Afonso IV
[English: ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', or ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese), ''Alfonso'' or ''Alphonso'' (]Portuguese-Galician
Galician-Portuguese ( gl, galego-portugués or ', pt, galego-português or ), also known as Old Portuguese or as Medieval Galician when referring to the history of each modern language, was a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the Middle ...
) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin). (; 8 February 129128 May 1357), called the Brave ( pt, o Bravo, links=no), was
King of Portugal
This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution.
Through the n ...
from 1325 until his death in 1357. He was the only legitimate son of King
Denis of Portugal
Denis (, ; 9 October 1261 – 7 January 1325 in Santarém), called the Farmer King (''Rei Lavrador'') and the Poet King (''Rei Poeta''), was King of Portugal. The eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile, and ...
and
Elizabeth of Aragon
Elizabeth of Aragon, more commonly known as Saint Elizabeth of Portugal, T.O.S.F. (1271 – 4 July 1336; ''Elisabet'' in Catalan, ''Isabel'' in Aragonese, Portuguese and Spanish), was queen consort of Portugal, a tertiary of the Franciscan Or ...
.
Early life
Afonso, born in
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, was the rightful heir to the Portuguese throne. However, he was not Denis' favourite son, the old king preferring his illegitimate son,
Afonso Sanches
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...
.
The notorious rivalry between the half brothers led to civil war several times. On 7 January 1325, Afonso IV's father died and he became king, whereupon he exiled his rival, Afonso Sanches, to
Castile, and stripped him of all the lands and
fiefdom
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form o ...
given by their father. From Castile, Afonso Sanches orchestrated a series of attempts to usurp the crown. After a few failed attempts at invasion, the brothers signed a peace treaty, arranged by Afonso IV's mother,
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
.
[''Spain and Portugal'', Graeme Mercer Adam ed., J. D. Morris, 1906]
/ref>
In 1309, Afonso married Beatrice of Castile, daughter of King Sancho IV of Castile
Sancho IV of Castile (12 May 1258 – 25 April 1295) called the Brave (''el Bravo''), was the king of Castile, León and Galicia from 1284 to his death. Following his brother Ferdinand's death, he gained the support of nobles that ...
and MarÃa de Molina
MarÃa Alfonso Téllez de Meneses (c. 1265 – 1321), known as MarÃa de Molina, was queen consort of Castile and León from 1284 to 1295 by marriage to Sancho IV of Castile, and served as regent for her minor son Ferdinand IV (1295 - c.1301) ...
. The first-born of this union was a daughter, Maria of Portugal.
King of Portugal and Algarve
In 1325 Alfonso XI of Castile
Alfonso XI (13 August 131126 March 1350), called the Avenger (''el Justiciero''), was King of Castile and León. He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal. Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes en ...
entered a child-marriage with Constanza Manuel
Constanza Manuel of Villena (ca. 1316 – 13 January 1349), was a Castilian noblewoman who by her two marriages was Queen consort of Castile and Infanta of Portugal.
Early years and first marriage: Queen of Castile
Born in Castillo de Garcimuà ...
of Castile, the daughter of one of his regents
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
. Two years later, he had the marriage annulled so he could marry Afonso's daughter, Maria of Portugal. Maria became Queen of Castile in 1328 upon her marriage to Alfonso XI, who soon became involved publicly with a mistress.[ Constanza was imprisoned in a castle in Toro while her father, ]Don Juan Manuel
Don Juan Manuel (5 May 128213 June 1348) was a Spanish medieval writer, nephew of Alfonso X of Castile, son of Manuel of Castile and Beatrice of Savoy. He inherited from his father the great Lordship of Villena, receiving the titles of Lord, Duk ...
, waged war against Alfonso XI until 1329. Eventually, the two reached a peaceful accord after mediation by Juan del Campo, Bishop of Oviedo
The Archdiocese of Oviedo ( la, Oveten(sis), links=no) is an Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Spain. ; this secured Constanza's release from prison.
The public humiliation of his daughter led Afonso IV to have his son and heir, Peter I of Portugal
Peter I (Portuguese: ''Pedro I'', ; 8 April 1320 – 18 January 1367), called the Just (''o Justiceiro'') or the Cruel (''o Cruel''), was King of Portugal from 1357 until his death. He was the third but only surviving son of Afonso IV of Portuga ...
, marry the no less aggrieved Castilian ''infanta'', Constanza. Afonso subsequently started a war against Castile,[ peace arriving four years later, through the intervention of the ''infanta'' Maria herself. A year after the peace treaty was signed in ]Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
, Portuguese troops played an important role in defeating the Moors
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or ...
at the Battle of RÃo Salado
The Battle of RÃo Salado also known as the Battle of Tarifa (30 October 1340) was a battle of the armies of King Afonso IV of Portugal and King Alfonso XI of Castile against those of Sultan Abu al-Hasan 'Ali of the Marinid dynasty and Yusuf I ...
in October 1340.
Later life
Political intrigue marked the last part of Afonso IV's reign, although Castille was torn by civil war after Alfonso XI died. Henry of Trastámara
Henry II (13 January 1334 – 29 May 1379), called Henry of Trastámara or the Fratricidal (''el Fratricida''), was the first King of Castile and León from the House of Trastámara. He became king in 1369 by defeating his half-brother Peter the ...
challenged the new King Peter of Castile
Peter ( es, Pedro; 30 August 133423 March 1369), called the Cruel () or the Just (), was King of Castile and León from 1350 to 1369. Peter was the last ruler of the main branch of the House of Ivrea. He was excommunicated by Pope Urban V for ...
, who sent many Castilian nobles into exile in Portugal. Afonso's son Peter fell in love with his new wife's lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...
, Inês de Castro
Inês de Castro (; in Castilian: Inés; 1325 – 7 January 1355) was a Galician noblewoman and courtier, best known as lover and posthumously-recognized wife of King Peter I of Portugal. The dramatic circumstances of her relationship with Peter ...
. Inês was the daughter of an important noble family from Galicia, with links (albeit illegitimate) to both the royal houses of Castile and Portugal. Her brothers were aligned with the Trastamara faction, and became favorites of Peter, much to the dismay of others at the Portuguese court, who considered them Castilian upstarts. When Constanza died weeks after giving birth to their third child, Peter began living openly with Inês, recognized all her children as his and refused to marry anyone other than Inês herself. His father refused to go to war again against Castile, hoping the heir apparent's infatuation would end, and tried to arrange another dynastic marriage
Royal intermarriage is the practice of members of ruling dynasties marrying into other reigning families. It was more commonly done in the past as part of strategic diplomacy for national interest. Although sometimes enforced by legal requiremen ...
for him.
The situation became worse as the years passed and the aging Afonso lost control over his court. His grandson and Peter's only legitimate son, Ferdinand I of Portugal
Ferdinand I ( pt, Fernando; 31 October 1345 – 22 October 1383), sometimes called the Handsome () or occasionally the Inconstant (), was the King of Portugal from 1367 until his death in 1383. His death led to the 1383–85 crisis, also k ...
, was a sickly child, while Inês' illegitimate children thrived. Worried about his legitimate grandson's life, and the growing power of Castile within Portugal's borders, Afonso ordered Inês de Castro first imprisoned in his mother's old convent
A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
in Coimbra
Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of .
The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...
, and then murdered in 1355. He expected his son to give in and marry a princess, but Peter became enraged upon learning of his wife's decapitation in front of their young children. Peter put himself at the head of an army and devastated the country between the Douro
The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part of ...
and the Minho rivers before he was reconciled to his father in early 1357. Afonso died almost immediately after, in Lisbon in May.
Afonso IV's nickname ''the Brave'' alludes to his martial exploits. However, his most important accomplishments were the relative peace enjoyed by the country during his long reign and the support he gave to the Portuguese Navy
The Portuguese Navy ( pt, Marinha Portuguesa, also known as ''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'' or as ''Armada Portuguesa'') is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Port ...
. Afonso granted public funding to raise a proper commercial fleet and ordered the first Portuguese maritime explorations. The conflict with Pedro, and the explorations he initiated, eventually became the foundation of the Portuguese national epic, ''Os LusÃadas
''Os LusÃadas'' (), usually translated as ''The Lusiads'', is a Portuguese epic poem written by LuÃs Vaz de Camões ( – 1580) and first published in 1572. It is widely regarded as the most important work of Portuguese-language literature an ...
'' by LuÃs de Camões
LuÃs Vaz de Camões (; sometimes rendered in English as Camoens or Camoëns, ; c. 1524 or 1525 – 10 June 1580) is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespear ...
.
The dramatic circumstances of the relationship between father, son and Inês was used as the basis for the plot of more than twenty operas and ballets. The story with its tragic dénouement
Dramatic structure (also known as dramaturgical structure) is the structure of a dramatic work such as a book, play, or film. There are different kinds of dramatic structures worldwide which have been hypothesized by critics, writers and scholar ...
is immortalized in several plays and poems in Portuguese, such as ''Os LusÃadas'' by LuÃs de Camões (canto iii, stanzas 118–135), and in Spanish, including ''Nise lastimosa'' and ''Nise laureada'' (1577) by Jerónimo Bermúdez Jerónimo Bermúdez de Castro (1530–1599) was a playwright of the Spanish Golden Age.
Biography
He belonged to the order of St. Dominic, and was professor of theology at Salamanca.
Works
He published at Madrid in 1577, under the name of Antonio ...
, ''Reinar despues de morir'' by Luis Vélez de Guevara
Luis Vélez de Guevara (born Luis Vélez de Santander) (1 August 1579 – 10 November 1644) was a Spanish dramatist and novelist.
He was born at Écija and was of Jewish converso descent.Antonio Dominiguez Ortiz, "Los judeoconversos en España ...
, as well as a play by French playwright Henry de Montherlant
Henry Marie Joseph Frédéric Expedite Millon de Montherlant (; 20 April 1895 – 21 September 1972) was a French essayist, novelist, and dramatist. He was elected to the Académie française in 1960.
Biography
Born in Paris, a descendant o ...
called ''La Reine morte'' (''The Dead Queen''). Mary Russell Mitford
Mary Russell Mitford (16 December 1787 – 10 January 1855) was an English author and dramatist. She was born at New Alresford, Alresford in Hampshire. She is best known for ''Our Village'', a series of sketches of village scenes and vividly dr ...
also wrote a drama based on the story entitled ''Inez de Castro''. ''Inês de Castro'' is a novel by Maria Pilar Queralt del Hierro in Spanish and Portuguese.
Marriage and descendants
On 12 September 1309, Afonso married Beatrice of Castile, daughter of Sancho IV of Castile
Sancho IV of Castile (12 May 1258 – 25 April 1295) called the Brave (''el Bravo''), was the king of Castile, León and Galicia from 1284 to his death. Following his brother Ferdinand's death, he gained the support of nobles that ...
, and MarÃa de Molina
MarÃa Alfonso Téllez de Meneses (c. 1265 – 1321), known as MarÃa de Molina, was queen consort of Castile and León from 1284 to 1295 by marriage to Sancho IV of Castile, and served as regent for her minor son Ferdinand IV (1295 - c.1301) ...
, and had four sons and three daughters. Afonso broke the tradition of previous kings and did not have any children out of wedlock.
* Maria of Portugal, Queen of Castile
Maria of Portugal () (9 February 1313 – 18 January 1357) was a Portuguese princess who became Queen of Castile upon her marriage to Alfonso XI in 1328. She was the first daughter of King Afonso IV of Portugal and his first wife Beatrice of ...
(131318 January 1357), was the wife of Alfonso XI of Castile
Alfonso XI (13 August 131126 March 1350), called the Avenger (''el Justiciero''), was King of Castile and León. He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal. Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes en ...
, and mother of the future King Peter of Castile
Peter ( es, Pedro; 30 August 133423 March 1369), called the Cruel () or the Just (), was King of Castile and León from 1350 to 1369. Peter was the last ruler of the main branch of the House of Ivrea. He was excommunicated by Pope Urban V for ...
. Due to the affair of her husband with his mistress Eleanor de Guzmán
Leonor (Eleanor) de Guzmán y Ponce de León (1310–1351) was a Castilian noblewoman. After roughly 1330, she became the long-term mistress and favourite of Alfonso XI, with whom she had the illegitimate Henry "the Fratricidal", future first mona ...
"it was an unfortunate union from the start, contributing to dampening the relations of both kingdoms";
* Afonso (1315–1317), died in his infancy. Buried at the disappeared Convento das Donas of the Dominican Order in Santarém;
* Denis (born 12 February 1317), died a few months after his birth, and was buried in Alcobaça Monastery
The Alcobaça Monastery ( pt, Mosteiro de Alcobaça, ''Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Alcobaça'') is a Catholic monastic complex located in the town of Alcobaça, Portugal, Alcobaça, in central Portugal, some 120 km north of Lisbon. The monaste ...
;
* Peter I of Portugal
Peter I (Portuguese: ''Pedro I'', ; 8 April 1320 – 18 January 1367), called the Just (''o Justiceiro'') or the Cruel (''o Cruel''), was King of Portugal from 1357 until his death. He was the third but only surviving son of Afonso IV of Portuga ...
(8 April 132018 January 1367), the first surviving male offspring, he succeeded his father. When his wife Constanza died in 1345, Beatrice took care of the education of the two orphans, the ''infantes'' Maria
Maria may refer to:
People
* Mary, mother of Jesus
* Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages
Place names Extraterrestrial
*170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877
*Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...
and Ferdinand I of Portugal, who later became king;
* Isabel (21 December 132411 July 1326), buried at the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha
The ruins of the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha (Old St. Clare) are located in the city of Coimbra, in Portugal. The monastery was built in the 14th century on the left bank of the Mondego River, but had to be abandoned in the 17th century due t ...
in Coimbra
Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of .
The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...
;
* John (23 September 132621 June 1327), buried at the Monastery of São Dinis de Odivelas
The Monastery of Saint Denis ( pt, Mosteiro de São Dinis) is located in the city of Odivelas, near Lisbon, in Portugal. The feminine Cistercian convent was founded by King Dinis I and was built during the 14th century in Gothic style. It is t ...
;
* Eleanor of Portugal, Queen of Aragon
Eleanor of Portugal (1328 – 30 October 1348), was a Portuguese ''infanta'' by birth and Queen of Aragon from 1347 to 1348 as the second wife of King Peter IV.
The youngest daughter of King Afonso IV of Portugal and Beatrice of Castile, Leonor ...
(1328–1348), born in the same year as her sister Maria's wedding, she married King Peter IV of Aragon
Peter IV, ; an, Pero, ; es, Pedro, . In Catalan, he may also be nicknamed ''el del punyalet'': "he of the little dagger". (Catalan: ''Pere IV''; 5 September 1319 – 6 January 1387), called the Ceremonious (Catalan: ''el Cerimoniós''), w ...
in November 1347 and died a year after her marriage, succumbing to the Black Death
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
.
Notes
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Afonso 04 Of Portugal
Portuguese infantes
House of Burgundy-Portugal
1291 births
1357 deaths
People from Lisbon
People of the Reconquista
14th-century Portuguese monarchs