Theresa renewed the struggle against her half-sister and suzerain Urraca in 1116-17, and again in r I20; in 1121 she was besieged in Lanhoso and captured. But a peace was negotiated by the arch bishops Diego Gelmirez of Santiago de Compostela and Burdino of Braga, rival churchmen whose wealth and military resources en abled them to dictate terms. It was arranged that Theresa should be liberated and should continue to hold the county of Portugal as a fief (honor) of Leon. During the next five years she lavished wealth and titles upon her lover Fernando Peres, count of Trava, thus estranging her son, the archbishop of Braga, and the nobles, most of whom were foreign crusaders. In '128, after her power had been crushed in another unsuccessful conflict with Leon and Castile, she was deposed by her own rebellious subjects and exiled in company with Peres. She died in 1130.
Her son, Alphonso I., was occupied in almost incessant border fighting against his Christian or Moorish neighbours. Twelve years of campaigning on the Galician frontier were concluded in by the peace of Zamora, in which Alphonso was recognized as inde pendent of any Spanish sovereign. In '167, war was renewed. Al phonso succeeded in conquering part of Galicia, but in attempting to capture the frontier fortress of Badajoz he was wounded and forced to surrender to his son-in-law, Ferdinand II. of Leon (1169). He was released under promise to abandon all his con quests in Galicia.
He had already won many victories over the Moors. On July 25, 1139, he defeated their combined forces on the plains of Ourique, in Alentejo. On March 15, 1147, he stormed the fortress of Santarem, and about the same time a band of crusaders on their way to Palestine landed at Oporto and volunteered for the impend ing siege of Lisbon. Among them were many Englishmen, Ger mans and Flemings, who were afterwards induced to settle in Por tugal. Aided by these powerful allies, Alphonso captured Lisbon on Oct. 24, 1147. Between 1179 and 1184 the Moors retrieved many of their losses in Alentejo, but were unable to retake San tarem and Lisbon. Alphonso died on Dec. 6, 1185. He had se cured for Portugal the status though not the name of an inde pendent kingdom, and had extended its frontier southwards from the Mondego to the Tagus.
Sancho I. continued the war against the Moors with varying for tune. In 1189 he won Silves, then the capital of Algarve; in 1192 he lost not only Algarve but the greater part of Alentejo, including Alcacer do Sal. A peace was then arranged, and for the next eight years Sancho was engaged in hostilities against Alphonso IX. of Leon. He granted fresh charters to many cities, legalizing the sys tem of self-government which the Romans had bequeathed to the Visigoths and the Moors had retained or improved. Lisbon had already (1179) received a charter from Alphonso I. Towards the close of his reign he became embroiled in a dispute with Pope Innocent III. As Sancho was in weak health and had no means
of resisting papal pressure, he made full submission (1210) ; and after bestowing large estates on his sons and daughters, he retired into the monastery of Alcobaca (q.v.), where he died in 1211.
The reign of Alphonso II. ("the Fat") is noteworthy for the first meeting of the Portuguese cortes, to which the upper hier archy of the Church and the nobles (fidalgos and ricos homens) were summoned by royal writ. The king was no warrior, but in 1212 a Portuguese contingent aided the Castilians to defeat the Moors at Las Navas de Tolosa, and in 1217 the ministers, bishops and captains of the realm, reinforced by foreign crusaders, retook Alcacer do Sal (first captured in 1158). Alphonso II. repudiated the will of his father, refused to surrender the estates left to his brothers, who went into exile, and only gave up the property bequeathed to his sisters after a prolonged civil war in which Al phonso IX. of Leon took part against them. Even then he com pelled the heiresses to take the veil. His attempts to strengthen the monarchy and fill the treasury at the expense of the Church resulted in his by Pope Honorius III., and Portugal remained under interdict until Alphonso II. died in 1223.
One of the first acts of the usurper was to abandon the semi ecclesiastical titles of visitor (visitador) or defender (curador) of the realm, and to proclaim himself king (rei). Shortly afterwards the conquest of Algarve deprived the Moors of their last remaining stronghold. A war with Alphonso X. of Leon and Castile followed; it ended by Alphonso III. consenting to wed Dofia Beatriz de Guz man, illegitimate daughter of Alphonso X., and to hold Algarve as a fief of Castile. The celebration of this marriage, while Matilda, countess of Boulogne and first wife of Alphonso III., was still alive, entailed the imposition of an interdict upon the kingdom. The clergy suffered more than the laity under the interdict, and in 1262 Pope Urban VI. legalized the disputed marriage and legiti mized Dom Diniz, the king's eldest son. In 1263 Alphonso X. renounced his claim to suzerainty over Algarve, and thus the king dom of Portugal simultaneously reached its present European lim its and attained its complete independence. Lisbon was henceforth recognized as the capital. Alphonso III. continued to reign until his death in 1279, but the peace of his later years was broken by the rebellion (1277-79) of D. Diniz, the heir-apparent.