:Denis of Portugal

File:D. Dinis e Santa Isabel – Sala dos Capelos.jpg

In 1290, Denis began to pursue the systematic centralisation of royal power by imposing judicial reforms, decreeing Portuguese "the official language of legal and judicial proceedings",{{cite book|author=Sheila R. Ackerlind|title=King Dinis of Portugal and the Alfonsine heritage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xakvAQAAMAAJ&q=%22for%20decreeing%22|year=1990|publisher=Peter Lang Publishing, Incorporated|isbn=978-0-8204-0921-4|page=1}} creating the first university in Portugal, and ridding the military orders in the country of foreign influences. His policies encouraged economic development with the creation of numerous towns and trade fairs.{{cite book|author=Francis A. Dutra|editor=E. Michael Gerli|title=Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=euVJAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA285|date=4 December 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-77162-0|page=285}} He advanced the interests of the Portuguese merchants, and set up by mutual agreement a fund called the Bolsa de Comércio, the first documented form of marine insurance in Europe, approved on 10 May 1293.{{cite book|author=Bailey Wallys Diffie|title=Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415-1580|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hBTqPX4G9Y4C&pg=PA21|year=1977|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-0782-2|page=21}}{{cite book|author=John Brande Trend|title=Portugal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXMfAAAAMAAJ&q=%22marine%20insurance%22|year=1958|publisher=Praeger|page=103}} Always concerned with development of the country's infrastructure, he encouraged the discovery and exploitation of sulphur, silver, tin and iron mines and organised the export of excess production of agricultural crops, salt, and salted fish to England, Flanders, and France.

Denis signed the first Portuguese commercial agreement with England in 1308, and secured a contract in 1317 for the services of the Genoese merchant sailor Manuel Pessanha (Portuguese form of the Italian "Pezagno") as hereditary admiral of his fleet,{{cite book|author=Joseph F. O'Callaghan|title=A History of Medieval Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xVMJAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA458|date=15 April 2013|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-6871-1|page=458}} with the understanding that Pessanha and his successors should provide twenty Genoese captains to command the king's galleys,{{cite book|author=Richard H. Major|title=The life of Prince Henry of Portugal Surnamed the Navigator|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofprincehenr00majo|year=1868|publisher=Asher|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifeofprincehenr00majo/page/151 151]}} thus effectively founding the Portuguese Navy.{{cite book|author=James Anderson|title=Daily Life Through Trade: Buying and Selling in World History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ok5zuaeBtJcC&pg=PA134|date=21 March 2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-36325-2|page=134}}

In 1289 Denis had signed the Concordat of Forty Articles with Pope Nicholas IV, swearing to protect the Church's interests in Portugal. When Pope Clement V allowed the annihilation of the Knights Templar throughout most of Europe on charges of heresy, Denis created in 1319 a Portuguese military order, the Order of Christ, for those knights who survived the purge.{{cite book |author1=Matthew Anthony Fitzsimons |url=https://archive.org/details/catholicchurchto00fitz |title=The Catholic Church today: Western Europe |author2=Jean Bécarud |publisher=University of Notre Dame Press |year=1969 |page=[https://archive.org/details/catholicchurchto00fitz/page/159 159] |url-access=registration}}{{cite book|author=Helen J. Nicholson|title=The Crusades|url=https://archive.org/details/crusades00nich|url-access=registration|date=1 January 2004|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-32685-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/crusades00nich/page/98 98]}} The new order was designed to be a continuation of the Order of the Temple.{{cite book|author1=William Moseley Brown|author2=Simeon B. Chase|author3=Paul Tice|title=Highlights of Templar History: Includes the Knights Templar Constitution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7hAAhec0gloC&pg=PA48|date=1 April 2003|publisher=Book Tree|isbn=978-1-58509-230-7|page=48}} Denis negotiated with Clement's successor, John XXII, for recognition of the new order and its right to inherit the Templar assets and property.{{cite book |last1=Haag |first1=Michael |title=The Templars: History and Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons |date=2010 |publisher=Profile Books |isbn=978-1-84765-251-5 |page=246 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xpj7Whuaq14C&pg=PA246}}

During Denis' reign, Lisbon became one of Europe's centres of culture and learning.{{cite book|author=Richard Mayson|title=Port and the Douro|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0udEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3|date=12 November 2012|publisher=Infinite Ideas|isbn=978-1-908474-71-1|page=3}}{{cite book|author=A. H. de Oliveira Marques|title=History of Portugal: From Lusitania to Empire; vol. 2, From Empire to Corporate State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OlKTVOp3VYwC&pg=PA121|year=1972|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-03159-2|pages=121–122}} The first university in Portugal, then called the Estudo Geral (General Study), was founded with his signing of the document Scientiae thesaurus mirabilis in Leiria on 3 March 1290.{{cite book|author=Cruz, Guilherme Braga da|title=Obras Esparsas - Volume II - Estudos de História do Direito|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YefJADwjAFIC&pg=PA263|publisher=UC Biblioteca Geral 1|page=263|id=GGKEY:NFJY2YXJ7SP}} Lectures in the arts, civil law, canon law, and medicine were given, and on 15 February 1309, the king granted the university a charter, the Magna Charta Privilegiorum.{{cite book|author1=Jos. M. M. Hermans|author2=Marc Nelissen|title=Charters of Foundation and Early Documents of the Universities of the Coimbra Group|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QE-P0ffkTUoC&pg=PA38|date=1 January 2005|publisher=Leuven University Press|isbn=978-90-5867-474-6|page=38}} The university was moved between Lisbon and Coimbra several times, and finally installed permanently in Coimbra in 1537{{cite book|author=Liam Matthew Brockey|title=The Visitor: Andre Palmeiro and the Jesuits in Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7v6EBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA36|date=15 September 2014|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-41668-0|page=36}} by order of King John III.

As a devotee of the arts and sciences, Denis studied literature and wrote several books on topics ranging from government administration to hunting, science and poetry, as well as ordering the translation of many literary works into Galician-Portuguese (Portuguese had not yet fully evolved into a distinct language), among them the works attributed to his grandfather Alfonso X. He patronised troubadours, and wrote lyric poetry in the troubadour tradition himself. His best-known work is the Cantigas de Amigo, a collection of love songs as well as satirical songs, which contributed to the development of troubador poetry in the Iberian Peninsula. All told, 137 of the songs attributed to him, in the three main genres of Galician-Portuguese lyric,{{cite book|author=F. Brittain|title= The Mediaeval Latin and Romance Lyric to A.D. 1300|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ergKSk7lS9gC&pg=PA247|date=March 2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-04328-1|page=247}} are preserved in the two early 16th-century manuscripts, the Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional and the Cancioneiro da Vaticana.{{cite book|author=Ted Gioia|title=Love Songs: The Hidden History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cZUKBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA115|date=5 February 2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-935757-4|page=115}} A spectacular find in 1990 by American scholar Harvey Sharrer brought to light the Pergaminho Sharrer, which contains, albeit in fragmentary form, seven cantigas d'amor by King Denis with musical notation.{{cite book|author1=Dinis (King of Portugal)|author2=Manuel Pedro Ferreira|title=Cantus Coronatus D'El-Rei Dom Dinis: 7 Cantigas by King Dinis of Portugal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bAs0BUizMYUC&pg=PA312|year=2005|publisher=Edition Reichenberger|isbn=978-3-937734-09-5|page=312}}{{cite book|author=Ross W. Duffin|title=A Performer's Guide to Medieval Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z9xDFnIMRssC&pg=PA148|year=2000|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0-253-21533-1|page=148}} These poems are found in the same order in the two previously known codices.

King Denis was fond of hunting and in 1294 was hunting around Beja, when a bear attacked him and his horse, bringing them to the ground. It is said that he attacked the beast single-handedly and killed him with a dagger. To commemorate the incident, the king had a live bear captured and taken to his palace of Fuellas for the amusement of the gentlemen and ladies of his court.Miquel, P. The Days of Knights & Castles, 1980. London: Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd., page 57.

File:Cross of the Military Order of Christ.svg]]

As heir-apparent to the throne, Denis was summoned by his father Afonso III to share governmental responsibilities. The country was again in conflict with the Catholic Church at the time, Afonso having been excommunicated in 1277, and only being absolved in 1279 when he acceded to Rome's demands on his deathbed.{{cite book|author=Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Centro de Estudos de História Religiosa|title=Carreiras Eclesiásticas no Ocidente Cristão (séc. XII-XIV)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y214Oo0uK-oC&pg=PA262|year=2007|publisher=CEHR-UCP|isbn=978-972-8361-26-6|page=262}}{{cite book|author=Salo Wittmayer Baron|title=A Social and Religious History of the Jews: Citizen or alien conjurer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eXVDceafeiEC&pg=PA406|year=1967|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-08847-3|page=406}} Consequently, the church was favorably inclined to reach an agreement with the new monarch upon his accession to the throne.

In 1284, however, Denis emulated the example of his grandfather and father, and launched a new series of inquiries to investigate the expropriation of royal property; this was to the detriment of the church. The next year he took further steps against ecclesiastical power when he promulgated amortisation laws.{{cite book|author=Samuel J. Miller|title=Portugal and Rome C. 1748-1830: An Aspect of the Catholic Enlightenment|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dG6_i3DUZ60C&pg=PA200|year=1978|publisher=Gregorian Biblical BookShop|isbn=978-88-7652-464-6|page=200}} These prohibited the church and religious orders from buying lands, and required that they sell or forfeit any they had purchased since the start of his reign. Several years later he issued another decree forbidding them to inherit the estates of recruits to the orders.{{cite book|author=Dauril Alden|title=The Making of an Enterprise: The Society of Jesus in Portugal, Its Empire, and Beyond, 1540-1750|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7nVIBhrRb9AC&pg=PA431|year=1996|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-2271-1|page=431}}

In 1288, Denis managed to persuade Pope Nicholas IV to issue a papal bull that separated the Order of Santiago in Portugal from that in Castile, to which it had been subordinate.Ackerlind 1990, p. 11 With the extinction of the Knights Templar, he was able to transfer their assets in the country to the Order of Christ, specially created for this purpose.

Denis was essentially an administrator and not a warrior king. He went to war with the kingdom of Castile in 1295, relinquishing the villages of Serpa and Moura. In 1297, he signed the Treaty of Alcañices with Castile, which defined the current borders between the two Iberian countries,{{cite book|author=Sheila R. Ackerlind|title=King Dinis of Portugal and the Alfonsine heritage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xakvAQAAMAAJ&q=1297|year=1990|publisher=Peter Lang Publishing, Incorporated|isbn=978-0-8204-0921-4|pages=10–11}} and reaffirmed Portugal's possession of the Algarve. The treaty also established an alliance of friendship and mutual defense, leading to a peace of 40 years between the two nations.

Denis pursued his father's policies on legislation and centralisation of power, and promulgated the nucleus of a Portuguese civil and criminal law code, protecting the lower classes from abuse and extortion. These edicts survived in the Livro das Leis e Posturas (Book of Laws and Postures),{{cite book|author=Universidade de Lisboa. Faculdade de direito|title=Livro das leis e posturas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-_2BmgEACAAJ|year=1971|publisher=Universidade de lisboa, faculdade de direito|language=Portuguese}}{{cite book|title=O Instituto|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rp4DAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA125|year=1863|publisher=Imprensit 2 Universidade|page=125}} and the Ordenações Afonsinas (Alfonsine Ordinances), proclaimed during the reign of Afonso V.{{cite book|author1=Susan Canty Quinlan|author2=Fernando Arenas|title=Lusosex: Gender and Sexuality in the Portuguese-Speaking World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Iv6CUeIQySsC&pg=PA10|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-1-4529-0561-7|page=10}}{{cite book|editor=Darlene Abreu-Ferreira|others=Ivana Elbl|title=Women in the Lusophone World in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period: Portuguese Studies Review, Vol. 13, Nos. 1 and 2 (Special Issue) (ISSN 1057-1515)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E85YAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA77|date=20 November 2007|publisher=Baywolf Press|page=77|id=GGKEY:DPQZALABJQ6}} These are not legislative "codes" as we understand them today, but rather compilations of laws and customary municipal law, as amended and restated by the Portuguese crown.{{cite book|author=Antonio Henrique R. de Oliveira Marques|title=Daily Life in Portugal in the Late Middle Ages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aq08DHChiGwC&pg=PA182|year=1971|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-05584-4|page=182}}

File:Contrato de Vassalagem Celebrado Entre o Rei D. Dinis e Micer Manuel Pessanha de Génova (1 de Fevereiro de 1317).png]]

As king, Denis travelled around the country to resolve various problems. He ordered the construction of numerous castles, created new towns, and granted the privileges due cities to several others. He declared in 1290 that 'the language of the people' was to become the language of the state,{{cite book|author=E. Bradford Burns|title=A History of Brazil|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbrazil00burn|url-access=registration|date=January 1993|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-07955-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofbrazil00burn/page/20 20]}} and officially known as Portuguese.{{cite book|author1=Ti Alkire|author2=Carol Rosen|title=Romance Languages: A Historical Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9P3Ifze8gUQC&pg=PA333|date=24 June 2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-88915-5|page=333}} Denis also decreed that Portuguese replace Latin as the language of the law courts in his kingdom.{{cite book|author=Bailey Wallys Diffie|title=Prelude to Empire: Portugal Overseas Before Henry the Navigator|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IjBfEorbZWAC&pg=PA38|date=January 1960|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=0-8032-5049-5|page=38}} His wife Elizabeth donated much of the large income generated by her lands and properties to charities,{{cite book|author=Carlos Andrés González-Paz|title=Women and Pilgrimage in Medieval Galicia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o9RTBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88|date=28 February 2015|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-4724-1070-2|page=88}}{{cite book|title=Medicine and the Law in the Middle Ages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HM6hAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA216|date=27 March 2014|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-26911-8|page=216}} inspiring Denis to help improve the life of the poor and found several social institutions.{{cite book|author=Carlos Andrés González-Paz|title=Reassessing the Roles of Women as 'Makers' of Medieval Art and Architecture (2 vol. set)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LVQzAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA918|date=2012-05-07|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-22832-0|page=918}}

The frequent procedural issues that arose when he issued his decrees increasingly occupied Denis in his quest to frame the common law as being within the scope of the crown's jurisdiction, and in exercising royal power in the realm. The restrictions he placed on the actions of alvazis (local council officials), judges, as well as proctors and advocates in the courts, show that a merely nominal power of the monarchy over all the inhabitants of the kingdom, as was typical in the Middle Ages, was not compatible with his effort to assert a royal prerogative to scrutinise legal procedures or moralise on the exercise of justice. The appointment of magistrates clearly marks the start of the process of the crown claiming territorial jurisdiction, thus expanding the royal domain, along with the growing importance of Lisbon as the nation's de facto capital.{{cite book|author=James Maxwell Anderson|title=The History of Portugal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UoryGn9o4x0C&pg=PA33|date=1 January 2000|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-31106-2|page=33}} The preference for Lisbon as a venue of the royal court was accentuated during Denis's long reign. There was as yet no official capital of the country, but Lisbon's location, as well as its advanced urban, economic and commercial development, made the city the most viable choice for a national centre of administration.

Its geographical situation between the ancient divisions of the country, i.e., the north and the south, enhanced Lisbon's status as the most practical centre for an emergent united Portuguese nation, the south now receiving as much royal attention as the north and becoming the residence of the monarchy. Their different characters created a realm where the two regions complemented each other. The great manors were closer together in the north, and the vast dominions conquered from the Muslims in the south, as well as the large areas of unclaimed land there, expanded the domain of the crown, and much of the territory of the extreme south came under the control of the military orders.{{cite book|author=Sanjay Subrahmanyam|title=The Portuguese Empire in Asia, 1500-1700: A Political and Economic History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-DZciX6WxgUC&pg=PT53|date=30 April 2012|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-67291-4|page=53}}

Denis promoted development of the rural infrastructure, earning the nickname of "the Farmer" (o Lavrador).{{cite book|author=H. V. Livermore|title=A History of Portugal|date=19 January 1947 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHI3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA153|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=153|id=GGKEY:XWSD821GE8S}} He redistributed land,{{cite book|author1=Louis Reichenthal Gottschalk|author2=Loren Carey MacKinney|author3=Earl Hampton Pritchard|title=The Foundations of the Modern World [1300-1775]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OR5mAAAAMAAJ&q=%22promoting%20the%20agricultural%22|year=1969|publisher=International Commission for a History of the Scientific and Cultural Development of Mankind|page=952|isbn=9780049000094 }} founded agricultural schools to improve farming techniques,{{cite book|author1=Jean-Benoit Nadeau|author2=Julie Barlow|title=The Story of Spanish|url=https://archive.org/details/storyofspanish0000nade|url-access=registration|date=7 May 2013|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-1-250-02316-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/storyofspanish0000nade/page/81 81]}} and took a personal interest in the expansion of exports. He set up regular markets in a number of towns and regulated their activities. One of his principal achievements was to protect agricultural lands from advancing coastal sands by ordering the planting of a pine forest near Leiria,{{cite book|author=International Commission for a History of the Scientific and Cultural Development of Mankind|title=History of Mankind: Cultural and Scientific Development|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_rYLAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Leiria%22|year=1963|publisher=George Allen and Unwin|page=952}} which also provided a source of raw materials for construction of a naval fleet. This forest, known as the Pinhal de Leiria (Leiria Pinewood), still exists, and is an important conservation area.{{cite book|author=Erwin Anton Gutkind|title=International History of City Development: Urban development in southern Europe: Spain and Portugal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WyVYAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Pinhal%20de%20Leiria%22%20%22Denis%22|year=1967|publisher=Free Press of Glencoe|page=47}}

The latter part of Denis' generally peaceful reign was nevertheless marked by internal conflicts. The contenders were his two sons: Afonso, the legitimate heir, and Afonso Sanches, his bastard son, who quarreled frequently among themselves for royal favour. At the time of Denis' death in 1325, he had placed Portugal on an equal footing with the other Iberian Kingdoms.

Afonso, born in Lisbon, was the rightful heir to the Portuguese throne. However, he was not Denis' favourite son, the old king preferring Afonso Sanches, his illegitimate son by Aldonça Rodrigues Talha.{{cite book|author=José Miguel Pero-Sanz|title=Santa Isabel: Reina de Portugal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XYIm9o4qHAEC&pg=PA69|date=19 September 2011|publisher=Palabra|isbn=978-84-9840-546-0|page=69}}{{cite book|author=Isabel Lencastre|title=Bastardos Reais Os Filhos Ilegítimos dos Reis de Portugal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LoSJE8D75-gC&pg=PT19|date=29 March 2012|publisher=Leya|isbn=978-989-555-846-9|page=19}}{{cite book|author=Ana Maria S.A. Rodrigues|title=Reassessing the Roles of Women as 'Makers' of Medieval Art and Architecture (2 vol. set)|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LVQzAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1069|volume=2|date=7 May 2012|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-22832-0|page=1069|chapter=23}} The notorious rivalry between the half brothers led to civil war several times. Elizabeth would serve as intermediary between her husband and Afonso during the civil war of 1322–1324.

Infante Afonso greatly resented the king, whom he accused of favouring Afonso Sanches. Denis had little popular support in the war because of the many privileges he had granted to the nobles in the last years of his reign, while the Infante had the support of the county's cities; these circumstances were rooted in the longstanding conflict between the upper and lower classes of Portuguese society. Repulsed to the town of Alenquer, which supported the Infante, Denis was prevented from killing his son through the intervention of the Queen. As legend holds, in 1323, Elizabeth, mounted on a mule, positioned herself between the opposing armies on the field of the Battle of Alvalade in order to prevent the combat. Peace returned in 1324 when Afonso Sanches was sent into exile and the Infante swore loyalty to the king.{{cite book|author=João Ferreira|title=Histórias rocambolescas da história de Portugal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tSVGcgAACAAJ|year=2010|publisher=Esfera dos Livros|isbn=978-989-626-216-7}}

File:Odivelas2-IPPAR.jpg

King Denis died on 7 January 1325 at Santarém,{{cite book|author1=José Mattoso|author2=Armindo de Sousa|title=História de Portugal. 2, A monarquia feudal (1096-1480)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m2cUAQAAIAAJ&q=%22morreu%20em%20Santar%C3%A9m%22|year=1997|publisher=Editorial Estampa|isbn=978-972-33-1263-8|page=140}} and was buried in the Monastery of Saint Denis in Odivelas, near Lisbon.{{cite book|author=John Dos Passos|title=The Portugal Story: Three Centuries of Exploration and Discovery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RFbckOuKA7QC&pg=PT66|date=2 March 2011|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-307-78706-4|page=66}} Afonso then became king, whereupon he exiled his rival to Castile, and stripped him of all the lands and fiefdoms bestowed by their father. From Castile, Afonso Sanches orchestrated a series of attempts to usurp the crown. After he failed several times to mount an invasion of Portugal, the brothers signed a peace treaty, arranged by Afonso IV's mother Queen Elizabeth.[https://books.google.com/books?id=NdgCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA560 Spain and Portugal, Graeme Mercer Adam ed., J. D. Morris, 1906]

Bearing in mind the many centuries that separate Denis from the present, an impression of his personality can be gathered from the historical record: he was determined, even obstinate, in his attempts to systematically centralise the government and consolidate royal power.{{cite book|author=Rita Costa Gomes|title=The Making of a Court Society: Kings and Nobles in Late Medieval Portugal|url=https://archive.org/details/makingofcourtsoc0000gome|url-access=registration|date=10 April 2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-80011-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/makingofcourtsoc0000gome/page/86 86]}} For example, he launched general inquiries (Inquirições gerais) at a remarkably accelerated pace to investigate land ownership and identify cases where abuses were committed.{{cite book|author=José Augusto de Sotto Mayor Pizarro|title=D. Dinis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JTIDPwAACAAJ|year=2008|publisher=Temas e Debates|isbn=978-972-759-966-0|page=206}}

Denis revealed early on his ability as an effective strategist in the pursuit of his goals, and as an innovator of proactive legislative policy. With the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that his administrative decisions were not made randomly or without consideration of his ideal of a well-governed nation. The wide range of his policies is indicated by a few examples: the concomitant creation of new towns and trade fairs, the fortification of the country's borders and the increasing dependence of the military orders on the royal power. He was recognized as an intelligent, perceptive ruler with demonstrated success, both by contemporaries and by later historians.

Denis was not lacking in political skill. Being adroit in negotiation and a student of human nature, he knew how to go about "opposing and appeasing alternately the secular and the ecclesiastical manorial interests. He confiscated the properties of the clergy, but made the concordat [of 1289] with the Portuguese bishops;{{cite book|title=Catholic Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MlY_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA197|year=1908|publisher=Appleton|page=197}} he restricted the comedoria (victuals) rights of the monasteries, but replaced those rights with a fixed annual sum of money. His actions were sufficiently [statesmanlike, and his political position was strong] enough, for him to secure the confiscation laws and check the erosion of the state patrimony".Pizarro 2008, p. 207. "Atacando e apaziguando, alternadamente, os interesses senhoriais laicos e eclesiásticos: desamortizou os bens do clero, mas aceitou a concordata e restringiu os direitos de comedoria nos mosteiros; inquiriu os bens senhoriais, mas as leis de desamortização travam a erosão dos patrimónios senhoriais."{{cite book|author=Charles William Previté-Orton|title=The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7L88AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA832|volume=2|year=1852|publisher=CUP Archive|page=832|id=GGKEY:RJXLJYT61T4}} As administration of the royal properties became more efficient and he became richer, Denis gained fame for his wealth, even being mentioned in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, where he was called Dionysus Agricola, and described among those condemned by the Eagle, in the Sixth Sphere, though the exact reason for this condemnation is unknown.{{cite book|author=Richard Lansing|title=The Dante Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CY-sAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA304|date=11 February 2011|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-84972-5|page=304}}

Nevertheless, Denis is described in contemporary chronicles as a wise and able ruler. Although most of the legislative work of his reign focused on procedural juridical issues, the purpose of much of this new legislation was to avoid excessive delays and court costs and to prevent abuse by attorneys and prosecutors. The personal determination that allowed Denis to achieve so much in the political realm could sometimes harden into obstinacy and arrogance. He was described occasionally as cruel, especially in family relations, shown for example in the way he dealt with his legitimate son and rightful heir, Afonso (never his favourite), and his wife, Elizabeth, to whom he turned over the children born of his infidelities,{{cite book|author=Thomas J. Craughwell|title=Saints Preserved|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jQblhT1XtkMC&pg=PA89|date=12 July 2011|publisher=Crown Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-307-59074-9|page=89}} leaving her the responsibility of their care and education.

An inescapable figure in the history of the Iberian Peninsula in the 13th and the beginning of the 14th centuries, Denis was first called "father of his country" (Pai da Pátria) by the historian Duarte Nunes de Leão in 1600.{{cite book|author=Duarte Nunes de Leão|title=Primeira parte das Chronicas dos Reis de Portugal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O3r3tgyH3pUC&pg=RA5-PA123|year=1600|publisher=impresso por Pedro Craesbeeck|page=123}}

The historical sources of King Denis's time, as well as later authors, failed to provide any detailed physical description of the monarch. The information known comes from an accidental opening of his tomb during a restoration in 1938. It was discovered that the legend of a figure of towering height was not an accurate one as he was only about {{convert|1.65|m|ftin|abbr=off}} tall. Denis made his will when he was 61 and died at age 63. He apparently enjoyed excellent health throughout his life, as he traveled frequently, got involved in wars from an early age and at age 60 still hunted. He died with complete dentition,{{cite book|author=José Crespo|title=Santa Isabel na doença e na morte|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=83MMAQAAIAAJ|year=1972|publisher=Coimbra Editora|pages=113–117}} a rarity for the time, something that even today continues to be fairly unusual.

A distinctive feature of his physiognomy revealed by examination of the body was that his hair and beard were auburn. This is a curious fact, as he was the first of the Portuguese royal line up to that time to have that hair color. This genetic trait could have been passed on the maternal side, as his uncle Ferdinand, called "La Cerda", or "the bristly one", had red hair as well. Denis may have inherited the trait from Henry II of England, who was his ancestor on both the paternal and maternal sides, or even possibly from his maternal great-grandmother Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen, granddaughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa ("barbarossa" means "red beard" in Italian).{{cite book|author=Amir D. Aczel|title=Descartes's Secret Notebook: A True Tale of Mathematics, Mysticism, and the Quest to Understand the Universe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QOfp07QS-0C&pg=PA115|date=19 February 2009|publisher=Crown Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-307-49480-1|page=115}}

In 2016, the tomb of the king was opened for the first time since 1938.{{cite web |last1=Cipriano |first1=Rita |title=D. Dinis. Um enigma e um túmulo para ser (re)descoberto |url=https://observador.pt/especiais/d-dinis-um-enigma-e-um-tumulo-para-ser-redescoberto/ |publisher=Observador |access-date=13 August 2021 |language=pt-PT}} Initially a restoration work, the tomb became the subject of research. A physiognomic report of the king is expected to be published in the future.{{cite web |title=Estudo forense a D. Dinis é projeto pioneiro em Portugal |url=https://www.cm-odivelas.pt/autarquia/noticias/noticia/estudo-forense-a-d-dinis-e-projeto-pioneiro-em-portugal |publisher=Câmara Municipal de Odivelas |access-date=13 August 2021 |language=pt-PT}} Among other artefacts, the king's sword was retrieved from the tomb; it was found to be in a good state of preservation, except that the point had broken off.{{cite web | url=https://www.portugalresident.com/d-dinis-and-his-tomb/ | title=D. Dinis and his tomb | date=4 November 2022 }}

Denis' only wife was Isabel or Elizabeth of Aragon, daughter of Peter III of Aragon and Constance of Sicily.{{cite book |title=The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History |first=C.W. |last=Previte-Orton |volume=II: The twelfth century to the Renaissance |publisher=Cambridge at the University Press |year=1960 |page=825}} They married in 1282{{cite web |url= https://repositorio-aberto.up.pt/bitstream/10216/56521/2/baqueromorenorelacoes000131382.pdf|title= Relações entre os Reinos Peninsulares (1290-1330)|last= Baquero Moreno|first= Humberto|date= 1997}} and had a son and a daughter. Like other monarchs of the time, he had several illegitimate children as well.{{cite book|author=Michael Jones|title=The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 6, C.1300-c.1415|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LOS1c0w91AcC&pg=PA634|year=1995|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-36290-0|page=634}}

• Cantiga de amigo
• Galician-Portuguese

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{{S-hou|House of Burgundy|9 October|1261|7 January|1325|House of Capet}}

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{{S-bef|before=Afonso III}}

{{S-ttl|title=King of Portugal|years=1279–1325}}

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{{Monarchs of Portugal}}

{{Portuguese infantes}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Denis Of Portugal}}

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Category:Portuguese male poets

Category:13th-century Galician-Portuguese troubadours

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