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Denis (Portuguese: Dinis or Diniz); Lisbon, 9 October 1261 - Santarém, 7 January 1325), called the Farmer King (Rei Lavrador) and the Poet King (Rei Poeta), was King of Portugal and the Algarve. The eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile and grandson of king Alfonso X of Castile (known as the Wise), Denis succeeded his father in 1279. Reign As heir-apparent to the throne, Infante (Prince) Denis was summoned by his father (Afonso III) to share governmental responsibilities. At the time of his accession to the throne, Portugal was again in diplomatic conflict with the Catholic Church. Denis signed a favouring agreement with the pope and swore to protect the Church's interests in Portugal. He granted asylum to Templar knights persecuted in France and created the Order of Christ, designed to be a continuation of the Order of the Temple. With the Reconquista completed and the Portuguese territory freed from Moorish occupation, Denis was essentially an administrative king, not a military one. However, a short war between Castile and Portugal broke out during his reign, for the possession of the towns of Serpa and Moura. After this, Denis avoided war: he was a notably peace-loving monarch during a tempestuous time in European history. With Portugal finally recognized as an independent country by his neighbours, Denis signed a border pact with Ferdinand IV of Castile (1297) which has endured to the present day. Denis' main priority of government was the organization of the country. He pursued his father's policies on legislation and centralization of power. Denis promulgated the nucleus of a Portuguese civil and criminal law code, protecting the lower classes from abuse and extortion. As king, he travelled around the country to resolve various problems. He ordered the construction of numerous castles, created new towns, and granted privileges due cities to several others. He declared in 1290 that ‘the language of the people’ was to become the language of the state, and officially known as Portuguese. Denis also made Portuguese the language of the law courts in his kingdom. With his wife, Elizabeth of Aragon (future saint), Denis worked to improve the life of the poor and founded several social institutions. Always concerned with the country's infrastructure, Denis ordered the exploration of mines of copper, silver, tin and iron and organized the export of excess production to other European countries. The first Portuguese commercial agreement was signed with England in 1308. Denis effectively founded the Portuguese navy under command of a Genoese admiral, Manuel Pessanha (Portuguese form of the Italian "Pezagno"] and ordered the construction of several docks. His main concern was the redevelopment and promotion of rural infrastructure, hence the nickname of "the Farmer". Denis redistributed the land, promoted agriculture, organized communities of farmers and took personal interest in the development of exports. He instituted regular markets in a number of towns and regulated their activities. One of his main achievements was the protection of agricultural lands from advancing coastal sands, by ordering the planting of a pine forest near Leiria. This forest still exists as one of the most important of Portugal and is known as the Pinhal de Leiria (Leiria Pinewood). Culture was another interest of King Denis. He had a troubador with a fondness for literature and wrote several books himself, with topics ranging from administration to hunting, science and poetry. His best known is the Cantigas de Amigo which are a collection of songs on love and satire, which helped contribute to the troubador poetry of the Iberian Peninsula. All told, 137 of his songs (more than any other poet), in the three principal genres of Galician-Portuguese lyric, are preserved in the two early 16th-century manuscripts, the Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional, 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. The same poems are found in the same order in the two previously known codices. In his day, Lisbon was one of Europe's centers of culture and knowledge. The University of Lisbon (today's University of Coimbra) was founded by his decree Magna Charta Privilegiorum, the first Portuguese University. He was also a troubadour. The later part of his peaceful reign was nevertheless marked by internal conflicts. The contenders were his two sons: Afonso the legitimate heir, and Afonso Sanches his natural son, who quarreled frequently among themselves for royal favor. At the time of Denis' death in 1325 he had placed Portugal on an equal footing with the other Iberian Kingdoms. Denis is buried in the Monastery of Saint Denis of Odivelas, a Cistercian monastery founded by him in 1295. Physical Description The historical sources of King Denis's time, as well as later authors, failed to provide any detailed physical description of the monarch. The information we have today comes from an accidental opening of his tomb during a restoration in 1938. It was discovered that the legendary figure of towering height was not an accurate one as he was only about 1.65 metres (5 feet 5 inches) tall. Denis made his will when he was 61 and died at age 63. He apparently enjoyed excellent health throughout his life, as he traveled frequently, got involved in wars from an early age and at age 60 still hunted. He died with complete dentition,[1] a rarity for the time, something that even today continues to be fairly unusual. A distinctive feature of his physiognomy revealed by examination of the body was that his hair and beard were auburn. This is a curious fact, as he was the first of the Portuguese royal line up to that time to have the hair color. This genetic trait could have been passed on the maternal side as his uncle Ferdinand, called "La Cerda", or "the bristly one", had red hair as well. Denis may have inherited the trait from Henry II of England, who was his ancestor on both the paternal and maternal sides, or even possibly from his maternal great grandmother Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen, granddaughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa ("barbarossa" means "red beard" in Italian).[2] Marriage and descendants Denis' only wife was Isabel or Elizabeth of Aragon, daughter of Peter III of Aragon. They married in 1288 and she bore him a son and a daughter. Like other monarchs of the time, he had several illegitimate children as well. References Jump up ^ José Crespo (1972). Santa Isabel na doença e na morte. Coimbra Editora. pp. 113-117. Jump up ^ Amir D. Aczel (19 February 2009). Descartes's Secret Notebook: A True Tale of Mathematics, Mysticism, and the Quest to Understand the Universe. Crown Publishing Group. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-307-49480-1. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William B.
