Fernando, Lord of Serpa

Infante Fernando
Lord of Serpa and Lamego
Coat of Arms of Infante Fernando, Lord of Serpa.
Born	summer of 1217 Kingdom of Portugal
Died	19 January 1246 (aged 29) Kingdom of Portugal
Spouse	Sancha Fernández de Lara
Issue	Sancho Fernandes de Serpa
House	House of Burgundy
Father	Afonso II
Mother	Urraca of Castile
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Infante Fernando of Portugal (Portuguese pronunciation: [fɨɾˈnɐ̃du]), or Ferdinand in English, was a Portuguese infante (prince), son of King Afonso II of Portugal and his wife Urraca of Castile, daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castile.

Fernando was born in the summer of 1217 and was made Lord of Serpa and Lamego in 1223. It is known that he travelled to Rome in 1237 to beg for a pardon from Pope Gregory IX for his violence against certain clerics.^[1] He died January 19, 1246.

Marriage and offspring

He married Sancha Fernández de Lara,^[2] daughter of Fernando Núñez de Lara and wife Mayor González, without any documented issue.

He had, however, a bastard son by an unknown woman named Sancha Fernandes de Serpa, who was a Prior at Santo Esteban de Alfama,^[3] but had illegitimate issue, being the ancestor of the de Serpa family.

Coat of arms

In a study from the Spanish historian Faustino Menéndez-Pidal de Navascués,^[4] the infante Fernando should have used a Coat of Arms representing a Wyvern (Serpe in Portuguese), the symbol of his Lordship of Serpa, in south Alentejo, with a border where, alternately, are represented the arms of Portugal (paternal ancestry) and those of Castile (maternal ancestry).

Ancestors

Ancestors of Fernando, Lord of Serpa

16. Henry of Burgundy, Count of Portugal               8. Afonso I of Portugal                       17. Teresa of León, Countess of Portugal               4. Sancho I of Portugal                             18. Amadeus III, Count of Savoy               9. Maud of Savoy                       19. Mahaut of Albon               2. Afonso II of Portugal                                   20. Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona               10. Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona                       21. Douce I, Countess of Provence               5. Dulce of Aragon                             22. Ramiro II of Aragon               11. Petronila of Aragon                       23. Agnes of Aquitaine               1. Infante Fernando, Lord of Serpa                                         24. Alfonso VII of Castile               12. Sancho III of Castile                       25. Berenguela of Barcelona               6. Alfonso VIII of Castile                             26. García VI of Navarre               13. Blanche of Navarre                       27. Marguerite de l'Aigle               3. Urraca of Castile                                   28. Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou               14. Henry II of England                       29. Matilda of England               7. Eleanor of England                             30. William X, Duke of Aquitaine               15. Eleanor of Aquitaine                       31. Aenor de Châtellerault

References

1. Mattoso 1991, p. 1032.
2. Sánchez de Mora 2003, p. 243–244.
3. Sotto Mayor Pizarro 1997, p. 167.
4. Published in "A Monarquia Portuguesa", Reader's Digest, Lisbon, April 1999, page 368, ISBN 972-609-261-2

Bibliography

• Mattoso, José (1991). "A nobreza medieval Portuguesa no contexto peninsular" (PDF). Revista da Faculdade de Letras: História (in Portuguese) (Porto: Universidade do Porto) VIII (III): 1019–1044. ISSN 0871-164X.
• Sánchez de Mora, Antonio (2003). "La nobleza castellana en la plena Edad Media: el linaje de Lara. Tesis doctoral. Universidad de Sevilla" (in Spanish).
• Sotto Mayor Pizarro, José Augusto (1997). Linhagens Medievais Portuguesas: Genealogias e Estratégias (1279-1325) (in Portuguese). Oporto: Doctorate thesis, author’s edition.