered by barrel vaulting and has an upper, arched gallery. Light gets in through the windows of the West façade and transept. The general plan of the cathedral is similar to that of the Old Cathedral of Coimbra. One of the chapels of the ambulatory has an interesting Romanesque iron gate, at the end of the 13th century King Dinis of Portugal ordered the construction of a cloister in Gothic style, which became severely damaged by the 1755 earthquake
Maria of Portugal, Queen of Castile
Infanta Maria of Portugal was a Portuguese infanta, Queen consort of Castile upon her marriage to Alfonso XI in 1328, and mother of King Peter of Castile. She was the first daughter of King Afonso IV of Portugal and her maternal grandparents were Sancho IV of Castile and María de Molina. In 1328, Maria married King Alfonso XI, as part of the arras, King Alfonso gave her Guadalajara, Talavera de la Reina and Olmedo. In 1335, Maria returned to her father in Évora, who demanded that Alfonso separated from Leonor by use of alliances with the Pope, the Muslims and rebels inside Castile, and finally by an invasion. At the death of Alfonso 26 March 1350, Maria secured a position by exerting influence upon the leader of her sons council. She participated in the rebellion against her son in 1354, and turned over Toro to the rebels, after this, she returned to Portugal. He was buried in the monastery of San Clemente de Sevilla, Peter of Castile, king of Castile and León at the death of his father in 1350.
He married Maria de Padilla, Blanche of Bourbon and Jeanne de Castro and his remains lie today in the crypt of the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Seville. She died in Évora on 18 January 1357 and was buried there until, against the wishes expressed in her will, the gravestone made of simple tiles at the monastery mentions that she is buried there with two tender infants. El Real Monasterio de San Clemente, Un monasterio cisterciense en la Sevilla Medieval, Comisaría de la Ciudad de Sevilla para 1992, Ayuntamiento de Sevilla. Crónica de los Reyes de Castilla, Don Pedro, Don Enrique II, Don Juan I, Don Enrique III
Kingdom of Galicia
The Kingdom of Galicia was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Founded by Suebic king Hermeric in 409, the Galician capital was established in Braga, being the first kingdom which adopted Catholicism officially and it was part of the Kingdom of the Spanish Visigothic monarchs from 585 to 711. Compostela became capital of Galicia in the 11th century, while the independence of Portugal determined its southern boundary, the representative assembly of the Kingdom was the Junta or Cortes of the Kingdom of Galicia, which briefly declared itself sovereign when Galicia alone remained free of Napoleonic occupation. The kingdom and its Junta were dissolved by Maria Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the origin of the kingdom lies in the 5th century, when the Suebi settled permanently in the former Roman province of Gallaecia. Their king, probably signed a foedus, or pact, with the Roman Emperor Honorius, the Suebi set their capital in the former Bracara Augusta, setting the foundations of a kingdom which was first acknowledged as Regnum Suevorum, but as Regnum Galliciense.
The independent Suebic kingdom of Galicia lasted from 410 to 585, in 410 Gallaecia was divided, ad habitandum, among two Germanic people, the Hasdingi Vandals, who settled the eastern lands, and the Suebi, who established themselves in the coastal areas. As with most Germanic invasions, the number of the original Suebi is estimated to be low, generally fewer than 100,000. They settled mainly in the regions around modern northern Portugal and Western Galicia, in the towns of Braga and Porto, in 419 a war broke out between the Vandal king Gunderic and the Suebis Hermeric. After a blockade alongside the Nervasian Mountains, the Suebi obtained Roman help, in the absence of competitors, the Suebi began a period of expansion, first inside Gallaecia, and into other Roman provinces. In 438 Hermeric ratified a treaty with the Gallaeci, the native. In 448 Rechila died, leaving the state to his son Rechiar. Rechiar married a Visigothic princess, and was the first Germanic king to mint coins in ancient Roman territories, Rechiar led further expansions to the east, marauding through the Provincia Tarraconensis, which was still held by Rome.
The Roman emperor Avitus sent an army of foederates, under the direction of the Visigoth Theoderic II. Rechiar fled, but he was pursued and captured, executed in 457, in the aftermath of Rechiars death, multiple candidates for the throne appeared, finally grouping into two allegiances. By 465 Remismund, who established a policy of friendship with the Goths, five of the attendant bishops used Germanic names, showing the integration of the different communities of the country. After clashing in frontier lands and Leovigild agreed upon a temporary peace, the Suebi maintained their independence until 585, when Leovigild, on the pretext of conflict over the succession, invaded the Suebic kingdom and finally defeated it. Audeca, the last king of the Suebi, who had deposed his brother-in-law Eboric and this same year a nobleman named Malaric rebelled against the Goths, but he was defeated. As with the Visigothic language, there are traces of the Suebi tongue remaining
Portuguese Navy
The Portuguese Navy, tracing back to the 12th century, is one of the oldest continuously serving navies in the world. The navy played a key role at the beginning and during the voyages of the Age of Discoveries in the 15th and 16th centuries. Bartolomeu Dias rounded the tip of Africa and Vasco da Gama reached India, linking Europe and Asia for the first time by ocean route, as well as the Atlantic. The Portuguese Navy participates in missions related with international commitments assumed by Portugal, the first known battle of the Portuguese Navy happened in 1180, during the reign of Portugals first king, Afonso I. The battle occurred when a Portuguese fleet commanded by the knight Fuas Roupinho defeated a Muslim fleet near Cape Espichel, Fuas Roupinho made two incursions at Ceuta, in 1181 and 1182, and died during the latter of these attempts to conquer the North African city. During the 13th century, in the Portuguese Reconquista, the Navy helped in the conquest of several coastal Moorish towns, like Alcácer do Sal and Faro.
It was used in the battles against Castile through incursions in Galicia and Andalusia, in 1317, King Denis decided to give, for the first time, a permanent organization to the Royal Navy, appointed Manuel Pessanha of Genoa to be the first Admiral of the Kingdom. In 1321, the Navy successfully attacked Muslim ports in North Africa, Maritime insurance began in 1323 in Portugal, and between 1336 and 1341 the first attempts at maritime expansion are made, with the expedition to Canary Islands, sponsored by King Afonso IV. In the context of the 1383–85 Crisis, the Portuguese Navy took a participation in the war against Castile. In July 1384, the Portuguese Navy was able to break the Castilian siege of Lisbon and to supply the city, defeating the Castilian Navy in the naval battle of the Tagus. At the end of the 14th century, more Portuguese discoveries were made, with the Navy playing a role in the exploration of the oceans. Portugal became the first naval world power, in the beginning of the 15th century, the country entered a period of peace and stability.
Europe was still involved in wars and feudal conflicts which allowed Portugal to be the only country to methodically and successfully start the exploration of the Atlantic. Exploration in the west African coast started in 1412 and ended with the crossing of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, after his return from Ceuta, Henry the navigator founded a school of navigation in Sagres, which was a place to discuss the art of navigation. The vessel employed in the beginning of the Discoveries was the caravel, the first results came soon and Gonçalves Zarco discovers the Porto Santo Island in 1419 and the Madeira Island in 1420, Diogo de Silves discovers the azorean island of Santa Maria in 1427. In 1424, Gil Eanes crosses the Cape Bojador, Diogo Cão and Bartolomeu Dias arrived to the mouth of the Zaire River in 1482. In the same year, the São Jorge da Mina castle is built in the coast of Western Africa, by Diogo de Azambuja, in 1488, Bartolomeu Dias becomes the first European to sail around the southernmost tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope.
João Vaz Corte-Real arrives to Newfoundland in 1473, part of the coast of Newfoundland would be charted by the Corte-Real brothers, sons of João Vaz Corte-Real, in a failed attempt to find the Northwest Passage in 1501
Fief
The fees were often lands or revenue-producing real property held in feudal land tenure, these are typically known as fiefs or fiefdoms. However, not only land but anything of value could be held in fee, including office, rights of exploitation such as hunting or fishing, monopolies in trade. In ancient Rome a benefice was a gift of land for life as a reward for services rendered, originally, in medieval Latin European documents, a land grant in exchange for service continued to be called a beneficium. Later, the term feudum, or feodum, began to replace beneficium in the documents, the first attested instance of this is from 984, although more primitive forms were seen up to one hundred years earlier. The origin of the feudum and why it replaced beneficium has not been well established, but there are multiple theories, described below. The most widely held theory is put forth by Marc Bloch that it is related to the Frankish term *fehu-ôd, in which means cattle and -ôd means goods. When land replaced currency as the store of value, the Germanic word *fehu-ôd replaced the Latin word beneficium.
This Germanic origin theory was shared by William Stubbs in the nineteenth century, a theory put forward by Archibald R. Lewis that the origin of fief is not feudum, but rather foderum, the earliest attested use being in Astronomuss Vita Hludovici. In that text is a passage about Louis the Pious which says annona militaris quas vulgo foderum vocant, a theory by Alauddin Samarrai suggests an Arabic origin, from fuyū. Samarrais theory is that early forms of fief include feo, feuz and others, however, advises medieval and early modern Muslim scribes often used etymologically fanciful roots in order to claim the most outlandish things to be of Arabian or Muslim origin. It lacked a precise meaning until the middle of the 12th century, in English usage, the word fee is first attested around 1250–1300, the word fief from around 1605–15. In French, the fief is found from the middle of the 13th century. In French, one finds seigneurie, which rise to the expression seigneurial system to describe feudalism.
Originally, vassalage did not imply the giving or receiving of landholdings, by the middle of the 10th century, fee had largely become hereditary. The eldest son of a deceased vassal would inherit, but first he had to do homage and fealty to the lord, the fees of the 11th and the 12th century derived from two separate sources. The first was land carved out of the estates of the upper nobility, the second source was allodial land transformed into dependent tenures. The process occurred in Germany, and was going on in the 13th century. In England, Henry II transformed them into important sources of royal income, the discontent of barons with royal claims to arbitrarily assessed reliefs and other feudal payments under Henrys son King John resulted in Magna Carta of 1215
Alfonso XI of Castile
Alfonso XI of Castile, called the Avenger, was the king of Castile, León and Galicia. He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal, upon his fathers death in 1312, several disputes ensued over who would hold regency, which were resolved in 1313. Once Alfonso was declared adult in 1325, he began a reign that would serve to strengthen royal power and his achievements include solving the problems of the Gibraltar Strait and the conquest of Algeciras. Alfonso XI was the son of King Ferdinand IV of Castile and his father died when Alfonso was one year old. As soon as he took the throne, he began working hard to strengthen royal power by dividing his enemies and his early display of rulership skills included the unhesitant execution of possible opponents, including his uncle Juan el Tuerto in 1326. Once that conflict was resolved, he redirected all his Reconquista efforts to fighting the Moorish king of Granada and he is variously known among Castilian kings as the Avenger or the Implacable, and as He of Río Salado.
Alfonso XI never went to the lengths of his son Peter of Castile. He killed for reasons of state without any form of trial and he openly neglected his wife, Maria of Portugal, and indulged a scandalous passion for Eleanor of Guzman, who bore him ten children. This set Peter an example which he failed to better, Alfonso XI first married Constanza Manuel in 1325, but had the union annulled two years later. His second marriage, in 1328, was to Maria of Portugal and they had, Peter of Castile, King of Castile. King Alfonso was not very tall but well proportioned, and he was rather strong and had fair skin and hair. Chapman, Charles Edward and Rafael Altamira, A history of Spain and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Hugh, ed. Alphonso. Medieval Iberia, an encyclopedia, Ed. E. Michael Gerli and Samuel G. Armistead, Routledge,2003
Nobility
The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be largely honorary, and vary from country to country and era to era. There is often a variety of ranks within the noble class. g, san Marino and the Vatican City in Europe. Hereditary titles often distinguish nobles from non-nobles, although in many nations most of the nobility have been un-titled, some countries have had non-hereditary nobility, such as the Empire of Brazil. The term derives from Latin nobilitas, the noun of the adjective nobilis. In modern usage, nobility is applied to the highest social class in pre-modern societies and it rapidly came to be seen as a hereditary caste, sometimes associated with a right to bear a hereditary title and, for example in pre-revolutionary France, enjoying fiscal and other privileges. Nobility is a historical and often legal notion, differing from high socio-economic status in that the latter is based on income. Being wealthy or influential cannot, ipso facto, make one noble, various republics, including former Iron Curtain countries, Greece and Austria have expressly abolished the conferral and use of titles of nobility for their citizens.
Not all of the benefits of nobility derived from noble status per se, usually privileges were granted or recognised by the monarch in association with possession of a specific title, office or estate. Most nobles wealth derived from one or more estates, large or small and it included infrastructure such as castle and mill to which local peasants were allowed some access, although often at a price. Nobles were expected to live nobly, that is, from the proceeds of these possessions, work involving manual labour or subordination to those of lower rank was either forbidden or frowned upon socially. In some countries, the lord could impose restrictions on such a commoners movements. Nobles exclusively enjoyed the privilege of hunting, in France, nobles were exempt from paying the taille, the major direct tax. In some parts of Europe the right of war long remained the privilege of every noble. During the early Renaissance, duelling established the status of a respectable gentleman, Nobility came to be associated with social rather than legal privilege, expressed in a general expectation of deference from those of lower rank.
By the 21st century even that deference had become increasingly minimised, in France, a seigneurie might include one or more manors surrounded by land and villages subject to a nobles prerogatives and disposition. Seigneuries could be bought, sold or mortgaged, if erected by the crown into, e. g. a barony or countship, it became legally entailed for a specific family, which could use it as their title. Yet most French nobles were untitled, in other parts of Europe, sovereign rulers arrogated to themselves the exclusive prerogative to act as fons honorum within their realms. Nobility might be inherited or conferred by a fons honorum
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Hannay, David (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 733.
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