| Dinis ('the farmer') carried out much reform, and founded a university in Lisbon (later moved to Coimbra). He encouraged agriculture, and continued to promote the industry and trade of his country, signing a commercial treaty with Edward I of England in 1294. In politics his major effort was directed against the military orders. He brought the Spanish order of Santiago in his territory under Portuguese control, and took advantage of the fall of the Templars by incorporating their lands into a new Portuguese order, the Knights of Christ. The king was himself a poet, writing a number of magnificent love lyrics, marking the arrival of a new national idiom in the literature of Europe. | Lusiads p. 93 MRW p.199 |
| Dinis' queen, Isabel, was a devout and virtuous woman, the daughter of Pedro III of Aragon. She was considered a saint in her lifetime and was canonised in the fifteenth centrury, becoming the patron saint of Coimbra. | TPS p. 42 |
| Isabel may have been involved with the origins of the Feast of the Coronation of the Emperor of the Holy Spirit. | |
| The Genoese had been making voyages around the African coast for some time. As early as 1162, a Genoese ship had visited Sale on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, and they had established a trading post in Ceuta by 1191. There was a thriving Genoese colony in Lisbon, which was an important way station for the Genoa-London trade. Around 1312 a Genoese named Lanciloto Malocello landed in the Fortunate Isles (the Canaries), and was reported to have built a castle there. In 1317 Dinis appointed a Genoese from the Passagna family (Peçanha in Portuguese) as grand admiral of Portugal, a hereditary post. | TPS p. 45 |
| In 1287 the Portuguese master of Alcantara took his freyles to the aid of King Dinis, whose brother, Dom Afonso, was in revolt. By this date Portuguese Sao Thiago (Santiago) had, under pressure from Dinis, become a separate order [from the Spanish Santiago]. | MoW p. 168 |
| When the Templars in France were arrested on October 13, 1307, Dinis did not believe the accusations against them and held the Templars on Portuguese territory to be innocent. (King Edward of England wrote Dinis a letter at this time expressing his doubts about the charges). However, the Pope dissolved the Templars in 1312, requiring that their holdings be transferred to the Hospitallers. Dinis argued against this, and founded the Order of Christ, transferring the Templar holdings to the new order. | The Templars
under Dinis
Edward's Letter Foundation of the Order of Christ |
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The glorious reign of Dinis ended in civil war, and he was succeeded by his rebellious son Afonso. |
MRW p.200 |
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Dinis' father, Afonso III |
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Dinis' son, Afonso IV |