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Denis of Portugal
Denis (Latin: Dionysius Alphonsus, Portuguese: Dinis Afonso; 9 October 1261 – 7 January 1325), called the Farmer King (Rei Lavrador) and the Poet King (Rei Poeta), was King of Portugal from 1279 until his death in 1325.
Dinis was the eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile, and grandson of Afonso II of Portugal, Denis succeeded his father in 1279. He was married to Elizabeth of Aragon, who was later canonised as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.
Denis ruled Portugal for over 46 years. He worked to reorganise his country's economy and gave an impetus to Portuguese agriculture. He ordered the planting of a large pine forest (that still exists today) near Leiria to prevent soil degradation that threatened the region, and to serve as a source of raw materials for the construction of the royal ships. He was also known for his poetry, which constitutes an important contribution to the development of Portuguese as a literary language.
In 1290, Denis began to pursue the systematic centralisation of royal power by imposing judicial reforms, decreeing Portuguese "the official language of legal and judicial proceedings", creating the first university in Portugal, and ridding the military orders in the country of foreign influences. His policies encouraged economic development with the creation of numerous towns and trade fairs. He advanced the interests of the Portuguese merchants, and set up by mutual agreement a fund called the Bolsa de Comércio, the first documented form of marine insurance in Europe, approved on 10 May 1293. Always concerned with development of the country's infrastructure, he encouraged the discovery and exploitation of sulphur, silver, tin and iron mines and organised the export of excess production of agricultural crops, salt, and salted fish to England, Flanders, and France.
Denis signed the first Portuguese commercial agreement with England in 1308, and secured a contract in 1317 for the services of the Genoese merchant sailor Manuel Pessanha (Portuguese form of the Italian "Pezagno") as hereditary admiral of his fleet, with the understanding that Pessanha and his successors should provide twenty Genoese captains to command the king's galleys, thus effectively founding the Portuguese Navy.
In 1289 Denis had signed the Concordat of Forty Articles with Pope Nicholas IV, swearing to protect the Church's interests in Portugal. When Pope Clement V allowed the annihilation of the Knights Templar throughout most of Europe on charges of heresy, Denis created in 1319 a Portuguese military order, the Order of Christ, for those knights who survived the purge. The new order was designed to be a continuation of the Order of the Temple. Denis negotiated with Clement's successor, John XXII, for recognition of the new order and its right to inherit the Templar assets and property.
During Denis' reign, Lisbon became one of Europe's centres of culture and learning. The first university in Portugal, then called the Estudo Geral (General Study), was founded with his signing of the document Scientiae thesaurus mirabilis in Leiria on 3 March 1290. Lectures in the arts, civil law, canon law, and medicine were given, and on 15 February 1309, the king granted the university a charter, the Magna Charta Privilegiorum. The university was moved between Lisbon and Coimbra several times, and finally installed permanently in Coimbra in 1537 by order of King John III.
As a devotee of the arts and sciences, Denis studied literature and wrote several books on topics ranging from government administration to hunting, science and poetry, as well as ordering the translation of many literary works into Galician-Portuguese (Portuguese had not yet fully evolved into a distinct language), among them the works attributed to his grandfather Alfonso X. He patronised troubadours, and wrote lyric poetry in the troubadour tradition himself. His best-known work is the Cantigas de Amigo, a collection of love songs as well as satirical songs, which contributed to the development of troubador poetry in the Iberian Peninsula. All told, 137 of the songs attributed to him, in the three main genres of Galician-Portuguese lyric, are preserved in the two early 16th-century manuscripts, the Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional and the Cancioneiro da Vaticana. A spectacular find in 1990 by American scholar Harvey Sharrer brought to light the Pergaminho Sharrer, which contains, albeit in fragmentary form, seven cantigas d'amor by King Denis with musical notation. These poems are found in the same order in the two previously known codices.
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Denis of Portugal
Denis (Latin: Dionysius Alphonsus, Portuguese: Dinis Afonso; 9 October 1261 – 7 January 1325), called the Farmer King (Rei Lavrador) and the Poet King (Rei Poeta), was King of Portugal from 1279 until his death in 1325.
Dinis was the eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile, and grandson of Afonso II of Portugal, Denis succeeded his father in 1279. He was married to Elizabeth of Aragon, who was later canonised as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.
Denis ruled Portugal for over 46 years. He worked to reorganise his country's economy and gave an impetus to Portuguese agriculture. He ordered the planting of a large pine forest (that still exists today) near Leiria to prevent soil degradation that threatened the region, and to serve as a source of raw materials for the construction of the royal ships. He was also known for his poetry, which constitutes an important contribution to the development of Portuguese as a literary language.
In 1290, Denis began to pursue the systematic centralisation of royal power by imposing judicial reforms, decreeing Portuguese "the official language of legal and judicial proceedings", creating the first university in Portugal, and ridding the military orders in the country of foreign influences. His policies encouraged economic development with the creation of numerous towns and trade fairs. He advanced the interests of the Portuguese merchants, and set up by mutual agreement a fund called the Bolsa de Comércio, the first documented form of marine insurance in Europe, approved on 10 May 1293. Always concerned with development of the country's infrastructure, he encouraged the discovery and exploitation of sulphur, silver, tin and iron mines and organised the export of excess production of agricultural crops, salt, and salted fish to England, Flanders, and France.
Denis signed the first Portuguese commercial agreement with England in 1308, and secured a contract in 1317 for the services of the Genoese merchant sailor Manuel Pessanha (Portuguese form of the Italian "Pezagno") as hereditary admiral of his fleet, with the understanding that Pessanha and his successors should provide twenty Genoese captains to command the king's galleys, thus effectively founding the Portuguese Navy.
In 1289 Denis had signed the Concordat of Forty Articles with Pope Nicholas IV, swearing to protect the Church's interests in Portugal. When Pope Clement V allowed the annihilation of the Knights Templar throughout most of Europe on charges of heresy, Denis created in 1319 a Portuguese military order, the Order of Christ, for those knights who survived the purge. The new order was designed to be a continuation of the Order of the Temple. Denis negotiated with Clement's successor, John XXII, for recognition of the new order and its right to inherit the Templar assets and property.
During Denis' reign, Lisbon became one of Europe's centres of culture and learning. The first university in Portugal, then called the Estudo Geral (General Study), was founded with his signing of the document Scientiae thesaurus mirabilis in Leiria on 3 March 1290. Lectures in the arts, civil law, canon law, and medicine were given, and on 15 February 1309, the king granted the university a charter, the Magna Charta Privilegiorum. The university was moved between Lisbon and Coimbra several times, and finally installed permanently in Coimbra in 1537 by order of King John III.
As a devotee of the arts and sciences, Denis studied literature and wrote several books on topics ranging from government administration to hunting, science and poetry, as well as ordering the translation of many literary works into Galician-Portuguese (Portuguese had not yet fully evolved into a distinct language), among them the works attributed to his grandfather Alfonso X. He patronised troubadours, and wrote lyric poetry in the troubadour tradition himself. His best-known work is the Cantigas de Amigo, a collection of love songs as well as satirical songs, which contributed to the development of troubador poetry in the Iberian Peninsula. All told, 137 of the songs attributed to him, in the three main genres of Galician-Portuguese lyric, are preserved in the two early 16th-century manuscripts, the Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional and the Cancioneiro da Vaticana. A spectacular find in 1990 by American scholar Harvey Sharrer brought to light the Pergaminho Sharrer, which contains, albeit in fragmentary form, seven cantigas d'amor by King Denis with musical notation. These poems are found in the same order in the two previously known codices.