Gonçalo Mendes da Maia also known as O Lidador (the hardworking), so named for his fearlessness in the struggle against the Saracens, was a Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

 of the time of Afonso Henriques, about whom tradition relates important achievements in the events preceding the independence of Portugal. He had a military post as a fronteiro in border town of Beja, and it is believed that he died there in 1170, while fighting against Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 armies. According to some documents, he was at the time ninety years old. Traditionally, Gonçalo Mendes da Maia is considered a hero of both the city of Maia

Maia, Portugal

Maia Municipality is located in the Porto Metropolitan Area, Grande Porto subregion, in Norte Region, Portugal. The city of Maia includes the parishes of Gueifães, Maia and Vermoim, and has 39,949 inhabitants. The Maia Municipality comprises 135,049 inhabitants in 17 parishes for a total land...

, the homeland of the Mendes da Maia family, and Beja.