Portuguese João known as John of Aviz
born April 11, 1357, Lisbon
died Aug. 14, 1433, Lisbon
King of Portugal (1385–1433) and founder of the Aviz dynasty.
The illegitimate son of Pedro I, he was elected king in 1385 despite the rivalry of Castilian candidates. He fought off a Castilian invasion (1385) and preserved Portugal's independence. He made an alliance with England (1386), but a joint invasion of León was unsuccessful. John signed a 10-year truce with Castile in 1389, but frontier warfare was intermittent until 1411. He and his sons (including the youngest, later Henry the Navigator ) captured Ceuta in Morocco in 1415, thus beginning the era of Portuguese expansion.