Eleanor, Lady of Viseu

## Eleanor of Portugal

Lady of Viseu

Felipe de Lara y Igoros

Richardo de Lara y Igoros

**Eleanor of Portugal** (November 9, 1207 - January 6, 1267) was the youngest daughter of Alfonso III of Portugal and his first wife Maria of Brandenburg, when she was 6 her father gave her the Lordship of Viseu after a celebration of a victory against the Selgik Turks, and she became known as Eleanor, 1st Lady of Viseu. She was close to her older brother Denis, Prince of Portugal, which the 2 as the grew older moved from Lisbon to Braganza with Eleanor's other siblings. When Eleanor was 16, she married Emanuelo de Lara y Igoros, a Galician nobleman, which the marriage was unhappy, Emanuelo ceased control of Viseu and imprisoned Eleanor while she was pregnant, until Denis demanded Emanuelo free Eleanor and her now 5 month year old child, or Denis would have him burned at the stake, Eleanor had 3 more children, before she told Denis to slay his throat, which Denis did and presented Eleanor with his body, Eleanor attended Crusades with her brother, and if she did not attend them, she would watch over his children. When Eleanor was 34, her mother died of sweating sickness, and her father remarried Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen who was 15 years younger then Eleanor, Eleanor hated her step-mother and they often faught, she gained one younger-half-sister named Sanchia of Portugal from Elisabeth's marriage to her father. One day after an argument, Eleanor and Denis had enough of Elisabeth, and the both came with combat knifes and slit Elisabeth's throat and cut her into pieces, Eleanor and her brother were shunned by there father, and they were often nicknamed the Henry the Young and Constance, of Portugal as they were both shunned by there father. Eleanor's father remarried a last time to Urracca of Coimbra. When her father died when Eleanor was 52. Her brother became King of Portugal. Eleanor died at age 60 of stroke.

## Early Life

### Childhood

Eleanor of Portugal was born on November 9, 1207, 1 month after the coronation of her parents Alfonso III of Portugal and Maria of Brandenburg. Eleanor was the youngest of 5 children from her father's first wife Maria of Brandenburg, he paternal grand-parents were Sancho III of Portugal and Matilda II, Countess of Boulogne, and her maternal grand-parents were Konrad I of Brandenburg and Berenguela of Castile. She was raised in Lisbon and had a normal life according to her mother. When she was 2, half-uncle Ferdinand III of Castile granted Eleanor the title of Infanta of Castile and Léon even though she was not entitled to the role as she was only the mere grand-children of Berenguela, a former Queen of Castile.

### Education

Eleanor of Portugal was seen as one of the most educated princesses in Portugal, her parents paid an unusual sum of money to educate there daughters Eleanor and Constance, Eleanor and Constance learned Catalan and Aragonese when they were only 5, they also learned dance, music, and poetry, 3 things Eleanor spoke fondly of. Eleanor was temporarily pulled out of home-school, as she was seen as a possible bride to her second cousin the Prince of Girona, but sadly 1 year after the betrothal, the Prince died, after he was poisoned by his father's mistress, the infamous Isabel de Perón. Eleanor returned to school to continue her education.

### Lady of Viseu

When Eleanor was 6, her father wen't on campagne to Turkey, and Eleanor was left in the care of her governesses, while her mother watched Eleanor's older brother Denis, Prince of Portugal. Her father came back with a victory against the selgik Turks and threw a party in Santós de Maria Palacio and Eleanor was gifted the Lordship of Viseu by her father, Eleanor assumed the title as Eleanor I of Viseu.

### Moving households

When Eleanor was 12, she wanted to meet her brother Denis whom she had not seen in 7 years, her father agreed and sent a carriage from Viseu to Olhão. Eleanor and Denis very quickly became close and they were often seen playing together in dangerous areas by servents who carried them back to the Palace. When Eleanor was 14, she and her brother plotted there very first murder, the 2 of them planned to murder there older sister Blanca, as Alfonso planned to give Blanca the inheritance Eleanor and her brother were entitled to, the 2 poisoned Blanca which resulted in her dying while dining with her parents. Her parents blamed a maid named Elorisa Vela Venelisa who was burnt at the stake as a witch.

### Marriage

Eleanor's mother considered a German marriage, as Maria wanted to bring more of her Germanic heritage to her Portuguese children, and betrothed Eleanor to the Duke of Bavaria, but Eleanor's father wanted to keep the Portuguese heritage in the family. So Eleanor was betrothed to the richest noble in Galicia named Emanuelo de Lara y Igoros, who was 36 at the time. Eleanor met Emanuelo for the first time in Serpa Bastila, which they had a fight in only 30 minutes of the meeting, Eleanor made it clear she detested Emanuelo and did not wan't to marry him. Nevertheless, 2 days after they met, they were married in Lisbon Palace. Emanuelo wanted to move to his Palace in Galicia, but Eleanor promptly insisted on staying in Viseu. 2 months after there marriage while Eleanor was pregnant, Emanuelo demanded power and athority over Viseu, and when Eleanor refused, he forcefully ceased Viseu, and arrested Eleanor and locked her in a jail cell with no windows while chaining her nude to a wall. After the birth of her first child Sancho of Viseu, her brother found out about her imprisonment and forced Emanuelo to free Eleanor or be burnt at the stake, Emanuelo reluctantly freed Eleanor but kept her under heavy supervision, and Eleanor was not allowed to leave, bath, eat, or dress without other men watching an helping her. When she protested it, she would be whipped naked, and force-fed, and treated placed under temporary house arrest in Viseu Palacio. After the birth of her other children, she escaped house arrest, and ordered her brother Denis to murder her husband, her husband's body was thrown into a fire and then tossed in the ocean. Eleanor ceased her husband's lands, but her father still did not trust Eleanor after she murdered her husband, so the men where inforced to keep treating her like a baby, but after a while, Eleanor terrorized her father to remove the spy's.

## Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen

When Eleanor was only 34, after attending a crusade, her mother died of sweating sickness, and her father remarried the 19 year old Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen, Eleanor hated her step-mother, and openly expressed desires to murder her. This alarmed her father who briefly forced Eleanor to flee to Seville under the protection of the Archbishop, but Eleanor swiftly returned after 7 years when she learned her step-mother had given birth to a daughter named Sanchia of Portugal, Eleanor was furious her father did not tell her about the child, and 2 years later, she and her brother hatched a plot to murder Elisabeth, Alfonso and the child, so 8 weeks after they finished talking about the plot, Eleanor and her brother Denis broke into Lisbon Palace and murdered Elisabeth, and then cutting her body into peaces, there father managed to escape, and removed them from there court powers, they were again forced to flee to Castile in the protection of there half-cousin Ferdinand III of Castile.

## Later life and death

There are not a lot of sources that depict the later life of Infanta Eleanor, she most likely lived in Viseu with her younger sons, and may have joined a convent, though that could be argued. Eleanor's father remarried Urracca of Combria, whom Eleanor detested and continued to keep away from the Portuguese court, after the death of her father in 1259, Eleanor attended the coronation of her brother, she became an advisor to her brother, and died on January 6, 1267 of a stroke according to her brother, she was buried in Jerónimos Monastery next to her husband.