Isabel of Coimbra

Infanta Isabel of Coimbra (Isabella of Portugal) (1 March 1432 – 2 December 1455)^[1] was a Portuguese infanta and Queen of Portugal as the first spouse of King Afonso V of Portugal.

Isabel of Coimbra
Detail of the Saint Vincent Panels masterpiece by Nuno Gonçalves
Queen consort of Portugal
Tenure	6 May 1447 – 2 December 1455
Born	1 March 1432 Coimbra
Died	2 December 1455(1455-12-02) (aged 23) Évora
Burial	Batalha Monastery
Spouse	Afonso V of Portugal
Issue	John, Hereditary Prince of Portugal Joanna, Princess of Portugal John II of Portugal
House	Aviz
Father	Peter, Duke of Coimbra
Mother	Isabella of Urgell

Life

Born in Coimbra in 1432, Isabella was a daughter of the Infante Peter, Duke of Coimbra, and Isabella of Aragon, Countess of Urgel.^[2][3] Her paternal grandfather was King John I of Portugal and her maternal grandfather was James II, Count of Urgel.

Isabella received a comprehensive Renaissance education influenced by the works of Christine de Pizan.^[4]

Queen

Isabella's father was the regent for her cousin Afonso V during his minority. In 1441, Pedro arranged the betrothal of Isabella and Afonso V.^[3] Their engagement caused a conflict between Peter of Coimbra and Duke Afonso of Braganza, who had wished for the monarch to marry his granddaughter.^[5]

Isabella and Afonso V were married on 6 May 1447.^[3] Isabella was given the income of Santarém, Alvaiázere, Sintra and Torres Vedras at her wedding.^{[citation needed]}

In 1448, the king took Afonso of Braganza as his advisor. Isabella's father rebelled and was killed in the Battle of Alfarrobeira in 1449,^[6] and her brothers John and James were exiled. Isabella herself did not fall out of favour with the king, however, and she took control of the duchy of Coimbra until her brother John returned to Portugal in 1454.

In 1455, Isabella had her father honoured with a grand ceremony of exoneration at court and had him re-buried in a grand way.^[7] Shortly after this, she died at age twenty-three, possibly from poisoning.^[8][9] In her will, she left her inheritance to her sister, Philippa of Coimbra.^[10]

Issue

Isabella had three children:

• John, Prince of Portugal (29 January 1451)
• Joan, Princess of Portugal (6 February 1452 – 12 May 1490): Known as Saint Joan of Portugal or Saint Joan Princess. Beatified in 1693 by Pope Innocent XII.
• John II of Portugal (3 March 1455 – 25 October 1495): Succeeded his father as 13th King of Portugal.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Isabel of Coimbra
8. Peter I of Portugal 4. John I of Portugal 9. Teresa Lourenço 2. Peter, Duke of Coimbra 10. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster 5. Philippa of Lancaster 11. Blanche of Lancaster 1. Isabel of Coimbra 12. Peter II, Count of Urgell 6. James II, Count of Urgell 13. Margaret of Montferrat 3. Isabella of Urgell 14. Peter IV of Aragon 7. Isabella of Aragon 15. Sibila de Fortià

References

Citations

1. Pereira & Rodrigues 1904, p. 1005.
2. Freitas 2011, p. 17.
3. Rogers 1961, p. 59.
4. Freitas 2011, pp. 18–19.
5. Rogers 1961, pp. 60, 86.
6. Rogers 1961, p. 62.
7. Rogers 1961, pp. 68–69. "In 1455 Queen Isabela persuaded her husband, greatly pleased by the birth of his son João, to give her father the burial he merited. The King ignored the opposition from the Duke of Bragança and his son the Count of Ourém (now also Marquis of Valença), and brought the body to the Monastery of the Trinity in Lisbon. It was next moved to the Monastery of St. Eligius (Eloi) and finally transferred to Batalha, where it was interred with great pomp in the Chapel of the Founder."
8. Commire & Klezmer 2000, p. 792
9. Rogers 1961, p. 69. "Queen Isabel, twenty-three years old, soon joined her father in Batalha, for she died at the end of the same year. There were those who insinuated that she had been poisoned by her father's enemies."
10. Rogers 1961, p. 28.

Sources

• Commire, Anne; Klezmer, Deborah (2000). Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Yorkin Publications. ISBN 978-0-7876-4066-8.
• Freitas, Isabel Vaz (2011). D. Isabel de Coimbra: Insigne Rainha (in Portuguese). Quidnovi.
• Pereira, Esteves; Rodrigues, Guilherme (1904). Portugal: diccionario historico, chorographico, heraldico, biographico, bibliographico, numismatico e artistico (in Portuguese). Vol. III. Lisboa: J. Romano Torres.
• Rogers, Francis M. (1961). The Travels of the Infante Dom Pedro of Portugal. Harvard Studies in Romance Languages. Vol. XXVI. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

External links

• Genealogical Information on Isabel of Coimbra (in Portuguese)

Isabel of Coimbra House of Aviz Cadet branch of the House of Burgundy Born: 1 March 1432 Died: 2 December 1455
Portuguese royalty
Vacant Title last held by Eleanor of Aragon	Queen consort of Portugal and the Algarves 6 May 1447 – 2 December 1455	Vacant Title next held by Joanna la Beltraneja