Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/344

 PORTUGAL

298

PORTUGAL

of which the most important are Gerez and Vizella (Minho), Vidago, Pedras Salgadas, and Moledo (Traz-os-Montes), S. Pedro do Sul and Felgueira (Beira Alta), CaldasdaRainha (Estremadura), ISIoura (Alemtejo), and Monchique (Algarve). A branch of the Gulf Stream runs down the West Coast and the cHmate is temperate, but it differs from province to province according to soil, distance from the sea, etc.; while equable on the coasts, it is subject to sudden changes inland. The plateaux of Traz-os-Montes and Beira are cold and harsh, while the Algarve littoral is hot, but even where the temperature is most extreme, the thermometer rarely rises to 3 Fahrenheit or descends to 2 below freezing. Snow only falls in winter in the high mountains and in the north. The rainfall is more abundant in the North than the South, and on the littoral than in- land. The humidity produces fogs which render the coasts dangerous to shipping. The most usual winds are north-west, north, and north-east, but in winter south-west winds prevail, accompanied by storms. The norlada and the east wind are dry and disagree- able. Generally speaking, the climate is healthy, the mean temperature being 61 Fahrenheit. In the eighteenth century Lisbon was much recommended by English physicians as a health resort, and Mont' Estoril, on the sea outside the estuary of the Tagus, is now in- creasing in favour as a %vinter residence.

The vegetation is rich, including near- ly all the vegetable species of temperate climates and a large number of those found in hot coun- tries. Among trees the pine is the most characteristic, but it does not grow south of the Sado. The ■pinhal of L e i r i a planted by King

Denis is the largest '

forest and the mato of Busaco is famous for the size and variety of its trees. Fruit trees abound, especially on the Upper Douro, and in Beira. Olives and oranges are everywhere, the Algarve produces figs, and Traz- os-Montes almonds. The vine is universal and forms Portugal's principal wealth. The chief wines are port, which comes from the Douro region, and the wines of Beira and the Peninsula of Lisbon (CoUares and Carcavellos), but the largest vinej'ard is fovmd just south of the Tagus and is a recent creation. The cereals most grown are wheat, maize (Indian corn), and rye, but Portugal still has to depend on foreign countries for a portion of its bread supply. Wine, oil, fruit, vegetaliles, cattle, and cork are exported in large quantities, and the chief manufactures are cotton, wool, gold and silver work, lace, and pottery. The fisheries are the main occupation of the coast population, and the sardine industrj- at Setubal is a flourishing one.

II. History. — The lifework of Alfonso Henriques first King of Portugal (112S-S5) consisted in his asser- tion, by fighting and diplomacy, of the political independence of the country, and in his enlargement of its boundaries by conquests from the Moors who occupied more than half the present kingdom when he began to rule. Though he had assumed the govern- ment in 112.S, it was only after a period of fifteen

years, during which he suffej-ed a series of reverses, that he was able to obtain recognition of his king- .ship from Alfonso VII of Leon, to which kingdom the territory of Portugal had formerly belonged. Alfonso Henriques early resolved to jjrolect himself against the claims of his powerful neighbour and over- lord, and in 1142 he offered his kingdom to the Church, declared himself the pope's vassal, and promised, for himself and his successors, to pay an annual feudal tribute of four ounces of gold. Lucius II ratified the agreement, taking Portugal under his protection and recognizing its independence, and in 1179 another pope, Alexander III, confirmed Alfonso Henriques in his royal dignity. The latter now gave up all idea of extending his dominions, beyond the Minho and the Douro, which rivers formed its boun- daries to the north and east, and endeav'oured to in- crease them to the south. He carried on a persistent warfare against the infidel by sudden incursions into Moorish territory and by midnight assaults on Moorish towns, and on the whole he was successful. In 1147 he took the almost impregnable city of Santarem. In the same year, after a four months' siege, the great city of Lisbon, containing " 154,000 men, besides women and children", fell to his arms assisted by a Northern fleet of 164 ships which was on its way to the Second Crusade. The king thereupon moved his capital to the Tagus, ap- pointed Gilbert, an Enghshman, its bish- op, transported the body of St. Vincent to the cathedral, and perpetuated the saint's memory in the arms he gave to Lisbon, viz., a ship and two crows, in allusion to the man- ner in which the relics were trans- Ijorted from Cape St. ^'incent and to the birds which were said to have accompanied them during the whole journey.

The" reduction of the neighbouring strongholds followed, but the king had to wait for the arrival of another crusading fleet before he could take Alcacer do Sol, in 1158. The cities of Evora and Beja fell into his hands soon afterwards, but he could not hold so extensive a territory, and the country south of the Tagus was t aken and retaken more than once. At the end of his life an unwarrantable attack on Badajoz placed him in the power of King Ferdinand of Leon, and his last years were full of defeats and humilia- tions. Nevertheless, when he died the independence of Portugal had been secured, its area doubled, and the name of the little realm was famous throughout Europe for its persistent struggle against the eneinies of the Cross. A rough warrior, an astute politician, and a loose liver, Alfonso Henriques w.as yet a man of strong faith. He corresponded with St. Bernard and put his country under the protection of the Blessed Virgin, decreeing that an annual tribute should be paid to the abbey of Clairvaux. For the Cistercian Order, to whose prayers he attributed the capture of Santarem, he founded the great monastery of Alco- ba(a. the most famous in Portugal, and endowed it handsomely, so that its lands stretched to the ocean and contained thirteen towns in which the monks

THE Penh.\ (Rock) , Portugal