2021-02-16 Tue

Afonso III was the fifth king of Portugal (1248–79), who supplanted his brother, King Sancho II, and completed the reconquest of the Algarve from the Muslims.

Afonso was born in Coimbra. As the second son of King Afonso II of Portugal, he was not expected to inherit the throne, which was destined to go to his elder brother Sancho. He lived mostly in France, where he married Matilda, the heiress of Boulogne, in 1238, thereby becoming Count of Boulogne, Mortain, Aumale and Dammartin-en-Goele jure uxoris.

His reign saw the first meeting of the Portuguese Cortes (parliament) in which the commoners of the municipalities were represented. Despite the help that he received from the pope in becoming king, he took the same attitude as his predecessors about the repossession of church lands and was, like them, excommunicated. On his death, he was succeeded by his son Dinis.

His coins depict the king on horseback right, holding sceptre and brandishing a sword on the obverse face. On the other hand, the reverse of a coin engraved the cross composed of five shields. Image Source: Wikipedia.org