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Peter I of Portugal

King of Portugal from 1357 to 1367

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ295824 ↗
Source-derived summary

Peter I (Portuguese: Pedro Afonso; [ˈpeðɾu]; 8 April 1320 – 18 January 1367), known as Peter the Justicier (Pedro o Justiceiro), was King of Portugal from 1357 until his death in 1367.

Early life

Born on 8 April 1320 in Coimbra, Peter was the fifth child of Afonso of Portugal and his wife, Beatrice of Castile. Of his six siblings, only two – sisters Maria and Eleonor – survived infancy.

At six years old, shortly after his father ascended the crown, Peter was granted a retinue of six people, including his butler and tutor Lopo Fernandes Pacheco.

First betrothal

In October 1327, marriage contracts were negotiated for Peter and Blanche of Castile, granddaughter of Sancho IV of Castile and James II of Aragon, and Peter's sister Maria and the future Alfonso XI of Castile. Blanche was taken to be raised in Portugal until she was of age for marriage, where she remained for eight years. According to the Chronicle of Pedro I of Portugal by Fernão Lopes, during her stay, she began to show signs of illness and "defects of judgment" which made her unsuitable for marriage and for procreation. She was examined by physicians, including those sent by Alfonso XI, who confirmed her weak mental health and incapacity, and, because of "Infante Pedro's refusal and the evident mental disorder of doña Blanca" the proposed marriage never took place.

Marriage

In 1328, Peter's eldest sister, Maria, was married to Alfonso XI of Castile. However, soon after their marriage Alfonso began a long affair with the beautiful and newly widowed Leonor de Guzman.

Editorial summary

“Peter I of Portugal” enters the record as king of Portugal from 1357 to 1367. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Peter, Portugal and King can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1320, 1367, 1357, 1327—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1320-04-08. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Peter, Portugal and King.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Peter I of Portugal” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Peter, Portugal and King provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q295824. VIAF identifies the subject as 268956391. The Library of Congress control number is n81070810. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1320, 1367, 1357 and 1327.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Peter I of Portugal”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Peter I of Portugal primary sources, Peter I of Portugal archive and Peter research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Peter I of Portugal” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.