Algarve historian Peter Kingdon Booker is holding a talk about D. Afonso Henriques on Friday, March 21 at 11am in the Tavira Municipal Library and on Tuesday, March 25 at 6pm in the Lagoa Municipal Library.
When Salazar held the national celebrations of statehood in 1940, the nation also remembered its emergence from Spanish rule in 1640. The foundation of Portugal in the time of D. Afonso I (most often known as D. Afonso Henriques) is conveniently remembered as 1140.
But where did Afonso Henriques come from? How did he found the nation? Is 1140 a correct date, or merely convenient in that it was 800 years before 1940? Who were the other important personages of the time? What of his relationship with the neighbouring Christian kingdoms and with the Islamic states of the south? Why did it take another 130 years to agree the borders with Castile?
“D. Afonso Henriques was one of the longest lived of all Portuguese monarchs, and as the founder of Portugal he deserves our attention,” says Peter Booker, co-founder of the Algarve History Association along with his wife Lynne.
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