Inês de Castro, la reine morte       Súplica de Inês de Castro (Inês' supplication), by Columbano Once upon a time there was a young prince named Pedro. At that time, the parents used to choose the brides for their sons. The King chose a beautiful and sweet Castilian princess, Constança, for his son Pedro. The marriage contract was settled. Among the princess' ladies-in-waiting there was one who was especially beautiful; Inês was her name... The young prince fell in love with the beautiful Inês at first sight. The marriage of Pedro and Constança took place as planned. They even had three children. Still, the young couple was not happy. Pedro and Inês met secretly in the woods of Quinta das Lágrimas, the hunting ground of the royal family. In Quinta das Lágrimas there is a stream of water called "dos amores" (of loves). Pedro placed his letters in small wooden boats that then transported them by the stream into the hands of Inês. When Constança died in childbirth, Pedro was free to live with his true love. He and Inês had four children, and their passion for each other never diminished. Now you should know that Inês came from a powerful Spanish family. The King's counselors, who were jealous of her, accused her of giving Pedro bad advice. They persuaded the King to take advantage of the Prince's temporary absence to kill Inês. She begged for mercy from the King. She even promised that Pedro would never see her again, if they let her go with their children. Her statements moved the King to relent, but his counselors stabbed Inês through her throat with a dagger. Her tears originated the Fonte das Lágrimas (Fountain of Tears), where her blood was forever engraved on the stone. This act of horror, and black night obscure, Mondego's daughter long resented deep; And, for a lasting tomb, into a pure Fountain transformed the tears which they did weep. The name they gave it (which doth still indure) Was Ynes's loves, whom Pedro did keep. No wonder, such sweet streams water those flowers: Tears, are the substance; and the name Amours. Translated by Sir Richard Fanshawe strophe 135 from OS LUSIADAS - CANTO III     When the prince returned, his pain was immense. His soul never recovered from the mourning. He ordered a burial march and all the nobility had to participate. He declared that since they were secretly married he would crown Inês as his Queen, and the nobles were obliged to kiss her hand. Pedro tried to chase his father with an army, but he had to wait to get to the throne after his father death, to fulfill his revenge. One of the three assassins escaped, but Pedro captured the other two and sentenced them to death. He had their hearts pulled out: one through the back and the other through the chest. This revenge earned Pedro the surname of The Justiciar, but he is also remembered by his faith in the final encounter in heaven with the woman he loved.         Characters: D. Pedro was the heir to the Portuguese throne occupied by his father, King D. Afonso IV. D. Pedro was born in Coimbra around 1320. In his twentieth anniversary he married D. Constança. D. Constança, wife of D. Pedro and future Queen of Portugal was the daughter of D. Juan Manuel, descendent of Afonso X, from Castela. D. Inês was a gallician lady, the bastard daughter of Pedro Fernandez de Castro, one of the most powerful men in Spain who was, like D. Pedro, the grandson of Sancho IV, King of Castile, which made D. Pedro and D. Inês cousins. D. Afonso IV, o Bravo (the Brave), tried to follow the policy of good relationship with Castela and Aragão, in order to maintain the stability of the House of Portugal.         Some historic perspective Inês de Castro belonged to a powerful family from Galiza, and was descendent of Sancho IV, the king of Castile. She was also connected to the Albuquerque family, that lead a rebellion against the King of Spain. When D. Constança died, D. Afonso IV was worried with the possiblity that his son would choose to marry D. Inês and, by that way, increase the Castro's family power in D. Pedro's future government. Advised by his counsellors, he decided to eliminate D. Inês de Castro. Everyone feared that, by the influence of the Castro family, D. Pedro would take place in the internal wars in Castela. That was almost to happen in the end of the year of 1354, but it was forbidden by Afonso IV himself. The counsellors were also afraid of loosing the influence that they had on D. Pedro and on the old monarch. While D. Pedro was on a hunt they took the chance to carry on with the decision they had taken. The executioners were Álvaro Gonçalves, Diogo Lopes Pacheco and Pedro Coelho, men acting under the king's protection. After Inês dead, D. Pedro rebelled against his father, but they finally signed a peace accord, in which Pedro agreed to forgive the executioners, a promise he never kept. In 1360 D. Pedro announced that he had married Inês secretly. This was a polemic declaration since some fundamental facts weren't very clear. Also the real meaning of this declaration was, probably, to legitimate his children with D. Inês. This Declaration was, in fact, a similar action as the legendary post-mortem coronation of Inês de Castro as Queen of Portugal. On that occasion, he gave the order for their graves to be built in the monument of Alcobaça, where he too was buried.     Literary richness The love between D. Pedro and D. Inês, her tragic death by political reasons, D. Pedro's proclamation of D. Inês as a Queen even after her death, and his final revenge, have been told over and over again throughout the centuries. The great poet Camões dedicated a part of the epic Lusíadas to this legend but other names, Portuguese as well as foreigners, left in their works testimony of this episode of Portuguese history. Among them Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Ezra Pound, Stendhal, Henri de Montherlant, António Ferreira, Garcia de Resende, Agustina Bessa-Luis, and Manuel Alegre only to refer a few. Inês story was associated by Andrée Christiensen in Le Châtiment d'Orphée to Orpheus and Eurydice Myth. Christiensen also called the attention to the fact that she was not honored in life, only after her death Pedro sacred their love. "Il ne nous reste que ce tombeau dont la sculpture offre une ressemblance avec Inês de Castro mais l'image est idéalisée, figée, et ne porte aucune trace de la réalité douloureuse vécue." (We only have this tomb, in wich statue offers us an idealized image of the Queen, and we don't have any mark of the painful reality.)     Conclusion Ironically, the political stability desired by D. Afonso IV was compromised thirty years later. The premature death of D. Fernando (son of D. Pedro) and the marriage of his only daughter with D. João, King of Castela, started a succession crisis (1383-1385) which almost drove to the annexation of Portugal into Castela. This Crisis was solved by the acclamation, as King of Portugal, of D. João, Master of Aviz, natural son of D. Pedro and Teresa Lourenço, born after the death of D. Inês. D. Duarte, first son of D. João I, married in 1428 D. Leonor of Aragão, granddaughter of Inês de Castro. From Inês have, after all, born all of the kings of the Discoveries dynasty.