Beatrice (, ; 7–13 February 1373 – ) was the only surviving legitimate child of King Ferdinand I of Portugal and his wife, Leonor Teles. She became Queen consort of Castile by marriage to King John I of Castile. Following her father's death without a legitimate male heir, she claimed the Portuguese throne but lost her claim to her uncle, who became King John I of Portugal, founder of the House of Aviz.
During her early years, Beatrice was a pawn in the changing politics of foreign alliances of her father, who negotiated successive marriages for her. She would eventually marry King John I of Castile, by whom Beatrice became Queen Consort of Castile. At the death of her father, Beatrice was proclaimed Queen regnant of Portugal and her mother assumed the regency in her name. Opposition to the regency, fear of the Castilian domination and loss of Portuguese independenceAyala's Chronicles, Madrid's edition 1780, book II, since page 292. led to a popular rebellion and civil war between the late King Ferdinand I's illegitimate brother, John of Aviz, who wrested control of the regency from the dowager queen, and the supporters of Beatrice and her husband, John I of Castile, who claimed the throne of Portugal by right of his wife. In 1385, John of Aviz was proclaimed King of Portugal, and the King of Castile was definitively defeated in the Battle of Aljubarrota, effectively ending any prospects for Beatrice and her husband to assert their rights to the Portuguese crown.
From that time, Queen Beatrice took a special interest in the welfare of the Portuguese exiles in Castile who had been faithful to her dynastic claim to the Portuguese throne. After the death of her husband, she was relegated to a secondary level in the Castilian court. However, the dynastic strife continued to represent a challenge to the normalization of relations between Castile and Portugal. From the second decade of the 15th century onwards, her documentary trail became scarce until she completely disappeared about 1420.
Life Early years and betrothals Beatrice was born in Coimbra, during the brief siege of the city by Castilian troops during the second Fernandine War (1372–73). The siege was lifted and King Henry II of Castile continued to Santarém and then Lisbon. During the siege of Lisbon, Cardinal legate Guido of Bologna obtained an agreement between the Kings of Castile and Portugal, the Peace of Santarém. According to that treaty, King Ferdinand I of Portugal would abandon the Petrist cause, his claim to dynastic legitimacy that originated after the assassination of King Peter I of Castile in 1369. Two marriages were celebrated between the two royal families to reinforce the peace:Suárez Fernández 1976, p. 406. between Sancho Alfonso, 1st Count of Alburquerque, brother of Henry, and Beatrice, half-sister of Ferdinand, and between Alfonso Enríquez, Henry's natural son, and Ferdinand's illegitimate daughter Isabel. In addition, a betrothal was arranged between Beatrice, Ferdinand I of Portugal's newborn daughter, and Fadrique, created Duke of Benavente, another natural son of King Henry II of Castile.
The Cortes de Leiria of 1376 pledged to support Beatrice as heiress of the throne,Stephens 1891, p. 106. accepting her betrothal with the Duke of Benavente. The betrothal was solemnized in Leiria on 24 November 1376, and on 3 January 1377 was accepted by King Henry II.
Fernando I's will of 1378 ratified all agreements concerning Beatrice, adding that in the absence of Beatrice or any descendants, the Portuguese king's half-brothers, the children of Inês de Castro (John, Diniz and Beatrice) were disinherited, and the throne of Portugal would pass to any hypothetical sisters of Beatrice, and after them, to Duke Fadrique of Benavente. To ensure the succession of the throne in her daughter, Queen Leonor Teles devised a plot against John of Portugal, in which the Queen's own sister María Teles, John's wife, was accused of adultery and killed by her husband in June 1379. Although John later obtained the royal pardon, he opted to flee to Castile, fearful of the Teles family.Livermore 1947, p. 171.
In May 1379 King Henry II of Castile died and his son John I succeeded him. Once these events were known in the Portuguese court, negotiations began for the betrothal of Beatrice with the first-born son of the new King, the future Henry III of Castile, in order to counter any aspiration of John of Portugal to the throne with the political and military support of the Castilians.Olivera Serrano 2005, p. 69. The 21 May 1380 agreement stipulated that the wedding would be celebrated when the 1-year-old prince reached the age of 14. It also established the succession. If Beatrice died before the marriage and her father had no more legitimate offspring, the throne would pass to John I of Castile, but if she died after her marriage and without any descendants, it would go to her widower. If Henry died first, without issue by Beatrice, she would remain Queen regnant, but were she then to die without children by a subsequent marriage, the Portuguese throne would pass to the Kings of Castile. In this way the children of Inês de Castro were again denied succession. The marriage agreement was approved in the Cortes de Soria in August 1380.
By July 1380, Ferdinand I had changed his politics by secretly allying himself in the Treaty of Estremoz with King Richard II of England and the Duke of Lancaster, defenders of the Petrist cause. The King of Portugal abandoned Antipope Clement VII and swore obedience to Pope Urban VI, while his daughter Beatrice was betrothed to Edward of Norwich, son of the Earl of Cambridge and grandson of King Peter I of Castile. The negotiations for this alliance brought to Portugal a Petrist exile, Juan Fernández de Andeiro, Count of Ourém, who would later have prominent influence at the Portuguese court. When the Castilian King heard of the agreement thanks to the exiled John of Portugal, he sealed an alliance with France through the Treaty of Vincennes, accepting obedience of his kingdom to the Antipope Clement VII,O'Callaghan 1983, p. 530. and he undertook the third Fernandine War.Suárez Fernández 1981, p. 310. While King Ferdinand I and his counselors were at Elvas to discuss the war, on 19 July 1382 Queen Leonor Teles gave birth a son who lived only four days. One month later, on 10 August, the war was concluded with the Peace of Elvas,Suárez Fernández 1981, p. 312. under which a betrothal was celebrated between Beatrice and the second son of John I of Castile, the future Ferdinand I of Aragon. In addition, the Kingdom of Portugal, religiously divided by the Western Schism, returned to the obedience of Antipope Clement.
John I of Castile was widowed in 1382, and the Count of Ourém, favorite of Queen Leonor Teles, negotiated a new betrothal for Beatrice, this time with the Castilian King himself.Spain and Portugal, Graeme Mercer Adam ed., J. D. Morris, 1906 Ferdinand agonized over the proposed marriage. It would seem to secure the succession of Beatrice,Livermore 1947, p. 173. because she would have a powerful neighboring monarch as an ally who could counteract the aspirations of John of Portugal and his siblings instead of supporting them, yet on the other hand the Castilian King, having to reside in Castile, would have to leave the affairs of Portugal in the hands of Queen Leonor as regent.Campos 2008, pp. 154–156. The marriage contract was signed on 2 April 1383 in Salvaterra de Magos. The contract stipulated that at the death of Ferdinand I without sons, the crown would pass to Beatrice, and her husband would be titled King of Portugal.O'Callaghan 1983, p. 531.Gebhardt 1864, p. 140. However, both sides agreed that the Kingdoms of Castile and Portugal would not unite, and to guarantee this Queen Leonor Teles would remain as regent and in charge of the government of Portugal until Beatrice had a son who reached 14 years of age, who would then assume the government and title of King of Portugal in place of his parents.Stephens 1891, p. 107. If Beatrice died without surviving children, the crown would pass to other hypothetical sisters, and if there were none it would pass to John I of Castile, and through him to his son Prince Henry, again disinheriting the children of Inês de Castro. The succession of Castile also was stipulated: in case the succession of John and of his two sons failed, the crown would pass to his sister Eleanor, and if she also died without offspring, the Castilian throne would pass to King Ferdinand I Portugal and his descendants.Campos 2008, p. 132. During the preparation of the marriage contract, the King of Castile objected to the dowry assigned to Beatrice and also disagreed that his sons by her had to be raised in Portugal, that Queen Leonor Teles could hold the regency in Portugal, and that the border fortresses had to be in Portuguese hands, but in view that it offered him the Kingdom of Portugal, these objections were viewed as secondary and he accepted the agreement.Campos 2008, p. 136.
Pedro de Luna, a pontifical legate for the Kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Portugal and Navarre, solemnized the betrothal at Elvas on 14 May 1383,Fernão Lopes, Chronicle of D. Ferdinand, chapters CLXIV - CLXVII and the official wedding ceremony took place on 17 May in Badajoz Cathedral. To ensure compliance with the Treaty, on 21 May a group of Castilian knights and prelates swore to denaturalize from the Kingdom and fight against their monarch if the Castilian King broke the agreements made in the marriage contract, and in the same way a group of Portuguese knights and prelates (among them the Master of Aviz) made the same oath if the Portuguese King broke the treaty with Castile. Later, Beatrice approved in her own name what was agreed at Salvaterra de Magos. Once the wedding took place, she went to live in Castile with her husband. The marriage contract was taken to the Cortes de Santarém of August and September to swear to accept Beatrice and John I of Castile as heirs of Portugal, although these acts were not conserved. For her part, Queen Leonor Teles gave birth on 27 September to a daughter who lived only a few days,Olivera Serrano 2005, p. 91. so Beatrice remained the only legitimate child of King Ferdinand I.
Crisis of 1383–1385 King Ferdinand I of Portugal died on 22 October 1383. Leonor Teles, his widow, in accordance with the Treaty of Salvaterra and the testament of the deceased monarch, assumed the regency and government of the Kingdom in the name of her daughter.Schäffer 1840, p. 309. The regent maintained her clique of Castilian Petrists, which strengthened an opposition faction that demanded that the Council of the regent only included councillors of Portuguese origin.Campos 2008, pp. 221–222.
News of the death of the Portuguese King came to John I of Castile and Beatrice in Torrijos, and they immediately closed the Cortes in Segovia. The Master of Aviz wrote to the Castilian monarch urging him to take the Portuguese crown that belonged to him through his wife, and that the Master himself be made regent on their behalf. To avoid dynastic conflicts with John of Portugal (first-born son of Inês de Castro) the Castilian King imprisoned him in the Alcázar of Toledo, and there adopted the title and the arms of King of Portugal, which was recognized by Antipope Clement VII. Later, he convened the Royal Council in Montalbán and sent Alfonso López de Tejeda to Portugal with instructions to the regent to proclaim him and his wife King and Queen of Portugal.Livermore 1947, p. 174.Schäffer 1840, p. 310.