21 Jun 2023
On 16th June 1373, England’s King Edward III signed a
treaty of alliance with Portugal’s King Ferdinand. It still stands, making it
the longest continuing alliance in history. In June 2023, it celebrates its
650th anniversary. In this film, Mike Loades, a Brit living in Portugal,
travels across the country to discover the roots of this enduring friendship.
Mike begins at Lisbon’s spectacular Castelo São Jorge,
where an army of English crusading knights helped capture Lisbon from the Moors
during the Reconquista. As a reward, they were granted land in Portugal,
triggering both English settlement and trade.
The alliance really took shape during the Hundred
Years War between England and France. France allied herself with Portugal’s
neighbour Castile. To combat this, in 1373, England and Portugal formalised
their own rival alliance. Mike picks up a longbow to explore how English
knights and bowmen fought alongside Portuguese troops at the battle of
Aljubarrota in 1385 - a key battle in which the fate of both Portugal and
England hung in the balance.
Mike also investigates how Sir Arthur Wellesley, later
to become the Duke of Wellington, led Anglo-Portuguese armies against
Napoleon's invaders with a dash of military genius.
Underpinning these military triumphs were the bonds of
commerce. In Porto – the city that gave its name to port wine - Mike meets the
British merchant families and visits the institutions that continue to
epitomize the strong traditions that have linked these two nations for so long.
It is an ongoing and fascinating story.
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