Medieval Love Story: King Pedro and Inês de Castro

 

Every country has its legends and fairytales, and Portugal is no exception. One of the most well-known Portuguese tales is a love story about King Pedro of Portugal and Inês de Castro. Their relationship did not end as they would have wanted, with Inês being killed by royal minions, but in this case, what life took apart, death put back together. Here is the story of how King Pedro’s and Inês’s tombs were made.

It all started in the 14th century when Prince Pedro (1320-1367), who was at the time the rightful heir to the throne, met Constança from the Castela Kingdom, whom he was expected to marry in an arranged marriage. Pedro, however, fell in love with one of Contança’s maids; her name was Inês de Castro) and she reciprocated the prince’s love.

Inês was the natural daughter of Pedro Fernández de Castro, Lord of Lemos and Sarria, and his noble Portuguese mistress Aldonça Lourenço de Valadares. She was also well connected to the Castilian royal family

Pedro and Inês had a secret affair which became public as soon as Queen Constança died giving birth to Pedro’s child. Her death made Pedro feel comfortable enough to make his relationship official, but his father, King Afonso IV, was having none of it and forbade them to marry. Nevertheless, Pedro and Inês decided to live together in Coimbra and have children anyway.

Constance of Castile died in 1345. Afonso IV tried several times to arrange for his son to be remarried, but Pedro refused to take a wife other than Inês, who was not deemed eligible to be queen.

Legend has it that Inês’s brothers had a big influence on Pedro which started to bother the royal family. In addition, the fact that Pedro and Inês supposedly married made their children heirs to the throne. Soon King Afonso IV decided that it was time to kill Inês de Castro, so he gathered a group of men and demanded that they kill her.

The legend says she was killed at Quinta das Lágrimas in Coimbra and you can visit the fountain where one can still see her blood on the rocks. But she was in fact killed at Paços de Santa Clara, also in Coimbra.

Pedro became furious and wanted to start a war with his father, but his mother, Queen Beatriz, appealed for peace and made her son give up on this idea. At the time, Pedro also swore not to hunt down the men who killed the love of his life, but immediately after his father’s death, he changed his mind and demanded they were killed. This action gave him the alias Cruel.

King Pedro and Inês became reunited after their death. After Inês’s death, Pedro crowned her as queen making her the first and only Portuguese queen crowned after her death. King Pedro made sure this royal title was visible on her tomb and then ordered that his tomb to be next to hers, to stay side by side for eternity.
King Pedro and Inês became reunited after their death. After Inês’s death, Pedro crowned her as queen making her the first and only Portuguese queen crowned after her death. King Pedro made sure this royal title was visible on her tomb and then ordered that his tomb to be next to hers, to stay side by side The tombs were constructed between 1358 and 1367 and although their author is unknown, many believe he was Portuguese, with some French influences. The tombs are located at Mosteiro de Alcobaça, as King Pedro wanted. At first, they were located in the south transept of the church, but were then were moved to the tomb room. Since the 20th century, they have been moved back to the original place, situated en face rather than side by side. Inês is in the north arm and Pedro in the south one.



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