v33_1500 - PORTUGAL - KINGDOM OF PORTUGAL - ALPHONSE III Marabotin n.d.

PORTUGAL - KINGDOM OF PORTUGAL - ALFONSO III

(1247-02/16/1279)

Alfonso III was born on May 5, 1210 in Coimbra from the union of King Alfonso II of Portugal and Urraque of Castile. In 1247 he succeeded his older brother, Sancho II. In 1238 he left Portugal and settled as Count of Boulogne after marrying Mathilde de Boulogne. In 1246, the conflicts between Sancho II and the Church worsened so much that Pope Innocent IV ordered that Sancho be replaced by his younger brother. Alphonse renounced the County of Boulogne and his marriage to Mathilde was annulled. He remarried to the Infanta Beatrice of Castile. Alfonso II resumed the reconquista of the south of the Iberian Peninsula. Spain challenged its new conquests, notably the Algarve. A treaty signed in 1267, allowed peace between Spain and Portugal by establishing a border on the Guadiana. He died in his hometown on February 16, 1279.