Dom Fernando I

(1345-1383)

The beginning of the reign of D. Fernando was marked by foreign policy.

When D. Pedro I of Castile (1350-1369) died without leaving male heirs, D. Fernando, as great-grandson of D. Sancho IV of Castile, by means of feminine, declares himself heir of the throne.

The king falls in love with D. Leonor Teles de Menezes, the wife of one of his courtiers and after the rapid annulment of the first marriage of D. Leonor, D. Fernando married her publicly on May 15, 1372 in the Monastery of Leça of Balio.
During his reign D. Fernando orders to repair and build castles as well as orders the construction of new walls in Lisbon and Porto.

During the reign of D. Fernando the market relations with the foreigner were also extended.

The development of the navy was strongly supported, resulting in the creation of Companhia das Naus.

D. Fernando dies in 1383, coming to an end the dynastic line of the Burgundian dynasty.

D. Leonor Teles is named regent in the name of the daughter and of D. John I of Castile, assuming a transition in nothing pacifica.

Responding to the appeals of a large part of the Portuguese to keep the country independent, D. João, master of Aviz and bastard brother of D. Fernando, declares himself king of Portugal. The result was the crisis of 1383-1385, a period of interregnum, where political and social chaos dominated.

D. John became the first king of the Avis Dynasty in 1385.

In 1875, Joaquim Possidónio da Silva ordered the funerary monument of D. Fernando from the Convent of São Francisco in Santarém to the Carmo Archaeological Museum (where it still stands today), in order to safeguard its integrity and dignity.