During the next four centuries Spain became thoroughly Romanised, to such an extent indeed that not only the arts, customs, laws, and municipal institutions, but even the language of Rome came into general use, and that language is the basis of the tongue of the Celtic portion of the people at the present day. The Christian religion also, which had become that of the ruling power, was firmly adopted. No conquerors ever left their impression upon a whole people more thoroughly than the Romans left theirs upon the inhabitants of the greater portion of the Spanish peninsula.
Historical Sketches.
So matters went on until the early years of the fifth century of our era, when the Western Empire was overrun by hordes of warlike intruders pressing down from the north, and the Alani, the Vandals, and the Suevi made their way over the Pyrenees, and took possession of Spain. They were followed by the Visigoths, when the Vandals and most of the Alani went on to Africa, the Suevi remaining in Galicia and part of Old Castile, and the Gothic monarchy of Spain was established. These Goths held the Romanised Celts in subjection, and lived among them as an aristocracy, but soon adopted their language, when the two peoples blended into one.
Three centuries passed away, and then another race of conquerors appeared. The Arabs, under the influence of the religion of Mohamed, had overrun Egypt and the whole northern coast of Africa to the Atlantic ocean, converting everywhere the people to their faith. In the second decade of the eighth century one of their armies passed from Africa by way of Gibraltar into Spain, and speedily overran the whole peninsula except the Basque territory in the north. For a long series of years they were not harsh conquerors, and by their love of learning, their splendid schools, and the beauty of their architecture unquestionably did much to improve the subject people. The Christians were not compelled to renounce their religion, and their persons and property were protected by the law. For a time the country was subject to the caliph of Damascus, and later to an independent caliph of Cordova, but at length, in the first years of the eleventh century, the Mohamedan government broke into fragments, and an era of misrule and fanaticism on both sides commenced. The Gothic nobles from the first had chafed under foreign supremacy, and within fifty years of the conquest the little Christian state of the north had begun to expand. Now a struggle between the Christians and the Mohamedans set in, a struggle which lasted for centuries and which drenched the land with blood, which spread desolation far and wide, but created a people inspired with boundless energy and prepared to undertake the most formidable enterprises. The Mohamedans were aided by fanatics from Africa, mostly of Berber blood, and large numbers of crusaders, among whom were many Englishmen, came to the assistance of the Christians.
The Kingdom of Portugal.
A number of little Christian states, sometimes united under one head, at other times independent of each other, came into existence in the northern part of the peninsula, and in A.D. 1095 a small section of the present territory of Portugal, that had been recovered from the Mohamedans by Alfonso, king of Leon and Castile, was formed into a county for the benefit of a Burgundian noble named Henrique, who married Theresa, a natural daughter of the king. The county was called Portugal, from o Porto, the Port, at the mouth of the river Douro. With this event the history of Portugal, as distinct from the other sections of the Spanish peninsula, commences. The county certainly remained a fief of Leon until the 25th of July 1139, on which day the memorable battle of Ourique was fought. Affonso, who had succeeded his father Henrique as count of Portugal, crossed the Tagus, marched far into the Moslem domains, and defeated with great slaughter five emirs who had united their forces against him. The old Portuguese historians assert that after the victory Affonso was proclaimed king by his army, and that a cortes which assembled at Lamego confirmed the title, but recent criticism throws doubt upon these statements as being merely legendary. The latest writers assert that it was in war with his suzerain that Affonso acquired his independence, and that the cortes did not meet at Lamego until 1211. At any rate, it is certain that the son of Henrique styled himself king in 1140, and that in 1143 Pope Innocent the Second confirmed the title.
After this the waves of war rolled backward and forward over the land, but in 1147 Affonso got possession of the important city of Santarem, which was never again lost. In the same year also, with the aid of a strong body of English crusaders, he seized Lisbon, though it was not made the national capital until the reign of João I. During the remainder of his life and that of his son Sancho, who succeeded him, the Tagus was the southern boundary of Portugal, and the province of Alemtejo was a debatable land, sometimes overrun by one party, sometimes by the other. In 1211 Sancho died, and was succeeded by his son Affonso II, and he again in 1223 by his son Sancho II, during whose reigns a steady though slow and frequently interrupted advance was made in the conquest of Alemtejo. Sancho II was despoiled of his kingdom by his brother Affonso III, and in 1248 died in exile. In 1250 the emirate of the Algarves was overrun, and was held as a fief of Castile until 1263, when it was ceded to Portugal in full sovereignty. The country then for the first time after a struggle of one hundred and sixty-eight years from the formation of the northern county, acquired its present dimensions, which it has retained inviolate ever since. The title King of Portugal and of the Algarves, assumed by Affonso III, was subsequently borne by all the monarchs of the country.
Historical Sketches.
In 1279 Affonso III was succeeded by his son Diniz, who died in 1325, and was followed on the throne by his son Affonso IV. He was succeeded in 1357 by his son Pedro, who was followed in 1367 by his son Fernando, the last monarch of the Burgundian dynasty, who died on the 22nd of October 1383. Under the government of these kings the Portuguese had become a fairly wealthy and prosperous commercial people, without losing any of the martial spirit or fierce energy that they had acquired during their long wars with the Mohamedans. Fernando died without male heirs, and his daughter, being married to the king of Castile, was by a fundamental law excluded from the crown. His widow, the infamous Dona Leonor, asserted a claim to act as regent for her daughter, but owing to her profligate habits and her remorseless cruelty she was detested by the people, who were extremely averse to union or even association with Castile, and she was expelled.
The leader of the popular party was Dom João, Grand Master of the Order of Saint Benedict of Avis, a man of remarkable ability, who was an illegitimate son of King Pedro by Theresa Lourenço. The Castilian monarch invaded Portugal with a great army and laid siege to Lisbon, but pestilence broke out in his camp, and he was driven back with heavy loss. On the 6th of April 1385 the cortes, which had assembled at Coimbra, the ancient capital, elected the Grand Master of the Order of Avis king of Portugal. Still the sovereign of Castile might have succeeded in conquering the country if John of Gaunt, son of Edward III of England, had not come to its aid with five thousand men. The marriage of King João with Philippa, eldest daughter of John of Gaunt, cemented his alliance with England, with which country he had concluded a treaty of close friendship. Thus the illustrious dynasty of Avis, under whose leadership the little kingdom held such a proud position in Europe, came to occupy the throne of Portugal.