Theresa of Portugal, Queen of León
{{Short description|Queen of León from 1191 to 1195}}
{{Infobox royalty|consort=yes
| name = Theresa of Portugal
| image = D. Teresa de Portugal, Rainha de Leão - The Portuguese Genealogy (Genealogia dos Reis de Portugal).png
| succession = Queen consort of León
| reign = 1191–1195
| coronation =
| spouse = {{marriage|Alfonso IX of León
|1191|1196|end=annulled}}
| issue = Sancha
Dulce
Ferdinand
| house = House of Burgundy
| father = Sancho I of Portugal
| mother = Dulce of Aragon
| birth_date = 1176
| birth_place = Kingdom of Portugal
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1250|6|18|1176|df=yes}}
| death_place = Lorvão Abbey, Kingdom of Portugal
| burial_place = Lorvão Abbey, Portugal
}}
Theresa of Portugal (1176 – 18 June 1250) was Queen of Léon as the first wife of her first cousin King Alfonso IX of León.{{Cite book | last1=Echols | first1=Anne | last2=Williams | first2=Marty | title=An Annotated index of Medieval Women|publisher=Markus Weiner Publishing Inc|year=1992|page=400|isbn=978-0-910129-27-5}} When her marriage was annulled because of consanguinity, she retired to a convent. She was beatified in 1705.
She was born the oldest daughter of Sancho I of Portugal and Dulce of Aragon.{{cite book |last=Mattoso|first = José|author-link =José Mattoso|title = D. Afonso Henriques|year = 2014|publisher = Temas e Debates|language =pt|location=Lisbon|page=334|isbn= 978-972-759-911-0}}
Theresa was the mother to three of Alfonso's children—two daughters, Sancha{{cite book|last=Rodrigues Oliveira|first= Ana|title= Rainhas medievais de Portugal. Dezassete mulheres, duas dinastias, quatro séculos de História|language= pt |publisher= A esfera dos livros |location = Lisbon| year= 2010|page=84|isbn= 978-989-626-261-7}} and Dulce, Martínez, H. Salvador. Alfonso X, the Learned: A Biography. Brill. 2010, p. 32 and a son, Ferdinand, who was the heir of the kingdom until his death in 1214.{{cite book |first=Janna |last=Bianchini |title=The Queen's Hand: Power and Authority in the Reign of Berenguela of Castile |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2012|page=97}} However, when her marriage to Alfonso was declared invalid because they were first cousins, she returned to the Kingdom of Portugal and lived in the Monastery of Lorvão, formerly under the Benedictine rule, which she converted into a Cistercian convent, with over 300 nuns.{{cite web|url=https://www.visitportugal.com/en/node/136190|work=All about Portugal|title=Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Lorvão|accessdate=June 18, 2020}}
In 1230, Alfonso died after having several children with a second wife, Queen Berengaria of Castile. This second marriage was also annulled because Berengaria was Alfonso's first cousin once removed. With two invalidated marriages, there was dispute among the children as to who would inherit the throne. Theresa negotiated the Treaty of Benavente by which Sancha and Dulce stepped aside and allowed Ferdinand III of Castile, Berengaria's eldest son, to take the throne of León. After the succession dispute, Theresa returned to Lorvão and finally took her convent vows after years of living as a nun. She died in the convent on 18 June 1250, of natural causes.
On 13 December 1705 Theresa was beatified by Pope Clement XI's papal bull Sollicitudo Pastoralis Offici, along with her sister Sancha. Her feast day was originally 17 June but since 1962 has been observed concurrent with that of her two sisters Sancha and Mafalda on 20 June.
References
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{{s-start}}
{{succession box |
before= Urraca López de Haro |
title= Queen consort of León|
years= 1191–1194|
after= Berenguela of Castile|
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Portuguese infantas}}
{{House of Burgundy-Portugal}}
{{Leonese royal consorts}}
{{authority control}}
Category:French beatified people
Category:Queens consort of Leon
Category:Galician queens consort
Category:13th-century Portuguese nuns
Category:Portuguese royal saints
Category:13th-century venerated Christians
Category:12th-century Portuguese women
Category:12th-century Portuguese people
Category:12th-century nobility from León and Castile
Category:13th-century people from the Kingdom of León