Inês and Pedro: Portugal’s Tragic Love Story

This is a story about 2 souls, Inês and Pedro, who embark on a journey where love is their salvation and betrayal their greatest adversary.

Before our first trip to Portugal, I was doing some research on things that I wanted to see. I was also reading a history book called The Portuguese: a Modern History by Barry Hatton and it mentioned the story of Pedro and Ines in it and I was intrigued.

So I did a little research and read up on these two and and thought this was one of the most memorable love stories I have ever heard. Some call it the Romeo and Juliet of Portugal. It is sort of that tragic.

The marriage

So the year is 1340 and Alfonso IV is the king of Portugal. Portugal has been an independent country for about two years and as any king does, he is having issues with the neighbouring kingdom, Castile, in Spain.

In order to “solve” this issue, he arranges a marriage for his son Pedro to the beautiful Constanza Manuel, a Castilian noblewoman. Pedro agrees to marry Constanza, but it is her lady in waiting, Inês de Castro that steals his heart.

A secret affair

For many years, Inês and Pedro have a “secret” affair. At first, it is not a big deal but Pedro neglects his husbandly duties and this worries Alfonso.

So, in 1344, Alfonso has Inês banned from the court to the border of Portugal. But this does not stop the two from seeing each other. They rendezvous with each other secretly for years. 

An early death

In 1355, Constanza dies giving birth to her only son, Ferdinand. Unfortunately for Pedro, Alfonso does not approve of the match between Inês and Pedro and tries to get Pedro to marry someone else as quickly as possible. But Pedro refuses to marry anyone and claims to still mourn the loss of his wife.

Trouble for the future of the throne

Pedro and Ines continue their love affair, but not so much in secret now.

However, D. Alfonso refuses to allow Pedro to marry Inês. The nobles of the court are also in an uproar because Pedro is close to Inês’ brothers who are part of the Castile and the nobles believe Pedro is being influenced by them and thus making Alfonso look weak.

In addition, there are rumours that the Castile is planning on assassinating Ferdinand so that the sons of Inês and Pedro have a Castile on the throne in Portugal (thus—taking over the kingdom by default).

The affair ends tragically

In his boldness, Pedro has Inês return to Coimbra, however, Alfonso, fed up with the affair, orders Inês to be captured and killed. She is found at Santa Clara-a-Velha monastery where she was decapitated in front of her youngest child.

Pedro the cruel

Well, Pedro was livid. He was ready to start a war with his father and he even mounts a small rebellion that lasts for a few months. But his mother stepped in and convinced him to stop and he even agreed that he would not go after the men that killed Inês.

But Pedro is a patient man. When Alfonso dies in 1357, Pedro hunts down the men that killed her and ripped their hearts out if their chests. This earned him the nickname of “the cruel.”

The corpse queen

But that is not even the best part of the story!

Pedro claims as king that he and Inês were married in secret and that their children are heirs to the throne.

Legend has it that Pedro dug up his dead love, dressed her in royal robes, put her on the throne with a crown and made his nobles pledge their fealty to her by kissing her hand giving her the rites she would have had if she were alive. 

Inês and Pedro’s graves

Pedro had her body interred in a beautiful sarcophagus that now rests in the monastery in Alcobaça. They both are there and you can go visit their tombs—which I highly recommend. Both of them are displayed facing each other so that when the final judgement day arrived, they could look at each other as they ascended into heaven.

So after learning about this story, I told Beth that I wanted to visit this monastery in Alcobaça—I wanted to see these tombs and she was all for it. Unfortunately, both trips we took to Portugal last year did not get us close to them.

But since we live here, this year we took a day trip to see the tombs and I was not disappointed.

The art carved on these boxes is magnificent and so detailed. You could spend hours looking at them and not take in all of the detail.

Inês and Pedro in Serra D’EL Rei

The other way that this story is significant to us is that we live in a village that claims to be a place where Ines and Pedro would secretly meet. Dom Pedro had a hunting lodge here that is now privately owned. We also have the Dom Pedro I museum dedicated to their history and love affair and streets named after the couple. You can even find art around town dedicated to them.