Sancha of Portugal (; 1180 in

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ), officially the City of Coimbra (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of . The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Po ...

– 13 March 1229 in Celas Monastery), was a Portuguese ''

infanta Infante (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as "infant" or translated as "prince", is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to the ...

'', second daughter of

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Sancho I of Portugal Sancho I (born ; Coimbra, 11 November 115426 March 1211) also referred to as Sancho the Populator (), was King of Portugal from 1185 until his death in 1211. He was the second king of Portugal. Sancho was the second but only surviving legitimat ...

and Dulce of Aragon.

Life

She was born 1180 and was the feudal Lady of Alenquer. Sancha and her sisters Teresa and Malfada were very wealthy, having inherited large estates after the death of their father in 1211. In 1212, their brother

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...

married

Joan, Countess of Flanders Joan, often called Joan of Constantinople ( 1199 – 5 December 1244), ruled as Count of Flanders, Countess of Flanders and Count of Hainaut, Hainaut from 1205 (at the age of six) until her death. She was the elder daughter of Baldwin I of Cons ...

and was imprisoned by the French after

Battle of Bouvines The Battle of Bouvines took place on 27 July 1214 near the town of Bouvines in the County of Flanders. It was the concluding battle of the Anglo-French War (1213–14), Anglo-French War of 1213–1214. Although estimates on the number of troo ...

in 1214. Their brother, King

Afonso II of Portugal Afonso II (; 23 April 118525 March 1223), also called Afonso the Fat () and Afonso the Leper (), was List of Portuguese monarchs, King of Portugal from 1211 until 1223. Afonso was the third monarch of Portugal. Afonso was the second but eldest ...

contested ownership of his sisters' castles of

Seia Seia () is a municipality in Guarda District in Portugal. The population in 2021 was 21,755, in an area of . Its urban population is about 7,000. Seia was elevated to city status on 3 July 1986. The municipality is situated on the northwestern slop ...

, Alenquer and

Montemor-o-Novo Montemor-o-Novo (), officially the City of Montemor-o-Novo (), is a city and municipality in the District of Évora (district), Évora in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 17,437, in an area of 1232.97 km2. The city itself had a population ...

and their right to use the title of queen. Afonso wanted to centralize power and feared that this could create a problem of sovereignty that could come to divide the country. Much of the Portuguese nobles sided with the princesses, but they were defeated. The king's brother

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

, had also sided with his sisters and was banished. On the death of Afonso II, his son Sancho II granted some lands and castles to his aunts but he made them renounce the title of princess-queen. The final peace came in 1223. In 1219, she welcomed the Franciscan Berard of Carbio and his companions to Alenquer. Upon hearing that they planned to go to Morocco to preach the Gospel, she provided them with laymen's clothes so they could pass through Seville, which remained under Muslem rule. A significant portion of her wealth she spent on acquiring property to establish and support her monastery. Sancha founded the Monastery Santa Maria de Celas, near Coibra, around January 1223. Part of the work of the nuns at Celas was the care of the sick. It later affiliated with the Cistercian order.Shadis, Miriam. "Founders, Sisters, and Neighbors in the Thirteenth Century", ''Women and Community in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia''
(Michelle Armstrong-Partida et al, eds.) Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2020 Sancha died at the Monastery Santa Maria de Celas. Her body was moved to Lorvão Abbey by her sister Theresa of Portugal. On 13 December 1705 she was

beatified Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the ...

Pope Clement XI Pope Clement XI (; ; ; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 November 1700 to his death in March 1721. Clement XI was a patron of the arts an ...

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

''Sollicitudo Pastoralis Offici'', along with her sister Theresa of Portugal. Her feast day and that of her two sisters Teresa and

Mafalda ''Mafalda'' () is an Argentina, Argentine Argentine comics, comic strip written and drawn by cartoonist Quino. The strip features a six-year-old girl named Mafalda, who reflects the Argentine middle class and progressive youth, is concerned abou ...

is 20 June.

Ancestry

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sancha Of Portugal, Infanta 1170s births 1229 deaths House of Burgundy-Portugal Portuguese infantas French beatified people Portuguese Roman Catholics Roman Catholic royal saints 12th-century Portuguese people 13th-century Portuguese nobility 12th-century Portuguese women 13th-century Portuguese women 13th-century venerated Christians Beatifications by Pope Clement XI Daughters of kings Portuguese beatified people