The king’s counsellors’ two faces

Borders of Ecclesiastical Power in the Medieval City: The Perception of Coimbra’s Parochial Network through the Case of the Parish of the Monastery of Santa Cruz (Eleventh to Fourteenth Centuries)

“…From 1139, João Peculiar became archbishop of Braga -the highest ecclesiastical dignity of the territory in which the new kingdom was being established -and began the long process leading to the autonomy of this archdiocese from that of Santiago de Compostela 49 . While he was fighting for this separation, Peculiar advised the kingdom's political elites in their dealings with the Holy See, with a view to having the independence of the territory of Portucale recognised 50 . Afonso Henriques, prínceps portucalensis, leader of the military party that wanted Portugal recognised as a kingdom, had been living in Coimbra for around ten years, and from that location he was advancing the military takeover of the southern territories 51 .…”