592 pork
Nobility and Annihilation in Marguerite Porete’s Mirror of
Simple Souls(Albany: State University of New York Press,
2001); Bernard McGinn, ed., Meister Eckhart and the
Beguine Mystics: Hadewijch of Brabant, Mechthild of
Magdeburg, and Marguerite Porete (New York: Contin-
uum, 1994).
pork SeeAGRICULTURE; ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY;
FOOD, DRINK AND NUTRITION; FORESTS AND FOREST LAW.
portolan charts (portulan) In modern usage, the term
portolan chartmeans “a nautical map or chart”; in the Mid-
dle Ages and RENAISSANCEthe portolanuswas a text listing
distances and directions between places on a coast. It also
contained the conditions and dangers of navigation. The
most common charts depicted the Mediterranean, BLACK
SEA, and Atlantic coasts from MOROCCOto the Baltic. They
used conventional signs for directions, coasts, and places.
The surviving examples date from 1296 and number
more than 100, preserved separately or within atlases.
They had earliest origins among Italians and Majorcans,
who employed then for information on the Mediter-
ranean Sea. Using them skillfully and in combination
with a magnetic COMPASS, one could follow known routes
and perhaps even navigate to destinations. There is some
question, however, about how much they were actually
used aboard ships. They might have been employed more
by MERCHANTSplanning trading voyages than by practic-
ing mariners.
See alsoNAVIGATION.
Further reading:Leo Bagrow, History of Cartography,
trans. D. L. Paisey (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press, 1966); Jonathan T. Lanman, On the Origin of Por-
tolan Charts(Chicago: Newberry Library, 1987); Raleigh
A. Skelton, Explorers’ Maps: Chapters in the Cartographic
Record of Geographical Discovery (New York: Praeger,
1958); Ronald V. Tooley, Maps and Map-Makers(London:
Batsford, 1949); John Noble Wilford, The Mapmakers
(New York: Knopf, 1981).
Portugal Medieval Portugal was a country in the west-
ern part of the Iberian Peninsula. Its name developed
from its first capital city, Porto. In the fifth century the
region, the Roman-dominated province of Lusitania, was
conquered by the Suevi, BARBARIANSwho conquered its
northern area; the VISIGOTHS, who took the center; and
the VANDALS, who settled in the southernmost region. In
the sixth century the Visigoths annexed all of the future
Portugal to their kingdom. In 711–714 Portugal was
overrun by the ARABSand incorporated into the UMAYYAD
CALIPHATEof CÓRDOBA. After the caliphate’s fall in the
11th century, it was subject to the Muslim kings of
SEVILLE. In 1097 King Alfonso VI (r. 1065–1109), the
king of CASTILE, conquered its northern section and made
it a Castilian county, giving it to his son-in-law, Henry of
BURGUNDY(r. 1097–1112), who was married to his ille-
gitimate daughter Teresa.A SEPARATE KINGDOM
Portugal became independent in 1109 and started pursu-
ing wars of reconquest against the Muslims. In 1139,
Henry’s son, Afonso I (r. 1112–85), was proclaimed king
and established the new state of Portugal. In 1148, he
conquered LISBON, with the help of English and Scandi-
navian crusaders. This established his realm’s southern
border on the Tagus River. In the second half of the 12th
and beginning of the 13th century, under the rule of San-
cho I (r. 1185–1211) and Afonso III (r. 1248–79), there
was continued southward expansion at the expense of the
Muslims. This culminated in the conquest of the Algarve,
the southernmost region of Portugal.
In the 13th century the kings dedicated their efforts
to organizing the kingdom and imposing royal authority
on the church and the nobility. The kings worked with the
commoners, who were admitted in 1254 to the CORTESor
representative assembly, to help balance and check the
nobility. In 1280, a university was founded at Lisbon and
later transferred to Coimbra, the capital before Lisbon. In
the 14th century, Portugal became involved in the political
affairs and dynastic conflicts of Castile. The Crown and
the Cortes, however, strongly resisted extensive Castilian
influence, though there were intermarriages betweenRuling Dynasties of the Christian Iberian Kingdoms
the 14th century also, the Portuguese people became
aware of an identity. A linguistic unification of the country
occurred on the basis of a synthesis between the Galician-
Portuguese of the north and the Arabic-tinged dialects
of the south, particularly in the reign of Denis (Dinis) I
(r. 1279–1325). King John (João) I (r. 1385–1433)
defeated the Castilians at the Battle of Aljubarrota in
August 1385 and preserved Portugal’s independence.THE AGE OF EXPLORATION
The great age of Portuguese expansion and search for
GOLD, and eventually African slaves, began in the late 14th
century and was carried forward by Prince HENRY, called
the Navigator. Henry and King John I took advantage of
the anarchy in North AFRICA to capture towns in
MOROCCOsuch as Ceuta in 1415. Maritime expeditions
followed along the African coast from 1415. The CANARY
ISLANDSin the 14th century, Madeira in about 1419, and
the AZORESin about 1427 were discovered and colonized.
Cape BOJADOR, once considered impassible, was rounded
in 1434. Factories or trading posts were established all
along the African coast. King John II (r. 1481–95) contin-
ued Henry’s maritime exploration and sought to find
PRESTERJOHNin the East. Bartholomew DIAZrounded the
Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa in 1488, and Vasco
da GAMAreached India and returned in 1497. The Treaty
of Tordesillas in 1494 divided the “new” discoveries