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deridolls In reply to Hurricane-Jeanne [2010-07-09 09:07:32 +0000 UTC]

Thank you once again!
Eheheh! I doubt portuguese queens are generally known outside our borders. Unfortunately, they aren't that well known even inside them and portraits are rare and scattered.
This one is particularly cherished in Coimbra since it was her favorite city and she's buried here. We held her bi-yearly celebrations earlier this week.

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Hurricane-Jeanne In reply to deridolls [2010-07-09 22:13:53 +0000 UTC]

You're so welcome!
I love studying the powerful women of the past and I've never come across her in my searches, which is sad considering how amazing she was! I tried to look for portraits of her and I had a lot of trouble with it. I wish the world knew more about this amazing woman, especially considering she's a saint too. At least your city still holds her memory up with her celebrations, that's amazing. I'm glad she's still revered and remembered.

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deridolls In reply to Hurricane-Jeanne [2010-07-11 14:49:43 +0000 UTC]

I don't hink there are actual period portraits of her. My main inspiration was from her statues we have here in Coimbra, mainly the one on the old nunnery where she is buried.
Isabel was unfortunate enough to have married D. Dinis, who, although one of our wisest kings, was a terrible womanizer and favored one of his bastards over his own son and heir, D. Afonso. That would lead to a state of almost civil war once D. Afonso grew up and rallied his own forces. She was stuck between her husband and her son, trying to make peace until D. Dinis' death.

But if you like to know about queens, Isabel's grandson's second wife also had a very particular story: she was crowned queen of Portugal after she was dead.
Her name was Inês de Castro and she was a noble spanish lady who came to Portugal in the staff of the princess Constança who was to marry the prince D. Pedro.
D. Pedro did get married, but he was head over heels in love with Inês and made her his mistress, siring children with her.
Unfortunately, D. Inês belonged to a very influential spanish family and his father, D. Afonso, a far stricter man than D. Dinis ever was, wasn't too impressed with the power they were gaining in Portugal too, even after the death of princess Constança.
D. Inês and her children were sent away from court to her and Pedro's love nest for her safety (it's part of Coimbra now and it's called Quinta das Lágrimas (estate of tears) for her sad demise).
The exile wasn't enough and D. Afonso was persuaded that her death was necessary by 3 noblemen who carried out the murder when D. Pedro was away on a hunt.
After Pedro became king, she testified that he had married Inês before she died and she, therefore, was queen of Portugal. She was pulled out of her grave and transported to the Monastery of Batalha in a great torch procession, to lay next to Pedro's grave when he died. (They were later moved so that, when they rise on Judgement day, they'll face each other.)
Legend has an extra morbid detail: Pedro physically crowned her remains and forced the whole court to kneel and kiss their dead queen's hand.
Her murderers were hunted down (only one managed to escape to Spain and survive) and killed. Legend also has it D. Pedro himself tore their hearts out.

It's great to share this story.

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Hurricane-Jeanne In reply to deridolls [2010-07-12 01:17:14 +0000 UTC]

Yeah I didn't find any period portraits of her either but I did find some artistic representations of her miraclous roses. That has to be the worst posistion fo any queen, to have to pick between your husband (which you have to support) and your son (who will eventually rule). But she sounds like an amazingly strong woman.

That's an amazing story of an amazing queen! I need to study Portugese Monarchs I think, they're fascinating!
I think even though it's morbid, it's a wonderful show of affection that Pedro made her queen and made the court recognize her, granted she was decaying.

I'm so happy you shared this with me! Are there anymore amazing stories from Portuguese Monarchs?

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deridolls In reply to Hurricane-Jeanne [2010-07-12 11:57:48 +0000 UTC]

Oh, ancient royal gossip, how I love thee!

D. Pedro and Inês's story was famous in its day, being told in several languages throughout Europe.

We had a bigamous king in our first dinasty, D. Afonso III.
He was a younger son and wasn't meant to rule, so he left to marry a very rich noblewoman somewhere around the Netherlands.
However, his brother soon began to show signs of not being able to keep his crown, a weak man who couldn't even keep his sisters from snatching lands.
D. Afonso is convinced to return and take over, which he did. He also got married to a woman more suitable of his needs as king, forgetting to warn his first wife.
She came all the way here, thinking she was queen of Portugal, only to find her husband married to someone else.
She was so furious (understandably so!), she turned around and went back home, refusing to take anything of his with her, including their son.
D. Afonso didn't consider him heir, but it's reported he was well treated and honored in the portuguese court.

I've mentioned two of our most beloved queens, now it's time to tell you of one of our most detested ones, D. Leonor Teles.
D. Pedro's son, D. Fernando, grew up under his grandfather's influence and under his own father's shadow (after D. Inês' death, D. Pedro became a loved but also feared king, known as both The Just and The Cruel). He was loved by the people and was known as The Handsome, but he was a weak man, indecisive and easily influenced.
His love life was definitely troubled and he even tried to get a papal annulment to marry D. Inês's daughter aka his half-sister!
He then fell madly in love with a married woman, D. Leonor Teles. Heaven and earth were moved and she got an annulment for her first marriage and married D. Fernando against strong popular opinion.
She gave birth to only a daughter, D. Beatriz.
Since there were royal male relatives that could claim a stronger hold on the throne once D. Fernando died, she wanted the most important of those guys to marry her daughter. Problem was, he (D. João) was married to her sister, D. Maria Teles.
A few promises here and there and João decided the heiress to the throne was a better wife for him and annulments were too slow to get, hence he murdered his wife but only got himself exiled.
Beatriz was therefore free to marry the spanish king, Juan de Castela.
D. Fernando's health had deteriorated and he tried to ensure that his daughter would be queen regent of Portugal after his death until she had a son which would rule over Portugal and Spain (the union of the iberian peninsula under one monarch had always been a goal to both countries).
In the meantime, D. Leonor had taken to flaunt a spanish lover all over the court. Not a good PR move, to say the least...
When Fernando finally died, disfigure by illness, cuckhold and generally pitied by all, the spanish king made a move to rule with Beatriz while Leonor wanted to rule the show on her daughter's behalf.
But, between a foreign king and a woman they hated, the people would not have it. Popular support began rallying around another of D. Pedro's bastards (not with D. Inês, though), D. João.
This lead to war and a famous battle where the greatly outnumbered and outarmed portuguese army managed to win over the mighty spanish forces Juan had brought to stake his claim on Portugal (his confidence was such that he carried into battle banners that already had both the spanish and portuguese coat of arms).
Anyways, we won, D. João started the second royal dinasty and D. Leonor was such a hag as a mother in law that D. Juan sent her to a nunnery for the remainder of her days, being known in portuguese history as A Aleivosa (The Prostitute).

Oh, my, this is already too long! I'll tell you more royal soap operas next time.

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Hurricane-Jeanne In reply to deridolls [2010-07-12 19:08:03 +0000 UTC]

That's awesome! Wow, I think that trumps the soap operas that English and French have given us over the years. It's awfully sad that these amazing characters are overlooked in terms of the history of all monarchs, especially the more notorious ones.

I look forward to more soap operas!

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