Isabel of Coimbra

Isabel of Coimbra
Detail of the Saint Vincent Panels masterpiece by Nuno Gonçalves
Queen consort of Portugal
Tenure	6 May 1447 – 2 December 1455
Born	1 March 1432 Coimbra
Died	2 December 1455(1455-12-02) (aged 23) Évora
Burial	Batalha Monastery
Spouse	Afonso V of Portugal
Issue	John, Hereditary Prince of Portugal Joanna, Princess of Portugal John II of Portugal
House	Aviz
Father	Peter, Duke of Coimbra
Mother	Isabella of Urgell

Infanta Isabel of Coimbra (Isabella of Portugal) (1 March 1432 – 2 December 1455)^[1] was a Portuguese infanta and Queen of Portugal as the first wife of King Afonso V of Portugal.

Born in Coimbra in 1432, Isabella was the eldest daughter of the Infante Peter, Duke of Coimbra and Isabella of Aragon, Countess of Urgel.^[2][3] Her paternal grandfather was King John I of Portugal and her maternal grandfather was James II, Count of Urgel. Beginning in 1439, Isabella's father Peter served as regent for her cousin Afonso V during his minority.^[4][5]

Isabella received a comprehensive Renaissance education influenced by the works of Christine de Pizan.^[6]

In accordance with the wishes of the late Edward of Portugal, Peter arranged Isabella's betrothal to Afonso V in 1441.^[3][7] The engagement caused conflict with Afonso, Count of Barcelos, Peter's half-brother and political enemy, who had wished for the monarch to marry his granddaughter.^[8][9] Relations further deteriorated when Peter had Isabella's brother elected the Constable of Portugal in 1443, a title that the Count of Barcelos believed rightfully belonged to his eldest son, Afonso, Marquis of Valença.^[10][11]

Isabella and Afonso V were married on 6 May 1447.^[3][12] Both bride and groom were fifteen.^[13] Isabella was given the income of Santarém, Alvaiázere, Sintra and Torres Vedras at her wedding.^{[citation needed]}

The Count of Barcelos began to wield more influence over Afonso and persuaded him to dismiss Peter in July 1448. Tensions escalated in the following months; Afonso annulled all edicts passed during the regency, stripped Isabella's brother of the title of Constable, and isolated Peter to his estates in Coimbra. In early 1449, Afonso interpreted Peter's refusal to yield all arms as an act of rebellion and began preparing for civil war.^[14][15]

Deeply devoted to both her husband and her father, Isabella did her best to mediate.^[16] She reportedly dropped to her knees and implored Afonso to have mercy on Peter.^[17][18] Afonso responded that he would be lenient if his father-in-law requested pardon.^[19] Peter reluctantly agreed, writing to Isabella, "This I do, lady, rather to please you, and because you have so bidden me, than because I deem it in reason for me to do."^[18] Afonso considered the penitence insincere and therefore unacceptable.^[19]

Isabella's father rebelled and was killed in the Battle of Alfarrobeira in 1449.^[20] Her siblings were then exiled: John, James, and Beatrice went to the court of their aunt Isabella in Burgundy, while her brother Peter fled to Castile.^[21] Isabella herself did not fall out of favour with the king, however, and she took control of the duchy of Coimbra until her brother John returned to Portugal in 1454.

In 1455, Isabella had her father honoured with a ceremony of exoneration at court and had him re-buried in a grand way.^[22] Shortly after this, she died at age twenty-three, possibly from poisoning.^[23][24] In her will, she left her inheritance to her sister, Philippa of Coimbra.^[25]

Isabella had three children:

• John, Prince of Portugal (29 January 1451)
• Joan, Princess of Portugal (6 February 1452 – 12 May 1490): Known as Saint Joan of Portugal or Saint Princess Joan. She was beatified in 1693 by Pope Innocent XII.
• John II of Portugal (3 March 1455 – 25 October 1495): Succeeded his father as 13th King of Portugal.

• Commire, Anne; Klezmer, Deborah (2000). Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Yorkin Publications. ISBN 978-0-7876-4066-8.
• Disney, A. R. (2009). A History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire. From Beginnings to 1807. Vol. I: Portugal. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-60397-3.
• Elbl, Ivana (2022). "Friendship, Disasters, and Social Capital: The Silva Meneses, 1415-1481". Portuguese Studies Review. 30 (1): 39–82. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
• Freitas, Isabel Vaz (2011). D. Isabel de Coimbra: Insigne Rainha (in Portuguese). Quidnovi.
• Livermore, H.V. (1947). A History of Portugal. Cambridge University Press.
• Marques, Antonio Henrique R. de Oliveira (1976). History of Portugal (2nd ed.). New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-08353-X.
• McMurdo, Edward (1889). The history of Portugal, from the Commencement of the Monarchy to the Reign of Alfonso III. Vol. II. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington.
• Pereira, Esteves; Rodrigues, Guilherme (1904). Portugal: diccionario historico, chorographico, heraldico, biographico, bibliographico, numismatico e artistico (in Portuguese). Vol. III. Lisboa: J. Romano Torres.
• Rogers, Francis M. (1961). The Travels of the Infante Dom Pedro of Portugal. Harvard Studies in Romance Languages. Vol. XXVI. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

• Genealogical Information on Isabel of Coimbra (in Portuguese)

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