Peter I King of Portugal and the Algarve ¹

   Other names for Peter were Pedro I King of Portugal and the Algarve and Peter "the Just" King of Portugal and the Algarve.

  Research Notes:

From Wikipedia - Peter I of Portugal :

Peter I (Portuguese : Pedro, pronounced ['ped?u] ; 19 April 1320 - 18 January 1367), called the Just (Portuguese: o Justiceiro), was the eighth King of Portugal and the Algarve from 1357 until his death. He was the third but only surviving son of Afonso IV of Portugal and his wife, princess Beatrice of Castile .


Early life
Afonso IV married his daughter, Maria, to Alfonso XI of Castile, but quickly learned that she was being mistreated by her husband. Alfonso's cousin, Juan Manuel, Duke of Peñafiel , had also been rebuffed by the king when his daughter Constanza was rejected in favor of the Portuguese princess. Feeling as though his daughter was being dishonored, Afonso was glad to enter into an alliance with Juan Manuel and married his son and heir, Pedro, to Constanza.

When Constanza arrived in Portugal, Inês de Castro , the daughter of an aristocratic Castilian land-owner, accompanied her as her lady-in-waiting. Pedro fell in love with Inês very quickly, and the two conducted an affair that lasted until Constanza's death in 1345. The scandal of this affair caused Afonso to banish Inês from court, but this did not end the relationship, and the two began living together in secret.

According to the chronicle of Fernão Lopes , during this period, Pedro began giving Inês's brothers important positions at court. This behavior alarmed Afonso and made him believe that upon his death, the Portuguese throne would fall to the Castilians. This is the official motive behind Afonso's next action: he sent three men to find Inês and murder her in 1355. Pedro's rage at the murder of his love is what allegedly sparked his revolt against his father. This revolt began in 1355 and lasted into 1356, when Afonso finally defeated his son. One year later Afonso died, and Pedro succeeded to the throne.

King of Portugal
Fernão Lopes labels Pedro as "the Just" and said that Pedro loved justice --especially the dispensing of it, which he enjoyed doing for himself. Inês' assassins received his harshest punishment: the three had escaped to Castile , but Pedro arranged for them to be exchanged for Castilian fugitives residing in Portugal with his nephew, the Castilian Pedro I. One man escaped, but the other two were brought to justice, and Lopes says that Pedro ripped their hearts out with his own hands.

It is possible that Pedro of Portugal has been confused with Pedro I of Castile: both have the same name, both lived at the same time, the two were closely related, and both are credited with committing violent acts towards their subjects. Despite his gruesome legacy, Pedro of Portugal did have a peaceful reign and managed to install a system of justice which was relatively fair for the times. He attempted this with his Beneplácito Régio in 1361, which forbade any Papal Bulls to be published without his prior consent. This was a result of the number of fake papal documents that had been entering the country. He also began the "nationalization" of the military orders by placing his youngest son João (an illegitimate child born after Inês' death) as the Master of the Order of Avis. He claimed that he and Inês had been married and thus that their four children were legitimate, but nothing ever came of this. Pedro and Inês' children went to live in Castile.

Legend holds that Pedro later had Inês' body exhumed and placed upon a throne , dressed in rich robes and jewels, requiring all of his vassals to kiss the hand of the deceased "queen". This has never been proven, but what is known is that Pedro did have Inês' body removed from her resting place in Coimbra and taken to Alcobaça where her body was laid to rest in the monastery . Pedro had two tombs constructed in the monastery, one for each of them. These still exist today; they contain images of Pedro and Inês facing each other, with the words "Até o fim do mundo..." or "Until the end of the world..." inscribed on the marble .

Pedro was also the father of Fernando I and João I . João was the Master of the military order of Avis, and he would become the founder of the Avis dynasty in 1385, after defeating an attempt by Juan I to usurp the Portuguese throne.

Peter had a relationship with Teresa Lourenço. (Teresa Lourenço was born about 1330.)