In 1290, King Dinis created the first Portuguese university in Lisbon (later moved to Coimbra) and decreed that Portuguese, then called simply the "common language", would henceforth be used instead of Latin, and named the "Portuguese language".
King Dinis founded the initial Portuguese university in Lisbon (which was later relocated to Coimbra) in 1290. He decreed that Portuguese, which at the time was simply referred to as "common speech", would replace Latin and be named the "Portuguese language" from then on.