View source for Maria of Portugal, Queen of Castile

{{Short description|Queen of Castile and León from 1328 to 1350}}
{{Other people||Maria of Portugal (disambiguation){{!}}Maria of Portugal}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2015}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}

{{Infobox royalty
| consort      = yes
| name         = Maria of Portugal
| image        = MariaPortugal.jpg
| caption = Depiction in the ''Liber Genealogiae Regum Hispaniae''
| succession   = [[Queen consort of Castile]] and [[List of Leonese consorts|León]]
| reign        = 1328–1350
| coronation   = 
| spouse       = [[Alfonso XI of Castile]]
| issue        = [[Peter of Castile]]
| house        = [[Portuguese House of Burgundy]]
| father       = [[Afonso IV of Portugal]]
| mother       = [[Beatrice of Castile (1293–1359)|Beatrice of Castile]]
| birth_date   = 9 February 1313
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|1357|1|18|1313|2|9|df=yes}}
| death_place  = [[Évora]]
| burial_place = Royal Monastery of San Clemente in [[Seville]]
}}

'''Maria of Portugal''' ({{IPA|pt|mɐˈɾiɐ}}) (9 February 1313 – 18 January 1357) was a Portuguese princess who became [[Queen consort of Castile|Queen of Castile]] upon her marriage to [[Alfonso XI]] in 1328.{{Sfn|Borrero Fernández|1991|p=66}} She was the eldest daughter of King [[Afonso IV of Portugal]] and his wife [[Beatrice of Castile (1293–1359)|Beatrice of Castile]].{{sfn|Previte-Orton|1960|p=902}}

== Life ==
In 1328, Maria married Alfonso XI of Castile.{{sfn|Estow|1995|p=5}} As part of the [[dower]], King Alfonso gave her [[Guadalajara (España)|Guadalajara]], [[Talavera de la Reina]] and [[Olmedo, Valladolid|Olmedo]].

The relationship between Maria and Alfonso was unhappy: Alfonso had a relationship with [[Eleanor de Guzmán|Leonor de Guzmán]] who gave him ten children, including the future King [[Henry II of Castile]]. Maria did not participate in the affairs of the court, being replaced by the royal mistress, and it is quite likely that she spent long periods secluded at the Royal Monastery of San Clemente in [[Seville]].{{Sfn|Borrero Fernández|1991|p=66}}

In 1335, Maria returned to her father in Évora, who demanded that Alfonso separated from Leonor. In the peace treaty of Seville in July 1340,{{sfn|Dutra|2013|p=37}} Alfonso agreed to have Leonor sent to a convent, thereby securing the support of the King of Portugal in the [[Battle of Río Salado]] which was fought on 30 October 1340, although, once the military conflict had been resolved, he returned to his mistress and did not fulfill the promise he had made to the Portuguese monarch.

At Alfonso's death, on 26 March 1350, Maria secured a power position by exerting influence upon the leader of her son's council, [[João Afonso de Albuquerque]]. She ordered the murder of her husband's mistress, Leonor de Guzmán, in the spring of 1351 in [[Talavera de la Reina]].{{Sfn|Valdeón Baruque|2002|p=117}} Maria also participated in the rebellion against her son in 1354. On 16 January 1356, when she was in the Alcázar of [[Toro, Zamora|Toro]], King Peter, accompanied by several squires, entered the place and ordered the killing of several nobles who accompanied the Queen, including her ''mayordomo'' [[Martim Afonso Telo de Meneses]].{{Sfn|López de Ayala|1780|pp=207-208}} After this, she returned to Portugal.

== Death and Burial ==
[[File: María de Portugal. Sepulcro.jpg|thumb|220px|The tomb of Maria of Portugal at the Royal Monastery of San Clemente in Seville.]]

Maria had executed a will in Valladolid on 8 November 1351 in which she asked to be buried at the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral of Seville where her husband Alfonso XI had been buried and that, if his remains were transferred to another church, hers should also be transferred and buried alongside her husband.{{Sfn|Borrero Fernández|1991|p=67}}

She died in [[Évora]] on 18 January 1357 and was buried there until, against the wishes expressed in her will, her remains were transferred to the Royal Monastery of San Clemente in Seville. In 1371, King Henry II had ordered that his father, King Alfonso XI, should receive burial at the [[Royal Collegiate Church of Saint Hippolytus]] in [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Córdoba]] and at the same time, he probably decided that Maria, who had been responsible for his mother's death, should be buried at the Royal Monastery of San Clemente in Seville.{{Sfn|Borrero Fernández|1991|p=69}} The gravestone made of simple tiles at the monastery mentions that she is buried there with two "tender infants".{{efn|Until recently, it was believed that she and King Alfonso had been the parents of the firstborn, Fernando, who died as an infant a few months after his birth. The reference to another infant in the tombstone is also mentioned in some parchments discovered in 1813 when the remains buried at the church of the Monastery were exhumed. These parchments mention that two infants had been buried with their mother, Queen Maria.{{Sfn|Borrero Fernández|1991|p=69}}}}

== Children ==
{{right|
{{Gallery|width=200|height=200
|File:Coat of Arms of Constance and Mary of Portugal as Queens of Castile.svg|alt1=See adjacent text|Coat of arms of Maria of Portugal as Queen Consort of Castile
}}
}}
* Two sons buried with their mother in the Royal Monastery of San Clemente in [[Seville]].{{Sfn|Borrero Fernández|1991|p=69}} One of them, the firstborn Fernando, died a few months after birth.{{sfn|Guillén|2020|p=120}}
* [[Peter of Castile]] (1334–1369),{{sfn|Guillén|2020|p=120}} King of Castile and León at the death of his father in 1350. He married [[Maria de Padilla]], [[Blanche of Bourbon]] and [[Juana de Castro]]. His remains lie today in the crypt of the royal chapel of the [[Cathedral of Seville]].

== Notes ==

{{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==

* {{cite book| last =Borrero Fernández| first = Mercedes| title = El Real Monasterio de San Clemente: Un monasterio cisterciense en la Sevilla Medieval| year = 1991| publisher = Comisaría de la Ciudad de Sevilla para 1992, Ayuntamiento de Sevilla| location = Sevilla| isbn = 84-7952-013-2}}
* {{cite book | last = Díaz Martín|first = Luis Vicente|publisher = Ediciones Trea S.L.| title = Pedro I el Cruel, 1350–1369| edition = 2nd| year = 2007| location = Gijón| isbn = 978-8497042741}}
* {{Cite book |last=López de Ayala|first=Pedro|author-link=Pero López de Ayala|title= Crónica de los Reyes de Castilla, Don Pedro, Don Enrique II, Don Juan I, Don Enrique III|url=http://bibliotecadigital.jcyl.es/i18n/consulta/registro.cmd?id=8181|year=1780|publisher = Imprenta de D. Antonio de Sancha|location=Madrid|oclc=2921347}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |title=Afonso IV, King of Portugal |first=Francis A. |last=Dutra |encyclopedia=Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia |editor-first=E. Michael |editor-last=Gerli |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 }}
* {{cite book |title=Pedro the Cruel of Castile (1350-1369) |first=Clara |last=Estow |publisher=1995 |year=1995 }}
* {{cite book |title= The Triumph of an Accursed Lineage: Kingship in Castile from Alfonso X to Alfonso XI (1252-1350) |first=Fernando Arias |last=Guillén |publisher=Routledge |year=2020 }}
* {{cite book |title=The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History |first=C.W. |last=Previte-Orton |volume=II: The Twelfth Century to the Renaissance |publisher=Cambridge at the University Press |year=1960  }}
* {{cite book|title= Pedro I el Cruel y Enrique de Trastámara|first= Julio|last= Valdeón Baruque|publisher= Santillana Ediciones Generales, S.L.|year= 2002}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-roy}}
{{S-break}}
{{S-vac|last=[[Constance of Peñafiel]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Queen consort of Castile]] and [[List of Leonese royal consorts|León]]|years=1328–1350}}
{{S-vac|next=[[Blanche of Bourbon]]}}
{{S-break}}
{{S-end}}
{{Castilian consorts}}
{{Leonese royal consorts}}
{{Portuguese infantas}}
{{House of Burgundy-Portugal}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Queens consort of Castile]]
[[Category:Queens consort of Leon]]
[[Category:Galician queens consort]]
[[Category:Portuguese infantas]]
[[Category:House of Burgundy-Portugal]]
[[Category:Burials at Seville Cathedral]]
[[Category:1313 births]]
[[Category:1357 deaths]]
[[Category:14th-century Portuguese people]]
[[Category:14th-century Portuguese women]]
[[Category:14th-century Castilians]]
[[Category:14th-century Spanish women]]
[[Category:Daughters of kings]]
[[Category:Castilian queen mothers]]
[[Category:Leonese queen mothers]]