“Os Doze de Inglaterra”: A Romance of Anglo-Portuguese Relations in the Later Middle Ages?

Abstract

The episode known as “Os Doze de Inglaterra,” The Twelve of England in English, can be considered an icon of Anglo-Portuguese relations at the end of the fourteenth century. Militarily, politically, and commercially, such relations are celebrated by the Treaty of Windsor signed in 1386. This was a comprehensive alliance with specific clauses sealing the friendship between the two maritime nations, strengthened by the marriage of João I of Portugal to Philippa of Lancaster, John of Gaunt’s elder daughter by his first wife, Blanche of Lancaster.¹ Complementary trade interests, similar objectives, and shared enemies contributed to the success and longevity of the alliance, which has survived to the twenty-first century.

This essay analyses the episode known as The Twelve of England as an icon of Anglo-Portuguese relations in the later Middle Ages