The Templars built up vast networks of property in Champagne, Blois, Brittany, Aquitaine, Toulouse and Provence, establishing commanderies to fix their local presence. Dozens of Templar houses sprang up from the Gulf of Genoa to the new Atlantic kingdom of Portugal, which was also being clawed out of Islamic hands and resettled by Christians under the self-proclaimed first king of Portugal, Afonso I Henriques.
