gaskells:portuguese history meme + joão i [2/8 rulers]João I (1357-1433) was the illegitimate son of

gaskells:portuguese history meme + joão i [2/8 rulers]João I (1357-1433) was the illegitimate son of Pedro I and a Teresa Lourenço, possibly a merchant’s daughter, by whose father, Vasco Lourenço da Praça, he was raised. At the age of six, he was made Grand Master of the religious-military Order of Avis, a traditional position for a royal bastard. From 1377 to 1382, he had a relationship with Inês Pires, daughter of converted Jews, which produced two surviving children, Beatriz and Afonso. The death of his half-brother Fernando I, in 1383 and the unpopularity of his widow and regent of their daughter, Beatriz, Queen of Castile, led to a plot to overthrow her. João, encouraged by his old friend Nuno Álvares Pereira, with a group of conspirators, stormed into the Palace, killed the Queen’s lover and was proclaimed regent and Defender of the Realm, and later elected King of Portugal, by the “[will] of the greats and the common people”.The invasion of Portugal by Beatriz’s husband, Juan I of Castile, sparked a two year long war, during which João allied himself with John of Gaunt in the Treaty of Windsor, celebrated with his marriage to Philippa of Lancaster, sister of the future Henry IV of England. The marriage was happy and produced six surviving children known as the “Illustrious Generation”. The portuguese and english troops defeated and practically annihilated the superior numbers of the castilian army and their french allies in the Battle of Aljubarrota.  In 1415, João and his sons led a force to conquer Ceuta, commonly considered the beginning of the Portuguese Empire. As King, João led a centralization of the royal power and placed in action a propaganda and diplomatic machine to legitimize his rule. His religious training made him an uncommonly educated King for the time, and he was the author of a three volume work on proper Equestrianism. -- source link

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