Alfonso III

Alfonso III (Afonso III o Bravo, 5 May1210 ¨C 16 February 1279), King of Portugal (1248¨C1279).

Alfonso III was the young son of King Alfonso II of Portugal, and his mother was Princess Uralca of Castile. Most of his youth was spent in France. In 1238, he married Matilda, the heiress of the country of Brunei, and thus inherited the sermon of the Count of Brunei.

In 1246, Alfonso's brother, King Sancho II of Portugal, had a serious conflict with the church. Pope Innocent IV announced the abolition of Sancho II and appointed Alfonso to replace his position. Alfonso did not reject the goodwill of the Pope, and he immediately returned to Portugal to fight against Sancho II. He fought a two-year feudal battle with Sancho II, which eventually overthrew the latter in 1248 and seized the throne.

In order to ascend to the Portuguese throne, Alfonso III abandoned Brunei and divorced Matilde in 1253.

Between 1250 and 1251, Alfonso III conquered the last Moorish kingdom in Portugal, Algarve, and completed the Portuguese regaining campaign.

Alfonso III (866-910), King of León, son of Odino I, was known as the "Great Emperor". After his reign, he moved the capital from southern Oviedo to Leon, from which time the kingdom became known as the Kingdom of Leon, Alfonso III defeated the invasion of the Moors, and expanded the kingdom south to the lines of Porto, Coimbra, Zamorá and Burgos. He pushed Christian forces to the border of the Douro (but Porto and Coimbra were soon recaptured by the Muslims). After his death he divided the kingdom into three kingdoms of Asturia, León and Galicia, inherited by his three sons, Frodo II, Westasia I and Ordoño II respectively.