Pedro I of Portugal
Pedro I of Portugal had his murdered lover exhumed and, by tradition, crowned. Born in Coimbra in 1320, the son of Afonso IV, he was married in 1340 to Constanza of Castile and fell in love with Inês de Castro, a Galician noblewoman in her household. Constanza died in 1345, and Pedro lived openly with Inês and had four children by her. The objection was political. Her brothers were exiled Castilian nobles with claims of their own, and the court believed their influence over Pedro threatened Portuguese independence and the position of his legitimate heir. In January 1355 Afonso IV authorised her killing, and she was murdered at the Quinta das Lágrimas in Coimbra, reportedly in front of her children. Pedro rose in revolt and devastated the country between Douro and Minho before being reconciled with his father, who died in 1357. As king he pursued the killers, obtained two of them from Castile in an exchange of exiles, and had their hearts torn out — one through the chest and one through the back — while he watched and dined. In 1360 he declared that he had married Inês secretly at Bragança years earlier, making her queen and their children legitimate. The tradition that he exhumed her body, seated it on a throne and made the court kiss its hand appears in later chronicles and is not contemporary. He built matching tombs at Alcobaça, facing each other so that at the resurrection they would see one another first. He was otherwise a competent king who dispensed justice personally and was called the Just. He died in 1367. His son by Constanza became Fernando I, and his son by Ines founded no line.
- Lived: 1320 CE – 1367 CE
- Nationality: Portuguese
- Roles: king, head_of_state
