Dona Filipa de Lencastre

(1360-1415)

D. Filipa de Lencastre, English princess of the House of Lencastre, daughter of John of Ghent, 1st Duke of Lencastre, with his wife White of Lencastre.

She became Queen Consort of Portugal through marriage with King John I, celebrated in 1387 in the city of Oporto, and agreed within the framework of the Portuguese-Portuguese Alliance.

The princess who came from England conquered the Portuguese. The marriage with the Avis master represented a new dynasty in the history of Portugal.

D. Filipa gave the Portuguese kingdom notable children, brought new habits to the court and supported the expedition to Ceuta.

The alliance between Philippa de Lencastre and King John I served to ensure the continuity of a still fragile reign and to strengthen diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Filipa de Lencastre was 27 when she arrived in Lisbon to marry the Portuguese sovereign. In Portugal nobody knew the English princess, the people made a point of receiving it warmly. With impeccable moral conduct, he secured a dynasty, having spent fifteen years in successive labor. D. Filipe de Lencastre also had a strong influence on the political and economic decisions of the country, such as D. Nuno Álvares Pereira (adviser to the King), the king's closest adviser on matters of state.

The treaty of peace signed with Castile in 1411, was due much to its intervention next to the sister, D. Catarina, married with the Spanish monarch.

Mother of illustrious sons, where Luís de Camões marks in Os Lusíadas as Illustrious Generation.

The queen also gave her support in the conquest of the Moroccan square of Ceuta.

Hit by the plague, it died a few days before the expedition realized to Ceuta 21 of August of 1415.