Early life and background Inês was the natural daughter of
Pedro Fernández de Castro, Lord of Lemos and Sarria, and his noble Portuguese mistress Aldonça Lourenço de Valadares. Her family descended from both the Galician and Portuguese nobilities. She was also well connected to the Castilian royal family, by illegitimate descent. Her stepmother was Infanta Beatriz of Portugal, the youngest daughter of
Afonso of Portugal, Lord of Portalegre and
Violante Manuel. Her grandmother was
Violante Sánchez of Castile, Lady of Uzero, the illegitimate daughter of
Sancho IV of Castile. Her great-great-grandfather was Rodrigo Alfonso de León, Lord of Aliger, the illegitimate son of
Alfonso IX of León. She also descended from Infanta Sancha Henriques of Portugal, the daughter of
Henry, Count of Portugal. Little is known about Inês's youth with certainty. She was likely raised in the household of Teresa Martínez, wife of
Afonso Sanches, Lord of Albuquerque, a natural son of
Diniz of Portugal. According to traditional accounts, Inês arrived in Portugal in 1340 as a
lady-in-waiting of
Constance of Castile, newly wed to
Infante Pedro, heir to the Portuguese throne. However, no surviving documentary evidence supports this narrative. Given her family's ties to Portugal, Inês may have already been established at the Portuguese court as a noblewoman before Constance’s arrival. Although the exact circumstances of her introduction are debated, scholars agree that Inês was a member of Constance's household.
Relationship with Pedro Traditional narratives maintain that Infante Pedro fell in love with Inês and took her as his mistress while she was lady-in-waiting to his wife. Disapproving of his son's adultery,
King Afonso IV is said to have banished Inês to
Albuquerque in 1344. '', by
Pierre-Charles Comte. Following Constance's death in 1349, Inês and Pedro lived together openly. In 1350, Inês gave birth to the couple's first child, Afonso. He was followed by
John (b. 1352),
Denis (b. 1353) and
Beatrice (b. 1354). King Afonso attempted to arrange a second marriage to a foreign princess for his son, but Pedro refused. Pedro also developed close relationships with Inês's brothers,
Fernando Ruiz de Castro and
Álvaro Pires de Castro. The brothers became increasingly influential in public affairs, causing intrigue among rival factions at the Portuguese court and threatening Portugal's neutrality in the
Castilian Civil War. King Afonso IV grew concerned about the power the Castros wielded over the Infante.
Death After several attempts to keep the lovers apart, Afonso IV ordered Inês' death. Pêro Coelho, Álvaro Gonçalves, and Diogo Lopes Pacheco went to the
Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha in
Coimbra, where Inês was living at the time, and killed her, decapitating her in front of her small children. Pedro became king of Portugal in 1357 (
Pedro I of Portugal). He then sought out Inês' killers, who had gone into exile in Castile, and managed to capture Coelho and Gonçalves in 1361. He executed them publicly by ripping their hearts out, claiming they did not have one after having pulverized his own heart. He also stated that he had secretly married Inês, although his word was, and still is, the only proof of the marriage. During the
1383–85 Crisis of royal succession in Portugal,
João das Regras produced evidence that allegedly established that
Pope Innocent VI had refused Pedro's request to recognize his marriage to Inês and legitimize his children by her, the elder of whom,
John, Duke of Valencia de Campos would have a strong potential claim to the throne of Portugal. By negating these children's claimed legitimacy, João das Regras strengthened the claim of another illegitimate child of Pedro I of Portugal: John, Master of Aviz, who ultimately took the throne and ruled as
John I of Portugal. Some sources say that after Pedro became king of Portugal, he had Inês' body exhumed from her grave and forced the entire court to swear allegiance to their new queen: "The king [Pedro] caused the body of his beloved Inês to be disinterred, and placed on a throne, adorned with the diadem and royal robes, and required all the nobility of the kingdom to approach and kiss the hem of her garment, rendering her when dead that homage which she had not received in her life..." Some modern sources characterize the story of Inês' post-mortem coronation as a "legend" and it is most likely a myth, since the story only appeared in 1577 in Jerónimo Bermúdez' play
Nise Laureada. She was later buried at the
Monastery of Alcobaça where her tomb can still be seen, opposite Pedro's, so that, according to legend, at the
Last Judgment Pedro and Inês can look at each other as they rise from their graves. However, initially their tombs were disposed side by side, only being put opposite each other centuries after their deaths. Both tombs are exquisitely sculpted with scenes from their lives and a promise by Pedro that they would be together
até ao fim do mundo (until the end of the world). ==Issue==