Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Isabel of Coimbra
Queen of Portugal from 1447 to 1455 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Infanta Isabel of Coimbra (Isabella of Portugal) (1 March 1432 – 2 December 1455)[1] was a Portuguese infanta and Queen of Portugal as the first wife of King Afonso V of Portugal.
Remove ads
Biography
Summarize
Perspective
Early life and background
Born in Coimbra in 1432, Isabella was the eldest daughter of the Infante Peter, Duke of Coimbra and Isabella of Aragon, Countess of Urgel.[2][3] Her paternal grandfather was King John I of Portugal and her maternal grandfather was James II, Count of Urgel. Beginning in 1439, Isabella's father Peter served as regent for her cousin Afonso V during his minority.[4][5]
Isabella received a comprehensive Renaissance education influenced by the works of Christine de Pizan.[6]
In accordance with the wishes of the late Edward of Portugal, Peter arranged Isabella's betrothal to Afonso V in 1441.[3][7] The engagement caused conflict with Afonso, Count of Barcelos, Peter's half-brother and political enemy, who had wished for the monarch to marry his granddaughter.[8][9] Relations further deteriorated when Peter had Isabella's brother elected the Constable of Portugal in 1443, a title that the Count of Barcelos believed rightfully belonged to his eldest son, Afonso, Marquis of Valença.[10][11]
Queen
Isabella and Afonso V were married on 6 May 1447.[3][12] Both bride and groom were fifteen.[13] Isabella was given the income of Santarém, Alvaiázere, Sintra and Torres Vedras at her wedding.[citation needed]
The Count of Barcelos began to wield more influence over Afonso and persuaded him to dismiss Peter in July 1448. Tensions escalated in the following months; Afonso annulled all edicts passed during the regency, stripped Isabella's brother of the title of Constable, and isolated Peter to his estates in Coimbra. In early 1449, Afonso interpreted Peter's refusal to yield all arms as an act of rebellion and began preparing for civil war.[14][15]
Deeply devoted to both her husband and her father, Isabella did her best to mediate.[16] She reportedly dropped to her knees and implored Afonso to have mercy on Peter.[17][18] Afonso responded that he would be lenient if his father-in-law requested pardon.[19] Peter reluctantly agreed, writing to Isabella, "This I do, lady, rather to please you, and because you have so bidden me, than because I deem it in reason for me to do."[18] Afonso considered the penitence insincere and therefore unacceptable.[19]
Isabella's father rebelled and was killed in the Battle of Alfarrobeira in 1449.[20] Her siblings were then exiled: John, James, and Beatrice went to the court of their aunt Isabella in Burgundy, while her brother Peter fled to Castile.[21] Isabella herself did not fall out of favour with the king, however, and she took control of the duchy of Coimbra until her brother John returned to Portugal in 1454.
In 1455, Isabella had her father honoured with a ceremony of exoneration at court and had him re-buried in a grand way.[22] Shortly after this, she died at age twenty-three, possibly from poisoning.[23][24] In her will, she left her inheritance to her sister, Philippa of Coimbra.[25]
Remove ads
Issue
Isabella had three children:
- John, Prince of Portugal (29 January 1451)
- Joan, Princess of Portugal (6 February 1452 – 12 May 1490): Known as Saint Joan of Portugal or Saint Princess Joan. She was beatified in 1693 by Pope Innocent XII.
- John II of Portugal (3 March 1455 – 25 October 1495): Succeeded his father as 13th King of Portugal.
Ancestry
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads