Beatrice of Castile or Beatriz (8 March 129325 October 1359) was an
infanta of
Castile, daughter of
Sancho IV and
María de Molina. She was
Queen of Portugal from the accession of her husband,
Afonso IV, in 1325 until his death on 28 May 1357.
Biography
Family origins and early years
Daughter of Sancho IV and of María de Molina, Infanta Beatrice was born in
Toro. She had six siblings, including King
Ferdinand IV of Castile
Ferdinand IV of Castile (6 December 1285 – 7 September 1312) called the Summoned (''el Emplazado''), was King of Castile and León from 1295 until his death.
His upbringing and the custody of his person were entrusted to his mother, Queen M ...
and Queen
Isabella, wife of King
James II of Aragon
James II (Catalan: ''Jaume II''; Spanish: ''Jaime II;'' 10 April 1267 – 2 or 5 November 1327), called the Just,, an, Chaime lo Chusto, es, Jaime el Justo. was the King of Aragon and Valencia and Count of Barcelona from 1291 to 1327. He ...
, and later duchess as the wife of
John III, Duke of Brittany
John III ''the Good'' (in Breton ''Yann III'', in French ''Jean III''; 8 March 128630 April 1341) was Duke of Brittany, from 1312 to his death and 5th Earl of Richmond from 1334 to his death. He was the son of Arthur II, Duke of Brittany, an ...
.
On 13 September 1297, when Beatrice was only four years old, the bilateral agreement, known as the
Treaty of Alcañices, was signed between Castile and Portugal, putting an end to the hostilities between both kingdoms and establishing the definitive borders. The treaty was signed by Queen María de Molina, as the
regent
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 ...
of Castile on behalf of her son, Ferdinand IV, who was still a minor, and King Denis of Portugal. To reinforce the peace, the agreement included clauses arranging the marriages of King Ferdinand and
Constance of Portugal and that of her brother, Afonso, with Beatrice; that is, the marriage of two siblings, infantes of Portugal, with two other siblings, infantes of Castile.
Beatrice abandoned Castile in the same year and moved to the neighboring kingdom where she was raised in the court of King Denis together with her future spouse, Infante Afonso, who at that time was about six years old. Her future father-in-law "had inherited from his grandfather,
Alfonso X of Castile
Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Ger ...
, a love of letters, literature, Portuguese poetry, and the art of the
troubadour
A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a '' trobair ...
s" and Beatrice grew up in this refined environment. Two of the Portuguese king's illegitimate sons, both important figures in the kingdom's cultural panorama, were also at the court:
Pedro Afonso, Count of Barcelos
Pedro Afonso, Count of Barcelos (before 1289 – May 1350), was an illegitimate son of King Denis of Portugal and Grácia Frois. He was made the 3rd Count of Barcelos on 1 May 1314.
Biography
Much like the other illegitimate children of King Den ...
, a poet and troubadour and the author of ''Crónica Geral de Espanha'' and the ''Livro de Linhagens''; and,
Afonso Sanches, the favorite son of King Denis and a celebrated troubadour.
''Arras'' and properties
After the signing of the Treaty of Alcañices and upon their return to Portugal, King Denis gave his future daughter-in-law the ''
Carta de Arras'' (wedding tokens) which included the ''
señoríos'' of
Évora
Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District.
Due to its well-preserved old ...
,
Vila Viçosa
Vila Viçosa () is a town and a municipality in the District of Évora, Alentejo in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 8,319, in an area of 194.86 km².
The municipal holiday is August 16.
Parishes
Administratively, the municipality is d ...
,
Vila Real and
Vila Nova de Gaia
Vila Nova de Gaia (; cel-x-proto, Cale), or simply Gaia, is a city and a municipality in Porto District in Norte Region, Portugal. It is located south of the city of Porto on the other side of the Douro River. The city proper had a population ...
which generated an annual income of more than 6000 pounds of the old Portuguese currency. After the marriage, these estates were increased. In 1321, her husband, who had not ascended to the throne yet, gave her
Viana do Alentejo
Viana do Alentejo () is a municipality in the District of Évora in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 5,743, in an area of 393.67 km2.
The present Mayor is Bernardino Bengalinha Pinto, elected by the Socialist Party. The municipal holiday ...
; in 1325, he gave her other properties in
Santarém; in 1337, properties in Atalaia; in 1341, a manor house in
Alenquer; in 1350, the prior of the Monastery of San Vicente de Fora gave her Melide, a manor house in
Sintra
Sintra (, ) is a town and municipality in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population of the municipality in 2011 was 377,835, in an area of . Sintra is one of the most urbanized and densely populate ...
; and later, in 1357, her son, King Peter, gave her more estates which included
Óbidos,
Atouguia,
Torres Novas,
Ourém,
Porto de Mós, and Chilheiros.
Marriage
The marriage was celebrated in Lisbon on 12 September 1309. Before the marriage could take place, a
papal dispensation
In the jurisprudence of the canon law of the Catholic Church, a dispensation is the exemption from the immediate obligation of law in certain cases.The Law of Christ Vol. I, pg. 284 Its object is to modify the hardship often arising from the ...
was required since Afonso was a great-grandson of King Alfonso X of Castile through his illegitimate daughter,
Beatrice of Castile, and Beatrice, betrothed to Afonso, was a granddaughter of the same Castilian king. In 1301,
Pope Boniface VIII
Pope Boniface VIII ( la, Bonifatius PP. VIII; born Benedetto Caetani, c. 1230 – 11 October 1303) was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 to his death in 1303. The Caetani family was of baronial ...
issued the
papal bull authorizing the marriage, but since both were underage, it was postponed until 1309 when Afonso was eighteen years old and Beatrice had turned sixteen. It was a fertile and apparently happy marriage. Afonso broke the tradition of previous kings and did not have any children out of wedlock. Four out of the seven children born of this marriage died in their infancy.
A reconciling queen
Like her mother-in-law,
Elizabeth of Aragon, who had raised her as a child, during her marriage Beatrice played a relevant role in the affairs of the kingdom and was "the first foreign-born queen who was perfectly versed in the language and customs of Portugal which facilitated her role as a mediator of conflicts". She discreetly supported her husband when he confronted his father on account of his half-brother, Afonso Sanches. In 1325 after the death of King Denis, Afonso "who had not forgotten former hatreds", demanded to be acclaimed king by the
court
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...
and was responsible for having his half brother
João Afonso killed, and his great rival, his other bastard brother, Afonso Sanches, banished to Castile".
When her husband and her son-in-law King Alfonso XI of Castile fought in the war that took place in 13361339, Beatrice crossed the border and went to
Badajoz
Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The populati ...
to meet the Castilian king to try to reach an agreement that would bring peace to both kingdoms, although her efforts proved to be fruitless. She sent her ambassadors in 1338 to the court of King
Alfonso IV of Aragon to strengthen the alliance between both kingdoms which had been weakened when her son, the future King Peter I of Portugal, refused to marry Blanche, a niece of the Aragonese king because of her proven "mental weakness (...) and her incapacity for marriage".
Queen Beatrice and Guilherme de la Garde,
Archbishop of Braga, acted as mediators in the quarrel, which lasted almost one year and posed the threat of another civil war in the Kingdom of Portugal following the assassination of
Inés de Castro, and in 1355, father and son reached an agreement.
On the religious front, she founded a hospital in 1329 in Lisbon and later, with her husband, the Hospital da Sé to treat twenty-four poor people of both sexes, providing the institution with all that was required for its day-to-day maintenance. In her
last wills and
codicil
Codicil may refer to:
* Codicil (will), subsequent change or modification of terms made and appended to an existing trust or will and testament
* A modification of terms made and appended to an existing constitution, treaty, or standard form con ...
, she left many properties and sums for religious establishments, particularly for the
Dominican and
Franciscan
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
orders, and asked to be buried wearing the simple robe of the latter order.
Issue
Beatrice and Alfonso IV were the parents of the following infantes:
*
Maria (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 I 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
Leonor de Guzmán "it was an unfortunate union from the start, contributing to dampening the relations of both kingdoms";
* Afonso (
Penela, 13151317), heir to the throne, died in his infancy. Buried at the disappeared Convento das Donas of the Dominican Order in Santarém;
* Denis (born 12 February 1317 in Santarém), heir to the throne, 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, in central Portugal, some 120 km north of Lisbon. The monastery was established ...
;
*
Peter (8 April 132018 January 1367), the first surviving male offspring, he succeeded his father. When his wife
Constance died in 1345, Queen Beatrice took care of the education of the two orphans, the infantes
Maria and Ferdinand, who later reigned as King
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 ...
;
* Isabel (21 December 132411 July 1326), buried at the
Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha 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, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...
;
* John (23 September 132621 June 1327), buried at the
Monastery of São Dinis de Odivelas;
*
Eleanor
Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
The name was intro ...
(13281348), 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 in Barcelona and died a year after her marriage succumbing to the Black Death.
Death and burial
Queen Beatrice executed three wills and one codicil. She died in Lisbon when she was 66 years old and was buried at
Lisbon Cathedral
The Cathedral of Saint Mary Major ( pt, Santa Maria Maior de Lisboa or ''Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Mary Major''), often called Lisbon Cathedral or simply the Sé ('), is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in Lisbon, Portugal. The oldest churc ...
next to her husband as she had stipulated in her will. While the definitive tombs were being built, the royal couple was originally buried at the choir of the church and it was not until the reign of King
John I John I may refer to:
People
* John I (bishop of Jerusalem)
* John Chrysostom (349 – c. 407), Patriarch of Constantinople
* John of Antioch (died 441)
* Pope John I, Pope from 523 to 526
* John I (exarch) (died 615), Exarch of Ravenna
* John I ...
that their remains were transferred to the new sepulchers in the main chapel of the cathedral. These sepulchers were destroyed during the
1755 Lisbon earthquake
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with ...
and were replaced in the 18th century. The ''Livros do Cartóiro da Sé'' (Charters of the Cathedral) written between 1710 and 1716, describe the burial of Queen Beatrice, very similar to that of her husband, with an engraving that read: ''Beatriz Portugaliae Regina / Affonsi Quarti Uxor''.(Beatrice Queen of Portugal, wife of Afonso IV).
Notes
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castile, Beatrice of
1293 births
1359 deaths
Beatrice
Castilian infantas
Portuguese queens consort
13th-century Portuguese people
13th-century Portuguese women
14th-century Portuguese women
14th-century Portuguese people
Daughters of kings
Queen mothers