County of Coimbra

The County of Coimbra (Condado de Coimbra) was a political entity consisting of the lands of Coimbra, Viseu, Lamego and Santa Maria da Feira, in modern Portugal.

During the Visigothic era (from the 5th to the early 8th century), the County of Coimbra, with its seat in Coimbra (Emínio), was created by king Wittiza (c. 687 – probably 710) as a sub-county of his dominion, established as a fief for his son Ardabast (Artabasdus), who became Count of the Christians of Coimbra.

The first Muslim campaigns that occupied the Iberian Peninsula occurred between 711 and 715, with Coimbra capitulating to Musa bin Nusair in 714. Under Moorish domain, the city of Coimbra (Qulumriyah) maintained an autonomous christian community, with a line of so called Christian Counts of Coimbra.

The County appears within the Kingdom of Asturias following the reconquest of the region, when the lands were granted to Hermenegildo Gutiérrez, who over the next four decades was largely responsible for the resettlement of the depopulated province. He and his immediate successors were counts, and held Coimbra, but were not explicitly counts of Coimbra, although they are sometimes referred to as such retrospectively.

The first nobleman specifically to be called count of Coimbra was Gonzalo Muñoz, who was probably a scion of the family of Hermenegildo. Becoming count around 959, he was one of the most powerful noblemen in the western part of the kingdom until he rose in rebellion against King Bermudo II of León and was probably killed during the region's subjugation. The degree to which his successors were alienated from their monarch can be seen when, following the region's recapture in 987 by the Moors of Al-Mansur, Gonzalo's sons joined that general in his sack of Santiago de Compostela in 997.

The city of Coimbra was permanently secured by the Christians in 1064, having been taken by the troops of King Ferdinand I of León, led by the mozarab Sisnando Davides who would then be named its count.

It ceased to be an independent political entity when it was incorporated in the territory of the Second County of Portugal at the time of the latter's restoration in 1096 under Henry of Burgundy, and subsequently formed part of the newly founded Kingdom of Portugal under Henry's son, Afonso I.

List of counts

 * Christian Counts of Coimbra
 * Ardabast (710-714), count of the Christians of Coimbra
 * Flavio Sizibuto (682 - 734), Judge of Coimbra, count of the Christians of Coimbra
 * Flavio Ataúlfo, Count of Coimbra and ruler or the Christians on Coimbra territory
 * Flavio Alarico (732 - 805), count of the Christians of Coimbra
 * Flavio Teodosio (790 -?), count of the Christians of Coimbra (c. 757 - after 805)
 * Teodorico, heir to his father's county


 * Early holders of Coimbra who were counts
 * Hermenegildo Gutiérrez (878 - 920); (Conqueror of Coimbra) Dux Bellorum of Coimbra
 * Arias Menéndez (920 - 924), son of Hermenegildo
 * Gutier Menéndez (924 - 934), son of Hermenegildo
 * Munio Gutiérrez (934 - 959), son of Gutierre, son-in-law of Arias


 * Counts of Coimbra, first creation
 * Gonzalo Muñoz (959 - 981), probably son of Munio
 * Munio González (983 - 987), son of Gonzalo
 * Froila Gonçalves (987 - 1017), under Muslim domain, brother of Munio González


 * Counts of Coimbra, second creation
 * Sisnando Davides (1064/1075 – 1091)
 * Martín Muñoz (1091 – 1093), son-in-law of Sisnando