CBR, can you tell us the beautiful story of Peter and Inês ?
Yes and is in the common with the historical gardens of the city
THE TRAGIC LOVE OF D. PEDRO AND INÊS DE CASTRO
Inês came to Portugal in 1340 as a maid of Infanta Constance of Castile, recently married to Prince Pedro, the heir to the Portuguese throne. The prince fell in love with her and started to neglect his lawful wife, endangering the already feeble relations with Castile. Moreover, Pedro's love for Inês brought the exiled Castilian nobility very close to power, with Inês's brothers becoming the prince's friends and trusted advisors. King Afonso IV of Portugal, Pedro's father, disliked Inês's influence on his son and waited for their mutual infatuation to wear off, but it did not.
Inês's murder in the Quinta das Lágrimas in Coimbra
Constance of Castile died in 1345. Afonso IV tried several times to arrange for his son to be remarried, but Pedro refused to take a wife other than Inês, who was not deemed eligible to be queen. Pedro's legitimate son, future king Ferdinand I of Portugal, was a frail child, whereas Pedro and Inês's illegitimate children were thriving; this created even more discomfort among the Portuguese nobles, who feared the increasing Castilian influence over Pedro. Afonso IV banished Inês from the court after Constance's death, but Pedro remained with her declaring her as his true love. After several attempts to keep the lovers apart, Afonso IV ordered Inês's death. Pêro Coelho, Álvaro Gonçalves, and Diogo Lopes Pacheco went to the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha in Coimbra, where Inês was detained, and killed her, decapitating her in front of her small child. When Pedro heard of this he sought out the killers and managed to capture two of them in 1361.[2] He executed them publicly, ripping their hearts out claiming they didn't have one having pulverized his own heart.
Pedro became King of Portugal in 1357. He then stated that he had secretly married Inês, who was consequently the lawful queen, although his word was, and still is, the only proof of the marriage. Legend has it that he had Inês's body exhumed from her grave and forced the entire court to swear allegiance to their new queen by kissing the corpse's hand. She was later buried at the Monastery of Alcobaça where her coffin can still be seen, opposite Pedro's so that, according to the legend, at the Last Judgment Pedro and Inês can look at each other as they rise from their graves. Both marble coffins are exquisitely sculpted with scenes from their lives and a promise by Pedro that they would be together até ao fim do mundo (until the end of the world).
Coimbra was the capital of Portugal at this time, that's why these nobility episodes are in that city.
In the place where Inês was murdered, there is a source with a red spot second the legend is the blood of Inês in the stone..
Some photos, of this other historical green space of Coimbra
QUINTA DAS LÁGRIMAS
Inês de Castro sung in Lusíadas
"As ninfas do Mondego, a morte escura
Longo tempo chorando memoraram
E por memória eterna em fonte pura
As Lágrimas choradas transformaram
O nome lhe puseram que ainda dura
Dos amores de Inês que ali passaram
Vede que fresca fonte rega as flores
Que as Lágrimas são água e o nome amores"
Os Lusíadas, canto III.
View to the old city
The Hotel Quinta das Lágrimas in antique palacete
Inside the green space
Fonte das Lágrimas, where Inês was murded
The blood of Inês, second the legend