Portugese Monarch. Called "The Beautiful", he reigned as King of Portugal from 1367 to 1383. He was the son and legal heir of King Pedro I and his queen Constance of Castile. On the death of King Pedro I the Cruel of Castile in 1369, Dom Fernando, as great grandson of King Sancho IV of Castile, laid claim to the vacant throne in the neighbouring country, for which the kings of Aragon and Navarra and later the Duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt, also became competitors. Meanwhile Enrique de Trastámara, illigitimate brother and assassin of Pedro I of Castile, had assumed the crown. Peace was settled by the mediation of pope Gergory XI with a treaty, ratified in 1371. This treaty included a marriage between Dom Fernando and the princess Leonor of Castile. But before the union could take place, Dom Fernando had become passionately attached to Leonor Telles de Menezes, the wife of one of his courtiers. After the dissolution of that marriage, he lost no time in making her his queen. This strange conduct of course meant war with Castile, a war that ended in Bajadoz in 1382, which resolved in a new union between the crowns of Portugal and Castile, as it was decided, that Fernando's og Leonor's daughter Beatrice should marry the future King Juan I of Castile. Dom Fernando I left no male heir when he died on October 22nd, 1383, and the direct Burgundian line, which had been in possession of the throne since the days of Count Henrique the Founder (1112), became extinct. His half-brother, the illegitimate son of King Pedro I, Dom João ascended the throne as King João I, founder of the Royal House of Aviz in 1385.
Portugese Monarch. Called "The Beautiful", he reigned as King of Portugal from 1367 to 1383. He was the son and legal heir of King Pedro I and his queen Constance of Castile. On the death of King Pedro I the Cruel of Castile in 1369, Dom Fernando, as great grandson of King Sancho IV of Castile, laid claim to the vacant throne in the neighbouring country, for which the kings of Aragon and Navarra and later the Duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt, also became competitors. Meanwhile Enrique de Trastámara, illigitimate brother and assassin of Pedro I of Castile, had assumed the crown. Peace was settled by the mediation of pope Gergory XI with a treaty, ratified in 1371. This treaty included a marriage between Dom Fernando and the princess Leonor of Castile. But before the union could take place, Dom Fernando had become passionately attached to Leonor Telles de Menezes, the wife of one of his courtiers. After the dissolution of that marriage, he lost no time in making her his queen. This strange conduct of course meant war with Castile, a war that ended in Bajadoz in 1382, which resolved in a new union between the crowns of Portugal and Castile, as it was decided, that Fernando's og Leonor's daughter Beatrice should marry the future King Juan I of Castile. Dom Fernando I left no male heir when he died on October 22nd, 1383, and the direct Burgundian line, which had been in possession of the throne since the days of Count Henrique the Founder (1112), became extinct. His half-brother, the illegitimate son of King Pedro I, Dom João ascended the throne as King João I, founder of the Royal House of Aviz in 1385.
Bio by: Benny Chordt Hansen
Gravesite Details
Body lost or destroyed during the French Invasions of Portugal, in the 19th century. His empty gothic tomb was moved in 1875 to Convento do Carmo, in Lisbon.
Family Members
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