Henry, Count of Portugal

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Henry of Burgundy, Count of Portugal.
Henry of Burgundy, Count of Portugal.

Henry of Burgundy, Count of Portugal (10661112) was Count of Portugal from 1093 to his death. He was the son of Henry of Burgundy, heir of Robert I, Duke of Burgundy, and brother of Hugh I, Duke of Burgundy and Eudes I, Duke of Burgundy. His name is Henri in modern French, Henricus in Latin, Enrique in modern Spanish and Henrique in modern Portuguese. He was a distant cousin of Raymond of Burgundy and Pope Callistus II.

As a younger son, Henry had little chances of acquiring fortune and titles by inheritance, thus he joined the Reconquista against the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula. He helped king Alfonso VI of Castile and León conquer modern Galicia and the north of Portugal and in reward he married Alfonso's daughter Theresa, Countess of Portugal in 1093, receiving the County of Portugal, then a fiefdom of the Kingdom of León, as a dowry.

From Teresa, Henry had three sons and three daughters. The only son to survive childhood was Afonso Henriques, who became the second Count of Portugal in 1112. However, the young man Afonso was energetic and expanded his dominions at the expense of Muslims. In 1139, he declared himself King of Portugal after reneging the subjugation to León, in open confrontation with his mother. Two daughters also survived childhood, Urraca and Sancha. Urraca Henriques married a Bermudo Peres de Trava, Count of Trastamara. Sancha Henriques married a nobleman, Sancho Nunes de Celanova.

Henry, Count of Portugal
Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty
Born: 1066 Died: 1112
Titles of nobility
Vacant
Title last held by
Nuno II
Count of Portugal
1093 – 1112
Succeeded by
Afonso I