Beatrice of Portugal

Beatrice ( pt, Beatriz, ; 7–13 February 1373 – ) was the only surviving legitimate child of King Ferdinand I of Portugal and his wife, Leonor Teles. She became Queen consort of Castile by marriage to King John I of Castile. Following her father's death without a legitimate male heir, she claimed the Portuguese throne, but lost her claim to her uncle, who became King John I of Portugal, founder of the House of Aviz.

During her early years, Beatrice was a pawn in the changing politics of foreign alliances of her father, who negotiated successive marriages for her. She would eventually marry King John I of Castile, by whom Beatrice became Queen consort of Castile. At the death of her father, Beatrice was proclaimed Queen regnant of Portugal and her mother assumed the regency in her name. Opposition to the regency, fear of the Castilian domination and loss of Portuguese independence led to a popular rebellion and civil war between the late King Ferdinand I's illegitimate brother, John of Aviz, who wrested control of the regency from the dowager queen, and the supporters of Beatrice and her husband, John I of Castile, who claimed the throne of Portugal by right of his wife. In 1385, John of Aviz was proclaimed King of Portugal, and the King of Castile was definitively defeated in the Battle of Aljubarrota, effectively ending any prospects for Beatrice and her husband to assert their rights to the Portuguese crown.

From that time, Queen Beatrice took a special interest in the welfare of the Portuguese exiles in Castile who had been faithful to her dynastic claim to the Portuguese throne. After the death of her husband she was relegated to a secondary level in the Castilian court. However, the dynastic strife continued to represent a challenge to the normalization of relations between Castile and Portugal. From the second decade of the 15th century onwards, her documentary trail became scarce until she completely disappears about 1420.

Life

Early years and betrothals

Beatrice was born in Coimbra, during the brief siege of the city by Castilian troops during the second Fernandine War (1372–73). The siege was lifted and King Henry II of Castile continued to Santarém and then Lisbon. During the siege of Lisbon, Cardinal legate Guido of Bologna obtained an agreement between the Kings of Castile and Portugal, the Peace of Santarém. According to that treaty, King Ferdinand I of Portugal would abandon the 'Petrist' cause, his claim to dynastic legitimacy that originated after the assassination of King Peter I of Castile in 1369. Two marriages were celebrated between the two royal families to reinforce the peace: between Sancho Alfonso, 1st Count of Alburquerque, brother of Henry, and Beatrice, half-sister of Ferdinand, and between Alfonso Enríquez, Henry's natural son, and Ferdinand's illegitimate daughter Isabel. In addition, a betrothal was arranged between Beatrice, Ferdinand I of Portugal's newborn daughter, and Fadrique, created Duke of Benavente, another natural son of King Henry II of Castile.

The Cortes de Leiria of 1376 pledged to support Beatrice as heiress of the throne, accepting her betrothal with the Duke of Benavente. The betrothal was solemnized in Leiria on 24 November 1376, and on 3 January 1377 was accepted by King Henry II. Fernando I's will of 1378 ratified all agreements concerning Beatrice, adding that in the absence of Beatrice or any descendants, the Portuguese king's half-brothers, the children of Inês de Castro (John, Diniz and Beatrice) were disinherited, and the throne of Portugal would passed to any hypothetical sisters of Beatrice, and after them, to Duke Fadrique of Benavente. To ensure the succession of the throne in her daughter, Queen Leonor Teles devised a plot against John of Portugal, in which the Queen's own sister María Teles, John's wife, was accused of adultery and killed by her husband in June 1379. Although John later obtained the royal pardon, he opted to flee to Castile, fearful of the Teles family.

In May 1379 King Henry II of Castile died and his son John I succeeded him. Once these events were known in the Portuguese court, negotiations began for the betrothal of Beatrice with the first-born son of the new King, the future Henry III of Castile, in order to counter any aspiration of John of Portugal to the throne with the political and military support of the Castilians. The 21 May 1380 agreement stipulated that the wedding would be celebrated when the 3-year-old prince reached the age of 14. It also established the succession. If Beatrice died before the marriage and her father had no more legitimate offspring, the throne would pass to John I of Castile, but if she died after her marriage and without any descendants, it would go to her widower. If Henry died first, without issue by Beatrice, she would remain Queen regnant, but were she then to die without children by a subsequent marriage, the Portuguese throne would pass to the Kings of Castile. In this way the children of Inés de Castro were again denied succession. The marriage agreement was approved in the Cortes de Soria in August 1380.

By July 1380, Ferdinand I had changed his politics by secretly allying himself in the Treaty of Estremoz with King Richard II of England and the Duke of Lancaster, defenders of the 'Petrist' cause. The King of Portugal abandoned Antipope Clement VII and swore obedience to Pope Urban VI, while his daughter Beatrice was betrothed to Edward of Norwich, son of the Earl of Cambridge and grandson of King Peter I of Castile. The negotiations for this alliance brought to Portugal a Petrist exile, Juan Fernández de Andeiro, Count of Ourém, who would later have prominent influence at the Portuguese court. When the Castilian King heard of the agreement thanks to the exiled John of Portugal, he sealed an alliance with France through the Treaty of Vincennes, accepting obedience of his kingdom to the Antipope Clement VII, and he undertook the third Fernandine War. While King Ferdinand I and his counselors were at Elvas to discuss the war, on 19 July 1382 Queen Leonor Teles gave birth a son and heir, Afonso, who lived only four days, dying on 23 July either by a disease, or according to some sources like the later chronicler Fernão Lopes, killed by the king who believed that the newborn prince wasn't his son but product of the affair between his wife and the Count of Ourém. Fernão Lopes states that the court dressed in mourning only for protocol, since most of the courtiers thought Afonso was not the king's son. One month later, on 10 August, the war was concluded with the Peace of Elvas,Suárez Fernández 1981, p. 312. under which a betrothal was celebrated between Beatrice and the second son of John I of Castile, the future Ferdinand I of Aragon. In addition, the Kingdom of Portugal, religiously divided by the Western Schism, returned to the obedience of Antipope Clement.

John I of Castile was widowed in 1382, and the Count of Ourém, favorite of Queen Leonor Teles, negotiated a new betrothal for Beatrice, this time with the Castilian King himself.''Spain and Portugal'', Graeme Mercer Adam ed., J. D. Morris, 1906
/ref> Ferdinand agonized over the proposed marriage. It would seem to secure the succession of Beatrice, because she would have a powerful neighboring monarch as an ally who could counteract the aspirations of John of Portugal and his siblings instead of supporting them, yet on the other hand the Castilian King, having to reside in Castile, would have to leave the affairs of Portugal in the hands of Queen Leonor as regent. The marriage contract was signed on 2 April 1383 in Salvaterra de Magos. The contract stipulated that at the death of Ferdinand I without sons, the crown would pass to Beatrice, and her husband would be titled King of Portugal.O'Callaghan 1983, p. 531.Gebhardt 1864, p. 140. However, both sides agreed that the Kingdoms of Castile and Portugal would not unite, and to guarantee this Queen Leonor Teles would remain as regent and in charge of the government of Portugal until Beatrice had a son who reached 14 years of age, who would then assume the government and title of King of Portugal in place of his parents.Stephens 1891, p. 107. If Beatrice died without surviving children, the crown would pass to other hypothetical sisters, and if there were none it would pass to John I of Castile, and through him to his son Prince Henry, again disinheriting the children of Inês de Castro. The succession of Castile also was stipulated: in case the succession of John and of his two sons failed, the crown would pass to his sister Eleanor, and if she also died without offspring, the Castilian throne would pass to King Ferdinand I Portugal and his descendants. During the preparation of the marriage contract, the King of Castile objected to the dowry assigned to Beatrice and also disagreed that his sons by her had to be raised in Portugal, that Queen Leonor Teles could hold the regency in Portugal, and that the border fortresses had to be in Portuguese hands, but in view that it offered hm the Kingdom of Portugal, these objections were viewed as secondary and he accepted the agreement.

Pedro de Luna, a pontifical legate for the Kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Portugal and Navarre, solemnized the betrothal at Elvas on 14 May 1383, and the official wedding ceremony took place on 17 May in Badajoz Cathedral. To ensure compliance with the Treaty, on 21 May a group of Castilian knights and prelates swore to denaturalize from the Kingdom and fight against their monarch if the Castilian King broke the agreements made in the marriage contract, and in the same way a group of Portuguese knights and prelates (among them the Master of Aviz) made the same oath if the Portuguese King broke the treaty with Castile. Later, Beatrice approved in her own name what was agreed at Salvaterra de Magos. Once the wedding took place, she went to live in Castile with her husband. The marriage contract was taken to the Cortes de Santarém of August and September to swear to accept Beatrice and John I of Castile as heirs of Portugal, although these acts were not conserved. For her part, Queen Leonor Teles gave birth on 27 September to a daughter who lived only a few days, so Beatrice remained the only legitimate child of King Ferdinand I.

Crisis of 1383–1385

King Ferdinand I of Portugal died on 22 October 1383. Leonor Teles, his widow, in accordance with the Treaty of Salvaterra and the testament of the deceased monarch, assumed the regency and government of the Kingdom in the name of her daughter. The regent maintained her clique of Castilian Petrists, which strengthened an opposition faction that demanded that the Council of the regent only included councilors of Portuguese origin.

News of the death of the Portuguese King came to John I of Castile and Beatrice in Torrijos, and they immediately closed the Cortes in Segovia. The Master of Aviz wrote to the Castilian monarch urging him to take the Portuguese crown that belonged to him through his wife, and that the Master himself be made regent on their behalf. To avoid dynastic conflicts with John of Portugal (first-born son of Inês de Castro) the Castilian King imprisoned him in the Alcázar of Toledo, and there adopted the title and the arms of King of Portugal, which was recognized by Antipope Clement VII. Later, he convened the Royal Council in Montalbán and sent Alfonso López de Tejeda to Portugal with instructions to the regent to proclaim him and his wife King and Queen of Portugal.Livermore 1947, p. 174.

The proclamation was made, but in Lisbon and other places like Elvas and Santarém, a popular rejection was expressed in favor of John of Portugal. John I of Castile decided to lead troops into Portugal to take possession of the Kingdom, against the advice of some members of his Council since it represented a clear contravention of the agreements made in the Treaty of Salvaterra. He had the support of Beatrice's chancellor, Afonso Correia, Bishop of Guarda, who promised him the surrender of the land. John I thus entered in Portugal with Beatrice to ensure the obedience of Portugal and the rights of his wife.

For John I of Castile, his marriage allowed him to maintain a protectorate over the Portuguese kingdom and the ability to prevent the English from becoming established in the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, the union of Castile and Portugal would benefit the Portuguese nobility, who would have greater expectation of receiving land, titles and positions. Faced with this, the peasants, who had improved their standing as a result of the depopulation of the countryside, feared a reinforcement of the privileges of the nobility while the merchants, artisans, public officials and large sections of the lesser nobility feared their political, social and economic annulment in the face of an increase in the power of the Portuguese high nobility and the threat of a Castilian domination that favored agriculture over trade. Combining opposition to the regent and her ''Petrist'' clique, the expectation of a commercial monopoly, and fears of Castilian dominion and loss of Portuguese independence, uprisings began in Lisbon in late November and early December. The Master of Aviz killed the Count of Ourém, favorite of the regent, and after that there was the uprising of the peasants against the government instigated by Alvaro Pais, in which Martinho Anes, Bishop of Lisbon, was murdered. The uprising spread to the provinces, claiming the lives of the Abbess of the Benedictine cloister in Évora, the Prior of the collegiate church of Guimarães and Lançarote Pessanha, Admiral of Portugal, in Beja, among others. The uprising had the support of the bourgeoisie but not of the nobility,O'Callaghan 1983, p. 532. who maintained their support of the regent.

Queen Leonor Teles fled from Lisbon with the court and took refuge in Alenquer. In Lisbon, Alvaro Pais proposed the marriage of the Master of Aviz with the Queen regent so they could jointly assume the regency, but she refused, and with the news of the imminent arrival of the Castilian King, the Master of Aviz was chosen Defender and Regent of the Kingdom on 16 December 1383, invoking the rights of John of Portugal, first-born son of Inês de Castro. The Master of Aviz constituted his own Council in which João das Regras appeared as Chancellor, and requested the aid of England; he also tried to besiege Alenquer, but the Leonor fled to Santarém, so he immediately returned to prepare the defense of Lisbon. In Santarém, Leonor Teles proceeded to recruit an army and sought the help of her son-in-law the King of Castile to defeat the insurgents who didn't accept her regency or recognize her daughter Beatrice as Queen.

John I of Castile acted to control the situation in Portugal, leaving a Council of Regency in Castile consisting of Alfonso of Aragon, Marquis of Villena, Pedro Tenorio (Archbishop of Toledo) and Pedro González de Mendoza (First ''Mayordomo'' of the King).Suárez Fernández 1981, p. 315. In early January 1384 John I, together with Beatrice, invaded Portugal via the road to Santarém, following Queen Leonor Teles' call, and a few days later, on 13 January, he obtained from his mother-in-law her resignation of the regency and government. Thus the Castilian King assumed control of the government, and he organized a chancellery, a court, and an army composed essentially of Castilians. After this, many knights and castle governors came to pay homage to him and his wife Beatrice, such as those of Santarem, Ourém, Leiria, Montemor-o-Velho, Feira, Penella, Óbidos, Torres Vedras, Torres Novas, Alenquer, Sintra, Arronches, Alegrete, Amieira, Campo Maior, Olivenza, Portel, Moura, Mértola, Braga, Lanhoso, Valença do Minho, Melgaço, Vila Nova de Cerveira, Ponte de Lima, Guimarães, Caminha, Bragança, Vinhais, Chaves, Monforte, Miranda do Douro, Montalegre, Mirandela, Castelo Rodrigo, Almeida, Penamacor, Guarda, Covilhã and Celorico da Beira

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