Cantiga
De Sancho I, O Velho
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Century
(b. 1154, Coimbra,
Port. d. March 26, 1211)
by name SANCHO THE FOUNDER, OR THE POPULATOR,
Portuguese SANCHO O FUNADOR, OR O POVOADOR, second king of Portugal (1185-1211),
son of Afonso I.
Sancho's reign was marked
by a resettlement of the depopulated areas of his country, by the establishment
of new
towns, and by the rebuilding of frontier strongholds and castles. To facilitate
his plans, he encouraged foreign settlers and enlisted bishops, religious
orders, and nobles in his colonization projects, granting vast territories
to the military orders (the Hospitalers, the Templars, the Orders of Calatrava
and Santiago). After an invasion by the Almohad prince Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur,
Sancho used the help of a passing crusader fleet to capture Silves from the
Moors (1189), but lost it (1191) and other lands south of the Tagus River when
al-Mansur again attacked. Sancho quarreled both with his bishops and with Rome
over the payment of tribute.