Beatrice, Countess of Alburquerque

Beatrice of Portugal (Portuguese Beatriz; * 1347 in Coimbra, † July 5, 1381 in Ledesma ) was a Infanta of Portugal and Countess of Alburquerque.

Life

Beatrice was an illegitimate born 1347 daughter of the future king of Portugal Peter I and the Castilian nobles Inês de Castro. 1354 went their parents a clandestine marriage a, but her mother was already in 1355 on the orders of King Alfonso IV, the father of Peter the Great, murdered. 1361 Beatrice was legitimized by their father and thus lawful Infanta.

Beatrice's half-brother Ferdinand I. ascended the Portuguese throne in 1367 and led from 1372 to 1373 for the second time an unfortunate war against the Castilian King Henry II of Trastámara. He had to close ( March 19, 1373 ), among others, a marriage of Beatrice with Henry's brother Sancho Alfonso of Castile, the first Count of Alburquerque, providing for the peace of Santarém. From this still closed in March 1373 marriage two children were born:

• Fernando Sanchez, the second Duke of Alburquerque (* 1373, † 1385 ), fell in the battle of Aljubarrota
• Eleonore Urraca (* 1374, † 1435 ), wife of King Ferdinand I of Aragon and Sicily

The husband of Beatrice, Sancho Alfonso died. Five years later, on 19 February 1374 in 1379, accompanied Beatrice her brother, the Infante John, when he went into exile to Castile due to intrigues of the Portuguese Queen Leonora Teles de Menezes. 1381 Beatrice died at the age of about 34 years in Ledesma.