In 1191, with the help of the Crusaders, Sancho I took Silves, a Moorish settlement in the south of Portugal

Sancho I was born at Coimbra in the north of the country in 1154 and was known as the Populator (Port. o Povoador). He was the son of Afonso I Henriques of Portugal and succeeded his father to become the second King of Portugal in 1185.

Sancho was knighted by his father in 1170 and become his second in command. During this time, Portugal had only been an independent country for three decades and the kings of León and Castile were trying to regain the country back. The Catholic Church was late in recognizing and blessing this newly independent territory thus Afonso I had to search for allies within the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal sought an alliance with the kingdom of Aragon and together they fought Castile and León. To help cement the agreement, Sancho married, princess Dulce Berenguer, younger sister of king Alfonso II of Aragon in 1174. Through this union, Aragon became the first kingdom to recognize Portugal’s independence.

With the death of his father in 1185, Sancho I ascended the Portuguese throne and Coimbra became the heart of his kingdom. Sancho set about ending the wars against his neighbours for control of the Galician borderlands and refocused all his energy towards expelling the remaining Moorish settlements that stilled thrived to the South. In 1191, with the help of the Crusaders, he took Silves, which was an important administrative and commercial town with a population of around 20,000 people. Sancho immediately set about fortifying the city and constructed a castle, which today is an important monument of Portuguese heritage. Sancho’s attention was soon drawn northward, where León and Castile were again threatening Portugal’s borders. During this conflict the Moors retook Silves.

Sancho I spent most of his reign improving the political and administrative aspects of the newly independent Portugal. He amassed a national treasure and oversaw the birth of new industries. His accomplishments didn’t stop there; he created several new towns and villages and took great care in populating remote areas in the northern Christian regions of Portugal, giving rise to his nickname ‘the Populator’. Sancho I was also known for his love of knowledge and literature, writing several books of poems. He used his royal treasury to send Portuguese boys to study abroad in the major Universities of Europe.