Juan Alfonso Tello, VI. Count of Barcelos

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Juan Alfonso Tello , "the younger" (* 14th century - † 14 August 1385 in the  Battle of Aljubarrota ), called  João Afonso Telo  in Portuguese, Ricohombre , member of the line of the Téllez de Meneses and, consequently, a descendant of Tello Pérez de Meneses, was Lord Mayor of Lisbon in 1372, Admiral of Portugal from 1375/76 and VI. Count of Barcelós.

biography

His father was Martín Alfonso Téllez de Meneses - senior servant of Queen  María of Portugal , wife of King  Alfonso XI of Castile -  who was murdered on the orders of  Peter I of Castile in 1356. Martín Alfonso was married to Aldonza Anes de Vasconcelos, daughter of Juan Méndes de Vasconcelos, Lord Mayor of  Estremoz  and Aldara Alfonso Alcoforado. He had several siblings, including  Leonor Téllez de Meneses , queen due to her marriage to  Ferdinand I of Portugal . He was present when the Ferdinandine Wars , sparked by the king's claim to the Castilian throne, took place.

The Sea Battle of Saltés (1381)

After the Second Ferdinandine War , Alfonso Tello, like several others, was temporarily held hostage of the King of Castile Henry II as part of the subsequent peace treaty with the Kingdom of Castile, so that the Castilian king could assure himself that the terms of the treaty of Ferdinand I of Portugal are met. Because of his important position, like the others who also acted as hostages, under these circumstances he became a guarantee for Heinrich II to Ferdinand I that he would fulfill the contract, which he did. After the fulfillment of the peace conditions on the part of Ferdinand, he was freed and later became commander in chief of the fleet in place of Lanzarote Pessanha , who was also hostage to Henry II for the same reason. This happened due to Pessanha's defeat in the decisive naval battle of Lisbon (1373) during the war, in which he was blamed for what had happened due to his hesitant attitude during the event. During the Third Ferdinandic War , in which Portugal was massively supported by the  Kingdom of England , Alfonso Tello was in command of the Portuguese fleet during the  battle of Saltés . It was a battle that was fought on July 17, 1381 against the Castilian fleet and in which Fernando Sánchez de Tovar was in command of the Castilian fleet. In this battle the Portuguese fleet was defeated, which led to the destruction of the offensive possibilities of the Portuguese fleet and also, for the time being, to the irrevocable confirmation of the supremacy of the Castilian fleet in the  Atlantic . In  his  Chronica de el-rei, the famous chronicler and Portuguese historian  Fernão Lopes  blamed D. Fernando Alfonso Tello for the defeat due to his arrogance and presumption. During the naval battle he was captured and taken to Seville along with the others who were also captured in the battle . It was only after the war that Alfonso Tello was freed in accordance with the peace terms later agreed by the two warring kings.

The Battle of Aljubarrota by Jean d'Wavrin (Chronique d'Angleterre)

After the death of Ferdinand I, he was initially on the side of the rebels during the Portuguese Revolution of 1383 , which broke out against the pro-Castilian government of Queen Leonore for fear of losing Portugal's independence. As such, Juan Alfonso Tello was involved in the assassination of Count  Juan Fernández de Andeiro , lover of Queen Leonore , and was also present on December 6, 1383, as the  Master of the Order of Avis , the leader of the insurgents and future  John I of Portugal , entered the queen's chamber and fell. He later switched sides due to the violence of the uprising. He then accompanied his sister into exile in Castile and instead supported the Castilian King  John I of Castile in his intention to get the Portuguese throne in his hand on the basis that he was married to Beatrice, the eldest daughter of the deceased Portuguese king who had no sons. In return, Johann I appointed him Count of  Mayorga . Then later, Juan Alfonso Tello, according to his support towards the Castilian king, took part in the subsequent invasion of the Castilian troops in Portugal in order to defeat the rebels under the leadership of John of Avis and to be able to defeat the claim of John I to the to assert the Portuguese throne. She was finally defeated during the decisive battle of Aljubarrota , where Alfonso Tello lost his life.

After the battle that led to the final victory of the insurgents, he was the only one of Portugal's many fallen enemies on the battlefield, who was later buried on the orders of John I of Portugal, who had meanwhile become king. He was buried in the church of Santa María de Gracia in Santarém .

Count Juan Alfonso Tello married Beatrice Alfonso de Alburquerque. She was the illegitimate daughter of Juan Alfonso de Alburquerque , High Chancellor of King  Peter I of Castile , and of María Rodríguez Barba. A sister of Beatrice, María, was the wife of Gonzalo Téllez de Meneses, the brother of Juan Alfonso Tello. Although he had children with Beatrice Alfonso de Alburquerque, Count Alfonso Tello had no grandchildren.

See also

bibliography

  • Fernández Duro, Cesáreo (1995). La Marina de Castilla. Madrid: Editmex. ISBN 9788486228040 . (Spanish) .
  • López de Ayala, Pedro (1780). Crónica de los Reyes de Castilla, Don Pedro, Don Enrique II, Don Juan I, Don Enrique III. Madrid: Imprenta de D. Antonio de Sancha. OCLC 2921347. (Spanish) .
  • McMurdo, Edward (1888) "The history of Portugal". Volume 2. (English) .
  • Schäfer, Heinrich (1839). History of Portugal. Volume 2.