Peter, Duke of Coimbra

Peter of Portugal (* December 9, 1392, † May 20, 1449 ) was Prince of Portugal from the house of Avis and first Duke of Coimbra. He ruled Portugal as Prince Regent from 1439 to 1449.

Life

Peter was born on December 9, 1392, the third son of John I of Portugal and his wife Philippa of Lancaster. He was thus a brother of the Portuguese King Edward I, as well as Henry the Navigator.

In his youth he wanted to know the world and embarked on a ten- year journey to the " seven of the world " ( " viagem pelas sete partidas do mundo " ), on which he personally met with many of the then rulers. He left Lisbon in 1418 and first went to Valladolid, where he met ( his cousin ) with the King of Castile. He later moved to Hungary, where he was received by Emperor Sigismund. For the emperor, he fought in the Hussite Wars in Bohemia. In 1424 he traveled to Cyprus and from there to Palestine. In Rome he was received by Pope Martin V.. His journey continued to Flanders and then to the island of Patmos, where he met with Sultan Murad II of the Ottoman Empire. Here he visited Constantinople Opel, Alexandria, Cairo, traveled from there to Paris, Denmark and finally to London, where he was received by King Henry IV.

Again, in Flanders, he arranged the marriage of his sister Elizabeth Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy. Peter remained for two years in Flanders, where it remained primarily in Bruges on. In Venice he was received by the Doge, who gave him a copy of the trip report "Il Milione " by Marco Polo. Peter gave this book together with a obtained by Emperor Sigismund world map ( mapa mundi ) to his brother Henry the Navigator on, which the documents might have been presumed to be very helpful in the planning of his expeditions. About Rome, where he was received again by the pope, he finally went back to Portugal in 1428 and met again in Coimbra.

1438 his brother died, the Portuguese King Edward I, of the plague. On these succeeded by his son Alfonso V, so the nephew of Peter of Portugal, who at the time of his father's death was still a minor, however, so that a regency was necessary.

Edward I had his widow used for this case testamentary regent. Peter succeeded, however, to eliminate them after a short time of the reign and succeeded to seek sign off his reign twice by the Cortes. During his ten-year reign, he strengthened the central royal power at the expense of the nobility.

Even after Alfonso was declared of age in 1446, Peter did not want to give up the regency and strengthened its position initially by ensuring that he was able to marry his own daughter with the young King. The king then allied himself with the Duke of Braganza, who led the opposition in the country against the nobility supported by the Prince Regent Peter centralization tendencies in Portuguese politics. Even the king's mother supported him against Peter and brought him the support of Aragon. With this assistance eventually succeeded Alfonso V, to defeat his uncle and father in the Battle of Alfarrobeira 1449, fell in Peter.

Family

Peter of Portugal married in 1429 Elisabeth ( Isabel ) of Aragón ( * 1409, † 1443 ), daughter of Count James II of Urgell, with whom he had the following children:

• Peter of Aragon (* 1429, † June 30, 1466 )
• Johann († 1457 )
• Elisabeth ( Isabel ) (* 1432, † December 2, 1455 ) ∞ 1447 King Alfonso V of Portugal
• James ( Jaime ) (* 1434, † April 15, 1459 ), Cardinal Archbishop of Lisbon
• Beatrix (* 1435, † February 1462 ) ∞ 1453 Adolf of Cleves, Lord of Ravenstein
• Philippa (* 1437, † July 25, 1497 ).

Monument

His statue is seen in Padrão dos Descobrimentos in Lisbon.