Fernando, Lord of Serpa

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.

Infante Fernando
Lord of Serpa and Lamego
Coat of arms of Infante Fernando
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	Portuguese House of Burgundy
Father	Afonso II of Portugal
Mother	Urraca 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 on 19 January 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 Sancho 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, Count of Portugal 8. Afonso I of Portugal 17. Teresa of León 4. Sancho I of Portugal 18. Amadeus III, Count of Savoy 9. Mafalda 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. Petronilla of Aragon 23. Agnes of Aquitaine 1. Fernando, Lord of Serpa 24. Alfonso VII of León and Castile 12. Sancho III of Castile 25. Berengaria of Barcelona 6. Alfonso VIII of Castile 26. García Ramírez of Navarre 13. Blanche of Navarre 27. Margaret of 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. Aénor of 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). VIII (III). Porto: Universidade do Porto: 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). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Sotto Mayor Pizarro, José Augusto (1997). Linhagens Medievais Portuguesas: Genealogias e Estratégias (1279-1325) (in Portuguese). Oporto: Doctorate thesis, author’s edition. hdl:10216/18023.