Afonso II of Portugal
Afonso II was the third king of Portugal and the first to make law and administration, rather than conquest, the business of the crown. Born in Coimbra in 1185, the son of Sancho I and Dulce of Aragon, he suffered from obesity and probably leprosy, which kept him from campaigning and is one reason his reign took the direction it did. He succeeded in 1211 and immediately faced a civil war. His father's will had left substantial lands and money to his sisters Teresa, Sancha and Mafalda, and Afonso regarded these bequests as fragmenting the kingdom. He refused to honour them, his sisters resisted with support from Alfonso IX of León, and the dispute went to the papacy before a settlement was reached. He held the first cortes at Coimbra in 1211, and there issued the first general laws of the kingdom, which is the achievement his reign is remembered for. They concerned the administration of justice, the protection of royal property, and — significantly — restrictions on the Church's ability to acquire land, since property passing to ecclesiastical hands escaped royal taxation and jurisdiction. He also began the inquirições, systematic inquiries into how landholders had acquired their titles, so that usurpations of crown land could be reversed. This brought him into direct conflict with the bishops, and he was excommunicated by Pope Honorius III, with the kingdom placed under interdict. Portuguese forces took part in the great Christian victory at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 and captured Alcácer do Sal in 1217, but he directed neither in person. He died in 1223, reconciled with the Church shortly before, and was succeeded by his son Sancho II.
- Lived: 1185 CE – 1223 CE
- Nationality: Portuguese
- Roles: king, head_of_state
