Beatrice of Portugal

Beatrice of Portugal (Portuguese Beatrice ; * around 1347 in Coimbra ; † July 5, 1381 in Ledesma ) was an Infanta of Portugal and Countess of Alburquerque .

Life

Beatrice was an illegitimate born daughter of the future Portuguese King Peter I and the Castilian noblewoman Inês de Castro, born around 1347 . In 1354 her parents entered into a secret marriage, but her mother was murdered in 1355 on the orders of King Alfonso IV , the father of Peter I. In 1361 Beatrice was legitimized by her father and thus a legal infanta.

Beatrice's half-brother Ferdinand I ascended the Portuguese throne in 1367 and led an unfortunate war against the Castilian King Henry II of Trastámara for the second time in 1372–1373 . He had to conclude the Treaty of Santarém (March 19, 1373), which included the marriage of Beatrice to Heinrich's brother Sancho Alfonso of Castile , first Count of Alburquerque. This marriage, which was concluded in March 1373, had two children:

• Fernando Sánchez, second Count of Alburquerque (* 1373, † 1385), fell in the Battle of Aljubarrota
• Eleonore Urraca (* 1374, † 1435), wife of King Ferdinand I of Aragon and Sicily

Beatrice's husband, Sancho Alfonso, died on February 19, 1374. Five years later, in 1379, Beatrice accompanied her brother, the Infante Johann , when he went into exile in Castile because of the intrigues of the Portuguese Queen Leonore Teles de Menezes . Beatrice died in Ledesma in 1381 at the age of only about 34.

literature

• Beatrice of Portugal (c. 1347-1381). In: Anne Commire (Ed.): Women in World History , Vol. 2 (1999), p. 307.