Inês de Castro

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Portuguese Royalty
House of Burgundy

Image:PortugueseFlag1185.svg
Afonso Henriques (Afonso I)
Children include Infanta Mafalda Infanta Urraca, Queen of Léon Infante Sancho (future Sancho I) Infanta Teresa, Countess of Flanders and Duchess of Burgundy
Sancho I
Children include Infanta Teresa, Queen of Castile Infanta Sancha, Lady of Alenquer Infanta Constança Infante Afonso (future Afonso II) Infante Pedro, Count of Urgell Infante Fernando, Count of Flanders Infanta Branca, Lady of Guadalajara Infanta Berengária, Queen of Denmark Infanta Mafalda, Queen of Castile
Afonso II
Children include Infante Sancho (future Sancho II) Infante Afonso, Count of Boulogne (future Afonso III) Infanta Leonor, Queen of Denmark Infante Fernando, Lord of Serpa
Sancho II
Afonso III
Children include Infanta Branca, Viscountess of Huelgas Infante Dinis (future Denis I) Infante Afonso, Lord of Portalegre Infanta Maria Infanta Sancha
Denis
Children include Infanta Constança, Queen of Castile Infante Afonso (future Afonso IV)
Afonso IV
Children include Infanta Maria, Queen of Castile Infante Pedro (future Peter I) Infanta Leonor, Queen of Aragon
Peter I
Children include Infanta Maria, Marchioness of Tortosa Infante Fernando (future Ferdinand I) Infanta Beatriz, Countess of Alburquerque Infante João, Duke of Valencia de Campos Infante Dinis, Lord of Villar-Dompardo John, Grand Master of the Order of Aviz (future John I) (natural son)
Ferdinand I
Children include Infanta Beatrice, Queen of Castile and Leon (future Beatrice I of Portugal)
Beatrice (disputed queen)
Children include Infante Miguel of Castile and Portugal

Inês Pérez de Castro (Inés in Spanish; 1325 – January 7 1355) was a Galician noblewoman, daughter of Pedro Fernandez de Castro, lover and posthumously declared lawful wife of the Portuguese King Pedro I of Portugal, and therefore Queen of Portugal.

Inês came to Portugal in 1340 as a maid of princess Constance of Castile, recently married to prince Pedro, the heir to the throne. The prince fell in love with her and started to neglect his lawful wife, endangering the already feeble relations with Castile. Moreover, Pedro's love for Inês brought the exiled Castilian nobility very close to power, with Inês's brothers becoming the prince's friends and trusted advisors. King Afonso IV of Portugal, Pedro's father, disliked Inês's influence on his son and waited for their mutual infatuation to wear off, but it did not.

Constance of Castile died in 1349. Afonso IV tried several times to arrange for his son to be remarried, but Pedro refused to take a wife other than Inês, who was not deemed eligible to be queen. Pedro's legitimate son, future king Fernando I of Portugal, was a frail child, whereas Pedro and Inês's illegitimate children were thriving; this created even more discomfort among the Portuguese nobles, who feared the increasing Castilian influence over Pedro. Afonso IV banished Inês from the court after Constance's death, but Pedro remained with her. After several attempts to keep the lovers apart, Afonso IV ordered Inês's death. Pêro Coelho, Álvaro Gonçalves, and Diogo Lopes Pacheco went to the Monastery of Santa Clara in Coimbra, where Inês was detained, and killed her. Pedro rebelled against his father, causing civil war.

Pedro became king of Portugal in 1357. He then stated that he had secretly married Inês, who was consequently the lawful queen, although his word was, and still is, the only proof of the marriage. He had Inês's body exhumed and forced the entire court to swear allegiance to it as queen. She was later buried at the Monastery of Alcobaça where her coffin can still be seen, opposite Pedro's so that, according to the legend, at the Last Judgment Pedro and Inês can look at each other as they rise from their graves. Both marble coffins are exquisitely sculpted with scenes from their lives and a promise by Pedro that they would be together até ao fim do mundo (until the end of the world).

Inês de Castro’s history is immortalized in several plays and poems in Galician-Portuguese and Spanish language, including The Lusíadas by Luís de Camões and "Reinar despues de morir" by Luis Velez de Guevara.

There have been over 20 operas, including

• Ines de Castro by Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli (1798)
• Ines de Castro by Giuseppe Persiani to a libretto by Salvatore Cammarano (1835)
• Ines de Castro by Scottish composer James MacMillan was first performed at the 1996 Edinburgh International Festival[1]
• The opera Wut (Rage) in German by Swiss composer Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini (born 1971) was performed for the first time at the Theater Erfurt, Germany, on September 9, 2006.

Inês de Castro and Pedro I had the following children:

• (Prince) Afonso (?), died young.
• (Princess) Beatrice, (c. 1347–1381), married Sancho of Alburquerque aka Sancho of Castile, Count of Albuquerque & Haro.
• (Prince) John (1349–1397), claimant to the throne during the 1383-1385 Crisis.
• (Prince) Denis (1354–1397), claimant to the throne during the 1383-1385 Crisis.

Inês de Castro and Pedro I of Portugal were the great-great-grandparents of Ferdinand V of Castile. Ferdinard's wife Isabella of Castile was a great-great-granddaughter of Pedro I of Portugal and his mistress Teresa Lourenço.

[edit] See also

• Quinta das Lágrimasca:Agnès de Castro

de:Inês de Castro es:Inés de Castro fr:Inès Castro gl:Inés de Castro it:Inés de Castro hu:Inês de Castro nl:Inês de Castro ja:イネス・デ・カストロ pt:Inês de Castro ru:Кастро, Инеса де