Page:Lisbon and Cintra, Inchbold, 1907.djvu/20

Rh which English people should feel most intimately drawn. For nearly eight centuries the two countries have been linked together in interests which have at critical junctures compelled the interchange of military aid to resist encroachment upon freedom and the rights of nations. These relations date themselves from the first days of the Monarchy.

An army of the early Crusaders bound for the Holy Land, composed of Englishmen, Normans and Flemings, some 14,000 men in all, who were embarked on two hundred sailing vessels, braved the bar of the Douro, and anchored in the river. Here they had to wait fourteen days for their commander, whose ship had been separated from the Fleet in the tempest. In this interval of waiting negotiations were made through the Bishop of Porto (Oporto) on behalf of D. Affonso Henriques, who was preparing a new attack upon Lisbon, which was even then a strong position fortified by a large army of Moors.

The squadron agreed to set sail for the Tagus, where they arrived on the eve of St Peter and St Paul. They accepted the propositions made by the same D. Affonso Henriques, afterwards proclaimed king by the people; they disembarked and contributed largely to the success of the undertaking. The Moorish spoil they gained by this help was considerable, in addition to privileges and guarantees of great value—a result, say Portuguese historians, which the skilled diplomacy of their "faithful allies," the English, has always been able to bring about. Many of these adventurers profited by the occurrence and the privileges conceded to settle in the kingdom. It is even stated historically that the towns of Almada and Saccavem, to which allusion will be made later, were first peopled by Englishmen of this expedition.

How strange, even remarkable, in these days of fiscal 2