First county of Portucale

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Statue in the city of Porto of Vímara Peres on horseback.

On the territory of what will later become Portugal, the “first” county of Portucale (Condado Portucalense) developed from 868 in the area around Porto as part of the Kingdom of Asturias-León. The starting point for this was the Presúria of Portucale by Vímara Peres on behalf of and in the name of the King of Asturias-León. What is decisive about this Presúria is that the political and administrative reorganization of the entire Entre-Douro-e-Minho territory started from Portucale. In this sense, the county of Portucale became an important center for the repopulation or repovoamento of the north of the later Kingdom of Portugal.

Starting conditions

Already under Alfonso I of Asturias, Christian troops were able to briefly occupy and plunder cities such as Braga , Porto or Chaves , located south of the Minho river in several campaigns or raids . They got as far as Viseu . Since the Asturian king did not have enough military power for defense and economic power to settle and develop these territories, he ordered the region north of the Douro to be devastated and the Christian or Mozarabic population to be resettled. To what extent he completely succeeded in this is a matter of dispute in historical research. Certainly, however, he left a very insecure, rather broken border region with half-abandoned and half-burned cities, impoverished and sparsely populated, from which all bishops (i.e. most of the authorities) had fled. Although the Moors withdrew from all of Galicia in the 740s , they led several powerful counter-attacks that in 793–795 brought the Asturian kingdom to the brink of annihilation. This constant military up and down marked the situation until Alfonso III came to power . in Asturias. In the first half of the 9th century, what is now the Portuguese region between the Minho and Douro rivers was partially depopulated. Only small Christian population groups tried to survive here. In the interior and in the northwest of what is now Portugal, with the exception of the sparsely populated Chaves, there was almost complete depopulation. South of the Douro, especially in the regions of Coimbra and Santarém , there lived not only Muslims but also Mozarabic Christians. This was the starting point as Alfons III. of Asturias as part of the Reconquista began a new offensive against the Muslim rulers.

Birth and development of the county of Portucale

“Era DCCCCVIª Prenditus est Portucale ad Vimara Petri.” (Chronicon Laurbanense) This short text from the archives of the Lorvão Monastery is the only reference to the Presúria of Porto by Vímara Peres in the year 868. However, this was not the only measure to develop it Region. 872 took place the Presúria of Chaves and the territory of Alto Lima by the Conde Odoário. This also began the repopulation of the northern zone of Trás-os-Montes .

After the capture of Portucale, the reorganization of power in the territory of Entre-Douro-e-Minho continued. After 870 the repopulation of Braga began, the founding of the castle of Vimaranis ( Guimarães ) followed in the year 879, but there were also Presúrias smaller places like e. B. the Presúria of Negrelos by the (probable) son of Vímara Peres, Lucídio Vimaranes, or the Presúria of Lardosa by the two Mozarabs Muzara and Zamora. Soon the Douro was crossed to the south. On behalf of and in the name of the King of Asturias-León, the Presúria of Coimbra was established in 878 by D. Hermenegildo Guterres. Guterres was named Conde of Coimbra (Chronicon Laurbanense: "Era DCCCCXVIª prendita est Conimbria ad Ermenegildo Comite"), one of the most powerful lords south of the Douro. He held important offices at the court of Alfonso III. from Asturias-León and was named in 898 as Conde (Count) of Tui and Portucale. The conquests of Viseu, Lamego and Idanha followed . By the end of the 9th century, the dioceses of Coimbra, Porto, Lamego and Viseu were rebuilt. By that time, all the bishops south of the Minho, with the exception of those of Braga and Idanha, had returned to their dioceses.

It turned out that, under the political and administrative leadership of the counts commissioned by the king, it was possible to secure the conquests militarily, to gradually populate them and to develop them economically as well as to establish religious support for the population. During the reign of Alfonso III. A high nobility established itself in the immediate vicinity of the Douro, but also in the Coimbra region, who were related by marriage to both the royal family and each other and whose chiefs were also the most important initiators of the repovoamento. With Gonçalo Mendes, son of Mumadona Dias and Mendo Gonçalves , the line of the well-known duces begins in 950 (becomes Conde of Portucale). After him, a dynasty of five to six governors ensured that the area remained united as a real fiefdom in the same family until the middle of the 11th century. A kind of rudimentary central government (a court of "dukes") developed north of the Douro in Portucale, Vimaranis (Guimarães) and Braga.

At the beginning of the 10th century, the border between Christians and Muslims followed the valley of the Rio Mondego from the coast up the river, remained on the left side of the Rio Côa until its confluence with the Douro, which then rivers up inland and towards it Asturias-León formed the border.

The high military aristocracy entrusted with the defense and settlement by the kings of León received inheritance rights from the king for these services and had the task of protecting the region against both the constant attacks of the Moors and against raids by the Vikings. Again and again there were rebellions of various counts against the royal family and different factions formed on questions of succession to the throne and inheritance disputes within the royal family.

But the Moors were far from defeated. In February 977, Muhammad ibn Abi Amir, known as Almansor , began a successful offensive against his Christian opponents in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, which lasted more than two decades. After the city was attacked in 986, Almansor managed to conquer Coimbra in 987 after only two days of siege. It is doubtful whether this urban center was actually completely devastated and remained uninhabited for seven years, as recorded in the Chronica Gothorum. The strongly fortified Montemor-o-Velho also came under Muslim rule again in 990. On the basis of the military capacity to permanently secure the border, Almansor made the Douro the borderline between Muslims and Christians again, although in 997 he advanced far beyond the Douro into Galicia during his famous campaign against the pilgrimage site of Santiago de Compostela . It must be added here that parts of the region south of Porto and thus south of the Douro, today's Rota da Luz tourism region, also remained under Christian administration up to the river Vouga. The policy of securing the conquests between Mondego and Douro also served the rebuilding of Coimbra by Almansor, which began in 994/95, with Muslim and Mozarabic settlers. Coimbra, secured by an important garrison, once again became the main urban center of the Moors on their northern border. In his campaigns and in securing what he had achieved, Almansor also had the support of Christians who, in order to protect their property, either converted to Islam or, due to economic constraints or political hostility, openly supported the Moors as allies. Ibn Idhari , who also wrote a treatise on Almansor's campaign of 997, reported that on the way to Santiago de Compostela in Viseu Almansor met a large number of Condes who recognized his sovereignty. The Christian lord, Froila Gonçalves, who came from the family of Hermenegildo Guterres, played an important role in the destruction of Santiago de Compostela as an ally of Almansor and then ruled Montemor-o-Velho until 1017 under Moorish sovereignty could maintain.

With Ferdinand the Great, Christians in the Kingdom of León once again grew up a ruler who made the conquest of Muslim-ruled areas an essential part of his foreign policy actions. He cleverly exploited the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba into a number of independent Taifa empires for his interests and presented the Muslim rulers with a choice: tribute or war. If Muslim rulers submitted, they would even retain their castles , as in some areas of the Beira .

One of his greatest successes, after a six-month siege, was the final reconquest of Coimbra on July 25, 1064. Some of the Muslims were captured and enslaved. All others forced the victors to cross the Mondego and leave the Christian area. The Mozarabic leader of the besiegers, Sesnando Davides , was immediately appointed Governador of Coimbra County, which included all areas between Douro and Mondego as well as the city of Coimbra itself. On behalf of the king and under the leadership of S. Davides, the city and its surroundings were quickly rebuilt with the help of settlers from the north (Entre-Douro-e-Minho and the Beira) and a considerable number of Mozarabic Christians.

The end of the "first" county of Portucale

The changeful battles between Muslims and Christians, but also the raids of the Vikings, made it clear that the traditional system of the Condes, as the king's deputy, which was based on large territories, was no longer able to militarily secure the territories. The noble families, who were the main actors of conquest and settlement in the time before Almansor, lost more and more influence in the course of the 11th century. This was not only due to the military defeats, but also to the hereditary fragmentation of their possessions as well as their efforts for autonomy and thus the opposition to the kings of León. With the dissolution of the power of the counts there was also the gradual dissolution of their exclusive rights originally granted by the king. A new, regionally rooted group of the nobility emerged, the so-called Infanções, whose estates were much smaller than those of the counts, but much easier to defend. Through new conquests and presúrias south of the Douro, the Infanções gradually increased their economic power and political influence. A strategic alliance developed between the kings of León and the Infanções of Portucale. Both sides also shared their joint support in the implementation of the Roman rite and the Roman-Franconian church constitution and thus the connection of the Church of the Iberian Peninsula to Rome. This went so far that at least between 1063 and 1065, on behalf of the king, a triumvirate of three representatives of the Infanções ruled the region of Portucale in a kind of dual power with the Conde. It was therefore only logical that the last Count of Portucale, Nuno Mendes, in open rebellion against Garcia, a son of Ferdinand the Great, who was appointed King of Galicia and Portugal in 1065, lost his county and his life in 1071 at the Battle of Pedroso . In this struggle he had neither the support of the rulers of Coimbra (and thus the Mozarabs) nor that of the Infanções, whose most important families were the Maia, Sousa, Bragança, Baião and Riba Doura.

This was the end of the "first" county of Portucale. With the Infanções, however, a new nobility firmly rooted in the region between Minho and Mondego had already formed, with the help of which a "second" county of Portucale arose around 35 years later, which led directly to the establishment of the independent kingdom of Portugal.

The economic and social foundations of Portucale County

In order to get an overview of the socio-economic development it is necessary to refer to the different meanings of Latin terms in contemporary sources and chronicles. The Roman term villa, which is often used in the documents, can refer to a large or medium-sized estate, an entire village or just a hamlet. The terms civitas and civitates in these early documents not only refer to cities such as B. Porto, Braga or Coimbra, but also territories without any urban character such as Anégia (east of Porto at the confluence of the Rio Tamego into the Douro) or Stᵅ. Maria (located south of Porto in today's Rota da Luz), but they had fortifications to protect the settled population (refuges) and were under a central command (conde, commissarius).

In general, the development of the territories in the Condado Portucalense took place by means of the Presúria, which always happened in the name of the king. In addition to the king himself, who was represented by his agents, the main actors in the name of the king, but acting on their own account, were mostly the high secular nobility (counts) as well as bishops and monasteries. But free farmers could also exercise the presúria. Since equipment, building materials, livestock and seeds were required for a successful settlement, the farmers were often personally free, but materially dependent on the support of secular and spiritual rulers. An analysis of donations in the Coimbra area between 883 and 976 shows four different groups of villages. Villages that belonged to the Cathedral of Coimbra or the Monastery of Lorvão, villages owned by the secular nobility or privately owned by representatives of the Church, villages whose ownership structure was characterized by co-owners on the basis of inheritances or by owner associations when they were founded are as well as villages whose free small owners had their own allodial goods .

In this context, the question of the degree of depopulation in the region arises again. The existence of around 650 communities in the middle of the 11th century in the regions of Braga and Guimarães allows the conclusion that there was no complete depopulation, but that these areas were also settled before the Christian reconquest. However, there were differences in the density of settlement. The region of Coimbra in particular has been characterized by large estates since Roman times and therefore had significantly fewer villages than the area between the Minho and Douro rivers. Between the years 878 and 987, around 40 different villages in the Coimbra area are recorded in documents and documents, which, assuming an average of 10 households per village, suggests no more than around 2,000 inhabitants.

An essential branch of the economy and thus the main source of income was probably livestock, because a large percentage of the land was pastureland. But agriculture was also well developed and specialized. An important document about the demarcation of the property of two bishops from the year 906 in the region of today's Barcelos refers to grain fields, but also to orchards, vineyards and the cultivation of linen. The land was tilled by free farmers or by farmers who were dependent to varying degrees on their secular or spiritual landlords. The Reconquista , however, prevented full sedation for this class. The use of Muslim prisoners of war or slaves in different areas of the economy continued throughout the Middle Ages . In addition, there was the religiously motivated and justified violent appropriation of property of others during raids by Christians or Muslims into the territories of the other side. An exchange of primarily noble prisoners for ransom or the organized ransom of larger groups of even simple prisoners, often through religious institutions, were important sources of income for the nobility. Although the coastal areas were rather sparsely populated during this period due to robberies by Moors or Vikings from the sea, fishing and especially the salt production of Aveiro and Vila do Conde played an important role.

literature

  • Alarcão, Jorge de: In territorio Colimbrie: lugares velhos (e alguns deles deslembrados) do Mondego. In: Trabalhos de Arqueologia. 2004 (Lisboa) No. 38, 171 pp. + 11 cards, 972-8662-22-X Portuguese text ( Memento from January 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  • Amaral, Luís Carlos: O povoamento da terra bracarense durante o seculo X. In: Revista da Faculdade de Letras: História. III Série, (Universidade do Porto), vol. 10, 2009, No. 2, pp. 113–127., Portuguese text (PDF; 2.6 MB)
  • Barroca, Mário Jorge: Fortificações e povoamento no Norte de Portugal (sec. IX a XI). In: PORTUGALIA, Revista do Departamento de Ciências e Técnicas do Património da Facultade de Letras da Universidade do Porto (Secção de Arqueologia), Nova Série, Vol. XXV, 2004, Porto, pp. 181–203., Portuguese text (PDF; 1.4 MB)
  • Lima, António Manuel de Carvalho: O Território Anégia ea Organização Administrativa e Militar do Curso Terminal do Douro (Séculos IX - XII). In: BARROCA, Mário Jorge, coord. - Carlos Alberto Ferreira de Almeida: in memoriam, Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, 1999, Porto. - 2 vols. , vol. 1, pp. 399–413., Portuguese text (PDF; 2.6 MB)
  • António Henrique de Oliveira Marques : History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 385). Translated from the Portuguese by Michael von Killisch-Horn. Kröner, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-520-38501-5 .
  • Mattoso, José: A Nobreza Portucalense dos Séculos IX a XI. In: Do tempo e da história, 3 (1970), Centro da História da Universidade de Lisboa, pp. 35–50., Portuguese text ( Memento from January 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 2.4 MB)
  • Mattoso, José: A Nobreza Medieval Portuguesa no Contexto Peninsular. In: Revista da Faculdade de Letras: História, II serie, (Universidade do Porto), vol. 15, 1998, no. 2, pp. 1019-1044., Portuguese text (PDF; 1.4 MB)
  • Pinto, Sérgio da Silva: Breves Notas sobre Presúrias do Século IX na Terra Portucalense- In: Cale, 1 (1968), Revista da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, pp. 293-306., Portuguese text
  • Serrão, Joaquim Veríssimo: História de Portugal. vol. 1, Estado, Pátria e Nação (1080–1415), Lisboa, (Verbo), 6.ͣ edição 2001, 447 pp., ISBN 972-22-0266-9 , Portuguese text

Remarks

  1. ^ Marques, 2001: 17
  2. ^ Serrão, 2001: 60
  3. ↑ As cited in Barroca, 2004: 182. It should be noted that the year is based on the Hispanic calendar; H. 38 years have to be deducted to get the time of our current calendar.
  4. ↑ Mattoso, 1970: 36. There are no recorded descendants of Count Odoário in the Entre-Douro-e-Minho area.
  5. ^ Barroca, 2004: 183
  6. ^ Barroca, 2004: 182
  7. ^ Barroca, 2004: 183
  8. ↑ The now rather small town was the seat of a bishopric until 1199.
  9. ^ Marques, 2001: 17
  10. ^ Mattoso, 1970: 36
  11. ^ Marques, 2001: 19
  12. ^ Serrão, 2001: 63
  13. ↑ Alarcão, 2004: 27
  14. ↑ Compare Map 2 “Fronteira no Ano 1000” at Barroca, 2004: 200
  15. ↑ Alarcão, 2004: 27
  16. ^ Barroca, 2004: 192
  17. ↑ Alarcão, 2004: 28
  18. ^ Serrão, 2001: 66
  19. ↑ Serrão, 2001: 67 f
  20. ^ Mattoso, 1970: 43
  21. ↑ Lima, 1999: 403
  22. ↑ Mattoso, 1970: 42 f, especially note 67
  23. ^ Serrão, 2001: 73
  24. ^ Mattoso, 1998: 1022
  25. ↑ Alarcão, 2004: 10 ff.
  26. ^ Barroca, 2004: 187
  27. ↑ Alarcão, 2004: 23 ff.
  28. ^ Pinto, 1968: 297
  29. ↑ Alarcão, 2004: 21 f.
  30. ^ Marques, 2001: 33
  31. ↑ Amaral, 2009: 117 f.
  32. ^ Marques, 2001: 32
  33. ↑ Amaral, 2009: 124 f.

See also