WEBVTT - The Corpse of Inês de Castro 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:04.440 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:09.880 and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey listener discretion advised. Hey, 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:12.720 this is Danish Schwartz. Before we begin, just a quick 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:16.160 reminder that I wrote a book that's coming out in February. 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.479 It's called Immortality, a Love Story, and it's the sequel 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:21.760 to the book I wrote called Anatomy, a love story 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:23.639 all about a young woman who wants to be a 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:27.560 surgeon in the early eighteen hundreds in Scotland, and a 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:30.960 lot of characters actually that I've covered on this podcast 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:36.320 appear in Immortality. So if you like this podcast, please preorder. 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:38.400 It makes a huge amount of difference and I would 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:40.920 really appreciate it. If you also want to support the 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:44.160 show in other ways, we have a Patreon and March available. 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:47.080 Those links are in the bio, but the best support 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:49.320 is just that you're listening to the show, So thank 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:52.879 you so much. Before we get started this week, I 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:55.400 just want to give a quick content warning for some 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:59.480 listeners who might be sensitive. This episode has um, particularly 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:02.959 gruce Um, Blood and Gore in detail, and so some 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:12.200 listener discretion is advised. On a night in the year 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:16.920 thirteen sixty King Pedro the First of Portugal sat down 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:19.720 in his castle's dining hall in sent o m for 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:25.120 what he expected to be an especially satisfying meal. Servants 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:29.399 walked in with platters piled high with assorted meats, while 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:32.920 bottles of wine were being brought forth for the king's approval. 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:38.720 Though despite the extravagant spread, it quickly became apparent to 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:42.200 all in the room that the king didn't have much 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:46.600 interest in the feast laid out before him. Between the 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:51.360 softly taken footsteps of servers and the muted clatter of 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:55.120 cutlery against serving dishes, the air that was hanging in 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:59.160 the dining hall that evening was charged with a layer 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:03.800 of antis A patient Those in the room attempted to 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:07.960 maintain the facade of normalcy, but at the center of 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:13.600 it all, the king sat motionless, his vacant gaze unmoving 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:19.120 as plate after plate of untouched food arrived in front 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:23.480 of him. Perhaps the king wasn't looking at his plate 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:26.840 so much as he was staring at the knife next 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:32.160 to it, watching the metal glint invitingly in the flickers 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:36.760 of candlelight around the room. Or maybe he was distracted 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:41.320 by the empty chair next to him the space that 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:45.200 had once upon a time been reserved for his queen, 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:49.799 his beloved, and as de Castro, the woman who continued 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:53.360 to hold his heart, even if he could only see 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:58.400 her in the negative spaces that, even five years after 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:04.760 her death persist did inexorably like an opened wound. Whatever 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:09.160 was holding the King's attention during that dinner, the audible 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:13.520 trail of footsteps echoing from beyond the dining hall quickly 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:18.160 shifted his focus back into the present, His eyes locked 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:22.520 onto the door with newfound excitement, just as the entry 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:26.280 gave way and his guards at long last brought in 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:30.040 the final two dinner guests that the king had been 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:35.400 waiting for that evening, though really King Pedro had been 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:38.880 waiting for these two men for the better part of 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:44.200 five years. The two guests in question were Alvaro Gonzales 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:47.920 and Pero Coilo, two of the men responsible for the 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:51.840 brutal murder of the King's beloved and as to Castro 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:57.280 in thirteen fifty five. After years of searching, King Pedro 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:00.720 had finally managed to track two of the assas essence down, 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:05.119 bringing them back to Portugal to stand trial for their crimes. 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:10.160 Of course, the main perpetrator in his love's murder was 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:15.680 Pedro's own father, King Alfonso the Fourth, but considering that 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:19.320 the late king had died in thirteen fifty seven, there 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:22.080 was little more Pedro could do to punish his father 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:27.080 from this side of the earthly plane. Gonsalves and Quelo, however, 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:31.800 were still very much alive in offense that King Pedro 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:37.760 sought to rectify personally. There was little struggle from the 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:41.400 men as the armed guards marched them into the hall. 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.640 After all, upon their return to Portugal, a trial had 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:49.920 swiftly concluded that both men were guilty of murder. Their 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.640 fates had been sealed from that moment, their deaths assured. 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:58.119 All that was left was to face their sentence, though 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.800 I imagine their sense of res all all but crumbled 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:07.640 upon hearing their king's plans for them. That evening, as 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:11.720 the men were held helplessly at the King's mercy, Pedro 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:15.640 looked down at the killers with the same cold stare 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:20.839 they had likely given his beloved Inez before repeatedly running 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:26.160 their swords through her chest. The vacant expression that the 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:28.919 king had held at the beginning of the meal was 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:34.520 long gone. Vengeance was now clearly burning through all other 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:38.800 thoughts behind his eyes. For the murder of his wife, 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:44.479 Pedro's punishment was as simple as it was brutal. The 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:49.480 men were to have their hearts cut out of their chests. 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:54.520 For a moment. No one moved two, stunned by the 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:58.520 king's decree to see it put into action. For only 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:03.440 a moment, though then the guards descended upon the men, 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.600 and the room could do nothing but watch on in 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:10.680 horror as the stones on the dining room floor were 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:15.080 painted in crimson, the walls echoing an endless echo of 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:20.240 the criminal's blood curdling screams. When the bodies were finally 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:27.160 relieved of their now unbeating hearts, the hall likewise fell silent. 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:32.000 The only sound was then the scrape of knife on 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:36.800 plait as King Petrow finally dug into the dinner in 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:40.840 front of him. If Pedro noticed a change in the air, 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:44.120 he did not let on. But then again, maybe he 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:47.919 had found comfort in the grotesque display of violence he 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:51.880 had enacted. His in nas may have been gone, but 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:54.760 at least now he wasn't the only man to know 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:59.200 how it felt to live without a heart in his chest. 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:19.840 I'm Dana Schwartz and this is noble blood. Outside of Portugal, 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:23.200 the infamous love story of Pedro the First and an 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:28.200 esde Castro rarely finds its way into popular discourse. With 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:32.160 so few primary sources on the subject, let alone English 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:36.680 translations of scholarship available for public consumption, it makes sense 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:39.680 that the tale of these two ill fated lovers remains 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:45.640 outside of Portugal relatively unknown, but within Portugal itself, the 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:48.440 legend of their love story and the ties they have 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:53.400 to Portugal's medieval history makes them household names. To better 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:57.000 understand the context during which their story takes place, I 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:00.120 want to give you a very brief summary of what 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:04.080 was happening in Portugal, or more accurately, the Kingdom of 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:08.920 Portugal in the fourteenth century. During this time, the Iberian Peninsula, 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:12.640 or what we today typically think of as Spain and Portugal, 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:15.680 was comprised of four kingdoms, which for the sake of 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:18.400 time I won't go into too deeply, except for the 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:21.560 two which relate to that of our lovers, the Crown 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:26.200 of Castile and the Kingdom of Portugal. By thirteen forty, 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:30.480 the two kingdoms could only be described as having a 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:36.280 begrudgingly tolerable relationship Back in thirty eight, King Alfonso the 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:39.960 fourth of Portugal had sent his daughter Maria of Portugal 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:43.880 to be married to the King of Castile, which, rather 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:47.360 than unifying their kingdoms as one might hope a marriage, 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:52.000 would only serve to create a larger rift between them. 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.479 This was largely due to Alfonso the Fourth receiving reports 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:59.480 that his daughter was being mistreated by the King of Castile, who, 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:03.800 quite after their union, began to pretty immediately take up 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:08.360 with a mistress. In retaliation, Alfonso the Fourth arranged for 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:12.200 his son Pedro the First of Portugal to marry a 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:17.160 Castilian noble woman named Costanza Manuel. For those curious as 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:21.000 to why this specific union would be considered a retaliation, 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:26.600 Costanza was, funnily enough, the King of Castile's first wife. 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:30.120 Costanza's father had arranged her marriage with the Castilian king 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:33.360 when she was just nine years old, which meant that 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:36.600 when the previously mentioned daughter of Alfonso the Fourth of 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:40.600 Portugal was presented as another possible wife for him, the 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:45.080 king promptly annulled their unconsummated marriage so he could wed 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:50.120 Maria of Portugal instead. So really, in other words, Costanza 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.880 was the jilted first wife of the King of Castile, 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:58.959 who then chose Alfonso's daughter instead. It's a little complicated, 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.360 but I think you the basic picture. Cut to a 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:05.679 few years later, and the King of Castile is suddenly 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:08.920 faced with the consequences of his actions in the form 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:12.360 of his current and former father in law's deciding to 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:16.160 unite their collective hatred of him with the strategic marriage 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.880 between his own ex wife, Constanta Manuel and the future 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:24.040 King of Portugal, Pedro the First. Now, I'm going to 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:27.760 fast forward a bit because the ensuing war and ultimate 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:31.679 peace treaty don't exactly serve the story in any significant way. 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:35.600 But from this web of marriages and political ally ship, 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:38.600 I think the two most important points to take away 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:43.240 from this are one, regardless of treatise, tensions between the 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:46.880 Crown of Castile and the Kingdom of Portugal, we're fraying 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:53.520 dangerously thin. And two, in thirteen forty, Alfonso's son Pedro 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:58.720 would marry Costanza Manuel, which is where our story truly begins, 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:02.800 because when Constanza arrived in Portugal, she did so with 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.880 her lady in waiting, a Galician noblewoman by the name 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:13.280 of Inez de Castro. Now, unfortunately for poor Costanza neither 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:18.480 her first nor second marriage were destined to be fairytale romances. 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.840 In fact, almost as soon as she arrived at court 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:25.560 with Annez and how Pedro all but cast her aside 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:28.960 in favor of her lady in waiting. He of course 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:32.480 still performed his marital duties so as to secure himself 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:35.600 an heir to the Portuguese throne. But that was about 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:39.680 the extent of Pedro and his wife's relationship. As you 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:43.960 can probably imagine, poor Costanza was less than thrilled with 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:47.600 this development. Yes, she was set to become the future 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:50.840 Queen of Portugal and her son would one day become king, 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:55.280 but she played this game once before. One annulment later, 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:59.240 and Costanza knew all too well how precarious her seemingly 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:03.520 cemented place in court really was. So in an effort 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.960 to keep Annez from continuing her affair with Pedro, in 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:11.720 thirteen forty four, Costanza made a strategic decision and named 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:17.160 Inez her newborn child's godmother. Now this may seem counterintuitive, 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.840 doesn't it make Annez and her husband even closer, But 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:26.000 in the context of medieval Portuguese and Catholic traditions, naming 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:30.000 someone a godparent to their child essentially made them family, 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:34.360 which meant that in one move, Costanza changed Pedro and 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:38.719 and As his relationship from an extramarital affair to scandalous 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:44.080 lye incestuous. It was a simple and effective solution that 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:47.800 could have even worked had her son not tragically passed 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:52.240 away just eight days after he was born. As it was, 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:56.120 her son's death brought further suspicion upon Inez by the 0:12:56.160 --> 0:13:00.079 Portuguese court. King Alfonso the Fourth was not blind to 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:03.480 what was happening between his son and his wife's lady 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:07.400 in waiting, and though he had been unhappy with his 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:11.360 son's choice and mistress, he had initially dismissed the affair, 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:14.280 hoping it was simply lust and it was clouding his 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:19.360 son's judgment only temporarily. However, after the death of Costanza's 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:23.640 firstborn son, the son to which Anez had been made godmother, 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:28.920 the son keeping Pedro and Anez a part, Alfonso was 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:32.720 now powerless to stop the rumors that began to stir 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:40.000 at court. How had the child died, hadn't poor Constanza 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:44.400 named that Harlot the godmother wasn't at all a bit 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:49.920 too convenient? For years, King Alfonso had allowed Pedro to 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:53.280 carry on with Anez, but as the rumor mill continued 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.720 to speculate, the king decided it was finally time to 0:13:56.800 --> 0:14:00.680 take action, and he banned and As from court. And 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:03.520 that should have been it, at least it would have 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:06.960 been if their affair had simply been driven by lust. 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.239 But when Annez was driven away from court, the strength 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:15.640 of her and Pedro's love, if anything, became more apparent. 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:19.720 In some versions of their story, While Annez was away, 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:23.760 Pedro wrote to her through small messages, which he sent 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:27.800 through a channel of water that went between their two residences. 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:32.480 To Alfonso's dismay, the distance between the two did nothing 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:36.040 to diminish their devotion to one another, a fact that 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:40.920 became all too apparent when in thirteen forty nine, Constanza 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:45.400 Manuel died at just thirty three years old from complications 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:49.600 following the birth of her fourth child. As the country 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:54.000 mourned the loss of their Infanta or princess, King Alfonso 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.760 really should not have been that surprised to find that 0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:02.160 his son had almost immediately left court to find Inez, 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:06.600 without any marital obligations now barring him from seeing her, 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:11.080 Pedro and Inez were finally free to be together, and 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:15.600 together they were. They weren't married. Their relationship would never 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:19.280 be accepted by King Alfonso, but Pedro and Inez would 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:23.720 go on to have three healthy children. They were happy together, 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:29.240 at least until thirteen fifty four, when they're happily ever 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:36.120 after came to an abrupt and brutal end when it 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:39.360 came to his son. King Alfonso the Fourth of Portugal 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:43.960 was running out of options for years following Costanza's death, 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:47.840 Alfonso attempted to find another suitable marriage for his son, 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:52.080 but Pedro refused to hear a word of it. Meanwhile, 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:56.800 Alfonso's royal advisers reported back rumors that had been floating 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:01.760 around court. People couldn't help but compare the sickly and 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:06.280 weak son Ferdinand, that Pedro had had with his wife Costanza, 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:11.080 a legitimate son, with the three strong and healthy but 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:16.480 illegitimate children that Pedro had with Annez. Equally troubling were 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:21.440 the rumors that Inez's Castilian brothers were spending considerable time 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:25.280 in the Prince's ear, tempting him to intercede on their 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:31.400 behalf in Castilian Civil War. Surely, Anez was poisoning Pedro 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:35.880 with these thoughts biasing the prince in favor of Castile. 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:41.120 Up until this point, King Alfonso had at best tolerated 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:43.960 and as his presence in his son's life. But with 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:48.080 threats to the Portuguese line of succession coming into question, 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:52.480 plus the ever growing potential for an all out civil 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:56.000 war that could possibly end with the Kingdom of Portugal 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:59.440 in the hands of the Castilian crown, Alfonso could no 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:02.640 longer a forward to ignore this young woman who had 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:07.199 stolen his son's heart, and so, at the urging of 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:11.840 his royal advisers, King Alfonso, along with a traveling party 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:16.560 that included both Alvaro Gonzales and Paroquelo, made their way 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:21.320 to Combra to carry out the assassination of Annez de Castro. 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:28.480 It's impossible to say exactly how events unfolded in Coimbra 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:33.560 that day. Later, dramatization of Ineza's death would imply that 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:37.960 in As sat at King Alfonso's feet begging for her life. 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:41.240 Some would say the king began to sympathize with her 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:44.160 as one of her children was in the room with them, 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:48.280 watching on in terror, helpless to stop what would inevitably 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:52.400 come to pass. For no matter if an As sat 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:55.879 at the king's feet, nor if she pleaded for her life, 0:17:56.440 --> 0:18:00.119 the end result remained the same. In the fame Is 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:05.280 Portuguese epic poem, Ois Lucida's author Louise vas Jacomas wrote 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:09.240 of her death quote, Thus, Annez, while her eyes to 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:13.200 have an appeal, resigned her bosom to the murdering steel, 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:18.680 that snowy neck was stained with, spouting gore another sword. 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:23.400 Her lovely bosom tore so from her cheeks. The roses 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:28.600 died away and pale in death. The beauteous Annez lay. 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:35.040 On January seven, fifty five, Ines de Castro, mother of 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:39.000 three and the great love of Pedro of Portugal's life, 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:42.240 was stabbed to death by the order of Pedro's father, 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:46.480 King Alfonso the Fourth. The king may not have swung 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.520 the blade that took an As his life, but when 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:53.760 news of his father's betrayal finally reached Pedro, none of 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:57.520 that mattered. All that mattered was that his anst was gone, 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:00.840 that she had been brutally taken from the earth at 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:03.880 the hands of his own father, and he was going 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:07.480 to make him pay. If Alfonso had hoped, and as 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:11.280 his absence would quell Pedro's desire to begin a civil war, 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:16.480 he was sorely mistaken. Within days of her death, Pedro 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:19.320 had summoned an army to go to war against his 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:23.120 own father. It was only at the urging of the 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:28.119 only existing neutral party between them, Pedro's mother and Alfonso's wife, 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:31.520 Queen Beatrice, that the two men were able to stop 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:35.560 the fighting. At the queen's behest, father and son signed 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:38.840 a treaty of peace between them. But if this episode's 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:43.080 introduction was anything to go by, I'm guessing you already 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:46.480 know that the piece was just about the last thing 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:50.680 on Pedro's mind. It wouldn't be until two years later, 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:55.400 in thirteen fifty seven, when Alfonso died and Pedro ascended 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:58.800 to the Portuguese throne, that the young king could begin 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:02.800 to enact his re venge and at long last find 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:07.600 the justice he longed for. For Aness. His first order 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:11.640 of business tracking down the men responsible for her murder. 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:15.240 While his men searched far and wide for any trace 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:19.320 of the assassins, The now King Pedro the First enacted 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:23.800 the second order of business he had, commissioning the creation 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:28.439 of two tombs, one for himself and one for his 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:33.320 beloved Inez. After her death, Ines had been buried in Coimbra. 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:37.600 The location of her remains likely chosen out of convenience 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:43.160 rather than geographical significance. But then again, Inez and Pedro 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:47.720 technically had no official ties to one another. They had 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:50.640 three children together, but in the eyes of the Catholic 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:55.200 Church and by extension, Portugal as a whole, and as 0:20:55.240 --> 0:21:01.960 to Castro, technically meant nothing, which was exactly In thirteen sixty, 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:05.320 Pedro would announce to the world a secret that would 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:11.520 irrevocably alter the course of Portuguese history. A few months 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:15.040 after he ordered the death of and As his assassins, 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:18.840 with the hollow ache no doubt still lingering in his chest, 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:23.320 Pedro revealed that seven years earlier, he and and Az 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:27.840 were married in a secret ceremony, meaning not only had 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:30.760 his father killed the woman he loved, but the king 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:35.240 had also murdered what would have been Portugal's future queen. 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:41.919 For centuries, the validity of Pedro's secret marriage claims have 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:45.880 been subject to debate. After all, if you're a king 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:48.000 and you get married in a forest and no one's 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:50.520 around to witness it, does it still hold up in 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:54.359 the eyes of the Catholic Church. Some chroniclers from the 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:59.320 time contested the union's legitimacy, but ultimately their doubt would 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:03.040 be a foot note in the history books, especially when 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:08.240 the true intentions behind the now king's posthumous wedding announcements 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:12.960 were revealed and the now widowed king had his late 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:17.399 wife exhumed from her grave on Combrian soil. With his 0:22:17.480 --> 0:22:23.720 wife's killers now brutally dead and his healthy children's legitimacy secured, 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:28.359 King Pedro set out to complete his final act of 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:32.520 revenge against his father. Now there comes a point in 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:37.440 stories like this that the mythos surrounding the facts often 0:22:37.480 --> 0:22:42.280 begin to outshine the reality of the events themselves. Sometimes 0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:47.320 a lack incredible sources inspires others to make up histories 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:51.480 of their own. Some stories that, while not exactly factual, 0:22:51.760 --> 0:22:55.679 no doubt, make for a great story. In the case 0:22:55.840 --> 0:23:01.280 of Pedro exhuming his wife's corpse, some say that upon 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:05.080 his ascension to the throne, the king was so maddened 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:08.760 in his all consuming grief that he ordered his men 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:12.760 to disenter Inez so that they could prop up her 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:17.960 body on the throne beside him as his queen. They 0:23:18.000 --> 0:23:21.679 say that Pedro had her dressed in the finest robes 0:23:22.000 --> 0:23:26.040 and laid a crown upon her head, demanding members of 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:30.320 his court approached the throne so they could kiss what 0:23:30.480 --> 0:23:34.200 was left of in iss weathered hand as a way 0:23:34.240 --> 0:23:38.679 to pay homage to their would be queen. And to 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:43.399 be fair, this maccab display of fealty is rather on 0:23:43.640 --> 0:23:47.600 brand for King Pedro. This is the man, after all, 0:23:47.680 --> 0:23:51.600 who murdered his wife's killers by cutting out their hearts. 0:23:52.280 --> 0:23:56.840 But in reality, and as his disinterment likely, had little 0:23:56.880 --> 0:23:59.480 to do with forcing members of the court to bow 0:23:59.680 --> 0:24:04.199 at his late wife's ornately dressed corpse, and more to 0:24:04.280 --> 0:24:07.760 do with the two tombs Pedro had commissioned as soon 0:24:07.800 --> 0:24:10.680 as he had ascended to the throne, for in the end, 0:24:10.840 --> 0:24:15.320 Pedro's final act of defiance against his father, as well 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:18.240 as his final act of love for his late wife, 0:24:18.960 --> 0:24:23.120 lay within the twin tombs he planned to share with 0:24:23.200 --> 0:24:28.840 his beloved Today, if you walked into the Cistercian Abbey 0:24:28.840 --> 0:24:32.560 of Alcobasa, you would be immediately taken in by the 0:24:32.640 --> 0:24:39.280 incredible display of Gothic Cistercian architecture. Impossibly high, rib vaulted 0:24:39.359 --> 0:24:43.320 ceilings would greet you as you passed through the monastery's doors. 0:24:43.520 --> 0:24:48.440 They're intimidating heights, subconsciously leading you down the nave toward 0:24:48.520 --> 0:24:52.080 the main chapel at the structure's end. And if you 0:24:52.119 --> 0:24:55.200 were a tourist, after finding your way to the end 0:24:55.280 --> 0:24:59.160 of the monastery's pews, you would most likely notice the 0:24:59.200 --> 0:25:03.640 crowds acting, not gathering to view the main chapel under 0:25:03.680 --> 0:25:07.919 a halo of skylights, but gathering in two corners of 0:25:07.960 --> 0:25:12.720 the transept on either side of you. Upon closer inspection, 0:25:13.160 --> 0:25:18.440 you would notice the onlookers gathered around two intricately carved 0:25:18.760 --> 0:25:23.040 white stone tombs, the chamber to the right holding the 0:25:23.080 --> 0:25:26.720 tomb of King Pedro, the first of Portugal, and to 0:25:26.800 --> 0:25:31.640 the left, mirroring it perfectly just steps away from her husband, 0:25:32.320 --> 0:25:37.280 his wife Inez de Castro, in direct defiance of his father, 0:25:37.840 --> 0:25:41.520 Pedro's final declaration of love for an Az was not 0:25:41.680 --> 0:25:45.159 made in hate or violence, but in a gesture that 0:25:45.359 --> 0:25:49.520 married his grief with his hope for the future. By 0:25:49.560 --> 0:25:54.320 claiming Anaz as his wife, Pedro finally had sufficient grounds 0:25:54.600 --> 0:25:57.840 to exhume her body and give her the burial she 0:25:58.080 --> 0:26:03.240 rightly deserved the areal of a queen. When the elaborate 0:26:03.240 --> 0:26:07.000 tombs he had commissioned were finished some time between thirteen 0:26:07.080 --> 0:26:10.960 sixty one and thirteen sixty three. Pedro had and As 0:26:11.000 --> 0:26:14.760 his remains disinterred and brought all the way from Coimbra 0:26:15.080 --> 0:26:20.639 to Alcabasa, a nearly seventy mile journey from there, and 0:26:20.720 --> 0:26:24.040 as his body was put inside of one of the 0:26:24.040 --> 0:26:28.560 two intricately carved tombs and placed in the abbey where 0:26:28.600 --> 0:26:32.399 she awaited the day the other matching tomb would carry 0:26:32.440 --> 0:26:35.200 the body of her beloved and the two of them 0:26:35.240 --> 0:26:39.639 would be together once more. But even with the inherent 0:26:39.880 --> 0:26:44.159 romance of matching tombs aside, what Pedro did for and 0:26:44.320 --> 0:26:47.920 Ez goes far beyond just securing a place for their 0:26:47.960 --> 0:26:52.040 bodies to finally be together, To briefly bring you back 0:26:52.080 --> 0:26:55.760 to the main chapel in Alcabasa for a moment. The 0:26:55.880 --> 0:26:59.840 intricate images carved into an ASA's tomb are beautiful, yes, 0:27:00.359 --> 0:27:04.320 but they serve a specific purpose as well. Scenes from 0:27:04.359 --> 0:27:07.639 the life and death of Christ are carved into the 0:27:07.720 --> 0:27:12.840 side of her tomb in unspoken analogy between the two figures, 0:27:12.880 --> 0:27:16.119 being presented like an offering to the viewer. Both the 0:27:16.280 --> 0:27:20.720 castro and the Portuguese coat of arms adorn her final 0:27:20.840 --> 0:27:24.520 resting place. But the greatest gift Pedro gave an as 0:27:24.520 --> 0:27:29.400 his legacy is perhaps the simplest addition to the otherwise 0:27:29.720 --> 0:27:34.479 incredibly intricate sculpture work. On the lid of her tomb, 0:27:34.960 --> 0:27:38.320 a stone likeness of Annez herself is laid out on 0:27:38.440 --> 0:27:42.200 top of the very vessel which contains her earthly remains. 0:27:42.720 --> 0:27:46.280 What stands out about her stone counterpart is not her 0:27:46.880 --> 0:27:51.359 serene expression, nor the items placed in her hands, but 0:27:51.520 --> 0:27:56.480 the crown placed atop her head. When Pedro revealed his 0:27:56.560 --> 0:27:59.440 secret marriage with an As to the world, he knew 0:27:59.480 --> 0:28:02.160 there would be skeptics who would never see her as 0:28:02.200 --> 0:28:06.520 their queen. But in this one detail, Pedro all but 0:28:06.680 --> 0:28:12.160 wrote her legacy in stone for generations to come. As 0:28:12.280 --> 0:28:17.000 long as stone anyone who came to the Alcabasa would 0:28:17.080 --> 0:28:22.320 see his truth. It was in Nez, not Costanza, who 0:28:22.440 --> 0:28:25.280 was his wife. It was in Nez who was his 0:28:25.359 --> 0:28:30.800 queen even in death. And though their individual tombs hold 0:28:31.040 --> 0:28:36.320 differing images, both are inscribed with the same words that 0:28:36.440 --> 0:28:42.080 echo across the stone floors where they lay together, words 0:28:42.160 --> 0:28:46.560