THE CONDADO PORTUCALENSE

Portugal's emergence as an independent kingdom during the twelfth century, and its attainment of more or less its present borders by the mid-thirteenth century, seem from a long-term perspective somewhat surprising. Geographically-speaking Portugal is not a particularly coherent expanse of territory, consisting as it does of markedly different northern and southern regions which have more in common with neighbouring parts of Spain than they do with each other. Nor had ‘Portugal’ ever been a recognised political entity before. There was no language common and exclusive to its people, no awareness of a distinctive shared tradition. It is difficult to identify any convincing long-term reason to explain Portugal's rather sudden appearance. On the other hand, the formation of the kingdom does make sense in the context of certain medium- to short-term political developments closely linked to the twelfth-century Reconquest – and to these we must now turn.

As the territory under Christian rule expanded, so the problems faced by the kings of Leon-Castile in trying to control outlying regions like Portucale and Coimbra became more acute. The counts of these two entities, which were still frontier regions exposed to Muslim attacks, acquired important and self-enhancing military functions which helped them consolidate their personal power. They also accumulated vast estates and lucrative perquisites of office and took care to entrench their families through strategic marriages, and by arranging whenever possible for succession by adult male relatives rather than minors or women.