'Inés', a beautiful song about a Galician woman who became Queen of Portugal after her death

The Middle Ages is a part of the past in which history often blends with legend, sometimes with a very sinister air.

'Quena fésta e o día', a song from medieval Spain with a great beginning
The little-known military march that led some Galicians in their fight for Spain in 1808

This story takes us to the Iberian Peninsula in the first half of the 14th century, specifically in the year of our Lord 1325. The then King of Castile, Alfonso XI, married by proxy the Castilian noblewoman Constanza Manuel de Villena, who was then only nine years old. Due to the young age of the maiden, the marriage was never consummated, but Constanza was considered Queen consort of Castile for two years, until Alfonso repudiated her in 1327, after falling in love with his cousin the Infanta Maria (then fourteen years old), eldest daughter of King Alfonso IV of Portugal and Beatriz of Castile.

That was not the end of the unfortunate Constance. Stripped of her title of Queen consort, the Castilian noblewoman was betrothed in 1335 to Prince Peter, the future King Peter I of Portugal. The marriage by proxy took place the following year, with prior papal dispensation, as the bride and groom were cousins. However, a war then broke out between Portugal and Castile that lasted until 1339, so Constance was unable to reach Portugal until 1340. When the Castilian noblewoman arrived in her new kingdom, she brought with her an entourage that included her cousin Inés de Castro, a Galician noblewoman. It is said that Prince Peter fell in love with Inés as soon as he saw her. Constance died in 1349 after giving birth, but by then Pedro and Inés were already lovers.

After Constanza's death, the relationship between Pedro and Agnes became more evident. In 1354, the two married in secret, after having had several children. The relationship between Pedro and Agnes upset the Portuguese court. King Afonso IV and several of his nobles plotted to get rid of her. Agnes was murdered at the Quinta das Lágrimas, in Coimbra, on January 7, 1355, taking advantage of the fact that Prince Pedro was away hunting. Legend has it that the tears shed by Agnes in the Mondego River, in Coimbra, gave rise to the Fountain of Tears, which still stands on the banks of that river today. Inés's murder angered her husband: Infante Pedro took up arms against his father, with the support of the House of Castro, and a civil war broke out in Portugal that ravaged the country for two years.

On May 28, 1357, King Afonso IV of Portugal died in Lisbon. Once crowned King, Pedro unleashed his revenge, which gave rise to a truly macabre tale. Legend has it that the new King of Portugal ordered Agnes's body to be exhumed and placed on the throne, forcing the court —which had so cursed the love between the two— to honor the deceased, which is why it is often said that Agnes de Castro was Queen after her death. Pedro began a persecution of the instigators of Agnes's murder, capturing two of them and ordering their hearts to be torn out. The Galician noblewoman was buried in a beautiful sarcophagus that is preserved in the Monastery of Alcobaza. Pedro I of Portugal was buried in the same place upon his death in 1367.

In 2008, the Galician traditional music group Milladoiro (my favorite band) released an excellent album titled "A quinta das lágrimas". The third track on this album is in Portuguese, titled "Inés," and is dedicated to Inés de Castro. You can listen to it here:

Here is the original lyrics in Portuguese:

No mar tanta tormenta e tanto dano,
tantas vezes a morte apercebida,
na terra tanta guerra, tanto engano,
tanta necessidade avorrecida.

Onde pode acolher-se um fraco humano?
Onde terá segura a curta vida?
Que não se arme e se indigne o Céu sereno
contra um bicho da terra tão pequeno?

Tu, só tu, puro amor, com força crua,
que os corações humanos tanto obriga,
deste causa à molesta morte sua
como se fora pérfida inimiga.

Se dizem, fero amor, que a sede tua
nem com lágrimas tristes se mitiga,
é porque queres, áspero e tirano,
tuas aras banhar em sangue humano.

Estavas, linda Inês, posta em sossego,
de teus anos colhendo doce fruito,
naquele engano da alma, ledo e cego,
que a fortuna não deixa durar muito

Nos saudosos campos do Mondego
de teus fermosos olhos nunca enxuito,
aos montes insinando e às ervinhas,
o nome que no peito escrito tinhas.

Aconteceu da mísera e mesquinha,
que despois de morta foi Rainha.

Here you can read the English translation:

At sea, so much storm and so much harm,
death so often perceived,
on land, so much war, so much deceit,
such repugnant need.

Where can a weak human being find refuge?
Where will his short life be safe?
May the serene Heaven not arm itself and be indignant
against such a small creature of the earth.

You, only you, pure love, with the brute force
that human hearts so desperately crave,
caused his painful death
as if he were a perfidious enemy.

If they say, fierce love, that your thirst
is not quenched even by sad tears,
it is because you, harsh and tyrannical,
want to bathe your altars in human blood.

You were, beautiful Agnes, resting in peace,
gathering sweet fruits from your years,
in that delusion of the soul, happy and blind,
that fortune does not allow to last long.

In the nostalgic fields of Mondego,
of your beautiful eyes that never dry,
teaching the mountains and the undergrowth,
the name written on your chest.

It happened to the miserable and mean woman,
who after her death became Queen.

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Main photo: Google Arts & Culture. The tomb of Inés de Castro in the Monastery of Alcobaza, Portugal.