r, Alfonso VI. Of Castile
summoned the chivalry of Christendom to his aid. Among the knights who
answered the call was Count Henry of Burgundy (grandson of Robert, first
Duke of Burgundy) to whom Alfonso gave his natural daughter Theresa in
marriage, together with the Counties of Oporto and Coimbra, with the
title of Count of Portugal.

That is the first chapter of the history of Portugal.

Count Henry fought hard to defend his southern frontiers from the
incursion of the Moors until his death in 1114. Thereafter his widow
Theresa became Regent of Portugal during the minority of their son,
Affonso Henriques. A woman of great energy, resource and ambition, she
successfully waged war against the Moors, and in other ways laid the
foundations upon which her son was to build the Kingdom of Portugal. But
her passionate infatuation for one of her knights--Don Fernando Peres de
Trava--and the excessive honours she bestowed upon him, made enemies for
her in the new state, and estranged her from her son.

In 1127 Alfonso VII. of Castile invaded Portugal, compelling Theresa
to recognize him as her suzerain. But Affonso Henriques, now aged
seventeen--and declared by the citizens of the capital to be of age and
competent to reign--incontinently refused to recognize the submission
made by his mother, and in the following year assembled an army for the
purpose of expelling her and her lover from the country. The warlike
Theresa resisted until defeated in the battle of San Mamede and taken
prisoner.

* * * * *

He was little more than a boy, although four years were sped already
since, as a mere lad of fourteen, he had kept vigil throughout the night
over his arms in the Cathedral of Zamora, preparatory to receiving
the honour of knighthood at the hands of his cousin, Alfonso VII. of
Castile. Yet already he was looked upon as the very pattern of what a
Christian knight should be, worthy son of the father who had devoted his
life to doing battle against the Infidel, wheresoever he might be found.
He was well-grown and tall, and of a bodily strength that is almost a
byword to this day in that Portugal of which he was the real founder
and first king. He was skilled beyond the common wont in all knightly
exercises of arms and horsemanship, and equipped with far more
learning--though much of it was ill-digested, as this story will serve
to show--than the twelfth century considered useful or even proper in