Peter I the Just, King of Portugal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_I_of_Portugal

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_of_Castile

http://genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00020568&tree=LEO

Peter I (Portuguese: Pedro, IPA pron. ['ped?u]; 8 April 1320 – 18 January 1367), called the Just (Portuguese: o Justiceiro), was the eighth King of Portugal and the Algarve from 1357 until his death. He was the third but only surviving son of Afonso IV of Portugal and his wife, princess Beatrice of Castile.

Afonso IV married his daughter Maria to Alfonso XI of Castile, but quickly learned that she was being mistreated by her husband. Alfonso's cousin, Juan Manuel, had also been rebuffed by the king when his daughter Constanza was rejected in favor of the Portuguese princess. Feeling as though his daughter was being dishonored, Afonso was glad to enter into an alliance with Juan Manuel and married Pedro to Constanza. When Constanza arrived in Portugal, Inês de Castro, the daughter of a Castilian landed aristocrat accompanied her as her lady-in-waiting. Pedro fell in love with Inês very quickly and the two conducted an affair until Constanza's death in 1345. The scandal of this affair caused Afonso to banish Inês from court, but this did not end the relationship since the two began living together in secret. According to the chronicle of Fernão Lopes, this period was when Pedro began giving Inês' brothers important positions at court. This behavior alarmed Afonso and made him believe that upon his death the Portuguese throne would fall to Castilians. This is the official motive behind Afonso's next actions: he sent three men to find Inês and murder her in 1355. Pedro's rage at the murder of his love is what supposedly sparked his desire to revolt against his father. This revolt lasted from 1355 until 1356 when Afonso defeated his son. One year later, in 1357, Afonso died and Pedro succeeded the throne.

Fernão Lopes labels Pedro as "the Just" and said that Pedro loved justice, especially the dispensing of it, something which he enjoyed doing himself. Inês' assassins were the recipients of his harshest punishment. The three had escaped to Castile, but Pedro arranged for them to be exchanged with Castilian fugitives residing in Portugal with his nephew, the Castilian Pedro I. One man escaped, but the other two were brought to justice, and Lopes said that Pedro ripped their hearts out with his own bare hands. There is a possibility that Pedro of Portugal has been confused with Pedro I of Castile: they are both Pedro I, they both lived at the same time, the two were closely related, and are both credited with committing violent acts towards their subjects. Despite his gruesome legacy, Pedro of Portugal did lead a peacful reign and managed to install a system of justice which was relatively fair for the times. He attempted this with his Beneplácito Régio in 1361, which forbade any Papal Bulls to be published without his prior consent. This was a result of the number of fake papal documents that had been entering the country. He also began the "nationalization" of the military orders by placing his youngest son João (the illegitimate son born after the death of Inês) as the Master of the Order of Avis. He did attempt to claim that he and Inês had been married and therefore their four children were legitimate, but nothing ever came of this, and Inês' children went to live in Castile.

Legend holds that Pedro later had Inês' body exhumed and placed on a throne, dressed in rich robes and jewels, and required all of his vassals to kiss the hand of the deceased "queen". This has never been proven, but what is known is that Pedro did have Inês' body exhumed from her resting place in Coimbra and taken to Alcobaça where her body was laid to rest in the monastery. Pedro had two tombs commissioned for the monastery, one for each of them. The tombs still exist today; they are images of Pedro and Inês facing each other, and inscribed on the marble is "Até o fim do mundo..." or "Until the end of the world..."

Pedro was also the father of Fernando I and João I. João was the Master of the military order of Avis, and he would become the founder of the Avis dynasty in 1385 after defeating an attempt by Juan I to usurp the Portuguese throne.

[edit] Ancestors Peter's ancestors in three generations Peter I of Portugal Father: Afonso IV of Portugal Father's father: Denis of Portugal Father's father's father: Afonso III of Portugal Father's father's mother: Beatrix of Castile Father's mother: Elizabeth of Aragon Father's mother's father: Peter III of Aragon Father's mother's mother: Constance of Sicily Mother: Beatrice of Castile Mother's father: Sancho IV of Castile Mother's father's father: Alfonso X of Castile Mother's father's mother: Yolande of Hungary Mother's mother: María de Molina Mother's mother's father: Infante Afonso, Lord of Molina Mother's mother's mother: Mayor Alonso Telles, Lady of Meneses

[edit] Marriage and descendants Name Birth Death Notes Blanca of Castile (c. 1315-1375; married in 1325; annulled in 1333) Constance of Penafiel (c. 1320-1349; married in 1320) Infante Luís (Louis) 1340 1340 Infanta Maria April 6, 1342 a. 1367 Marchioness Consort of Tortosa by marriage to Infante Fernando of Aragon, Marquis of Tortosa. Infante Fernando (Ferdinand) October 31, 1345 October 22, 1383 Succeeded him as Ferdinand I, 9th King of Portugal. By Inés de Castro (c. 1320-1355; possibly married in 1354) Afonso 1346 1346 Died shortly after his birth. Infanta Beatriz (Beatrice) 1347 1381 Countess Consort of Alburquerque by marriage to Sancho of Castile, Count of Alburquerque y Haro. Infante João (John) 1349 1397 Lord of Porto de Mós, Ceia and Montelonso, and also Duke of Valencia de Campos. Claimant to the throne during the 1383-1385 Crisis. Infante Dinis, Lord of Cifuentes 1354 1397 Lord of Villar-Dompardo. And later, Cifuentes, Escalona and Alvar de Tormes. Claimant to the throne during the 1383-1385 Crisis. By Teresa Lourenço (c. 1330-?) João (John) April 11, 1357 August 14, 1433 Natural son. Grand Master of the Order of Aviz. Succeeded his half-brother Ferdinand I after the 1383-1385 Crisis as John I, 10th King of Portugal, the first of the House of Aviz.

Peter I (Portuguese: Pedro I [%CB%88ped%C9%BEu] (8 April 1320 – 18 January 1367), called the Just or the Cruel) (Portuguese: o Justo, O Cruel), was King of Portugal and of the Algarve from 1357 until his death.[1] He was the third but only surviving son of Afonso IV of Portugal and his wife, Infanta Beatrice of Castile.

Early life

Afonso IV married his eldest daughter, Maria, to Alfonso XI of Castile in 1328, and she bore him a son (who ultimately became Peter of Castile) in 1334. However, Maria returned home to her father in Portugal in 1335 because her royal husband soon after their marriage had begun a long affair with the beautiful and newly widowed Leonor de Guzman, which the Castilian king refused to end. Alfonso's cousin, Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena, had been rebuffed by the Castilian king in 1327 when the two-year child marriage between his daughter Constanza (granddaughter of James II of Aragon) and Alfonso had been annulled to clear the way for the marriage to Maria. For two years Juan Manuel had waged war against the Castilians, who had kept Constanza hostage, until Bishop John del Campo of Oviedo mediated a peace in 1329.

Enraged by Alfonso's infidelity and mistreatment of his lawful wife, her father made a new alliance with the powerful Castilian aristocrat. Afonso married his son and heir, Peter, to Constanza, thereby allying himself with Juan Manuel. When Constanza arrived in Portugal in 1339, Inês de Castro, the beautiful and aristocratic daughter of a prominent Galician family (with links albeit through illegitimacy, to the Portuguese and Castilian royal families), accompanied her as her lady-in-waiting.

Peter soon fell in love with Inês, and the two conducted a long love affair that lasted until Inês's murder in 1355. Constanza died in 1345, weeks after giving birth to Fernando, who eventually became the first of Peter's sons to succeed him as king of Portugal. The scandal of Peter's affair with Inês, and its political ramifications, caused Afonso to banish Inês from court after Constanza died. Peter refused to marry any of the princesses his father suggested as a second wife; and the king refused to allow his son to marry Inês as Peter wanted. The two aristocratic lovers began living together in secret. According to the chronicle of Fernão Lopes, during this period, Peter began giving Inês's brothers, exiles from the Castilian court, important positions in Portugal and they became the heir-apparent's closest advisors. This alarmed Afonso. He worried that upon his death, civil war could tear the country apart, or the Portuguese throne would fall into Castilian hands, either as Juan Manuel fought to avenge his daughter's honor, or the de Castro brothers supported their sister. Peter claimed that he had married Inês against his father's orders. In any event, in 1355, Afonso sent three men to find Inês at the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha in Coimbra, where she was detained, and they decapitated her in front of one of her young children. Enraged, Peter revolted against his father. Afonso defeated his son within a year, but died shortly thereafter, and Peter succeeded to the throne in 1357. The love affair and father-son conflict inspired more than twenty operas and many writers, including: the Portuguese national epic Os Lusíadas by Luís de Camões, the Spanish "Nise lastimosa" and "Nise laureada" (1577) by Jerónimo Bermúdez and 'Reinar despues de morir' by Luís Vélez de Guevara, as well as "Inez de Castro" by Mary Russell Mitford and Henry de Montherlant's French drama La Reine morte.[2] King of Portugal Peter I, King of Portugal. Peter allegedly had Inês de Castro's body exhumed and crowned Queen of Portugal, forcing the clergy and nobility to kiss the bones of her hands.[3][4]

Peter reigned for a decade, and is often confused with his Castilian nephew because of their identical nicknames. Fernão Lopes labels Peter "the Just" and said that the Portuguese king loved justice—especially the dispensing of it, which he enjoyed doing for himself. Inês' assassins received his harshest punishment: the three had escaped to Castile, but Peter arranged for them to be exchanged for Castilian fugitives residing in Portugal with his nephew, Peter of Castile.[citation needed] The Portuguese king conducted a public trial of Pêro Coelho and Álvaro Gonçalves in 1381. After finding them guilty of Ines' murder, the king ripped their hearts out with his own hands, according to Lopes, because of what they had done to his own heart. Diogo Lopes Pacheco escaped and died in 1383.

According to legend, Peter later had Inês' body exhumed and placed upon a throne, dressed in rich robes and jewels, and required all of his vassals to kiss the hand of the deceased "queen". However, contemporary evidence that the event occurred is minimal; Peter did have Inês' body removed from her resting place in Coimbra and taken to Alcobaça where it was reburied in the royal monastery. Peter had two tombs constructed, one for each of them, so they would see each other when rising at the Last Judgment. The tombs show Peter and Inês facing each other, with the words "Até o fim do mundo..." ("Until the end of the world...") inscribed on the marble.

Peter was also the father of Ferdinand I of Portugal and John I of Portugal. John was the Master of the military order of Avis, and he would become the founder of the Avis dynasty after the 1383–85 Crisis, defeating rivals who included Beatrice of Portugal and John I of Castile, and Inês's other son. Marriage and descendants

Before his marriage to Constance, in 1329 he was betrothed to Blanche of Castile but because of her weak mental health and incapacity, the marriage never took place.[5][6] Name Birth Death Notes Constanza Manuel (c. 1320–1345; married on 24 August 1339) Maria 6 April 1342[7] a. 1367 Marchioness Consort of Tortosa by marriage to Infante Fernando of Aragon, Marquis of Tortosa. Infante Luís (Louis) 1344 1344[8] Ferdinand 31 October 1345[8] 22 October 1383 Succeeded him as Ferdinand I, 9th King of Portugal. By Inês de Castro (c. 1325–1355; possibly married in 1354) Afonso 1350 1350 Died shortly after his birth.[9] John 1352[9] ca. 1396[10] Lord of Porto de Mós, Seia and Montelongo, and also Duke of Valencia de Campos. Claimant to the throne during the 1383–85 Crisis. Denis 1353[9] ca. 1403[11] Lord of Villar-Dompardo. And later, Cifuentes, Escalona and Alvar de Tormes. Claimant to the throne during the 1383–85 Crisis. Beatrice 1354[9] 1381 Countess Consort of Alburquerque by marriage to Sancho of Castile, Count of Alburquerque y Haro. By Teresa Lourenço (c. 1330-?) John 11 April 1357 14 August 1433 Natural son. Grand Master of the Order of Aviz. Succeeded his half-brother Ferdinand I after the 1383–85 Crisis as John I, 10th King of Portugal, the first of the House of Aviz. Ancestors [show]Ancestors of Peter I of Portugal See also

   Quinta das Lágrimas

References

Douglas L. Wheeler, Walter C. Opello, Jr. Historical Dictionary of Portugal 2010 Page 206 "PEDRO I, KING (1320–1367). The eighth king of Portugal and fourth son of King Afonso IV and Beatriz of Castile." IMDB datasheet Gerli, Michael (2002). Medieval Iberia. UK: Garland Science. ISBN 0-8240-8095-5. Rothwell, Phillip (2007). A canon of empty fathers. USA: Bucknell University Press. ISBN 0-8387-5687-5. Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, p. 223. Caetano de Sousa 1735, pp. 379–380. Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, p. 249. Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, p. 250. Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, p. 262. Romero Portilla 2002, p. 521.

   Olivera Serrano 2005, p. 130.

Bibliography

   Caetano de Souza, Antonio (1735). Historia Genealógica de la Real Casa Portuguesa (PDF) (in Portuguese). Vol. I. Lisbon: Lisboa Occidental, na oficina de Joseph Antonio da Sylva. ISBN 978-84-8109-908-9.

   Olivera Serrano, César (2005). Beatriz de Portugal. La pugna dinástica Avís-Trastámara (PDF) (in Spanish). Lisbon: CSIC. ISBN 9788400083434.

   Rodrigues Oliveira, Ana (2010). Rainhas medievais de Portugal. Dezassete mulheres, duas dinastias, quatro séculos de História (in Portuguese). Lisbon: A esfera dos livros. ISBN 978-989-626-261-7.

   Romero Portilla, Paz (2002). "Exiliados en Castilla en la segunda mitad del siglo XIV. Origen del partido portugués". Poder y sociedad en la baja edad media hispánica: Estudios en homenaje al profesor Luis Vicente Díaz Martín (in Spanish). Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid. ISBN 84-8448-172-7.