Afonso V (Portugal)

Timeline

1. 1438–1448Sintra · PortugalIn 1438 his father Duarte I died and the six-year-old Afonso V succeeded to the throne. His uncle Pedro, Duke of Coimbra, initially served as regent and introduced several reforms. After the regency ended in 1448 Afonso V began to rule in his own right, but relations with Pedro gradually deteriorated and in 1449 he defeated him at the Battle of Alfarrobeira.
2. 1451–1460Lisbon · PortugalIn the 1450s Afonso V consolidated royal power while continuing to support the West African coastal voyages led by his great-uncle Henry the Navigator. In 1452 the pope issued the bull Dum Diversas, followed in 1455 by Romanus Pontifex, granting Portugal exclusive rights to lands found in Africa and providing a legal basis for Portuguese overseas expansion. In 1458 Afonso V led an army that took Alcácer Ceguer in Morocco, earning the name "the African" for the first time. Henry the Navigator died the same year, and the Portuguese exploration effort continued under the king's direct direction.
3. 1460–1481Lisbon · PortugalIn 1471 Afonso V campaigned again, taking Asilah and Tangier and reaching the height of North African expansion, which firmly established the name "the African". In 1475 he intervened in the Castilian succession on the grounds of his niece Joanna's claim, but in 1476 he was defeated by the forces of Isabella I at the Battle of Toro. Thereafter Afonso V fell into melancholy and died near Sintra in August 1481; the throne passed to his son John II.