First County of Portugal

County of Portugal
Condado Portucalense Condado de Portugal
Vassalage of the Kingdoms of Asturias, Galicia and León
868–1139
Flag Coat of arms
Second County of Portugal
Capital		Braga
Languages		Galician-Portuguese Mozarabic Andalusian Arabic
Religion		Roman Catholicism Islam Judaism
Government		Feudal monarchy
Count of Portugal
•	868–873	Vímara Peres (first of the first county)
•	1050–1071	Nuno II Mendes (last of the first county; Brief Annexation to the Kingdom of León
•	1096–1112	Henry of Burgundy (first of second county)
•	1112–1139	Afonso Henriques (last of the second county)
History
•	Established	868
•	Disestablished	1139
Preceded by Succeeded by Emirate of Córdoba Kingdom of Asturias Kingdom of Galicia Kingdom of León Kingdom of Portugal
Today part of		Portugal  Spain

The County of Portugal (Portuguese: Condado de Portugal, Condado Portucalense, Condado de Portucale, in documents of the period the name used was Portugalia) refers to two successive medieval counties in the region around Braga and Porto, today corresponding to littoral northern Portugal, within which the identity of the Portuguese people formed. The first county existed from the mid-ninth to the mid-eleventh centuries as a vassalage of the Kingdom of Asturias and later the Kingdoms of Galicia and León, before being abolished as a result of rebellion. A larger entity under the same name was then reestablished in the late 11th century and lasted until the mid-12th century, when its count elevated it into an independent Portuguese kingdom.

The history of the county of Portugal is traditionally dated from the reconquest of Portus Cale (Porto) by Vímara Peres in 868. He was named a count and given control of the frontier region between the Limia and Douro rivers by Alfonso III of Asturias. South of the Douro, another border county would be formed decades later when what would become the County of Coimbra was conquered from the Moors by Hermenegildo Gutiérrez. This moved the frontier away from the southern bounds of the county of Portugal, but it was still subject to repeated campaigns from the Caliphate of Cordoba. The recapture of Coimbra by Almanzor in 987 again placed the County of Portugal on the southern frontier of the Leonese state for most of the rest of the first county's existence. The regions to its south were only again conquered in the reign of Ferdinand I of León and Castile, with Lamego falling in 1057, Viseu in 1058 and finally Coimbra in 1064.