Afonso, Prince of Portugal

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For the son of John III of Portugal, see Afonso, Prince of Portugal (1526).
Afonso
Prince of Portugal
Morte do Prncipe D. Afonso, filho de D. Joo II, na Ribeira de Santarm em 1491
(sc. XVIII), Palcio Nacional de Sintra.png
The Death of Prince Afonso
Born 18 May 1475
Died 13 July 1491 (aged 16)
Santarm District
Burial Batalha Monastery
Spouse Isabella, Princess of Asturias
House House of Aviz
Father John II of Portugal
Mother Eleanor of Viseu
Religion Roman Catholicism
Afonso, Prince of Portugal (Portuguese pronunciation [?'fsu]; 18 May 1475 13
July 1491)[1] - was the heir apparent to the throne of Portugal. He was born in
Lisbon, Portugal, and died in a horse-riding accident on the banks of the river
Tagus.

Contents [hide]
1 Heir apparent
2 Marriage
3 Death
4 Aftermath
5 Ancestry
6 References
7 Bibliography
Heir apparent[edit]
Afonso, named after his grandfather, King Afonso V, was the only son King John II
and Eleanor of Viseu.[2] The king was very fond of him and named the smaller island
of So Tom and Prncipe after him (Prncipe meaning Prince in the Portuguese
language).

Marriage[edit]
Afonso's grandfather Afonso V of Portugal had sided with Joanna la Beltraneja who
was a rival for the throne of Castile against her half-aunt, Queen Isabella I of
Castile. She was never considered legitimate and, when the king was dying, no one
took her as a serious contender for the crown. Isabella was due to inherit the
crown, but Afonso V was keen to interfere with the succession in Castile. In 1475
he married his niece Joanna, whom he considered the legitimate heir to the crown.
Since her adulteress mother was his own sister, Afonso V had not only ambition, but
the family honour to protect. He proclaimed himself King of Castile and Len and
prepared to defend his wife's rights.[3]

King Ferdinand and Isabella, however, won the war of succession and, as part of the
Treaty of Alcovas, signed in 1479, it was agreed that their eldest daughter
Isabella would marry Alfonso.[4][5] Isabella was also to come with a very large
dowry that in practice represented the war compensation obtained by Portugal. In
1480, Prince Afonso, who at that time was five years old, went to live in the town
of Moura with his maternal grandmother, Beatrice. In the early months of the
following year, his future wife, the ten-year old Isabella, joined him and lived
there for about two years.[6]

The wedding, by proxy, took place ten years later in the spring of 1490 in Seville.
[7][8] On 19 November of that year, Isabella arrived in Badajoz where she was
welcomed by Afonso's uncle, Manuel, the future King Manuel I of Portugal, whom she
would eventually marry six years after her husband's death. Afonso and Isabella
were reunited in Elvas on 22 November and, on the following day, Isabella met her
mother-in-law, Queen Eleanor, in the Convento do Espinheiro in vora, where the
court had gathered to ratify the marriage that had been celebrated earlier in
Seville.[9]

This wedding had the blessings of both Kingdoms. The queen of Castile, whose mother
and nurse were Portuguese, wanted to strengthen the ties with Portugal,[10] and, at
the same time, this would allow her to keep an eye on and control the steps of her
eternal rival, Juana la Beltraneja, through her daughter.[8]

Death[edit]

Cloister of Batalha Monastery

In July 1491, the royal family was spending the summer in the Santarm District
near the banks of the River Tagus. King John invited his son to swim with him. The
young prince refused the invitation at first, but seeing that his father wanted him
to keep him company, decided to join him. According to the chronicle of Rui de Pina

...na fora do correr, o cavalo do prncipe caiu, e o levou debaixo de si, onde
logo de improviso ficou como morto, sem fala e sem sentidos. (...running at a great
speed, the Prince's horse fell, dragging (the prince) under him, where he remained,
seemingly dead, without speaking and having lost his senses).[11]

According to the same author, when Afonso's mother heard the news of the accident,
stricken with grief, she ran, riding on a mule, accompanied by her daughter-in-law,
to be with her son who was lying on the ground. Nothing could be done. As a sign of
mourning, his parents decided to dress in black. The funeral rites were held at
Batalha Monastery and Prince Afonso was buried there, also the resting place of his
grandfather King Afonso V.[12] His widow, Infanta Isabella, returned to Castile and
even before the siege of Granada was lifted, she joined her parents in llora. The
Catholic Monarchs abandoned the camp temporarily to be with their daughter and to
console her.[7]

Aftermath[edit]
King John tried without success until the end of his life to legitimise the ten-
year-old Jorge, Duke of Coimbra, his illegitimate son. His wife, Queen Eleanor, was
adamantly against having the king's bastard son occupy the throne, an opinion
shared by the Catholic Monarchs, who, like Queen Eleanor, supported the claims of
the Duke of Beja, Eleanor's brother, as the heir to the throne. In 1494, King John,
whose health had worsened, executed his last will in which named his cousin and
brother-in-law, the Duke of Beja, his successor. King John died in October 1495
and, in 1497, his successor, the Duke of Beja, now King Manuel I of Portugal,
married Isabella, Prince Afonso's widow.[13]

Ancestry[edit]
[show]Ancestors of Afonso, Prince of Portugal
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, pp. 526, 536.
Jump up ^ Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, p. 526.
Jump up ^ Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, pp. 507508.
Jump up ^ Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, pp. 527, 533.
Jump up ^ lvarez-Palenzuela 2006.
Jump up ^ Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, pp. 528, 534.
^ Jump up to a b Fernndez lvarez 2003, p. 266.
^ Jump up to a b Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, p. 534.
Jump up ^ Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, p. 535.
Jump up ^ Fernndez lvarez 2003, p. 362.
Jump up ^ Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, p. 536.
Jump up ^ Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, pp. 536-537.
Jump up ^ Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, pp. 537-541.