Queen Isabel, however, died when John and his older sister Joana were still very young, and both grew close to their aunt, Filipa, an artist and scholar who wrote the first extant poetry by a Portuguese woman.
John was provided with an education suitable for a royal, which included fluency in Latin and a knowledge of science and art. He was betrothed to his cousin in a politically advantageous match, and married Leonor, of the powerful Braganca line, in January of 1471. He was 15 at the time, and his spouse just 12. Later in 1471, he won his knighthood, as was the Aviz tradition, in battle with his father in Morocco. Subjugation of the Moors, who had occupied Portugal after 700 C.E. for a few hundred years and still held part of Spain, was a preoccupation with the Aviz dynasty, and this was the third foray across the Straits of Gibraltar by his father alone. In August, their forces took a seaside fortress, Arzila, and the city of Tangier surrendered.
Mapped Coast of Africa
The year 1471 was also an important one in the annals of exploration, for Portuguese navigators, mapping out the coast of Africa, crossed the Equator for the first time.
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