Portugal’s Corpse Queen | Inêz De Castro, Wife of Pedro I of Portugal

From History Calling

Was Inêz de Castro, the posthumous Queen of Pedro I of Portugal, crowned years after her murder in a gruesome coronation ceremony organised by her widower? This is the story of arguably the most tragic Queen ever, who is sometimes called Portugal’s corpse Queen and who was the direct ancestor of Catherine of Aragon and Mary I of England. Inêz de Castro was born into the nobility in around 1325 and became a lady-in-waiting to Constanza of Castile, the wife of the then Prince Pedro, in 1339. Pedro fell in love with the teenage servant though and began a doomed affair with her. Despite Inêz being sent into exile in Albuquerque in 1344 by Pedro’s father, King Afonso IV, when Constanza died, Pedro returned to his mistress. The political upheaval caused by the Prince’s refusal to give Inêz up and claims that their offspring could hold the crown led Alfonso to have the young woman brutally murdered in front of her children in January 1355 in Coimbra. The three assassins were called Pêro Coelho, Álvaro Gonçalves and Diogo Lopes Pacheco. Pedro reacted by revolting against his father and though the revolt was unsuccessful, two years later Alfonso died and Pedro acceded to the throne. He announced that he and Inêz had married and that their four children were legitimate. He had her remains moved to the Royal Monastery of Alcobaça and built a grand tomb for her. When he too died, he was buried next to her, with the pair looking at each other for eternity. He also managed to get a hold of two of the assassins and have them brutally executed. This much is confirmed by near contemporary sources, but later writers claimed that Pedro went one step further, having Inêz’s corpse crowned Queen (despite the fact she died while he was still a Prince) and forcing his courtiers to swear allegiance to her. Is it true though? Was Inêz de Castro really crowned Queen? Today on History Calling I look at the story of Portugal’s real life Romeo and Juliette and of what happened to Inêz de Castro. I will use original sources, including the Chronicle of Pedro I, written by Fernão Lopes.