Isabel of Coimbra
Encyclopedia
Coimbra
Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...
(Isabella of Portugal) (1 March 1432 – 2 December 1455) was a Portuguese infanta and a queen consort of Portugal as the first spouse of King Afonso V of Portugal
Afonso V of Portugal
Afonso V KG , called the African , was the twelfth King of Portugal and the Algarves. His sobriquet refers to his conquests in Northern Africa.-Early life:...
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Biography
Isabella was a daughter of the Infante Peter, Duke of Coimbra, and Isabella of Aragon, Countess of UrgelIsabella of Aragon, Countess of Urgel
Isabella of Urgell, Duchess of Coimbra was a Catalan noblewoman of the Urgell branch of the House of Aragon...
. Her paternal grandfather was King John I of Portugal
John I of Portugal
John I KG , called the Good or of Happy Memory, more rarely and outside Portugal the Bastard, was the tenth King of Portugal and the Algarve and the first to use the title Lord of Ceuta...
and her maternal grandfather was James II, Count of Urgel
James II of Urgell
James II was the Count of Urgell , Viscount of Àger, and lord of Antillón, Alcolea de Cinca, and Fraga...
.
Isabella's father was the regent for her cousin Alfonos V during his minority. Reportedly, Isabella and Alfonso fell in love with each other. They were engaged in 1445, which caused a conflict between Peter of Coimbra and Duke Afonso of Braganza
Afonso, 1st Duke of Braganza
Dom Afonso I, the 1st Duke of Braganza was the eighth Count of Barcelos, the 2nd Count of Neiva, 2nd Lord of Faria and the first Duke of Braganza.-Origins:...
, who had wished for the monarch to marry his grandchild. Isabella was given the income of Santarém
Santarém, Portugal
Santarém is a city in the Santarém Municipality in Portugal. The city itself has a population of 28,760 and the entire municipality has 64,124 inhabitants.It is the capital of Santarém District....
, Alvaiázere
Alvaiázere
Alvaiázere is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 160.5 km² and a total population of 8,112 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of 7 parishes, and is located in the district of Leiria...
, Sintra
Sintra
Sintra is a town within the municipality of Sintra in the Grande Lisboa subregion of Portugal. Owing to its 19th century Romantic architecture and landscapes, becoming a major tourist centre, visited by many day-trippers who travel from the urbanized suburbs and capital of Lisbon.In addition to...
and Torres Vedras
Torres Vedras
Torres Vedras is a city and a municipality in the district of Lisbon, Portugal, about 50 km north of Lisbon. It belongs to the Oeste subregion and the Centro region.The municipality covers an area of 405.89 km² distributed over 20 freguesias...
at her wedding.
Isabella and Afonso V were married on 6 May 1447. Both the bride and groom were fifteen. They had three children:
- Infante John, Prince of Portugal (29 January 1451 – 22 April 1455)
- Infanta Joan, Princess of Portugal (6 February 1452 – 12 May 1490): Known as Saint Joan of Portugal or Saint Joan Princess. Canonized in 1693 by Pope Innocent XIIPope Innocent XIIPope Innocent XII , born Antonio Pignatelli, was Pope from 1691 to 1700.-Biography:He was born in Spinazzola to one of the most aristocratic families of the Kingdom of Naples, which included many Viceroys, and ministers to the crown, and was educated at the Jesuit college in Rome.In his twentieth...
. - John II of PortugalJohn II of PortugalJohn II , the Perfect Prince , was the thirteenth king of Portugal and the Algarves...
(3 March 1455 – 25 October 1495): Succeeded his father as 13th King of Portugal.
In 1448, the king took Afonso of Braganza as his advisor. Isabella's father died (suspected to have been killed), and her brother John
John, Prince of Antioch
Infante John of Coimbra , also known as John of Coimbra or John of Portugal, was the second son of Infante Peter, Duke of Coimbra, and Isabella of Aragon, Countess of Urgell....
was 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 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. Shortly after this, she died at age twenty-three, possibly from poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
ing.