Historic Events…

England and Portugal – The Oldest Alliance

The history.blog.gov.uk on February 19 this year published an article on “National Archies” anticipating the 650th anniversary of the Treaty of Tagilde between England and Portugal as the origin of the oldest alliance. Quite apart from the fact that the Tagilde treaty was signed in July 1372, not March, does this assertion bear detailed scrutiny?

In a speech in the House of Commons in October 1943, Prime Minister Winston Churchill famously declared that the unique and ancient friendship between England and Portugal was based on a treaty between King Edward III of England and D Fernando I of Portugal.

That Treaty was ratified in London on June 16, 1373 and initiated an alliance “without parallel in world history”. So, which of them is right?

Neither. The London Treaty is the first between the monarchs of the two countries.

The terms of the London Treaty included provisions to guarantee the mutual security of the two nations and to strengthen the commercial links between them.

There were also clauses to encourage the free movement and settlement between the two countries, and to grant to subjects of each country the right to settle in the other.

This alliance was born of a convergence of strategic interests. France and Castile (the old name for Spain) had concluded an alliance in 1369 and, as England was in the midst of the Hundred Years War with France, the addition of Castilian power to the French enemy was an increased threat.

Alliance with Castile’s western neighbor was a logical counter to this threat.

At the same time, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, had a claim to the throne of Castile through his wife Constance. It was he who concluded the Treaty of Tagilde with D Fernando, King of Portugal, on July 10, 1372.

This was not a sovereign treaty because it committed only the Duke of Lancaster, not the King of England. 

With the desired military victory in Iberia, and the English Plantagenet Duke of Lancaster on the throne of Castile, France would soon be forced to the negotiating table.