Gerald the Fearless

Geraldo Geraldes ( called Geraldo Sem- Pavor or Geraldo, O Shem Pavor to German Geraldo the Fearless ) was an adventurer who liberated during the Reconquista of the Portuguese territories as the leader of urban militias in the Alentejo several cities of Moorish rule.

Geraldo is a controversial figure in Portuguese history. On one hand, he is celebrated as a hero of the Portuguese Reconquista and important helper of the first king of Portugal, Afonso Henriques, even as a kind of Portuguese Cid, on the other hand suggest some Portuguese historians that he, as leader of a gang of robbers and adventurers, the day of a had decided to rehabilitate himself and fought less for the Portuguese case, but rather on their own and for their own advantage, must be seen. The historian Prof. José Hermano Saraiva, however, claims that only superficially seen Geraldo worked for themselves, but in reality the King Afonso Henriques proved a great service by fighting in areas where political compromises (including the king of Castile ) the monarch prevented them to operate itself.

In 1161 the Christian offensive in the fields of Alentejo, which lasted until the year 1167 began. During this period, the attacks were not led by the King of Portugal or its military, but were led by urban troops that occupied by local leaders, such as Fernando Gonçalves from Santarém, the Beja in 1162. Geraldo captured in November of the year back in 1165 Évora and has also almost all other castles recaptured in the Alentejo and thus made ​​a major contribution to the expansion of the young Portuguese Empire. It is certain that the tactics of constant Überraschungsangrife was extremely successful at occupied by the Moors castles.

In 1166 he moved into the castle of Juromenha, from where he drew constant attacks on Badajoz, the most important military center of Arab Andalusia. This operation was to prove in 1169 as a military disaster, not only for Geraldo himself, who lost as a result nearly all of his possessions, but also for the Portuguese King Afonso Henriques.

A source claimed nor that his adventurous disposition Geraldo had led as a kind of spy on behalf of Afonso Henriques in the Moorish, and later Portuguese Ceuta, on the coast of North Africa. There he is, as his secret mission was known to the Arabs, have been executed ( 1170/1174 ).

As a central figure in the iconography of the city of Évora, he was in the city coat of arms, as a rider with drawn sword, immortalized.

• Military person (Portugal )
• Portuguese
• Born in the 12th century
• Died in the 12th century
• Man