Pedro of Portugal, cruel, obsessed, bisexual. 14th century.

In February 1355 Portugal was in a civil war.
Pedro, the heir of the throne, was very upset, he attacked everyone and everything, conquering castles, raged farmland, Portugal was upside down.
And why, my God! Because?
Her lover, the chaperone of his wife Constance of Castile, was murdered by his father Alfonso IV. Inês de Castro was her name, daughter of the most powerful Galician family, who made Afonso IV, worse than a cheap dizzy.
This Galician noble, Pedro Fernandez de Castro, the father of Inês had arrived in Portugal in 1340, as an infant woman chaperone of Constança Manuel, wife of Pedro.
Inês was so beautiful that Pedro quickly falled in love with this beautiful Lady, and this also happened because Constance of Castille, very sick, would not live much longer.
Constance thought she could put an end to the deplorable show of two lovers and invited Inês to godmother of their second son Don Luis (so Constance can control Inês). But this heir died a month later.
And last but not the least, Constance herself died shortly after giving birth the future King Fernando, in the year of 1345.
King Pedro, a widowed and with no responsibilities, assumed concubinage with the beautiful lady Inês. The scandal broke!
The infant’s lack of interest in government affairs, in a country ravaged by the Black Death, as would cause the union of Pedro and Inês? I do not know, would you? Why all the monarchs had concubines. More or less all of them, lived with, or hide, their lovers.
The problem was not the lover itself, it was, instead, which could then succeed. This union between the future king and the Galician noblewoman would have serious political consequences, the father of Pedro, Afonso IV, would not allow it to happen. Inês had had four children of Pedro, of which survived only three, including two men (D. João and D. Dinis).
The father Afonso IV fearing the relationship of Pedro and Inês which was against the rights of Ferdinand, heir of Pedro (the Inês Brothers constituted a threat because of its great influence in Portugal), Afonso IV hears his advisers Pero Coelho, Álvaro Gonçalves and Diogo Lopes Pacheco — the latter known enemy of the Castros — and beautiful Ines must be killed. After a trial where the defendant (Inês) was not present and had no “vozeiro” (lawyer), in Montemor-o-Velho Castle. The conclusion of this sort of trial was that Inês should beheaded in Coimbra, in January the 7th in the year 1355; while Pedro was hunting, and he had not a slightest idea what was happened. It is not known what kind of hunting Pedro did, partridges, wild boar or … another female to his collection. Yes, this kind of female you are thinking about.
When he saw to dead her beloved Inês, unleashed a civil war that only ended in August 1356. In the year of 1357 died Afonso IV. You see, if Pedro had only fall in love with Inês in September 1356, none of this would have happened and I would not be here saying these kind of nonsense.
Revenge was what that was, obsessed with the new kingdom made a deal with his cousin with the same name — Pedro I, the “Cruel” king of Castile — who delivered two noble Spaniards exiled to Portugal in exchange of Álvaro Gonçalves and Pero Coelho, who had taken refuge in that kingdom, and, my goodness, they were the killers of her beloved Inês. I do not know if one can say “murderers”, or mere executors of premeditated murder by Afonso IV.
Diogo Lopes Pacheco fled to France and was saved. In fact France is a country where many people could be saved, just go there.
What have Pedro done with the two killers of Inês? With Pero Coelho he ripped his heart from the chest and Álvaro Gonçalves by the shoulders. Can you image such a cruelty?! Finally Pedro had them burned. More cruelty. There were not showered with gasoline, but it must have been something on any kind. And to complete the “wickedness” everything was done before them, so that, as he ate, watched what told him to do. This is what Fernão Lopes, who was the chronicler of the kingdom, said.
But did Pedro get married or not with his concubine? Pedro has confirmed that six years earlier, secretly married Inês de Castro in Cantanhede. He said so, we do not know if it’s true? Pedro did crown queen Inês after her death, and the population of Coimbra was forced by Pedro to transfer, her remains, to the Monastery of Alcobaça. The remains of the beautiful Inês were taken on foot to Alcobaça by the population, a distance that should be around ninety kilometers, at that time, because if at that time one already had highways, would be about seventy. Pedro had already give order to do the two grave tombs. The both tombs were placed in the transept wing of Alcobaça Church. Each at its side of the transept. The position of the tombs were with both feet facing each other, because, at the Last Judgment’ Day were the dead will rise; Pedro could see again her beloved Inês, face to face. I do not know if Inês was of the same opinion, who knows? Hopefully we have to wait to the Last Judgment!
It was traumatic, it was … The brutal death of lover explain, perhaps, some traces of the deviant character, or bi, yes, bipolar of Pedro. Here there will be some disagreement among historians who hesitate in the nickname, Pedro “the Punisher” or “Cruel” as it happened with his Spanish cousin.
Pedro eagerness to do justice by his own hands, including participation in the torture of prisoners, made him a Punisher or Cruel? Justice is not cruelty? “He even put them in his hand, when I saw that did not confess, injuring them severely until they confessed,” recalls Fernão Lopes, the Chronicler.
The torment was part of medieval justice, there is still torment, see what is happening in Syria, but you’re right, is not part of our story. But Pedro was epileptic and stammering? And just why he had these epithets is only history.
But will Pedro have had other passions?! Fernão Lopes, the chronicler, says so: the squire Afonso Madeira, who “loved him (Pedro) more than one should say here.” Pedro was then bisexual, can we say for sure. But the squire was plotted. It is said that with a cutting thrust lady. Then the king did not like and had “cut him that member in which men have more appreciation” this was told by the chronicler. Which member shall have been? Yes, the one you are thinking about. Right that one.
Pedro reigned for ten years, and have become extremely popular, and “that such ten years never hear in Portugal like these that reigned el Rei Dom Pedro.” This was said by the Chronicler.