CHAPTER 6

THE POLITICAL ROLE OF A

PORTUGUESE QUEEN IN THE
LATE FOURTEENTH CENTURY
Isabel de Pina Baleiras

Introduction
Queen Leonor Teles was the wife of King Fernando I of Portugal,
who ruled between 1367 and 1383. Leonor’s exact date of birth is not
certain; it is assumed that she was born around 1347–1350 either in
the Trás-os-Montes region of Portugal or in the kingdom of Castile.
The date of her death is also disputed; most likely it took place circa
1385–1386 in Castile, but some sources claim she may have survived
until 1410. Leonor Teles belonged to an important noble family
named Teles de Meneses. Among her ancestors were Faruela II, king
of Leão and Galiza, and Teresa Sanches, the illegitimate daughter
of King Sancho I of Portugal, demonstrating Leonor’s descent from
both the Castilian and Portuguese crowns.1
Leonor Teles was married at least twice. When she was approxi-
mately 18 years old, her family decided to marry Leonor to João
Lourenço da Cunha, a nobleman who lived in his domains in
Pombeiro. The couple had two children, but only one survived.2
When Leonor Teles was about 22 years old, she visited her sister,
Maria Teles, who was resident at the Portuguese court. According
to legend, King Fernando saw Leonor Teles and fell in love with
her beauty. In spite of the opposition from both the nobility and
his subjects, King Fernando decided to marry Leonor. As she was
already married, he had to use his influence with the Pope to procure
an annulment for Leonor’s first marriage. As soon as Leonor was
released from her first husband, the king married her, first secretly in
1371, and again in a public ceremony in 1372.3

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 97 10/18/2013 7:35:36 PM

 98 Isabel de Pina Baleiras

After the death of King Fernando, on October 22, 1383, 4 Leonor

Teles became regent of the kingdom, as the King had stipulated both
in his testament (1378) and in the marriage treaty of their only daugh-
ter, Beatriz, to King Juan I of Castile (1382/1383). Leonor’s regency
only lasted until January of 1384, when she renounced her position in
favor of her son-in-law, Juan I of Castile. A few months after this date,
King Juan I accused her of conspiring against him and obliged Queen
Leonor Teles to leave Portugal and enter the monastery of Santa Clara
de Tordesillas in Castile.5 It is at this point where researchers diverge
with regard to her fate. Some claim that the queen died not long after
she began her exile in Castile. However, according to Antolínez de
Burgos, a seventeenth-century Spanish historian, Leonor embarked
on a third marriage or liaison in Castile with a nobleman called Don
Zoilo Iñiguez, with whom she gave birth to two children: a boy, who
died, and a girl, Maria.6

The Queen’s Territories and the King’s Permission

When Fernando and Leonor were married in 1372, the king gave her,
in her arras charter or dower, a substantial number of territories with
supreme power, including the right to use the death penalty, in per-
petuity.7 This situation was unique; supreme justice was something
considered to be part of the king’s prerogative and before Leonor
Teles only few queens consort had held this power in their lands, and
that only for a brief and limited duration. Queen Isabel of Aragon,
the wife of King Dinis of Portugal, had supreme justice in her dower-
lands but not the permission to use death penalty and Queen Beatriz
of Castile, the grandmother of King Fernando, seems to have had
this right in one of her territories, but only for a short period.8
In this volume, Colette Bowie has investigated the dower of
Joanna Plantagenet (1177–1189), daughter of Henry II of England and
Eleanor of Aquitaine and wife of King William II of Sicily. Bowie
notes that, “The lands that were granted to Joanna as dower seem
ultimately to have been held primarily as an apanage for their pro-
spective son and heir”;9 however the couple only had a boy who pre-
deceased his parents. When William passed away unexpectedly in
1199, Joanna’s situation became very difficult and she was forced to
turn to her natal family for political and financial assistance.
Comparing Joanna’s situation with Leonor Teles, it is possible to
see some significant differences: Leonor’s dower was given to her
for her whole life, independently of having a son. Leonor also had

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 98 10/18/2013 7:35:37 PM

 Political Role of a Portuguese Queen 99

supreme justice in her lands and other rights, which do not appear
to have been granted to Joanna. After the death of King Fernando,
Leonor also lost her dower, because Portugal plunged into a political
crisis that rejected the queen’s regency. However, this was an excep-
tional situation, which deprived the queen of her dowerlands, instead
of a condition imposed in her dower charter, as in the case of Joanna.
Manuela Santos Silva and Ana Maria Rodrigues have argued that
the king made this unusual donation to his wife to compensate for
the fact that when Leonor Teles married the king, she did not have
any personal patrimony, because of the annulment of her first mar-
riage. Leonor could not bring a dowry to this second marriage as
other former queens had normally done in Portugal since the mar-
riage of Isabel de Aragon to King Dinis of Portugal, in 1288.10 Ana
Maria Rodrigues remarked that “the King himself had to make a
donation propter nuptias to his wife ‘as a dowry and dower’ on January
5, 1372, . . . because her family had not yet recovered financially from
the loss of her first dowry and the law determined that the adulter-
ous wife should lose the dowry to the husband she left behind.”11
Maria José Ferro Tavares disagrees with this point of view. To admit
that Leonor had a “litigious divorce” confirmed the idea that she had
been an adulterous wife to her first husband, which cast a negative
light on her second royal marriage. It was far more preferable to dis-
solve Leonor’s first marriage based on consanguinity. Ferro Tavares
argues that the queen’s arras was a nuptial contract of dower and
dowry given by the king for the maintenance of Leonor’s household,
following customary practice, not an extraordinary act.12
Leonor Teles’ status was quite striking for a queen consort in the
kingdom of Portugal. In order to fully understand her position, it is
important to place her career within the context of her husband’s
reign. King Fernando tried to strengthen the power of the Crown
during his reign; although he made donations and gave certain privi-
leges to the nobility and the clergy, he also tried to restrict their
power. In 1375, the king decided to remove the supreme power to dis-
pense justice from the major nobles and to control the nomination
of notaries public. King Fernando revoked the rights that he and his
ancestors had previously conceded, for the nobility to mete out crim-
inal justice and the death penalty. The only exception was Queen
Leonor Teles. In the last paragraph of this law, King Fernando stated
that the queen must keep all of the prerogatives that she received
from the king, including the supreme power and the right to invoke
the death penalty in the lands she controlled because, he wrote, she

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 99 10/18/2013 7:35:37 PM

 100 Isabel de Pina Baleiras

was “part of the Kingdom’s regime, and the State that has been given
to me by my God.”13
This statement clearly demonstrates the share Leonor Teles had
in her husband’s political affairs. There are two important ideas
encapsulated in this statement to emphasize here: the idea that
Leonor Teles was the partner of the king in his government, because
her position as a queen gave her that right—meaning that Leonor was
not subject to the king’s authority in the same way that the nobility,
clergy, and common people were, and the idea that the king’s power
proceeded from God without intermediation. The theory that the
divine power is represented by the king had already been defended
by King Afonso IV of Portugal (the grandfather of King Fernando),
who ruled between 1325 and 1357,14 and would be retained in the
Portuguese monarchy through the following centuries culminating
in the absolutism of the eighteenth century.

The King and Queen’s Mercy

In the records of King Fernando’s chancellery, there is ample evidence
of donations made to the nobility by the king in concert with his
wife, Leonor, and occasionally with the participation of their daugh-
ter and heir, Beatriz. Once again, the situation of Joanna Plantagenet
was totally different: “she does not appear on any of William’s extant
charters, and any evidence of patronage is limited.”15 However,
Joanna’s sister, Leonor of England (1161–1214), wife of Alphonso
VIII of Castile, seems to have had some political role in her husband
affairs. Alfonso VIII had intended to conquer many territories of
the Muslims and a “full of these [was promised] to his new wife. This
promise is probably based on the legal expectation that Castilian
wives of any class were entitled to an equal share in the ganancias, or
acquisitions of marriage.”16 Leonor of England’s political influence
never compromised her image as a good queen: she was pious, wise,
quiet, generous, and “served her husband well as a reliable coruler
and the nobles of Castile as a significant intercessor.”17 Her daughter
Berenguela (1180–1246) married King Alfonso IX of Castile and had
also participated in her husband’s documents. Like Alfonso VIII,
Alfonso IX had used in his charters the formula “together with my
wife Queen Berenguela,” the same expression that King Fernando
would use 100 years later with Queen Leonor Teles.18 Maria of Castile,
wife of King Alfonso V of Aragon (1419–1458), offers another model.
She governed Catalunya (1420–1423, 1432–1453), while her husband

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 100 10/18/2013 7:35:37 PM

 Political Role of a Portuguese Queen 101

was conquering and governing Naples. Excluded only from direct

military command, she possessed full government powers and was
her husband’s “alter ego.”19
The presence of queens consort in king’s chancellery followed the
Visigoth tradition, which supported a kind of corporate monarchy,20
and served two purposes: to legitimize a ruler’s potential heir and
to underline the queen’s role as a partner of the kings.21 For Theresa
Earenfight, who studied the idea of monarchy in late medieval
Europe, “kings and queens were not paired opposites but comple-
mentary elements within a hermeneutic system.”22
In Portugal, at the beginning of the first dynasty (1143–1383),
queens consort and their daughters were included in many of kings’
charters and their political role can be studied through patronage,
where they developed important actions [for example, Teresa and
Mafalda respectively, mother and wife of Afonso I (1143–1185); Dulce
of Aragon, wife of Sancho I (1185–1211)]. Yet, their presence tends
AQ1
Change to disappear while Roman law progressively replaces the Visigoth
OK? tradition and increases the power of the king himself.23 With King
Afonso III (1248–1279), daughters no longer participate in royal
documentation.24 The presence of consorts became very rare after
King Dinis (1261–1325): Fernando’s grandmother, Queen Beatriz of
Castile (1293–1359), the wife of King Afonso IV of Portugal (1325–
1357) had only participated in the concordat that put an end to the
dispute between father and son, initiated after the assassination of
Inês de Castro.25 Constança Manuel, King Fernando’s mother died
circa 1349 before her husband came to the throne. Fernando’s father,
Pedro (1357–1367), never remarried, leaving the official position of
queen vacant, although he was involved in a controversial relation-
ship with Inês de Castro. Thus, for almost 15 years, from the begin-
AQ2
Change ning of King Pedro’s reign in 1357 to 1372, the date of Leonor Teles and
OK? King Fernando’s marriage, Portugal did not have a queen consort.
This gap probably gave the opportunity to reintroduce the practice
of consorts participating in kings’ charters. Leonor Teles’ personal-
ity, Fernando’s political ideology, and the strong bond between the
couple were also likely factors for Leonor’s inclusion in the charters.
The chronicler Fernão Lopes notes that Leonor made every effort
to strengthen her position by giving benefits to her family and friends.
She also planned many marriages between families to reinforce the
position of her supporters. The organization of illustrious marriages
was one of the functions of a royal couple, which was recommended
in the codes compiled by Alfonso X of Castile: Espéculo (1255) and

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 101 10/18/2013 7:35:38 PM

 102 Isabel de Pina Baleiras

Siete Partidas (1255–1260). Indeed Eleanor of Aquitaine organized 35

marriages for her relatives.26 By providing benefits and marriages to
her supporters, the queen created a political clientele. This was of
vital importance for Leonor, as the queen was very unpopular with
many of her subjects, both common and noble.27 According to the
chronicler Lopes, their disapproval stemmed from her reputation as
an adulterous wife who had hypnotized the king in order to control
his government.28
There are 1691 documents issued by the king in King Fernando’s
chancellery.29 The majority of those charters are donations or privi-
leges to his nobility and the clergy, including confirmations of the
acts of his predecessors. Less than 10 percent of the documents, 150
in total, concern Leonor Teles’ family and friends, and only 2.54 per-
cent of the donations by the royal couple were made along with their
daughter, Beatriz.30
The fact that only almost 10 percent of the donations benefited
Leonor’s network of supporters appears to argue that the power of
Queen Leonor Teles was, indeed, not as important as the chronicler
of Fernão Lopes claimed. However, Leonor and Fernando appeared
together on donations to the most important magnates and insti-
tutions in the kingdom. Among these documents are donations to
Leonor’s relatives and friends, such as the Telos, the Castros, the
Vasconcelos, or the Azevedo. These donations also included those
closely connected to the king, like his uncle, Henrique Manuel de
Vilhena, and other high ranking nobles such as Melos and Abreus.
Prestigious monasteries and religious orders including those at
Alcobaça, Santos, S. Jerónimo, and Avis were also favored.31
Those acts show us that King Fernando counted on the support
of his wife in the key donations made in his government to the most
important magnates of the kingdom.32 These were the wealthiest
people and institutions, which held the main political and economic
offices that decided the kingdom’s destiny.
This involvement in the processes of donation demonstrates that
Leonor’s power was not only confined to her territories, as it used to
be among the queen’s predecessors. Fernando wanted her to partici-
pate in other matters because, as he remarked, she was a part of the
king’s government.
However, the king did not refrain from interfering in the queen’s
domain and acting occasionally against her rights, even if she was sup-
posedly jurisdictionally responsible in these areas.33 Ultimately, he
was the king, the person who had received the divine power to reign.

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 102 10/18/2013 7:35:38 PM

 Political Role of a Portuguese Queen 103

Leonor, Marriage Treaties, and

the Portuguese Succession
Beatriz was the only surviving child of Fernando and Leonor, and
the heir to the throne. Her parents made plans for her marriage prac-
tically from the day of her birth and explored five different possible
matches. Queen Leonor Teles’ presence and influence can be seen in
the various negotiations for her daughter’s marriage.
In the negotiations for the second attempted marital alliance,
conducted in 1380, Leonor produced two powers of attorney by her
own hand to the diplomats who represented the Portuguese interests
in Castile. Leonor’s main concern was to guarantee her status and
privileges as queen of Portugal after the death of King Fernando.34
These charters were made in the same place and close to the dates
that Fernando used to make his own proxies, which suggests that the
king and the queen were accomplices and worked together. Another
point that can indicate the influence of the queen is that the ambas-
sadors of this marital contract were Leonor Teles’ relatives: her uncle
João Afonso Telo and her cousin Gonçalo Vasques de Azevedo35.
In the last marriage negotiations, which took place between
1382 and 1383, when it was decided that Beatriz would finally
marry Juan I, King of Castile, the Portuguese ambassador was the
Galician Juan Ferná ndez de Andeiro, who the chronicler Fernão
Lopes alleged to be the queen’s lover.36 While it is impossible to
confirm the veracity of this allegation, it is known that he was an
important diplomat in King Fernando’s court, who had helped
to consolidate the English and the Portuguese alliance against
Castile, between 1371 and 1382. During Leonor Teles’ regency, de
Andeiro managed to keep his key position, and was her close advi-
sor on many important matters.37
Beatriz and Juan I’s matrimonial contract was drafted in Salvaterra
de Magos, in 1383.38 It was promised that Beatriz would succeed his
father, in the absence of a legitimate son. However, Beatriz would
not exercise power. Leonor Teles would assume the regency of
the kingdom until a son of Beatriz and Juan reached the age of 14.
Beatriz’s husband, the king of Castile could only use the title king
of Portugal until their son reached his majority and assumed the
Portuguese throne. Finally, if Beatriz and King Fernando both died
AQ3 without issue, the crown would be inherited by Juan of Castile or his
Figure 6.1 successors, due to the close family ties between the two kings, being
cited here.
OK? first cousins (see Figure 6.1).

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 103 10/18/2013 7:35:38 PM

 104 Isabel de Pina Baleiras

Fernando III, el Santo, of Castile

Manuel Alfonso X of Castile

Juan Manuel Sancho IV of Castile

Afonso IV of Portugal m. Beatriz Fernando IV of Castile

Joana Manuel Constança Manuel m. Pedro I of Portugal Maria m. Alfonso XI

m.
Enrique II of
Castile

Leonor Teles m. Fernando of Portugal Pedro I of Castile Enrique II

of Castile
m.
Joana
Manuel

Beatriz of Portugal m.2 Juan of Castile m.1 Leonor of Aragon

Enrique III of Castile Ferdinand de Antequera

King of Aragon

Figure 6.1 Genealogy table of Portugal and Castile.

When Beatriz’s child reached three months of age, they would be

delivered to their grandmother to be educated in Portugal. It was
also stipulated that Leonor’s status as queen of Portugal would be
respected as well as all the privileges she received from Fernando.
Leonor accompanied all the marital negotiations closely and she
attended the wedding festivities in Elvas alone, as the king was ill.
Ultimately, the treaty of Salvaterra de Magos would mean a long
regency for Leonor Teles of at least 15 years, as this was the minimum
period for Beatriz to become pregnant and for her child to attain
fourteen years of age.
The regency of Queen Leonor Teles was strategically planned by
King Fernando to avoid a full and formal union between Portugal
and Castile, in spite of the marriage between the Castilian king and
the heir to the Portuguese throne. Transferring Beatriz’s rights to
her future son and having Leonor Teles as regent, seemed to have

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 104 10/18/2013 7:35:39 PM

 Political Role of a Portuguese Queen 105

been a pleasing solution for King Fernando. The king had been ill for
some time and he knew that he would not live much longer.39 He had
to rely on his wife to avoid potential problems with the succession
after his death. It is thought that the idea of Leonor’s regency gave
some comfort to the king during his final illness, despite her obvious
ambition and deliberate actions to solidify her position, power, and
influence, as the chronicler Fernão Lopes maintains and the docu-
ments from the marriage negotiations appear to indicate.
It is important to stress that the decision to give the regency to
Leonor Teles was not made in desperation on the king’s deathbed
but had been decided when King Fernando was in good health. In
1376, King Fernando had already anticipated this situation, when
he was preparing the first of Beatriz’s marriage negotiations.40 The
king’s infirmity was first mentioned in 1378, when Fernando seemed
to have suffered a poisoning attempt.41

The Queen’s Regency

King Fernando died on October 22, 1383 but Leonor Teles only held
onto the regency until January 1384. However, during this brief
period, she had the power to act as a king: she was allowed to mint
coins and to decide whether Portugal would have war or peace; she
designated justice officials and appointed clergy to the churches.
All of these prerogatives had been established as her right by King
Fernando in the aforementioned treaty of Salvaterra de Magos.
As a queen consort, Leonor Teles had favored the high clergy
and the higher nobility in the donations she made together with
the king and while administrating her own lands. In contrast, as
regent, Leonor was much more restrained regarding her concessions.
Leonor never offered, as far as documentary evidence demonstrates,
any hereditary benefits. She conceded some temporary benefits with
strictly delineated powers and settled several jurisdictional disputes,
some of which originated from King Fernando’s reign.42 The main
beneficiaries of her actions were essentially the lower nobility, the
lower clergy, and the merchants.
This change of recipients of donations and of the quality of mer-
cies during her regency is directly related to the insecurity of the
period 1383–1385. Beatriz’s rights to the Portuguese throne were
rejected and João, Mestre de Avis, the illegitimate brother of King
Fernando, was elected king of Portugal.43 Leonor Teles was no longer
in a strong position and the highest social classes began to abandon

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 105 10/18/2013 7:35:39 PM

 106 Isabel de Pina Baleiras

her. Nevertheless, the changes in the donations and beneficiaries, as

well as the support Leonor showed to the merchants and lower ranks,
prove the political sense that characterized this singular queen.
It is important to consider the economic and the political inter-
ests of the bourgeoisie from Lisbon and Oporto, in order to fully
understand the queen’s position and her actions as regent. One of the
concessions the merchants of Lisbon asked the regent for, after King
Fernando’s death, was the integration of the merchants and other
homens bons of the major regions of the realm into Leonor Teles’ gov-
ernmental council. They wanted to take part in the council, side by
side with the clergy and the higher nobility who were normally found
in this kind of institution. The merchants also suggested that the
regent should not have foreign advisers in her council or give impor-
tant positions to the Jews and the Moors, as had happened during
King Fernando’s time. Leonor Teles agreed and promised to imple-
ment their proposals.44
However, despite her assurances, Leonor continued to have Jews
working with her, as both Leonor and King Fernando felt they were
more effective tax collectors, and foreign nobles were a part of her
entourage. One of these foreigners was Juan Ferná ndez de Andeiro,
the aforementioned Galician with strong contacts through his years
in the court of John of Gaunt. De Andeiro also had close links to
Castile, due to his family origins and his participation in Salvaterra
de Magos’ treaty. He was a key part of Leonor’s government, and the
Portuguese nobles and the merchants of Lisbon feared his influence.
They wanted make de Andeiro disappear, to open the way for their
own political ascension.45
A conspiracy between merchants of Lisbon and some nobles,
including Leonor Teles’ brother ( João Afonso Telo), decided to kill
Juan Ferná ndez de Andeiro. João, Mestre de Avis, was the person
they chose to execute their plans. He was an illegitimate brother of
King Fernando and many Portuguese felt he was a viable alternative
to Beatriz for the throne of Portugal. After some hesitation, João
accepted the task and killed the Galician on December 6, 1383, prac-
tically at the regent’s feet.46
After this, the situation quickly unraveled for Leonor. People in
Lisbon and across the realm contested the rights of the regent and
her daughter Beatriz. A grass roots movement to support the ascen-
sion of the Mestre de Avis was begun by Á lvaro Pais, a respectable
homem bom of Lisbon.47 Leonor’s position became increasingly inse-
cure and she was obliged to flee Lisbon. She went to Alenquer, one of

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 106 10/18/2013 7:35:40 PM

 Political Role of a Portuguese Queen 107

her territories, and later to Santarém, one of the cities frequented by

King Fernando. Once in Santarém, she wrote to her son-in-law, Juan
I of Castile, asking him for help.48 At the beginning of her regency,
Leonor had feared Juan’s invasion of Portugal because she knew he
had no intention of respecting the accord of Salvaterra de Magos.
Now, circumstances were different and she needed his support.
The nobles around Leonor were fewer than before. Everyone felt
insecure and the nobility, in particular, did not know which party
to follow. The regent was no longer in a position to give the privi-
leges and the security the nobles were used to receiving. However,
the nobles felt it strange and risky to join forces with the merchants
and the common people of Lisbon to support the Mestre de Avis,
who had been recently elected regedor and defender of the kingdom.
The other two illegitimate brothers of King Fernando, the infants
Castro, were not strong claimants for the throne, as they were living
in Castile and one of them had been thrown in prison by Juan I after
King Fernando’s death. Beatriz’s rights to the throne were legitimate
but her marriage to Juan I touched on the unhealed wounds of the
three wars that Fernando fought with Castile. The nobles did not
know whether this Castilian king would support them as generously
as King Fernando had done as Juan was known to be sisudo or sullen
and miserly.49
Leonor Teles invited the king of Castile to come to her in Santarém.
She felt he might punish the rebels and the Mestre de Avis, who
killed Andeiro. After Juan’s arrival, the queen expected to recover
her honor and authority, and rule the country as King Fernando stip-
ulated in the treaty of Salvaterra de Magos. But once he arrived in
Santarém, Juan I convinced her to abdicate her power to him. This
was the only way, he said, to achieve their goal of keeping Beatriz
on the throne and restore her own reputation. Leonor abdicated on
January 13, 1384.50
Shortly afterwards, the relationship between Leonor and her son-
in-law began to degrade. The king heard rumors that she and his
cousin, Pedro, were conspiring against him, so he decided to arrest
her. According to Fernão Lopes, the queen became upset when Juan I
refused to promote one of her prominent Jewish supporters to a posi-
tion in Castile, which had become vacant.51 Pero Lopez de Ayala, the
contemporary Castilian chronicler, took a different view of events,
including nothing about the Jews or the assassination plan to murder
Juan I, described by Lopes, and only mentioning the king’s suspicion
about the queen and his cousin.52

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 107 10/18/2013 7:35:40 PM

 108 Isabel de Pina Baleiras

Juan ultimately sent her to Castile, to a monastery in Tordesillas,

which had a long association with Castilian queens and princesses
and promised that she would be kept in accordance with her state
and position. Leonor accused him of ingratitude because she had
given him a kingdom and she was only given exile and virtual impris-
onment in return.

The Queen’s End

It is generally recorded that Leonor died at Tordesillas on April 27,
1386.53 However Castilian historians of the seventeenth century had
argued for a very different ending to Leonor’s life. These historians
claim that the queen died in Valladolid, where she had moved to
after Juan I’s death in 1390.54 According to them, once in Valladolid,
Leonor fell in love with a Castilian noble, Don Zoilo Iñiguez, and had
two children: a boy, who died, and a girl, Maria. Before she passed
away, the queen wrote a testament stating that a convent should be
built on the land she bought in Valladolid, where her daughter Maria
might one day live. The Convento de Nuestra Señora de la Merced
was installed at the end of the century at the designated place and
Leonor’s grave was found there in 1626, when building works were
in progress. An inscription near her tomb mentioned the presence
of a little boy close to the queen’s feet and referred religious services
ordered by Leonor for herself and her daughter Beatriz.55
According to the current priors of the Convent of Santa Clara de
Tordesillas, the oldest identifiable bones are from the sixteenth cen-
tury and repairs to the building in the nineteenth century mixed the
contents of the older burials.56
Unfortunately, many of the sources that these seventeenth
century historians might have used to document Leonor’s life in
Valladolid, including the queen’s will, do not appear to have sur-
vived. Nevertheless, there are some key pieces of documentary evi-
dence that substantiate this alternative version of Leonor’s end of
life. One document was the will of Juan I, written on July 21, 1385,
which included a request to his son, the future Enrique III, to treat
his wife Beatriz as well as her mother with honor.57
Another reference appears in the Guadalajara courts of 1390, where
Juan I included Leonor Teles in his private finances.58 A year later,
the Aragonese chronicler Zurita noted that the king of Aragon sent
an ambassador to Castile to give his condolences to the new monarch
(Enrique III) for the death of his father ( Juan I). The ambassador

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 108 10/18/2013 7:35:41 PM

 Political Role of a Portuguese Queen 109

visited Leonor of Castile, the queen consort of Navarre, and Beatriz

of Portugal, now dowager queen of Castile, in whose company he
reportedly found Leonor Teles. The ambassador entreated the new
king of Castile to treat Leonor, his stepmother Beatriz, and all the
Portuguese knights who had served his father with respect and hon-
or.59 Another chronicler, Lopes de Ayala noted that in 1406, Enrique
III did not mention Leonor Teles in his will but made provisions for
Beatriz, whom he tenderly called mother.60
In the archives at Simancas, there is a surviving set of scrolls
dated February 12, 1397, which indicated that Queen Leonor Teles
was already dead at that time. Some of her rents were transferred to
Fernando de Antequera, Enrique III’s brother.61 The same informa-
tion was copied and transmitted in 1410, in the Libro de lo Salvado.62
According to a recent investigation, Leonor’s death occurred in
1405.63 Taking into account both the variety of dates and circum-
stances suggested by modern and contemporary historians, and the
scarcity of definitive evidence, the best estimate is to assume that
the death of Leonor Teles took place in Castile sometime between
1391 and 1410.

A Note about Beatriz, Leonor Teles’ Daughter

Princess Beatriz of Portugal was married to Juan I of Castile in 1383,
when she was ten years old and became a widow at the age of 17. She
never remarried in spite of the proposals she received from the duke
of Austria in 1409 or from Afonso, first duke of Bragança, in 1415.64
She fulfilled the promise made in Salvaterra de Magos during her
marriage negotiations: she would not marry any man in the world
but Juan I.65
According to her biographer César Olivera Serrano, Beatriz never
had children.66 After the death of her husband, Beatriz continued
to live at the Castilian court. She kept up a good relationship with
the new monarch, Enrique III, her stepson. Indeed in Enrique’s will,
he asked his son, the future Juan II, to treat Beatriz honorably as
his beloved stepmother. In 1406, Juan II assumed the throne while
still a child; the regency of the kingdom was assumed by his mother,
Catalina of Lancaster, and his uncle, Fernando de Antequera, during
the period 1406–1419.67
In 1412, Beatriz decided to follow the religious life and added to
her title of dowager queen the expression “servant of the servants
of St. Mary.” She continued to be on good terms with her other

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 109 10/18/2013 7:35:41 PM

 110 Isabel de Pina Baleiras

stepson Fernando de Antequera, who later became king of Aragon.68

However, when Fernando died in 1416, the support she had previously
received to sustain many Portuguese exiles decreased. The election
of the new pope Martin V at the Council of Constance in 1417 forced
many of her supporters to leave Castile for Aragon. The number of
relatives and servants in her entourage was much fewer and lower
in rank. In 1417, she entered the convent of Sancti Spiritus to live
in seclusion. She most likely died there sometime between 1419 and
1421. In her tomb she is represented as both a queen and a nun.69
Cesar Olivera Serrano argued that Beatriz was a victim of the dark
legend that surrounded her mother Leonor Teles. She had also been
the focal point of her father’s international negotiations and to the
Castilians she represented the guaranty of the Castilian legitimacy to
the throne of Portugal. She never gave up her royal Portuguese rights,
using the titles of queen of Castile, Leon, and Portugal throughout her
life, and she was supported in her cause by Enrique III and Fernando
de Antequera. However the memory of Beatriz was erased in Portugal
as her claim pointed to the illegitimacy of the Avis dynasty and she
reminded Castilians of the defeat of Aljubarrota. Her death removed
the possibility of Castile claiming the throne of Portugal and so the
final peace between the two kingdoms was ultimately achieved upon
signing of the treaty of Medina del Campo in 1431.70

Women and Power: Placing Leonor Teles in

the Context of Queenship
From the early emergence of gender studies and even at present,
there is a tendency to separate women from men, and in the case of
rulership and royal studies, there has been a clear division between
studies of queenship and kingship. Margaret Howell, Janet Nelson,
and Pauline Stafford have produced studies of early medieval queens
and “are attentive to postmodern gender and feminist theory [ . . . ],
but they still treat kingship and queenship as fundamentally dis-
tinct institutions.”71 Theresa Earenfight proposes another type of
approach: kingship and queenship are not isolated and separated
realities —they are connected. In the fourteenth century, the jurists
Baldus de Ulbadis, Bartolus of Sassoferrato, and Hostienesis were not
very precise in identifying who the “prince” was. The term is vague
and is not strictly related to monarchs. It could designate also a mag-
istrate, a city state, an emperor, or a queen. Earenfight sustains that
monarchy in the Middle Ages was something plural, of a corporate

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 110 10/18/2013 7:35:42 PM

 Political Role of a Portuguese Queen 111

nature, where kings, queens, and sometimes other members of the

dynasty or even royal favorites composed the political body of the
king, and this body had no sex. The monarch was the guardian of
this group, which together constituted the crown. He played a more
extensive role but it does not mean that monarchy belonged only to
him. Even the most authoritarian kings shared council with ecclesi-
astics and nobles.72
Nira Pancer underlines however the problem of the lack of
sources to study queens and other royal women. The chronicle Cinco
Reis de Portugal refers to royal women when they made an impor-
tant marriage. In that case, only their lineage and the marriages of
their children and family are mentioned. It is important to notice
that chronicles are usually a result of a royal demand. They are pro-
duced by men, often clerics, to describe, emphasize, and immortalize
monarchical actions. To these authors, the queen’s role was mainly to
get married and to bear healthy children able to guarantee the suc-
cession of the realm. Raphaela Averkorn suggests that the study of
queens needs to take into account other sources like private letters,
wills, and donations to monasteries or legal charters.73
In the Merovingian epoch, queens seemed to have more power
than in the later Middle Ages. The domestic and public spheres were
not separated, nor were men and women. Adultery was not valorized.
Merovingian clerics did not establish a straight relationship between
women’s adultery and the weakness of some kings’ governments
unlike, Fernão Lopes’ image of Leonor Teles in the fourteenth cen-
tury. Queens were perceived as good or bad depending on how they
would treat the church. Maternity was not essential to access to power.
Wealth and political ability were more important to fortify queens’
power than the status of being a royal wife or queen mother.74
As the Middle Ages progressed, monarchy became sacred and
hereditary. Royal women were increasingly confined to maternity,
supervising their children’s education, and household manage-
ment. Raphaela Averkorn argues that “some bishops openly stated
that women were at the same intellectual level as children and they
should not and could not govern a kingdom or empire.”75 The model
of a virtuous wife and a dedicated mother was attributed to queens.
The Castilian treatise, the Siete Partidas was strongly influenced by
Christian principles and emphasized a wife’s role as a companion of
her husband.76 The model of Christian wife was conceived by a reli-
gious elite but it may not totally correspond to reality. However, this
is the image that has come down to us through medieval chronicles.

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 111 10/18/2013 7:35:43 PM

 112 Isabel de Pina Baleiras

In the fourteenth century, hostility against the participation of

women in political power solidified. Queens only played a part in
their husband’s government in exceptional situations, as in Leonor
Teles’ case. Their role was replaced by king’s officials and consorts
“were [ . . . ] only allowed to govern their own possessions.”77
Maria Jesus Fuente considers that the power of royal women was
not institutional but mostly circumstantial. If they had the oppor-
tunity and the personality to exercise power, women ruled like men
and could have a stronger political performance. If circumstances
were adverse, they could always resort to mediation, which might be
a powerful influence as well.78
Queen Leonor Teles had authority and power, when circumstances
allowed it. As a regent, she acted like a king, making decisions and
resolving long-standing disputes.79 But according to the political and
cultural elite of the realm, she was a “bad woman” who should be
expelled. Indeed, she finished her days in exile without having, as far
as we know, any further presence in the political Portuguese sphere
after she lost the regency.

Leonor Teles’ Image

The concept of a “bad woman” was not born in the Middle Ages. It
originates from Greco-Roman mythology and Aristotelian philoso-
phy. It was later developed by oral literature and transmitted through
folk tales. In the fifteenth century, the characters of the comedies of
the Portuguese dramatist Gil Vicente satirized this type of woman as
a social stereotype. Even Shakespeare’s models immortalized these
“bad women,” like Lady Macbeth who is the personification of over-
weening ambition, dangerous feminine seduction, and immorality.
Carlos Roberto Nogueira argues that the Christian church was
responsible for the consolidation of the image of the bad woman and
ties this to the interpretation of the Biblical figure of Eve. Women
represented an instrument of danger because they could corrupt
pious and ordinary men. Medieval sacral art of twelfth and thir-
teenth centuries, the scripts of Saint Agostinho, and the life of saints
(S. Antonius, Gregorious Magnus, S. Geronimo, and S. Christovão)
developed this concept.80 In spite of that, “bad women” could be lib-
erated because Christian religion brought redemption: the Virgin
Mary could save Eve.
Fertility and sexuality were two powerful instruments women
might use to reach their interests. The succession to the realm,

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 112 10/18/2013 7:35:43 PM

 Political Role of a Portuguese Queen 113

which was the base of the monarchy and a factor of stability to the
kingdom, depended on the queen’s fertility. If queens were able to
please the king sexually, they would have much greater opportunity
to interfere in his political affairs. This is demonstrated in the case
of Leonor Teles. According to the portrait created by chroniclers
like Fernão Lopes, she seduced King Fernando for the benefit of her
political ambition and to increase the power of her family. The king’s
love for her made him blind and put the queen in his place, disturb-
ing the natural order. She dominated the king and the destiny of the
kingdom, resulting in wars, death, social misery, immorality, and the
ruination of the country and the king’s power.
The medieval codices such as the Liber de rectoribus christianis writ-
ten by Charlemagne in 869 and the Espéculo e Siete Partidas in the
thirteenth century demonstrate the ideal portrait of a good queen.81
These sources argue that the ideal queen should belong to an illus-
trious family, preferably of royal lineage to give prestige to her off-
spring. She should be chaste, as adultery was strongly condemned
because it destroyed her husband’s honor as well as that of her lin-
eage. Being beautiful was also desirable as was piety, within reason.
Being rich was considered to be useful but not essential. Finally, the
“good queen” should always support her husband and not interfere
in his political affairs. Examples of women who appear to fit this
archetype include Leonor of England, queen consort of Castile
(1161–1214); Isabel of Aragon, queen consort of Portugal (1271–1336);
and Philippa of Lancaster (1360–1415), the wife of King João I of
Portugal.
Philippa succeeded Leonor Teles as queen consort and her por-
trait was also built by the same author (Fernão Lopes). However, the
images of these queens are totally different. Philippa is described
as a good queen: very virtuous, pious, and charitable, a model of a
Christian. In contrast, Leonor Teles was called a lavrador de Vénus
(servant of Venus) whose charity was false because it only served to
cover up her dishonest behavior.82 Philippa was intensely pious and
tried to impose a strict morality on the Portuguese court83. The court
of Fernando and Leonor Teles does not seem to have been an example
of chaste relations. Before marrying, the king was reputed to be very
flirtatious and Leonor to have a strong power of seduction; accord-
ing to the chronicler, this sexually liberal attitude filtered down to
the women of their court.84
King Fernando was perceived to be a good king until he met
Leonor Teles and caused three disastrous wars with Castile.

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 113 10/18/2013 7:35:43 PM

 114 Isabel de Pina Baleiras

According to Lopes, Fernando became weak after his marriage

because his new wife had bewitched him with her beauty and seduc-
tion. In contrast, João I and the virtuous and well-behaved Queen
Philippa of Lancaster saved the kingdom from excessive luxury and
economic crises.
Fernão Lopes emphasized that Leonor was impure and so she could
not bring a prestigious offspring to the king and the kingdom, as was
desirable and expected from royal brides.85 Her impurity was because
she was already married when she met and married King Fernando.
In fact, she had two children with her first husband, but she never
recognized them, as she did not want to remind King Fernando of
her earlier marriage. She was also rumored to have committed adul-
tery with Juan Ferná ndez de Andeiro during her marriage to King
Fernando. This rumor was used against her daughter Beatriz; during
the courts at Coimbra in 1385, which had elected Mestre de Avis King
of Portugal, the jurist João das Regras argued against Beatriz’s rights
to the throne due to the fact that her paternity was in doubt: “as the
mother of Beatriz slept with two men she did not know from whom
she became pregnant.”86 However the sixteenth century chronicler
Duarte Nunes de Leão argued that this accusation was false because
Beatriz was born in 1373 and her mother was only closely linked to de
Andeiro after 1380. Before de Andeiro arrived at court, there were no
rumors about Leonor Teles’ infidelity.87
According to Ana Rodrigues Oliveira, the chronicles do not men-
tion any political participation of Philippa in her husband’s royal
business.88 In contrast, Leonor Teles was ambitious, and she inter-
fered in and manipulated Fernando’s government.89 She was por-
trayed as vindictive, because she had conspired against the people
of Lisbon who had contested her marriage to the king and because
she was rumored to have caused the murder of her sister Maria Teles
and the exile in Castile of the infants Castro, King Fernando’s half
brothers.90
For all those reasons Leonor Teles was considered to be a bad wife,
a demon woman; Eve, in opposition to Mary, the good wife.91 For
recent Portuguese researchers such as Manuel Marques Duarte, Ana
Paula Sousa, Isabel de Barros Dias, and Maria José Ferro Tavares,
Fernão Lopes was amenable to the demonization of Leonor Teles as
it served his masters King João I (master of Avis) and his son, the
future king Duarte. Lopes was employed by them to write about the
reign of King João I, as well as the history of his predecessors. As
mentioned above, King João I, Mestre de Avis, was elected king of

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 114 10/18/2013 7:35:44 PM

 Political Role of a Portuguese Queen 115

Portugal, when the Cortes of Coimbra of 1385 rejected the legitimate

heir, Beatriz, daughter of King Fernando and Queen Leonor Teles.
For the emerging Avis dynasty, it was crucial to legitimize their
power and Lopes’ work served this objective well. The more nega-
tively the previous reign was portrayed the better the reigns of João I
and his descendants appear in comparison.92
Fernão Lopes might have been right to call Leonor ambitious.
Her effort to build a base of supporters and clients with her fam-
ily and friends was a powerful feudal strategy that demonstrates her
political sense. However, King Fernando was not merely subject to
Leonor Teles’ wishes, rather they worked as a team concerning their
plans for the royal succession and particular joint projects such as the
works in St. Jorge’s Castle in Lisbon and in S. Francisco’s Convent in
Santarém.93
It is impossible to establish the veracity of the accusations that the
queen was responsible for the death of her sister, or whether she was
adulterous, as Lopes had indicated. Even if these assumptions had
really occurred, murder and adultery were not unusual in context
with her royal contemporaries. In Castile, for instance, the bastard
Enrique de Trastámara killed his brother, the legitimate heir Pedro I
to reach the throne in 1369. Pedro allegedly murdered his two wives,
preferring the company of his concubine, Maria de Padilla. Finally,
Maria of Portugal, widow of Alfonso XI of Castile (and aunt of King
Fernando of Portugal), ordered the death of her husband’s mistress,
Leonor de Guzman in 1351.94
Returning to Lopes, it is also important to note that he wrote his
chronicles 60 to 70 years after Fernando’s reign.95 Given the time
elapsed, the political purposes of the Avisine dynasty, for whom he
was working, and the artistic license of the chronicler, the detail with
which he described much of the plot that denigrated Leonor Teles is
most likely questionable.

Sources
Archivo General de Sinancas (AGS). Mercedes e Privilegios, legacy 6, folio 61.
Arquivo municipal do Porto (AMP). Book IV, document 63.
Antolínez de Burgos, Juan, Historia de N.N.y S.L. Ciudad de Vallladolid, fac-
simile’s edition (Valladolid: Grupo Pinciano, 1987. Originally published
in Imprenta Hijos de Rodríguez, 1887).
Antolínez de Burgos, Juan, “Juan Antolínez de Burgos y la primera
Historia de Valladolid,” in Historia de Valladolid (1887), facsimile edition
(Valladolid: Grupo Pinciano, 1987).

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 115 10/18/2013 7:35:44 PM

 116 Isabel de Pina Baleiras

“Contrato de casamento de João I de Castela com D. Beatriz.” In A.G.S.,

Patronato Real, legacy 47, folio 46, edited by Salvador Dias Arnaut. A Crise
Nacional dos Fins do século XIV, I, A sucess ã o de D. Fernando. PhD diss. in
History, Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra, Instituto de
Estudos Históricos Dr. António de Vasconcelos, document 26, 1960.
Forez, Fr. Enrique. Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas (Madrid: António
Marin, volume II, 1761).
Instituto dos Arquivos Nacionais/Torre do Tombo (IANTT). Chancelaria
de D. Fernando, book 1, folios 107–108; book 2, folio 60.
IANTT. “Concordata entre El rey D. Affonso IV e o Inffante D. Pedro
seu filho herdeiro sobre a discórdia que havia entre elles pella morte de
Donna Ignes.” Gaveta 13, m. 9, nº 26.
IANTT. Mosteiro de Santa Cruz de Coimbra, book 2, folios 31–33.
Leão, Duarte Nunes de. “Crónica del rei D. Fernando dos reis de Portugal o
IX.” In Crónicas dos Reis de Portugal (Porto: Lello e Irmão Editores, 1975).
Lopes, Fernão. Crónica de D. Fernando (Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional – Casa
da Moeda, 1975).
Lopes, Fernão. Crónica de D. Joã o I. Codice nº352 by Arquivo Nacional da
Torre do Tombo, volume I (Porto: Livraria Civilização, not dated).
Lopez de Ayala, Pero. “Crónica del Rey Don Pedro, fijo del Rey Don
Alfonso, onceno (1) de este nombre en Castilla,” “Crónica del Rey Don
Enrique, Tercero de Castilla é de Leon,” “Crónica del Rey Don Juan,
Primero de Castilla é de Leon.” In Crónicas de los Reyes de Castilla, Desde
don Alfonso el S á bio, hasta los Católicos don Fernando y doñ a Isabel. (Madrid:
Ediciones Atlas, vols. I, II, 1953).
Gulbenkian, Fundação Calouste, ed. Ordena ções Afonsinas (Lisboa: Fundação
Calouste Gulbenkian, volume II, tít. 63, 1998).
“Testamento de D. Fernando,” edited by Salvador Dias Arnaut, op. cit., doc. 7.
“Tractos de Casamiento entre don fadrique hijo del rey don enrrique
segundo de Castilla y doña beatriz hija primogénita del rey don fernando
de Portugal, ano de la hera de cesar 1414 y 15 que es del nascimiento de
christo 1376 y 77.” In A.G.S., Patronato Real, legacy 47, folio 9, edited by
Salvador Dias Arnaut, op. cit., doc. 1.
“Trauto de casamento fecto antre elRey dom fernamdo Rey destes Regnos
da portogal E elRey dom Ioham Rey de Castela com o Ifamte dom amr-
rique filho do dito senhor Rey dom Ihom de castela E a Ifante dona bria-
tiz filha do dito senhor Rey dom fernamdo Rey de portogal.” in IANTT,
gav. [drawer] 17, m. [packet] 6, number 11, edited by Salvador Dias Arnaut,
op. cit., doc. 8.
Zurita, Jerónimo. Anales de la Corona de Aragon. Çaragoça: Herederos de
Pedro Lanaja, y Lamarca, Impresores del Reyno de Aragon, y de la
Universidad, vol. II of 1st Part, Libro X, 1668.

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 116 10/18/2013 7:35:45 PM

 Political Role of a Portuguese Queen 117

Notes
1. António Caetano de Sousa, História Genealógica da Casa Real
Portuguesa (Lisboa: QuidNovi/Público-Academia Portuguesa de
História, 2007), vol. I, 259.
2. Fernão Lopes, Crónica de D. Joã o I (CDJ ), (Porto: Livraria Civilização,
s.d.), vol. I, chapter CLXXXIV.
3. Fernão Lopes, Crónica de D. Fernando (CDF ), (Lisboa: Imprensa
Nacional – Casa da Moeda, 1975) chapters LVII, LX, LXII.
4. Ibid., chapter CLXXII.
5. Fernão Lopes, CDJ, chapter LXXXIV.
6. Juan Antolínez de Burgos, Historia de N.N.y S.L. Ciudad de Vallladolid,
ed. Facsimilar (Valladolid: Grupo Pinciano, 1987), 287.
7. IANTT, Chancelaria de D. Fernando, book 1, 107–108; book 2, 60.
8. Francisco da Fonseca Benevides, As Rainhas de Portugal (Lisboa:
Typographia Castro y Irmão), vol. I, 1879, 4–5.
9. Colette Bowie, “To Have and Have Not: the Dower of Joanna
Plantagenet, Queen of Sicily (1177–1189),” 2013, 1.
10. Ana Maria Rodrigues and Manuela Santos Silva, “Private Properties,
Seigniorial Tributes and Jurisdictional Rents: the Income of the
Queens of Portugal in the Middle Ages,” in Women and Wealth in
Late Medieval Europe, ed. Theresa Earenfight (New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2010), 211–212.
11. Ana Maria Rodrigues, “For the Honour of Her Lineage and Body: the
Dowers and Dowries of Some Late Medieval Queens of Portugal,”
e-Journal of Portuguese History, vol. 5, number 1, 2007, 4.
12. Maria José Ferro Tavares, Fernando e Leonor: um Reinado Mal(Dito)
(Lisboa: Maria José Ferro Tavares e Chiado Editora, 2013), 168.
13. Ordena ções Afonsinas, ed. Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisboa:
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1998), vol. II, tít. 63, 15º item, 404.
14. Armando Carvalho Homem, “Dionisius et Alfonsus, dei gatia reges
et communis utilitatis gratia legiferi,” in Revista da Faculdade de Letras,
ed. Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto (Porto: Faculdade
de Letras da Universidade do Porto, 1994), II series, vol. XI, 30, 32.
15. Bowie, op. cit., 13.
16. Miriam Shadis, Berenguela of Castile (1180–1246) and Political Women in
the Middle Ages (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 25–27.
17. Ibid., 50.
18. IANTT, Chancelaria de D. Fernando, book 1, 177–177vº, 185–185vº,
book 2, 42–42vº, 81vº-82, 87–87vº.
19. Theresa Earenfight, “Without the Person of the Prince: Kings,
Queens, and the Idea of Monarchy in Late Medieval Europe” in
Gender & History (April 2007), vol. 19, nº 1, 3, 4, 14.

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 117 10/18/2013 7:35:45 PM

 118 Isabel de Pina Baleiras

20. María Jesús Fuente, “Reina la reina? Mujeres en la cúspide del poder
en los reinos hispâ nicos de la edad media (siglos VI-XII)” in Espacio,
Tiempo y Forma (Série III, Historia Medieval, 2003), vol. 16, 62.
21. Shadis, Berenguela of Castile, 76.
22. Earenfight, op. cit., 14.
23. Henrique da Gama Barros, História da Administração Publica em Portugal,
séculos XII a XV (Lisboa: Livraria Sá da Costa, 1945), vol. II, 426–427.
24. Miriam Shadis, “The First Queens of Portugal and the Building of
the Realm,” in Reassessing the Roles of Women as ‘Makers’ of Medieval
Art and Architecture, edited by Therese Martin, 671–704 (Leiden,
The Netherlands: Brill N.V., 2012), vol. 2.
25. IANTT, Gaveta 13, m. 9, nº 26, “Concordata entre El rey D. Affonso
IV e o Inffante D. Pedro seu filho herdeiro sobre a discórdia que
havia entre elles pella morte de Donna Ignes.”
26. Theresa Vann, “The Theory and Practice of Medieval Castilian
Queenship,” in Queens, Regents and Potentates, ed. Theresa M. Vann
(Dallas: Academia, 1993), 132; John Carmi Parsons, “Mothers,
Daughters, Marriage power: some Plantagenet Evidences, 1150–
1500,” Medieval Queenship, ed. John Carmi Parson (New York: St.
Martin’s Press, 1993), 72.
27. Fernão Lopes, CDF, chapters LXV–LXVI.
28. Ibid., chapter LX.
29. João António Mendes Neves, A “Formosa Chancelaria” – Estudo
dos originais da Chancelaria de D. Fernando (1367–1383), (Coimbra:
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra, 2005), 48; Isabel
de Pina Baleiras, Leonor Teles, uma mulher de poder? (Lisboa: Faculdade
de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, 2008), vol. I, 66, note 193.
30. Baleiras, Leonor Teles, vol. I, 66.
31. Ibid., vol. I, 58–109; vol. II.
32. For instance, the donation of Santa Maria da Feira to Leonor Teles’
brother, João Afonso Telo, in 27/01/1382 (in IANTT, Chancelaria de D.
Fernando, book 3, 59 vº-60), or the donation to Guarda’s Cathedral for
the rights to nominate the priests in all Guarda’s villages, in 22/05/1374
(in IANTT, Chancelaria de D. Fernando, book 1, 145vº-146).
33. See Abrantes (in IANTT, Chancelaria de D. Fernando, book 2, 95 vº),
Torres Vedras (in IANTT, Chancelaria de D. Fernando, book 1, 155 vº)
and Alenquer (in IANTT, Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Almoster m. 1,
cx. 6, nº 37).
34. “Trauto de casamento fecto antre elRey dom fernamdo Rey destes
Regnos da portogal E elRey dom Ioham Rey de Castela com o Ifamte
dom amrrique [ . . . ]E a Ifante dona briatiz [ . . . ],” in Salvador Dias
Arnaut, A Crise Nacional dos Fins do século XIV, I, A sucess ã o de D.
Fernando (Coimbra: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra,
Instituto de Estudos Históricos Dr. António de Vasconcelos, 1960),
doc. 8, 309, 321–322.

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 118 10/18/2013 7:35:45 PM

 Political Role of a Portuguese Queen 119

35. Ibid., doc. 8, 296–324.

36. Fernão Lopes, CDF, chapters CXV, CL, CLXXII.
37. Fernão Lopes, CDJ, chapter VII, 16.
38. “Contrato de casamento de João I de Castela com D. Beatriz,” in
Arnaut, op. cit., doc. 26, 357–369.
39. Fernão Lopes, CDF, chapters CI, CIV.
40. “Tractos de Casamiento entre don fadrique hijo del rey don enrrique
segundo de Castilla y doña beatriz [ . . . ],” in Arnaut, op. cit., doc. 1,
267–286).
41. “Testamento de D. Fernando,” ed. Arnaut, op. cit., doc. 7, 291–295;
Rita Costa Gomes, D. Fernando (Rio de Mouro: Círculo de Leitores e
Centro de Estudos dos Povos e Culturas de Expressão Portuguesa da
Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 2005), 122,164–165.
42. For instance, the dispute between a local man and the Porto’s jus-
tice (Santarém, 06/01/1384), in AMP, book IV, doc. 63; or the con-
flict between Santa Cruz’s Monastery in Coimbra and the Bishop
of Badajoz caused by some taxes that the bishop did not want to pay
(Santarém, 24/12/1383), in IANTT, Mosteiro de Santa Cruz de Coimbra,
book 2, 31–33.
43. Fernão Lopes, CDJ, chapter CXCII.
44. Fernão Lopes, CDF, chapters CLXXIII-CLXXIV.
45. Pero Lopez de Ayala “Crónica del Rey Don Juan, Primero de Castilla
é de Leon,” in Crónicas de los Reyes de Castilla, [ . . . ] vol. II, chapter
XIV, 86.
46. Fernão Lopes, CDJ, chapter IX.
47. Ibid., chapter XI.
48. Juan I of Castile had already entered Portugal by this time of his own
accord. See Lopez de Ayala, “Crónica del Rey Don Juan, Primero de
Castilla é de Leon,” chapter I, 87.
49. Lopez de Ayala, “Crónica del Rey Don Juan, Primero de Castilla é de
Leon,” chapter XI, 85. Fernão Lopes, CDF, 3.
50. Fernão Lopes, CDJ, chapters LXIV–LXV.
51. Ibid., chapters LXXVI, LXXXI.
52. Lopez de Ayala, “Crónica del Rey Don Juan, Primero de Castilla é de
Leon,” chapter VI, 89.
53. Rui d`Abreu Torres, “Leonor, Rainha D. (1350?-1386),” in Dicion á rio de
História de Portugal, ed. by Joel Serrão, (Porto: Livraria Figueirinhas,
1979), vol. 2, 483; Humberto Baquero Moreno, “Dona Leonor de
Teles – uma mulher sedutora e inquieta,” in Estudos em memória do
Professor Doutor M á rio de Albuquerque (Lisboa: FLUL – Instituto
Histórico Infante D. Henrique, 2009), 438.
54. Juan Antolínez de Burgos, “Juan Antolínez de Burgos y la primera
Historia de Valladolid,” in Historia de Valladolid (1887), ed. Facsimile
(Valladolid: Grupo Pinciano, 1987), 287; Fr. Enrique Forez, Memorias
de las Reynas Catholicas (Madrid: António Marin, 1761), vol. II, 693.

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 119 10/18/2013 7:35:46 PM

 120 Isabel de Pina Baleiras

55. Juan Antolínez de Burgos, “Juan Antolínez de Burgos y la primera

Historia de Valladolid,” 287–288.
56. Isabel de Pina Baleiras, Uma rainha inesperada, Leonor Teles (Lisboa:
Círculo de Leitores, 2012), 345.
57. Lopez de Ayala, “Crónica del Rey Don Enrique, Tercero de Castilla é de
Leon,” in Crónicas de los Reyes de Castilla, [ . . . ]” vol. II, chapter VI, 191.
58. César Olivera Serrano, Beatriz de Portugal, la pugna din á stica
Aví s-Trast á mara (Santiago de Compostela: Consejo Superior de
Investigaciones científicas Xunta de Galicia/Instituto de Est údios
Gallegos ”Padre Sarmiento,” 2005), 253.
59. Jerónimo Zurita, Anales de la Corona de Aragon (Çaragoça: Herederos
de Pedro Lanaja, y Lamarca, Impresores del Reyno de Aragon, y
de la Universidad, 1668, 401–401vº), vol. II of the 1st part, book X,
chapter 48.
60. Lopez de Ayala, “Crónica del Rey Don Enrique, Tercero de Castilla é
de Leon,” 267.
61. Mercedes e Privilegios, in AGS, leg. 6, 61.
62. Olivera Serrano, op. cit., 253.
63. Ibid., 253, note 69; Eleutério Ferná ndez Torres, Historia de Tordesillas
(Valladolid, Impr. Y Lib. Nacional e Extranjera de Andrés Martín –
sucessor de los Hijos de Rodriguez, 1914), 41. Antonia Ferná ndez
del Hoyo, Patrimonio perdido. Conventos desaparecidos de Valladolid
(Valladolid: Ayuntamento de Valladolid, 1998), 180.
64. Ibid., 139, 162–163.
65. “Contrato de casamento de João I de Castela com D. Beatriz,” in
Arnaut, op. cit., doc. 26, p. 366.
66. Olivera Serrano, op. cit., 42, 354.
67. Ibid., 132.
68. Ibid., 138, 154–157.
69. Ibid., 166–168, 26.
70. Ibid., 353, 124–125, 135, 138, 447–448, 32.
71. Earenfight, “Without the Person . . . ,” 2.
72. Ibid., 2, 8–10.
73. Raphaela Averkorn. “Women and Power in the Middle Ages: Political
Aspects of Medieval Queenship,” in Politics and Power, 12.
74. Nira Pancer, Sans peur et sans vergogne, de l’honneur des femmes aux pre-
miers temps mérovingiens (VI-VII siècles) (Paris: Éditions Albin Michel,
2001), 151, 156, 164–165.
75. Averkorn, op. cit., 14.
76. Mercedes Galá n, “Estudos jurídicos sobre el papel de la mujer en
la Baja Edad Media” (Navarra: Servicio de Publicaciones de la
Universidad de Navarra, 2008), 556.
77. Averkorn, op. cit., 15.
78. Fuente, op. cit., 71.
79. IANTT, Mosteiro de Santa Cruz de Coimbra, Book 2, fols. 31–33.

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 120 10/18/2013 7:35:46 PM

 Political Role of a Portuguese Queen 121

80. Mario Pilosu, A Mulher, a Lux ú ria e a Igreja na Idade Média (Lisboa:
Editorial Estampa, 1995), 34–40.
81. Vann, op. cit., 126.
82. Fernão Lopes, CDF, chapter LXV.
83. Ana Rodrigues Oliveira, “Philippa of Lancaster: the Memory of a
Model Queen,” 2013, 9.
84. Fernão Lopes, CDJ, chapter XV.
85. Fernão Lopes, CDF, chapter LX.
86. Fernão Lopes, CDJ, chapter CLXXXIV.
87. Duarte Nunes de Leão, ”Crónica del rei D. Fernando dos reis de
Portugal o IX,” in Crónicas dos Reis de Portugal (Porto: Lello e Irmão
Editores, 1975), 411.
88. Oliveira, op. cit., 18.
89. Fernão Lopes, CDF, chapters LXI, LXVI, LXV. Fernão Lopes, CDJ,
chapter XV.
90. Fernão Lopes, CDF, chapters LXI, LXVI and LXXI, CI, CIII,
CV-CVI, CXLI.
91. Ana Paula Sousa, Leonor Teles “Huuma Maa Molher?” (Porto:
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, 2004), 100, 108. See
also: Manuel Marques Duarte, Leonor Teles, Ensaio Biográfico (Porto:
Campo das Letras Editores, 2002); Isabel de Barros Dias, “Uso prag-
mático do topos da rainha má na segunda edição da Crónica de 1344,”
in Mulheres M á s. Percepçã o e Representa ções da Mulher Transgressora no
Mundo Luso-Hispâ nico, ed. Ana Maria da Costa Toscano et al. (Porto:
Universidade de Fernando Pessoa, 2004), vol. 1, 125–127.
92. Barros Dias, op. cit., 136; Marques Duarte, op. cit., 29; Ana Paula
Sousa, op. cit., 5, 93, 100; Tavares, op. cit., 17, 20–22.
93. Rita Costa Gomes, op. cit., 94.
94. Lopez de Ayala “Crónica del Rey Don Pedro, fijo del Rey Don
Alfonso, [ . . . ]” in Crónicas de los Reyes de Castilla, vol. I, chapter III,
592, 512, 412–413.
95. Marques Duarte, op. cit., 17.

Bibliography
Averkorn, Raphaela. “Women and power in the Middle Ages: political
aspects of medieval queenship” In Political systems and definitions of gen-
der roles, edited by Anne Katherine Isaacs, 11–31 ( Piza: Edizioni Plus,
Università di Piza, 2001).
Baleiras, Isabel de Pina. “Leonor Teles, uma mulher de poder?” Master
Thesis in Medieval History, Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de
Lisboa, 2008.
Baleiras, Isabel de Pina. Uma rainha inesperada, Leonor Teles (Lisboa: Círculo
de Leitores, 2012).

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 121 10/18/2013 7:35:47 PM

 122 Isabel de Pina Baleiras

Barros, Henrique da Gama. História da Administra çã o Publica em Portugal,

séculos XII a XV (Lisboa: Livraria Sá da Costa, 426–427, vol. II, 1945).
Benevides, Francisco da Fonseca. As Rainhas de Portugal (Lisboa:
Typographia Castro y Irmão, 4–5. vol. I, 1879).
Bowie, Colette. “To Have and Have Not: the Dower of Joanna Plantagenet,
Queen of Sicily (1177–1189),” 2013.
Dias, Isabel de Barros. “Uso pragmático do topos da rainha má na segunda
edição da Crónica de 1344.” In Mulheres M á s. Percepçã o e Representa ções da
Mulher Transgressora no Mundo Luso-Hispâ nico, edited by Ana Maria da
Costa Toscano, Shelley Godsland, 123–140, volume 1 (Porto: Universidade
Fernando Pessoa, 2004).
Dias, Manuel Marques. Leonor Teles, Ensaio Biográfico (Porto: Campo das
Letras Editores, 2002).
Earenfight, Theresa. “Without the Person of the Prince: Kings, Queens
and the Idea of Monarchy in Late Medieval Europe.” Gender & History,
19, 1 (April 2007): 1–21.
Ferná ndez del Hoyo, Antonia. Patrimonio perdido. Conventos desaparecidos de
Valladolid, 177–229 (Valladolid: Ayuntamento de Valladolid, 1998).
Ferná ndez Torres, Eleutério. Historia de Tordesillas. (Valladolid: Imprensa Y
Libraria Nacional e Extranjera de Andrés Martín [sucessor de los Hijos
de Rodriguez], 1914).
Fonseca, Luís Adão da. O Essencial sobre o Tratado de Windsor (Lisboa:
Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda, 1986), 24–25.
Fuente, María Jesús. “Reina la reina? Mujeres en la cúspide del poder en
los reinos hispâ nicos de la edad media (siglos VI-XII).” In Revista
Espacio, Tiempo y Forma. Série III, Historia Medieval, 53–71, vol. 16
(Madrid: Departamento de Historia Medieval y Ciencias y Técnicas
Historiográficas, 2003).
Galá n, Mercedes. “Estudos jurídicos sobre el papel de la mujer en la Baja
Edad Media,” Anuario Filosófico, 26 (1993), 541–557.
Gomes, Rita Costa, D. Fernando. (Rio de Mouro: Círculo de Leitores e
Centro de Estudos dos Povos e Culturas de Expressão Portuguesa da
Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 2005).
Homem, Armando Carvalho. “Dionisius et Alfonsus, dei gatia reges et com-
munis utilitatis gratia legiferi.” In Revista da Faculdade de Letras, edited
by Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, série II, volume XI
(Porto: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, 1994).
Moreno, Humberto Baquero. “Dona Leonor de Teles – uma mulher sedu-
tora e inquieta.” In Estudos em memória do Professor Doutor M á rio de
Albuquerque (Lisboa: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa
[FLUL] – Instituto Histórico Infante D. Henrique, 2009), 419–438.
Neves, João António. “A Formosa Chancelaria – Estudo dos originais da
Chancelaria de D. Fernando (1367–1383).” Master Thesis in Medieval
Paleography, Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra, 2005.

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 122 10/18/2013 7:35:47 PM

 Political Role of a Portuguese Queen 123

Oliveira, Ana Rodrigues. “Philippa of Lancaster: the Memory of a Model

Queen.” 2013.
Olivera Serrano, César. “Beatriz de Portugal, la pugna dinástica Av ís-
Trastá mara.” PhD diss., Consejo Superior de Investigaciones científi-
cas Xunta de Galicia / Instituto de Est údios Gallegos Padre Sarmiento,
2005.
Pancer, Nira. Sans peur et sans vergogne, de l’honneur des femmes aux premiers
temps mérovingiens (VI-VII siècles) (Paris: Éditions Albin Michel, 2001).
Parsons, John Carmi. “Mothers, Daughters, Marriage power: some
Plantagenet Evidence, 1150–1500.” In Medieval Queenship, edited by John
Carmi Parsons (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993), 63–78.
Pilousu, Mario. A Mulher, a Lux ú ria e a Igreja na Idade Média (Lisboa: Editor
Estampa, 1995).
Rodrigues, Ana Maria. “For the Honor of Her Lineage and Body: the
Dowers and Dowries of Some Late Medieval Queens of Portugal.”
E-journal of Portuguese History 5.1 (2007), 1–13.
Rodrigues, Ana Maria, and Manuela Santos Silva. “Private Properties,
Seigniorial Tributes and Jurisdictional Rents: the Income of the Queens
of Portugal in the Middle Ages.” In Women and Wealth in Late Medieval
Europe, edited by Theresa Earenfight (New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2010), 209–228.
Shadis, Miriam. Berenguela of Castile (1180–1246) and Political Women in the
Middle Ages (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).
Shadis, Miriam. “The First Queens of Portugal and the Building of the
Realm.” Reassessing the Roles of Women as ‘Makers’ of Medieval Art and
Architecture, edited by Therese Martin (Leiden: Brill N.V., 2012),
671–704.
Sousa, Ana Paula. “Leonor Teles Huuma Maa Molher?” Master Thesis in
Medieval and Renaissance History (Porto: Faculdade de Letras da
Universidade do Porto, 2004).
Sousa, António Caetano de. História Genealógica da Casa Real Portuguesa.
(Lisboa: QuidNovi/Público-Academia Portuguesa de História, volume
I, 2007. Originally published in Coimbra: Livraria Bertrand, volume I,
1946).
Tavares, Maria José Ferro. Fernando e Leonor: um Reinado Mal(Dito), (Lisboa:
Maria José Ferro Tavares e Chiado Editora, 2013).
Torres, Rui d’Abreu. “Leonor, Rainha D. (1350?-1386).” In Dicion á rio de
História de Portugal, edited by Joel Serrão (Porto: Livraria Figueirinhas,
volume 3, 1979), 482–483.
Vann, Theresa. “The Theory and Practice of Medieval Castilian Queenship.”
In Queens, Regents and Potentates, edited by Theresa M. Vann (Dallas:
Academia, 1993), 125–147.

9781137339140_07_ch06.indd 123 10/18/2013 7:35:48 PM