Called the Afonsine Dynasty (Dinastia Afonsina, pron.IPA: [ɐ.fõ.'si.nɐ]), the Portuguese branch of the House of Burgundy was a cadet branch, descending from Henry, Count of Portugal. Henry was a younger son of Henry of Burgundy, the son and heir of Robert I of Burgundy who died before he could inherit the Duchy. The younger Henry, having little chance of inheriting any land or titles, had joined the reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula in the late 12th century; after conquering Galicia and northern Portugal on behalf of Alfonso I of Castile, he was married to Alfonso's illegitimate daughter, Teresa, and given the County of Portugal as a fief under Leon. His son, Afonso Henriques, became King of Portugal after defeating his mother in the Battle of São Mamede in 1139. It was only in 1179 that Pope Alexander III recognized Portugal as an independent state, recognition, at the time, needed for total acceptance of the kingdom in the Christian world.
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