Maria of Portugal, Queen of Castile

Maria of Portugal
Maria of Portugal, in Antonio de Hollanda's Genealogy of the Royal Houses of Spain and Portugal (1530–1534)
Queen consort of Castile and León
Tenure	1328–1350
Born	9 February 1313
Died	18 January 1357 (aged 43) Évora
Burial	Royal Monastery of San Clemente in Seville.
Spouse	Alfonso XI of Castile
Issue	Peter of Castile
House	House of Burgundy
Father	Afonso IV of Portugal
Mother	Beatrice of Castile
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Infanta Maria of Portugal (Portuguese pronunciation: [mɐˈɾiɐ]) (9 February 1313 – 18 January 1357) was a Portuguese infanta (princess), Queen consort of Castile upon her marriage to Alfonso XI in 1328, and mother of King Peter of Castile.^[1] She was the first daughter of King Afonso IV of Portugal and his first wife Beatrice of Castile. Her maternal grandparents were Sancho IV of Castile and María de Molina.

Biographical sketch

In 1328, Maria married king Alfonso XI. As part of the arras, King Alfonso gave her Guadalajara, Talavera de la Reina and Olmedo.

The relationship between Maria and Alfonso was unhappy: from 1327 before their marriage, Alfonso had a relationship with Leonor de Guzmán who gave him ten children, including the future King Henry II of Castile. Maria did not participate in the affairs of the court, being relegated by the royal mistress Leonor and it is quite likely that she spent long periods secluded at the Royal Monastery of San Clemente in Seville.^[1]

In 1335, Maria returned to her father in Évora, who demanded that Alfonso separated from Leonor by use of alliances with the Pope, the Muslims and rebels inside Castile, and finally by an invasion. In the peace treaty of Seville in July 1340, Alfonso agreed to have Leonor imprisoned in a convent, thereby securing the support of the king of Portugal in the Battle of Río Salado which was fought on 30 October 1340, although, once the military conflict had been resolved, he returned to his lover and did not fulfill the promise he had made to the Portuguese monarch.

At the death of Alfonso 26 March 1350, Maria secured a power position by exerting influence upon the leader of her son's council, João Afonso de Albuquerque. She participated in the rebellion against her son in 1354, and turned over Toro to the rebels, which caused his imprisonment. After this, she returned to Portugal.

Children

• Fernando (1332 - 1333). He was buried in the monastery of San Clemente de Sevilla .
• Peter of Castile (1334 - 1369), king of Castile and León at the death of his father in 1350. He married Maria de Padilla, Blanche of Bourbon and Jeanne de Castro. His remains lie today in the crypt of the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Seville.

Death and Burial

The tomb of María of Portugal at the Royal Monastery of San Clemente in Seville.

María had executed a will in Valladolid on 8 November 1351 in which she asked to be buried at the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral of Seville where her husband Alfonso XI had been buried and that, if his remains were transferred to another church, hers should also be transferred and buried alongside her husband.^[2]

She died in Évora on 18 January 1357 and was buried there until, against the wishes expressed in her will, her remains were transferred to the Royal Monastery of San Clemente in Seville. In 1371, King Henry II had ordered that his father, King Alfonso XI, should receive burial at the Real Colegiata de San Hipólito in Córdoba and at the same time, he probably decided that María, who had been responsible for his mother's death, should be buried at the monastery in Seville.^[3] The gravestone made of simple tiles at the Monastery mentions that she is buried there with two "tender infants".^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Coat of arms of Maria of Portugal as Queen Consort of Castile

Ancestors

Ancestors of Maria of Portugal, Queen of Castile

16. Afonso II of Portugal               8. Afonso III of Portugal                       17. Urraca of Castile               4. Denis of Portugal                             18. Alfonso X of Castile               9. Beatrice of Castile                       19. Mayor Guillén de Guzmán               2. Afonso IV of Portugal                                   20. James I of Aragon               10. Peter III of Aragon                       21. Violant of Hungary               5. Elizabeth of Aragon                             22. Manfred of Sicily               11. Constance of Sicily                       23. Beatrice of Savoy               1. Maria of Portugal                                         24. Ferdinand III of Castile               12. Alfonso X of Castile                       25. Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen               6. Sancho IV of Castile                             26. James I of Aragon               13. Violant of Aragon                       27. Violant of Hungary               3. Beatrice of Castile                                   28. Alfonso IX of Leon               14. Alfonso of Molina                       29. Berenguela of Castile               7. María de Molina                             30. Alfonso Téllez de Meneses, 4th Lord of Meneses               15. Mayor Alonso de Meneses                       31. Maria Yáñez de Limia

Notes

1. Until recently, it was believed that she and King Alfonso had been the parents of the firstborn, Fernando, who died as an infant a few months after his birth. The reference to another infant in the tombstone is also mentioned in some parchments discovered in 1813 when the remains buried at the church of the Monastery were exhumed. These parchments mention that two infants had been buried with their mother, Queen María. Cfr. Borrero Fernández (1991), p. 69.

References

1. Borrero Fernández 1991, p. 66.
2. Borrero Fernández 1991, p. 67.
3. Borrero Fernández 1991, p. 69.

Bibliography

• Borrero Fernández, Mercedes (1991). El Real Monasterio de San Clemente: Un monasterio cisterciense en la Sevilla Medieval. Sevilla: Comisaría de la Ciudad de Sevilla para 1992, Ayuntamiento de Sevilla. ISBN 84-7952-013-2.
• Díaz Martín, Luis Vicente (2007). Pedro I el Cruel, 1350-1369 (2nd ed.). Gijón: Ediciones Trea S.L. ISBN 8497042743.
• 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.