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Inês de Castro with Her Children at the Feet of Afonso IV, King of Portugal, Seeking Clemency for Her Husband, Don Pedro, 1335 by Eugénie Servières (1786-1820s). Palace of Versailles

Upon entering the monastery, the grandiose central nave, stripped of any adornments, produces a sensation of elevation and spirituality. Columns and walls are devoid of decoration, as required in Cistercian churches, and the interior is very brightly illuminated by rows of windows on the walls and rose windows on the main façade and transept arms. In the centre of each transept, we can see two masterpieces of mediaeval statue work - the tombs of D. Pedro I (1357-67) and D. Inês, placed in front of one another in order to enable them to meet again on the day of Resurrection

The story of Pedro, Crown Prince of Portugal, and Inés de Castro, lady-in-waiting to a Spanish Princess, is one of the greatest love stories ever told (at least 20 operas have been written about it). In Portugal, it is at least as well-known as the story of Romeo and Juliet.

In fourteenth-century Europe, everything was alliances: children of royal families were but pawns to their elders, married off for military and political purposes. In the Iberian Peninsula, which at the time was home to several kingdoms, these alliances were crucial.

In 1339, Crown Prince Pedro of Portugal, at the age of nineteen, was wed to Constance of Castile, then sixteen, the daughter of the cousin of the King of Castile. This marriage cemented an alliance between the two Iberian powers. King Afonso IV of Portugal, Pedro’s father, was pleased.

But as always in love, things got complicated. Pedro married Constance, but did not fall in love with her: instead, he fell in love with one of her handmaidens, Inés Pérez de Castro. Their affair was no secret, and the two had four illegitimate children. The affair jeopardized Portugal’s relationship with Castile, and Afonso IV tried everything he could to split up his son and Inés, but nothing worked. When Constance died in 1349, Pedro refused to marry anyone but Inés, who was not considered worthy of being the future Queen of Portugal.

Detail tomb king Pedro I

Afonso IV got desperate, and in January, 1355 he sent three assassins after Inés at the Monastery of Santa Clara in Coimbra, where she was cut down in cold blood, in front of her children.

Rather than settle the matter, however, Pedro, in

a rage, rebelled against his father, dragging the country into civil war.

Although the two did reconcile, Pedro never forgave his father.

After he assumed the throne in 1357, Pedro announced that he had wed Inés in secret, and openly recognized their previously illegitimate children.

He managed to capture two of the three assassins his father had sent to kill her: according to legend, he ripped their hearts out with his bare hands. Since they had destroyed Pedro’s heart by killing Inês, he felt it was only fair that he destroy theirs

Having satisfied his need for revenge (or as much of it as he could, given that the third man got away), Pedro then made a surprising announcement: because he and Inês had been secretly married, she is the lawful Queen of Portugal. Thus she needed to be buried properly as a queen

Pedro ordered that the body of his beloved be entombed in an ornate sarcophagus inside the elegant Monastery of Alcobaça. His own tomb is across from her, supposedly so that when they both rise for judgment day, the first thing they see will be each other. There is a wonderful ironic ending to the story. That frail child of Pedro and his first wife Constança did indeed become king after Pedro. But he was the last of that dynasty. In 1428, the heir to the Portuguese throne married Leonor of Aragon — the great granddaughter of Inês. The kings of that dynasty, who presided over the era of The Discoveries, were all descendants of Inês. In the end, Afonso and his murderous courtiers failed to keep her bloodline from the throne

Chronicler Fernão Lopes (ca. 1378-1459) described it thus: “[King] Pedro ordered a tomb of white marble, finely surmounted by her crowned statue, as if she was a Queen; and then he caused the tomb to be placed in the Monastery of Alcobaça [...] and made the corpse come from the Monastery of Santa Clara of Coimbra, escorted by many horses and noblemen and maids and clergymen.

And all the way through, a thousand men were holding candles, in such a way that always the body was enlightened; and thus it arrived at the Monastery, which was seventeen thousand leagues away from Coimbra, where the body was buried with many religious services and great solemnity. And it was the most magnificent translation ever seen in Portugal”.

The extraordinary splendour of this unique ceremony was so impressive that Heinrich Schöffer (Historia de Portugal, ed. 1893) described the scene with a memorable metaphor: “Inês de Castro was led to Alcobaça between two lines of stars”.

Here is where history merges into myth. Before Inês was reburied, Pedro was said to have propped her corpse on the royal throne and put the crown on her head. Then he forced every member of the court to swear allegiance to her, and acknowledge her as the true Queen of Portugal, by kissing her hand

Not only that, but Inês lives on in a Portuguese idiom used when something is past repair: “Agora é tarde, Inês é morta” (It’s too late, Inês is dead). There is no greater immortality than being preserved in language

The left side of Inês tomb, showing six of the twelve Bible scenes that are carved into the long sides of her tomb.

On top is Inês herself, in full queenly regalia with a crown on her head. Six angels hold her in their gentle hands

Only three of the angels holding Inês have intact wings

At the bottom, her tomb rests on half-human, half-animal beasts: these are her assassins.

Here is the right side. The jarring damage on the bottom corner is only the most easily visible damage; the tomb as a whole has been battered and beaten. The Alcobaça Monastery was looted by the French during the Napoleonic Wars. In addition to burning the priceless medieval contents of the library, the French troops also looted the tombs. It seems they weren’t happy with the contents, so they smashed and destroyed many of the carvings.When you look more closely, and see the incredible intricacy of these marble carvings, the damage becomes monstrous.

The head of the tomb shows the Crucifixion — and unlike most Crucifixion scenes, it features not just Christ but also the two thieves.

Unfortunately, this panel is damaged quite heavily. The heads of all three crucifixion victims are gone, as are all but four of the busts who looked down upon the scene from above

On the foot of Inês’ tomb is the Last Judgment, with the fortunate ascending to heaven while the rest tumble into the pit of hell. At top center is Jesus, presiding over the separation of souls. But the best part is up in the top right corner, where Pedro and Inês look down upon the entire scene from their box seats

The effigy of one Inês’s murderers bearing the weight of his sin

The Medieval depiction of the judgement of souls at the foot of Inês’s tomb

Pedro also commissioned his own tomb, carved in the same manner but telling a different story. He made sure that when he died, he would be laid to rest beside his love. For a very long time, the two tombs sat side by side in the transept of the church, but later they were moved to opposite sides.

On its long sides, Pedro’s tomb has scenes of the life of St. Bernard. The tomb is supported by lions. On the top, Pedro lies in state, crowned and holding a scepter, while six angels hold him as they do Inês. Only one of the six escaped the French troops unscathed; the others all have broken wings.

The opposite side of the tomb shows the worst damage of all.

There is a showstopper on Pedro’s tomb as well, this time at the head. He commissioned a Wheel of Life, with concentric circles. The inner circle shows his relationship with Inês as Fate had her way with them.

Starting at the 7 o’clock position, Pedro and Inês are posing informally, as lovers. They rise up the Wheel of Life (or perhaps Fortune?), passing through a slightly more formal lover’s portrait at 10 o’clock and topping out at 12 o’clock with a very formal royal portrait. Unlike the previous two, where they are touching, in this one they sit separately, dressed in finery. It all goes downhill from there, as they fall down the other side of the Wheel. First they are separated, then they come further apart, and at 6 o’clock they are in a tragic heap, destroyed by Fate.

The outside circle represents Pedro’s life, starting at 7 o’clock where he is a toddler on his mother’s knee. At 9 o’clock he is a student at his books, at 10 o’clock he meets Inês, and at 12 o’clock he is a prince on a throne, on top of the Wheel and the world. Most of the downhill side is given over to horrifying images of losing Inês. At 1 o’clock she is knocked to the ground while an assassin plants a boot on her stomach; at 2 o’clock the assassin is pulling her head back by the hair; at 3 o’clock the knife is being drawn across her throat; and at 4 o’clock she is beheaded, with her head lying on the floor at her feet.

At 5 o’clock Pedro is getting his revenge, as an assassin’s heart is cut out with a dagger. Finally, at 6 o’clock, Pedro lies in a tomb as an old man. Inscribed on the tomb are the words, “Até ao fim do mundo,” meaning “Until the end of the world.”

And the tomb of Inês shows that end of the world…with the two lovers reunited and lifted above it all.

Inês de Castro’s history is immortalized in several plays and poems in Portuguese, such as The Lusíadas by Luís de Camões (canto iii, stanzas 118-135), and Spanish, such as Nise lastimosa and Nise laureada (1577) by Jerónimo Bermúdez, Reinar despues de morir by Luís Vélez de Guevara, as well as a play by French playwright Henry de Montherlant called La Reine morte (The Dead Queen). Mary Russell Mitford also wrote a drama from the story entitled "Inez de Castro".She is a recurring figure in Ezra Pound's CANTOS. She appears first at the end of Canto III, in the lines, Ignez da Castro murdered, and a wall/Here stripped, here made to stand.

There have been over 20 operas and ballets about Inês de Castro

Operas from the 18th and 19th centuries include:

-Ines di Castro by Bernhard Anselm Weber (1790, Hanover)

-Ines di Castro by Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli (1798)

-Ines de Castro by Walter Savage Landor (1831)

-Ines de Castro by Giuseppe Persiani to a libretto by Salvadore Cammarano (1835)

-Ines di Castro by Pietro Antonio Coppola (1842, Lisbon)

Karl Pavlovich Briullov (1799 – 1852, Russian) Death of Inessa de Castro, Morganatic Wife of Portuguese Infant Don Pedro

In modern times, Inês de Castro has continued to inspire operatic works, including: Ines de Castro by Scottish composer James MacMillan. This work was first performed at the 1996 Edinburgh International Festival

Wut (Rage) in German by Swiss composer Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini (born 1971). The world premiere of this work was given at the Theater Erfurt, Germany, on 9 September 2006.

Ines de Castro by American composer Thomas Pasatieri. This work premiered in 1976 with the Baltimore Opera.

Ines by Canadian composer James Rolfe. Premiered in 2009 by the Queen of Puddings Music Theatre Company in Toronto.

In addition, Portuguese composer Pedro Macedo Camacho (born 1979) composed the Requiem Ines de Castro, first performed on March 28, 2012 in New Cathedral of Coimbra on the occasion of 650 years of the transportation of Ines de Castro's body from Coimbra to Alcobaça Monastery.

Pierre-Charles Comte (1823-1895) Couronnement d'Inés de Castro en 1361 Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon

Inês de Castro with Her Children at the Feet of Afonso IV, King of Portugal (detail) by Eugénie Servières. Palace of Versailles

Text: InternetPictures: Sanda Foişoreanu Gabriela Cristescu InternetCopyrights of the photos belong to each photographer

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanuwww.slideshare.net/michaelasanda

Sound: Amália Rodrigues - All the things you are; Ay, mourir pour toi