Afonso of Braganza, Marquis of Valença

Who was Afonso of Braganza, Marquis of Valença?

Alphonse of Braganza was the older son of Afonso, 1st Duke of Braganza and of his wife, Beatriz Pereira Alvim.

Through a formal document dated from 4 April 1422, his maternal grandfather, the Constable Nuno Álvares Pereira, donated him the County of Ourém, which had King Edward’s royal confirmation only on 24 November 1433.

He was sent by the King as his special ambassador to the Council of Basel and to the Council of Florence, visiting also Ferrara and Rome.

By a document issued on 11 October 1451, King Afonso V of Portugal granted him the title of Marquis of Valença. He was the first Marquis to exist among Portuguese nobility.

Still in October 1451, he escorted Infanta Eleanor of Portugal in her trip from Lisbon to Livorno, where she met her groom, Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. They got married in Rome, where Pope Nicholas V blessed this marriage.

In 1458, he also took part in the Portuguese expedition to north Africa, which conquered the Moroccan city of Alcácer Ceguer.

He had a natural son from Dona Beatriz de Sousa, Afonso de Portugal, forced to be a clergyman by King John II of Portugal, who became Bishop of Évora, from whom descends the Counts of Vimioso.