Sancho III of Portugal

## Sancho the Great

King of Portugal

Constance de Molína

(His death)

Ferdinand of Portugal

Maria of Portugal

Dulce of Portugal

Illegitimate:

Maria de Afonso Chichorro

Juan de Alfonso Sancho

Denis de Alfonso Ferdinand

**Sancho the Great** (C. December 1167 - October 18, 1207) was the eldest son of Sancho II of Portugal (Famously known as Sancho the Cruel) and Urracca of Castile. Sancho from birth was always meant to become King of Portugal. He was also his father's favorite. When Sancho was 1 years old, his mother Urracca was murdered by Sancho's aunt Berengaria of Castile. And Sancho's father remarried Juana de Villena who was a famous 'Court brat' which was a term at the time for haughty rich woman. Juana de Villena was an abusive step-mother and wanted her own son Infante Manuel of Portugal to succeed Sancho's father, but Sancho's father refused as he wanted Sancho to succeed him, when Sancho was 12, he and his father poisoned Juana de Villena and Sancho married Matilda of Boulogne who was Countess of Boulogne in her own right, Sancho and Matilda shared a happy marriage together. When Sancho's father died, Sancho became Sancho III of Portugal and he and his wife were crowned in Lisbon. Sancho wanted to undo the damage he had done to Portugal during his cruel reign and invaded Galicia, he was dubbed "Sancho the Great" by his people. Sancho also despised he half-siblings and took away there territories and exiled them to a Galician prison where most of them were murdered. Sancho and his wife had 2 children during there marriage, Alfonso and Constance, when Matilda died of yellow fever, Sancho inherited Boulogne, but he made the County of Boulogne part of his daughter Constance's dowry, which made her a popular bride, Sancho remarried one of his mistresses Constance de Molína, who was the youngest daughter of the Castilian Lord of Molína. Sancho had 3 children with her, but also had affairs with Constance's ladies in waiting and produced illegitimate children with infuriated her. Sancho died aged 40 of Yellow fever, he was succeeded by his son Alfonso III of Portugal.

## Early Life

### Childhood

Sancho of Portugal was born the eldest child of Sancho the Cruel and his first wife Urracca of Castile, when young Sancho was only 1, his mother Urracca was murdered by Sancho's aunt Berengaria of Castile, and his father remarried Juana de Villena a Spanish born 'Court Brat' who had served as a maid of honor to Sancho's mother. Juana hated Sancho for no apparent reason, and tried to beg Sancho's father to allow her own son Infante Manuel to succeed him, but Sancho's father loved Sancho to much and refused. Sancho had 7 half siblings whom he all hated. Sancho spent most of his life in Lisbon and was regarded as the smartest child of his father.

### Education

Sancho's father paid extra for Sancho's education, Sancho was thought Castilian which was a language his mother grew up speaking, he also was thought French, Latin, Greek, and English, he was also educated in War, Math, Reading, Writing, Poetry, dance, music, archery, hunting, jousting, and certain sports that were popular in Portugal and still are. Sancho commonly visited the Kingdom of Castile to visit his aunt who he forgave for murdering his mother, Sancho and his aunt were surprisingly close and she wrote to him 5 day's a week, Sancho also had an addiction for bullying his younger half-siblings which his father grew concerned when Sancho beat up his younger brother Manuel, and Sancho was forced in captivity for 2 years.

### Captivity

Sancho was known as a child to have anger issues, which led to his captivity after her threatened to push his younger brother out of a window. Sancho was imprisoned in Castle of Almourol, but Sancho escaped one time and fled to Castile when he was only 10 with his 23 year old best friend, Ferdinand de Lara, Berengaria promised to keep Sancho safe, but his father sent spies to capture Sancho and send him back to the Castle of Almourol, surprisingly Sancho did not blame his father for sending him to a prison, he in fact still loved him, he blamed his brother Manuel and lived to hate him.

### Marriage

When Sancho was 12, he was let free out of the Castle of Almourol, and sent to a Palace in Lisbon where a bride-show was presented to him, the possible bride's were all picked by his father, which was very common at the time. Among the woman where Matilda II, Countess of Boulogne, Sancho chose her, they were married by proxy in Lisbon, and then married in Perio Palace. Matilda was named Princess of Portugal as the wife of Sancho of Portugal who was the Prince of Portugal. Sancho was named *Jure uxoris* Count of Boulogne. The 2 shared a happy marriage and Matilda moved from Boulogne in France to Lisbon.

### Murder of Juana de Villena

When Sancho was 12, he and his father grew very tired of Queen Juana, who had been Queen for 11 years. Sancho's father thought of ordering men to tie her to horses and rip her into peaces, but Sancho did not wan't this to be a Europe wide scandal, so he suggested they poison Juana and then Posthumously rip her body into peaces. They put poison into her wine, she as discovered dead on the floors of Piero Palace, Sancho's father then cut Juana's body into peaces and threw it in the water.

## King of Portugal

When Sancho was 15, his father contracted yellow fever which was a illness that hit the Iberian peninsula terribly in the middle-ages. Sancho's father was sure he would get better, it was soon rumored sense Sancho's father was not a popular king, a servent tried to poison him. Sancho's father however did not get better and died in Lisbon. And Sancho and his wife were declared king and Queen of Portugal, Sancho inherited a mess, Portugal at the time was seen as a backwards country like Norway and Sweden, it was financially and militarly weak, and much of the land in Portugal had been struck with Yellow fever, Sancho wanted to change Portugal and not be considered "The Weak country." Sancho first expanded the Portuguese military and started donating to charity, which earned him popularity, his wife soon gave birth to a son Alfonso of Portugal who became Prince of Portugal upon his birth, but Sancho also still wanted revenge on his half-sibling's he was careful to not go killing as it would be a bad start to his reign like what his father did to his half-siblings's. Sancho knew he was a good military general, and wanted to show his people how good of a general he was, he started a conquest of the kingdom of Galicia.

### Conquest of Galicia

Galicia was like Portugal at the time, it was weak and had little defense over the country, the king of Galicia was Garsendo I of Galicia, but he was only 10 and his mother Blanche Velarde Pinto, who was a Galician noblewoman who acted regent in her son's minority Sancho wanted to invade Galicia sense he was 11, after the birth of his child Constance of Portugal, the Portuguese people cheered him and expressed there hope for him to win, Sancho left his wife regent of Portugal, and Sancho headed for Galicia, as soon as Blanche Velarde Pinto heard of the invasion, she freaked out as she had no idea how to run an army and she had no allies, she sent her son north to the Galician city of Pontevedra, Sancho reached the city of Pontevedra, and Blanche Velarde Pinto quickly attempted to bring her son to the Galician province of Ourense, but Sancho's army caught them. Garsendo was crying while Blanche held on tight to him, Sancho ordered 3 nights to shred them into peaces, Sancho's knights tied there bodies together and cut there leg's arms and eventually head's off, there decapitated bodies were cut unto smaller peaces and publically thrown into a fire. Sancho declared himself King of Galicia and Portugal, and his wife came to Galicia for a second coronation as Queen of Galicia, Sancho's children were named Prince and Princess of Galicia, and Sancho bestowed his daughter with the Lordship of Pontevedra even though she was only 1 years old. But some Galician's started nicknaming Sancho, "Sancho the Cruel" like his father and "Sancho the Mad" and "Sancho the Bloody." When he came home, the Portuguese cheered him and Portugal started developing into a rich country, Sancho though was not done with blood-shed, in-fact far from it, he was also not done murdering children.

### Half Sibling's imprisonment

Now that Sancho had control over Galicia, he focused more on getting revenge on his half-sibling's. His younger half-brother Manuel who was also Lord of Serpa found himself at risk and tried to poison Sancho, but Sancho was smarter then drinking Manuel's so called "Wine." Sancho also had other half-siblings who were terrified of him, his wife supported Sancho against his half-sibling's and even aided him with Boulogne money, Sancho ceased his half-sibling's land's and forced them into a Galician prison in Ourense. He gave the land's to his Queen for supporting him in the fight. Sancho ordered the murder of Manuel and his half-sister Eleanora Afonsa de Peirez.

### 13th Crusade

The Archbishop of Viseu informed Sancho of the 13th Crusade, Sancho had been on previous crusade's before, but he felt to busy to attend a crusade, but he then realized he actually was not busy and he was prepared to go on Crusade, he left his wife once again in charge of Portugal as he headed for Jaffa in modern day Israel. He attended with a large army with his cousin Ferdinand III of Castile, Ferdinand and Sancho wen't to Jaffa were they were pushed back, and then they came back the next week, but where pushed back by Ottoman's the next day, the next day, they secured Jaffa, but failed to secure Cyprus and Iraq which the Ottoman's kept. But he came home bragging about his secural of Jaffa, without remarking that he failed to secure Cyprus and Iraq.

### Second Marriage

Sancho's wife Matilda fell terribly ill with Yellow fever which was the same illness that Sancho's father died of. There children were only 4 and 5, Sancho was devastated, and on Matilda's death-bed she wrote Sancho should inherit her County of Boulogne, after she died, Sancho was named Sancho I, Count of Boulogne, Sancho did however have a mistress named Constance de Molína whom was Matilda's lady-in-waiting, who made Matilda often jealous. Constance de Molína never expected Sancho to propose to her, but Sancho needed recover after the loss of his wife and so he proposed to Constance de Molína who accepted the proposal and was crowned Queen Consort of Portugal. Sancho began finding future matches for his children, he had plan's to marry Constance of Portugal to the King of Naples, but the King of Naples's mother objected saying Constance of Portugal was certainly not fit to be a Queen of Naples, so Sancho attempted the Duke of Lorraine, who was going to accept Constance of Portugal as his wife, but he died before the marriage could take place, Sancho's second wife gave birth to a son named Ferdinand of Portugal that year, Sancho raised Ferdinand away from his eldest son Alfonso, as he did not wan't to make the same mistake his father made by raising him with his own half-brothers and sisters. Soon Sancho visited his first cousin Eleanor of Sicily who was also Queen of Aragon and she had a son named James, Prince of Girona who was heir apparent to the kingdom of Aragon, Sancho and Eleanor and her husband agreed to betroth there son to Constance of Portugal which installed the Aragonese-Portuguese alliance against the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. Sancho though planned to marry Constance of Portugal to James of Girona when she was 11. But Constance of Portugal was only 7 when the alliance started and Sancho waited for her daughter to come of age, in the alliance Sancho promised to bestow Constance of Portugal with the County of Boulogne and Sancho abdicated the county in favor of his 7 year old daughter who became "Constance I of Boulogne." This would put Aragon in charge of the county as Constance and James would be required to rule a co-rulers. Around this time Constance de Molína gave birth to twin's: Maria of Portugal and Infanta Blanca de Alfonso, which sadly only Maria survived, and Blanca died 6 hour's after birth both parent's were devastated and often were over-protective of Maria of Portugal.

### Grand Master of the Golden Fleece

When the Pope died, the new pope happened to be a friend of Sancho III of Portugal, the New pope remembered his friend and named him Grand Master of the Golden Fleece which was the highest award in the Papacy award's, his wife became the Grand-Mistress of the Golden Fleece. As Grand-Master he could appoint other's Knight's though not Grand-master's as he was the Grand-Master. He appointed his son Knight of the Golden Fleece, and his daughter and other children with Constance de Molína Dame's of the Golden Fleece. Sancho was also quick to appoint Eleanor of Sicily and her husband and James, Prince of Girona's Knight's and Dame's of the Golden Fleece. Around the time he became Grand-Master, his wife gave birth to there last child Infanta Dulce of Portugal whom he bestowed with the Lordship of Alcocer and he appointed her Dame of the Golden Fleece, but 2 weeks later Sancho's mistress Beatrice de Lafões gave birth to Sancho's illegitimate child Maria de Alfonso Chichorro, Constance de Molína was furious and refused to allow Sancho to see his 3 children with her for a month before Sancho appologized to her.

### Aragonese-Portuguese Alliance

When Sancho's daughter turned 11 in 1198, Sancho and his son Alfonso rode to Aragon by boat, Sancho was in tear's leaving his daughter and begged his daughter along with his son to write them everyday, Sancho officially bestowed Constance of Portugal with the County of Boulogne and gave her his coat, he was not present at her wedding as was formal for a father of a royal bride at the time. Sancho wrote to his daughter 7 day's a week, which Constance's privately complained he was being to over-protective of her.

## Death

On Sancho's 40th Birthday he celebrated by going on a tour of Portugal, but little did he know there was a swarm of bug's that bit him on the neck and arm, Sancho first thought it was a bee-bite and brushed it off as not a big deal, but Sancho was horrified to find out that he contracted yellow fever and begged the doctor's to cure him, his 21 year old son was not crying much to everyone's surprise, he had been waiting for his father to die so he could become King of Portugal, but Alfonso still came to Sancho's death bed, Constance of Portugal though was devastated, and held Sancho's hand's on his death bed, his wife also was there, but she barred his mistresses from entering his death-bed. Sancho died the day later in the company of his family, Alfonso was crowned King of Portugal and Galicia and fufilled his promise to protecting Constance of Portugal as he promised his father on his death-bed, Sancho was the last King of Portugal to be buried in the monastery of Santa Cruz.