Curiosities

A friendship of centuries

The influence of the English in the city of Porto and specifically the Port wine is well known, but the relationship between Porto and British is much older.

The first contact took place around June 1147, when the English Crusaders who were going to the Holy Land stayed in Porto for 11 days waiting for the forces commanded by the Count of Areschot and Cristiano de Gistell, who had separated from the fleet due to a tempest at sea . The first king of Portugal, Afonso Henriques, on learning of this fact, tried to establish an agreement with their leaders, convincing them to help in the conquest of Lisbon from the Moors.

The relationship intensified during the middle Ages, with the establishment of commercial relations. Cloths, wine, wood, furs and fish were the products traded between the two countries.

The 2 of February of 1367 the Cathedral of the Porto was stage of the marriage between D. João I and D. Filipa de Lencastre, a union that would offset the support of the British in the fight against Castile. In 1642, two years after the restoration of Portugal’s independence, Porto receives the first British consul, Nicholas Comerforde.

The Duke saved many people from the dangerous waters of the Douro River. Oporto paid him homage with a bust, placed in Ribeira.

Deocleciano Monteiro was his birth name, but his mother began to call him Duke and that was how he became known. The Duke of Ribeira, who died in 1996, was one of the most emblematic figures of the city. At the tender age of 11 he saved a man from drowning in the Douro River. Throughout his life as a ferryman he carried out many other rescues, having also collected the bodies of those who could not resist the treacherous waters of the river he knew like no one else.

He became one of the most famous personas in the history of Porto and met illustrious figures like Queen Isabel II and other heads of State. The city did not forget him and paid him homage in the place that was the scene of his heroism. In Rua da Lada, next to D. Luís I Bridge, a tombstone with a bust by José Rodrigues was placed.