Afonso de Portugal

Quarterly: 1 and 4, gu a cross arg; 2 and 3, arg five escutcheons az in cross each charged with 5 plates in saltire; a bordure gu charged with 7 towers or ajouré az

Afonso de Portugal
Alphonsus Lusitanus
Aufonsus de Portugal

Tenure 1202*-1206 Abdicated

Nationality Portuguese

Birth ?

Death 15.3.1207

Notes
d'Avity's account
After the death Grandmaster de Duisson in 1194* Fra Afonso of Portugal was elected. He was a Kinght of the Order of St John and was born into the Portuguese royal family, though it is uncertain which king was his father. He praiseworthily established statutes, several of which are still observed unchanged today by the order. Though truly magnamanous he was excessively hard and severe and incurred the hatred of the Knights of the Hospital. For this reason he abdicated from the magistry and sailed back in 1194*, the same year of his election, to his country where he died on 15 March 1207.
anno MCXCIV. et paulo post obiit magnus magister Duissonus cui per electionem successit Frater Alphonsus Lusitanus, Eques ordinis S. Ioannis, ex familia regum Lusitanorum procreatus: cuius autem Regis filius fuerit, incertum est. Statuta quaedam laude digna condidit, quorum nonnulla hodieque inviolabiliter abhoc ordine observantur. Quoniam vero magnanimus et nimium durus ac severus erat; in odium plerorumque Equitum Hospitalium incurrit: ob quam causam magisterio se abdicavit, et navem conscendit, ut in patriam rediret, eodem; quo electus fuerat, anno MCXCIV: ubi mortuus est anno MCCVII. Calend. Martii.
Sources:
Avity, Pierre d'; Gottfried, Johann Ludwig: Archontologiae Cosmicae, Liber III: Origo Ordinum Militarium, tam Regularium, Dissertatio de Ordine Equitum Melitensum, p.34 Frankfurt am Main, 1628
Boisgelin, Louis de: Ancient and Modern Malta, and the History of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, 3 Volumes bound together. G & J Robinson, London 1804
Pauli, Sebastiano: Codice diplomatico del sacro militare ordine gerosolimitano, 2 volumes, Salvatore e Giandomenico Marescandoli, Lucca, 1733 (Vol.1) & 1737 (Vol.2).
*In fact, he must have succeeded Geoffroy de Donjon c.1202 as the latter must have died after 1201 since he appears on Act of Donation dated 4.5.1201in which a "Cristiana, daughter of Ruggiero di Caisa, having been made a co-sister of the Hospital, donated to the same Hospital, a village called Digegni under confirmation of Roardo, then Lord of Caisas." Codice Diplomatico No 96 reproduced in Paoli's Codice Diplomatico, Vol I, p.92

Blazon Quarterly: 1 and 4, gu a cross arg; 2 and 3, arg five escutcheons az in cross each charged with 5 plates in saltire; a bordure gu charged with 7 towers or ajouré az [R]
Quarterly: 1 and 4, gu a cross arg; 2 and 3, arg five escutcheons az in cross each charged with 5 plates in saltire; a bordure gu charged with 8 towers or [SPS]

Engraving by Antonio F. Lucini of Matteo Perez d'Aleccio's fresco


Tenure	1202-1206 Abdicated*
Nationality	Portuguese

Birth	?
Death	15.3.1207
Notes	d'Avity's account After the death Grandmaster de Duisson in 1194* Fra Afonso of Portugal was elected. He was a Kinght of the Order of St John and was born into the Portuguese royal family, though it is uncertain which king was his father. He praiseworthily established statutes, several of which are still observed unchanged today by the order. Though truly magnamanous he was excessively hard and severe and incurred the hatred of the Knights of the Hospital. For this reason he abdicated from the magistry and sailed back in 1194, the same year of his election, to his country where he died on 15 March 1207. anno MCXCIV. et paulo post obiit magnus magister Duissonus cui per electionem successit Frater Alphonsus Lusitanus, Eques ordinis S. Ioannis, ex familia regum Lusitanorum procreatus: cuius autem Regis filius fuerit, incertum est. Statuta quaedam laude digna condidit, quorum nonnulla hodieque inviolabiliter abhoc ordine observantur. Quoniam vero magnanimus et nimium durus ac severus erat; in odium plerorumque Equitum Hospitalium incurrit: ob quam causam magisterio se abdicavit, et navem conscendit, ut in patriam rediret, eodem; quo electus fuerat, anno MCXCIV: ubi mortuus est anno MCCVII. Calend. Martii. Sources:* Avity, Pierre d'; Gottfried, Johann Ludwig: Archontologiae Cosmicae, Liber III: Origo Ordinum Militarium, tam Regularium, Dissertatio de Ordine Equitum Melitensum, p.34 Frankfurt am Main, 1628 Boisgelin, Louis de: Ancient and Modern Malta, and the History of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, 3 Volumes bound together. G & J Robinson, London 1804 Pauli, Sebastiano: Codice diplomatico del sacro militare ordine gerosolimitano, 2 volumes, Salvatore e Giandomenico Marescandoli, Lucca, 1733 (Vol.1) & 1737 (Vol.2). *In fact, he must have succeeded Geoffroy de Donjon c.1202 as the latter must have died after 1201 since he appears on Act of Donation dated 4.5.1201in which a "Cristiana, daughter of Ruggiero di Caisa, having been made a co-sister of the Hospital, donated to the same Hospital, a village called Digegni under confirmation of Roardo, then Lord of Caisas." Codice Diplomatico No 96 reproduced in Paoli's Codice Diplomatico, Vol I, p.92
Blazon	Quarterly: 1 and 4, gu a cross arg; 2 and 3, arg five escutcheons az in cross each charged with 5 plates in saltire; a bordure gu charged with 7 towers or ajouré az [R] Quarterly: 1 and 4, gu a cross arg; 2 and 3, arg five escutcheons az in cross each charged with 5 plates in saltire; a bordure gu charged with 8 towers or [SPS]