Afonso V of Portugal
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Date: 13/01/2019

Afonso V of Portugal, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1661 / CC BY SA 3.0

Afonso V of Portugal

Afonso V () (15 January 1432 – 28 August 1481), called the African (), was King of Portugal and of the Algarves. His sobriquet refers to his conquests in Northern Africa.

As of 1471, Afonso V was the first king of Portugal to claim dominion over a plural "Kingdom of the Algarves," instead of the singular "Kingdom of the Algarve." Territories added to the Portuguese crown lands in North Africa during the 15th century came to be referred to as possessions of the Kingdom of the Algarve (now a region of southern Portugal), not the Kingdom of Portugal. The "Algarves" then were considered to be the southern Portuguese territories on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar.

Afonso was born in Sintra, the second son of King Edward of Portugal by his wife Eleanor of Aragon. Following the death of his older brother, Infante João (1429-1433), Afonso acceded to the position of heir apparent and was made the first Prince of Portugal by his father, who sought to emulate the English Court's custom of a dynastic title that distinguished the heir apparent from the other children of the monarch. He was only six years old when he succeeded his father in 1438.

During his minority, Afonso V was placed under the regency of his mother in accordance with a will of his late father. As both a foreigner and a woman, the queen was not a popular choice for regent. Opposition rose and without any important ally among the Portuguese aristocracy other than Afonso, Count of Barcelos, the illegitimate half brother of King Edward, the queen's position was untenable. In 1439, the Portuguese Cortes (assembly of the kingdom) decided to replace the queen with Peter, Duke of Coimbra (Dom Pedro), the young king's oldest uncle.

Peter's main policies were concerned with restricting the political power of the great noble houses and expanding the powers of the crown. The country prospered under h...