Viseu - do governo condal ao reinado de D. Afonso Henriques (1096-1185). A renovação de um perfil urbano

Abstract

This paper proposes to analyse the part played by the city of Viseu in the political, military and religious framework of the court of count and countess D. Henrique and D. Teresa, focusing in particular on the impact of their governance on the new urban planning of Viseu and of its institutions, as well as its repositioning in the geo-strategic and ecclesiastical framework of the XI century. As the headquarters of the counts' court and advanced defence of the line of fortresses along the Douro river and of the coastal settlements, Viseu earned projection and its position on the political and religious chess-board of the recently crowned D. Afonso Henriques was enhanced, after it retrieved its status as Episcopal headquarters and reinstated its municipal regulatory framework marked by the city's two core powers: the Cathedral and the municipal council.