Being born an Indian, I’ve read and heard a lot about the love story of Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal in the name of his lover Mumtaz. Well, I’m not a Shah Jahan fan for the fact that it’s nothing worth glorifying (given the facts of his multiple marriages before Mumtaz and marrying Mumtaz’s sister after her death, and the cruel chopping off of hands of the workers who built the Taj Mahal). Today I’m narrating a classic example of a love story, though it has a tragic end.
The story happens in the 14th century in Portugal. Peter I was the then King Afonso IV’s son. The King wanted a suitable wife for his son, but Peter was not interested in getting married. Done with Peter’s rejection of marriage proposals from the native kingdom, King Afonso finally decided to get Peter married off to Constance Manuel of a neighbouring kingdom Castile, as a strategic alliance between the two kingdoms. Though this marriage did take place against Peter’s will, he almost instantly fell in love with Ines de Castro, who was a lady-in-waiting to Constance. Ines was a noblewoman from Galicia, Spain. As the legend goes, Peter was never emotionally close to his legally married wife, instead his heart went to Ines whom he secretly married.
King Afonso came to know of his son’s infidelity, and was furious. This hidden relationship seemed to be a threat to the stability of the kingdom of Portugal, and he finally decided to put an end to their love story. The King ordered Ines and her children (fathered by Peter) to be sent away from the city. Ines retreated to her family estate, where Peter secretly met Ines and continued their relationship in secrecy.
The King later commissioned a group of assassins to have Ines killed. There are various versions of this murder. Some say that she was stabbed to death, while there are accounts that say that she was beheaded. This brutal murder happened in her children’s presence.
This news reached Peter through his trusted sources, and this left Peter in a mix of grief and anger. He kept his feelings to himself till he rose to the throne as the next King, so that he can pay back the assassins for the loss he suffered.
When Peter ascended to the throne as King Peter I, he decided to take revenge on those who brought an end to the love of his life. He found the assassins and punished them brutally. It is also said that the prisoners were tied to posts and their hearts were removed from the back, for “those who killed an innocent woman could not have a heart”.
King Peter I also exhumed Ines’ corpse and placed her on the regal throne, as a gesture of his undying love for his beloved. Ines hence becomes the “corpse queen” of Portugal. Peter also demanded that after his death, his body had to be placed next to the resting body of Ines. Still not over his revenge, he commissioned Ines’ tomb to be designed in such a way that it was carried by humans, the men who actually harmed and killed her.
Though this is a tragic love story, it also tells us the story of the power of love.
I found this story very interesting, and thought I’ll do my further research and take it to you. It’s time we stop glorifying Shah Jahan, isn’t it? :)
