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Dinis of Portugal

Dinis was born on 9 October 1261, in Lisbon. He was the eldest son of King Afonso III by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile. Not much is known about his childhood.


 In 1279, Afonso III died and Dinis succeeded him to the throne. In 1281, the now King of Portugal married Elizabeth of Aragon (future saint); she was just 10 years old.

 In 1290, Dinis began to pursue the systematic centralisation of royal power: he imposed judicial reforms, instituted the Portuguese language as the official language of the court and created Portugal's first university. His politics encouraged economical development and he advanced the interests of the Portuguese merchants. In fact, he set up a fund called Bolsa de Comércio, the first form of marine insurance in Europe. Dinis also encouraged the discovery and exploitation of sulphur, silver, tin and iron mines.

 During his reign, Lisbon became one of Europe's centres of culture and learning. At the new university, lectures in the arts, civil law, canon law and medicine were given. Dinis was devoted to the arts and sciences himself and he wrote several books. Definitely, his most famous work was Cantigas de Amigo, a collection of love and satirical songs.

 King Dinis was essentially an administrator, not a warrior King. In 1297, he signed the Treaty of Alcañices with Castile, which defined the borders between the two kingdoms. He also pursued his father's policies on legislation and centralisation of power. He promulgated the nucleus of a Portuguese civil and criminal law code, protecting the lower classes from abuse and extortion.

 Dinis is most famous for promoting the development of the rural infrastructure, which earned him the nickname of the Farmer. Land was redistributed, agricultural schools were founded with the ultimate goal of improving farming techniques, and the King took personal interest in the expansion of exports. One of Dinis' principal achievements was to protect agricultural lands from advancing coastal sands (smart guy!). So, he ordered the plantation of a pine forest near Leiria, which also provided a source of raw materials for construction of a naval fleet. This forest, known as Pinhal de Leiria, still exists today! (Update: due to the major fires in 2017, the forest burnt almost in its entirety…).

 The latter part of Dinis' peaceful reign was marked by some internal conflicts. The contenders were his two sons: Afonso (the legitimate heir) and Afonso Sanches (the bastard son) quarrelled frequently among themselves for royal favour.

 At the time of the King's death, Portugal was on an equal footing with the other Iberian kingdoms.

 Dinis died on 7 January 1325, at Santarém; he was 63 years old. He was buried in the Monastery of Saint Denis in Odivelas, near Lisbon.

Dinis of Portugal and his wife, Elizabeth
Carlos Falch
(c. 1640)

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