Afonso Lopes de Baião
Trovador medieval

Biographical Note:

A Portuguese lord, belonging to one of the oldest and most important Portuguese lineages (one of the five mentioned in the Livro Velho de Linhagens {Old Book of Lineages}). The son of Lopo Afonso de Baião and Aldara Viegas, he was born around 1210. His political trajectory passes mostly by the Portuguese court of Afonso III, although before his coronation (1248) he most certainly travelled to the neighboring kingdom of Castile, having been documented in the years 1226-1234 at Úbeda-Baeza. There’s also reports of him having participated in the taking of Jaén (1246) and, with more certainty, being a participant of the conquest of Seville (1248), since his name comes up in the respective Repartimiento as being the beneficiary of several estates. Between those two last dates, that is, during the Portuguese civil war opposing king Sancho II to his brother, the future Afonso III, he surely sided with this last one, in whose court he later performed important duties.In fact, as soon as 1250 we find him confirming documents as lieutenant of Bragança, a position that he amassed, from 1254, with the lieutenancy of the lands of Sousa, later exchanged, in 1263, with those of Riba Minho. Being part of the King’s counsel, he maintained an almost constant presence in Afonso III’s court, and also in the early moments of his son’s, King Denis1. He passed away probably in 12842.He was married to Mor Gonçalves de Sousa, a nephew of the troubadour Dom Garcia Mendes de Eixoand granddaughter of the powerful count Dom Mendo de Sousa, the Sousão. According to the books of lineages, they had no descendancy.

References

1 Ventura, Leontina (1993), A Nobreza de Corte de Afonso III, Coimbra, diss. Doutoramento policopiada, pp. 599-603.

2 Pizarro, José Augusto (1999), Linhagens medievais portuguesas: genealogias e estratégias 1279-1325, vol. I, Porto, Centro de Estudos de Genealogia, Heráldica e História da Família da Universidade Moderna, p. 294.
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