Victims of the Childbed - Constanza Manuel, Queen of Castile and Princess of PortugalÂ
Like many girls of her station in the middle ages, childhood was not something that was afforded to Constanza. She was born into the nobility of Castile but boasted some impressive royal lineage. Her mother Constance was a daughter of James II of Aragon, while her father Juan Manuel was a grandson of Ferdinand I of Castile. She was around the age of 9 in 1325 when she was married to the teenaged Alfonso XI of Castile. Constanza’s marriage lasted two years until Alfonso dissolved the union in 1327. Alfonso instead married Maria of Portugal and had little Constanza imprisoned in Toro. Insulted, Juan Manuel demanded his daughter’s return and when Alfonso refused, waged war for Constanza’s release. She was returned to her family in 1329 when peace was negotiated.
      It was not long before Alfonso of Castile began mistreating his new bride Maria, the princess he had cast Constanza aside to marry. The news of Maria’s suffering angered her father, Alfonso IV of Portugal. Juan Manuel seized the opportunity to gain the Portuguese king as an ally against Alfonso XI. Because of the alliance, Constanza was betrothed to Alfonso of Portugal’s heir, Pedro. They were married on August 24, 1340. Constanza was in her early 20’s and Pedro was probably a year or so younger.
      Constanza was accompanied to Portugal by a retinue of Castilian noblewomen. One of these ladies-in-waiting was Ines de Castro. Pedro was almost immediately infatuated with Ines and soon began an affair with her. The love affair between Pedro and Ines would become legendary in the following centuries. Constanza, however, was fated to become Pedro’s long-suffering wife. King Alfonso was not blind to the scandal his son was causing, so consuming was Pedro’s passion. Alfonso made multiple attempts to separate the pair and drive Pedro back to his lawful wife, but none had lasting effects in Constanza’s lifetime. Constanza herself was said to have made Ines the godmother of one of her children in an attempt to make her a family member in the eyes of God, which would therefore make Ines and Pedro’s relationship incestuous. This story, whether true or not, speaks volumes about how Constanza may have felt about her husband’s affair.Â
      Pedro evidently spent enough time with his wife to do his royal duty by her. Constanza bore three children: Maria (1342), Louis (born and died in 1344), and Ferdinand (October 31, 1345). After Ferdinand’s birth, Constanza likely developed an infection leading to puerperal fever. Constanza died two weeks later on November 13. Her son would later become Ferdinand I of Portugal. Pedro is presumed to have married Ines de Castro sometime after Constanza’s death, but Ines was murdered on the orders of King Alfonso in 1355. Pedro became king in 1357 and according to legend, he had Ines’s corpse exhumed and crowned as his consort. Today the tombs of Pedro and Ines lie next to each other at the Alcobaça Monastery, while Constanza rests 52 kilometers away in Santarém.
