Ines de Castro with children asks the Portuguese king Alfonso IV for mercy

The Portuguese have a legend about dona Ines. She is so important to them that in 2005 the whole country celebrated 650 years since her death. The real Ines became queen of Portugal posthumously (killed on January 7, 1355). According to one version, she came from the Castilian royal house, according to another, from a family of merchants, according to the third, she is Jewish. Ines was brought up in the house of her uncle Don Juan Manuel along with her cousin Constance. In 1340, in her retinue, Constance left her country and moved to Portugal. There, Constance, as agreed, marries the heir to the throne - Prince Pedro, son of King Alfonso IV of Portugal. But, as the poets write, the prince's heart was given to dona Ines. And it was love at first sight, and Donye Ines was destined for the role of the prince's official mistress. Pedro's wife was very jealous of her cousin, but she could not help the fact that her husband was burning with an indomitable love passion for Ines, who settled in the Santa Clara monastery, in Coimbra. Don Pedro visited her and for a while their relationship lasted calmly. Ines gave birth to three boys and one girl, who, of course, were declared illegitimate. Fate decreed that after the birth of the third child, the prince's wife died. And there are rumors that 9 years after the death of Constance, Pedro and Ines were still secretly married, but no evidence of this fact was found. Meanwhile, the Ines family became more and more influential, and the king's courtiers, worried about a possible increase in Spanish influence in Portugal, persuaded King Alfonso IV to get rid of the girl. And so, when one day Pedro went hunting, three courtiers, with the approval of the king, killed Ines in front of her children. Strife with his father and hatred for the murder of his beloved prompted the prince to remove Alfonso IV from the throne. Having ascended the throne, Don Pedro I exhumed Ines and crowned her, recognizing his marriage to her as legal. Then Ines was buried in the monastery of St. Mary in Alcobas. The killers were severely punished. Don Pedro I built a mausoleum for his beloved and, according to his will, was buried opposite his beloved. And although documents confirming the coronation of the dead Ines have not been found, since there are mausoleums and tombs, the Portuguese firmly believe in this legend.

Lyudmila Nikolaevna Motychenko