Manifestis Probatum

Manifestis Probatum (Latin for 'Manifestly proven') is a papal bull and the founding document of Portugal. On 23 May 1179 Pope Alexander III promulgated the bull. The bull officially recognized the independence of Portugal from Leon by confirming the Kingdom of Portugal to, the now recognized, king Afonso Henriques and his successors. The bull is, therefore, the single most important written document from Portugal's independence process.

The Papacy did not at first recognize the legitimacy of Afonso's adoption of the royal title in 1139, instead continuing to regard him as a vassal of the kingdom of León. On December 13, 1143, Afonso sent to Pope Innocent II the letter Claves Regni (Latin for 'Keys of the Kingdom'), in which he tells him that he has decided to enfeoff Portugal to the Holy See and asks him for protection against any interference in Portugal's territory.^[a] On May 1, 1144, Pope Lucius II in his letter Devotionen Tuam (Latin for 'Your Devotion') replying to Afonso, declared that he recognizes his devotion, but still refers to Portugal as a land and not a kingdom and refers to Afonso as duke of Portugal and not as king, thereby, failling to recognize the kingdom.^[b]

The switch in papal policy in 1179 was justified by Afonso's reconquest of lands to the south of the Iberian Peninsula to which no other Christian monarch had claim.^[3]

^ Amaral, Diogo Freitas (1996). "A política portuguesa e as suas relações com o exterior". Em que momento se tornou Portugal um País Independente [At what moment did Portugal became an independent kingdom] (PDF). 2º Congresso Histórico de Guimarães (in European Portuguese). Vol. 2. Guimarães: Guimarães municipal chamber.
^ Amaral, Diogo Freitas (1996). "A política portuguesa e as suas relações com o exterior". Em que momento se tornou Portugal um País Independente [At what moment did Portugal became an independent kingdom] (PDF). 2º Congresso Histórico de Guimarães (in European Portuguese). Vol. 2. Guimarães: Guimarães municipal chamber.
^ Javier Gallego Gallego and Eloísa Ramírez Vaquero, "Rey de Navarra, rey de Portugal, títulos en cuestión (siglo XII) Príncipe de Viana 48, 180 (1987): 115–20. The kingdom of Navarre presented a similar case at the same time. The Papacy initially refused to recognize the election of García Ramírez as king in 1134, because the kingdom had been willed by the late King Alfonso the Battler to the military orders. The Papacy continued to recognize the kings of Navarre as mere "leaders of Navarre" (duces Navarrae) until 1196. In a bull sent to "Duke" Sancho VII on 29 March, he was urged to break his alliance with the Almohads; on 28 May, a letter to Cardinal Gregory of Sant'Angelo referred to Sancho with the royal title. This was confirmed in a bull addressed to Sancho as king on 20 February 1197, confirming that he could expand his lands by conquest in the south, even though his kingdom did not border Almohad territory.

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[1] Amaral, Diogo Freitas (1996). "A política portuguesa e as suas relações com o exterior". Em que momento se tornou Portugal um País Independente [At what moment did Portugal became an independent kingdom] (PDF). 2º Congresso Histórico de Guimarães (in European Portuguese). Vol. 2. Guimarães: Guimarães municipal chamber.

[3] Amaral, Diogo Freitas (1996). "A política portuguesa e as suas relações com o exterior". Em que momento se tornou Portugal um País Independente [At what moment did Portugal became an independent kingdom] (PDF). 2º Congresso Histórico de Guimarães (in European Portuguese). Vol. 2. Guimarães: Guimarães municipal chamber.

[5] Javier Gallego Gallego and Eloísa Ramírez Vaquero, "Rey de Navarra, rey de Portugal, títulos en cuestión (siglo XII) Príncipe de Viana 48, 180 (1987): 115–20. The kingdom of Navarre presented a similar case at the same time. The Papacy initially refused to recognize the election of García Ramírez as king in 1134, because the kingdom had been willed by the late King Alfonso the Battler to the military orders. The Papacy continued to recognize the kings of Navarre as mere "leaders of Navarre" (duces Navarrae) until 1196. In a bull sent to "Duke" Sancho VII on 29 March, he was urged to break his alliance with the Almohads; on 28 May, a letter to Cardinal Gregory of Sant'Angelo referred to Sancho with the royal title. This was confirmed in a bull addressed to Sancho as king on 20 February 1197, confirming that he could expand his lands by conquest in the south, even though his kingdom did not border Almohad territory.

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