Denis of Portugal

Denis (1261–1325), called the Farmer King and the Poet King, was the eldest son of Afonso III and ruled Portugal from 1279. In 1290 he decreed Portuguese the language of the courts and founded the kingdom's first university in Lisbon. He promoted agriculture and ordered pine forests planted near Leiria to prevent soil erosion and supply ship timber.

In 1308 he signed Portugal's first commercial treaty with England, and in 1319 founded the Order of Christ to inherit the estates of the suppressed Templars. His poetry helped make Portuguese a literary language. His last years saw civil war between his heir Afonso and bastard son Afonso Sanches.