Portuguese Monarch. Nicknamed "The Fat" ("O Gordo"), he was the third king of Portugal and the second but eldest surviving son of king Sancho I of Portugal and Queen Dulce of Aragon. His grandfather Afonso I, the first king of Portugal, died when he was only eight months old. He married Urraca of Castile in 1206, daughter of king Alfonso VIII of Castile. This marriage was against canon law, as they were 5th cousins. The bishop of Porto, Martinho Rodrigues was opposed to this marriage for that reason, which triggered a violent response on the part of Sancho I, Afonso's father. He succeeded his father on March 26, 1211. As a king, Afonso II set a different approach of government than his predecessors. His father Sancho I and his grandfather Afonso I were mostly concerned with military issues either against the neighbouring Kingdom of Castile or against the Moorish lands in the south. Afonso II did not pursue territory enlargement policies and managed to ensure peace with Castile during his reign. Despite this, Alcácer do Sal, Borba, Veiros and Vila Viçosa, were conquered in 1217 from the Moors by the private initiative of noblemen. The first years of his reign were marked instead by internal disturbances between Afonso II and his brothers and sisters. The king managed to keep security within Portuguese borders only by outlawing and exiling his kin. Since military issues were not a government priority, Afonso II established the state's administration and centralized power on himself. He designed the first set of Portuguese written laws. These were mainly concerned with private property, civil justice, and minting. He also sent ambassadors to European kingdoms outside the Iberian Peninsula and began amicable commercial relations with most of them. Other reforms included delicate matters with the pope. In order to get the independence of Portugal recognized by Rome in 1179, his grandfather, Afonso I, had to legislate an enormous number of privileges to the Church. These eventually created a state within the state. With Portugal's position as a country firmly established, Afonso II endeavoured to weaken the power of the clergy and to apply a portion of the enormous revenues of the Catholic Church to purposes of national utility. These actions led to a serious diplomatic conflict between the pope and Portugal. After being excommunicated for his audacities by Pope Honorius III, Afonso II promised to make amends to the church, but he died in Coimbra on March 25, 1223, at the age of 37, before making any serious attempts to do so. It is said that Afonso II may have died of leprosy (this may have justified one of his nicknames, "O Gafo", meaning "The Leper", as well as a famous derogatory phrase said by some elements of the peasantry: "Fora Gafo!", meaning "Out, Leper!"), but the enormous fat that the king possessed would have been his cause of death. He was originally buried at the Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra where his body remained for nearly ten years. His remains were transferred subsequently to the Monastery of Alcobaça, as he had stipulated in his will, written in 1221. He and his wife, Queen Urraca, were buried at its Royal Pantheon. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Sancho II, who would be deposed, exiled and succeeded by Afonso III, his younger brother.