Joao (portable of Portugal)

Born in Santarem . Infant Juan was the fifth son of Juan I (1357-1433), the first king of Portugal from the Avis dynasty (1385-1433), and Philippa of Lancaster (1359-1415).

In 1415, together with his brothers, Juan participated in the siege and capture of the Moroccan fortress of Ceuta and was knighted by his father. He received the title of 1st lord Regenhos de Monsaras , Colares and Belas .

In October 1418, at the request of the King of Portugal, Pope Martin V approved Infant Juan as the 10th master of the Order of Santiago , as a result of which the old military order of Portugal fell under the control of the Avis dynasty. In the same year, 1418, Juan and his elder brother Enrique , Duke of Viseu , led the Portuguese fleet, who came to the aid of the Ceuta fortress besieged by Moroccans.

In 1431, after the death of a major Portuguese military commander, Nuno Alvarez Pereira, the Infant Juan was appointed the third horse of Portugal ( Condestável ).

In 1433, after the death of the Portuguese king Juan I, his son Duarte I (1433-1438), the elder brother of Joan, entered the royal throne. In 1437, Infant Juan, along with his other brother Pedro, Duke of Coimbra , opposed the Portuguese military expedition to Tangier . The campaign of King Duarte I to Tangier ended in disaster. After the defeat, the infante Juan called for ratification of the treaty with the Marinid sultan and ceded to Ceutus, but the Portuguese Cortes refused to do so. Infant Fernando , who was held hostage by the Marinids , never returned to his homeland and died in captivity.

In September 1438, King Duarte I died, leaving his young son Afonso V , who at the age of six, ascended the royal throne. The late king appointed his wife Regent Eleanor of Aragon , who, as a foreigner, did not enjoy the sympathy of the common population. The people were afraid that the regent would become a puppet in the hands of the highest nobility under the leadership of Count Afonso Barcelos , who sought to regain her former position in the state. The prospect of a new civil war looms in Portugal. To prevent the uprising, the infante Juan subjugated the capital of Lisbon and organized the Portuguese Cortes, who in 1439 elected the new regent of the infante Pedra, Duke of Coimbra , who became co-ruler of Eleanor of Aragon. Soon Pedro took control of the country completely in his hands, leaving Eleanor only raising children and control over royal incomes. Eleanor of Aragon entered the battle with Pedro, which almost turned into a civil war. Pedro defeated and forced the queen to retire to one of the royal estates. In 1440, Eleanor of Aragon made a second armed attempt to remove Pedra, but was defeated and fled to Castile .

During this struggle, Pedro's main ally, the Duke of Coimbra, was his younger brother, Juan, constable of Portugal. The sudden death of Juan in October 1442 was a terrible blow to his brother Pedro, who was forced to fight for power with his half-brother Afonso , Count de Barcelos and Duke de Braganza .

Infant Juan of Portugal was buried in the monastery of Batalha .

Regent Pedro appointed his nephew and infante Diogo, the only son of Juan, as the new master of the Order of Santiago and the constable of Portugal.

In 1424, Juan married the niece Isabella de Barcelos (1402-1466), the daughter of his half-brother Afonso of Portugal , the future 1st Duke of Bragança, and Beatrice Pereira de Alvim . The couple had four children:

• Infant Diogo of Portugal (1425-1443), 4th Constable of Portugal and 11th Master of the Order of Santiago (1442-1443)
• Infanta Isabella of Portugal (1428–1496), wife from 1445, Juan II (1405–1454), King of Castile (1406–1454), and mother of Isabella I, Queen of Spain
• Infanta Beatrice of Portugal (1430-1506), in 1447 married the Infanta Fernando (1433-1470), 1st Duke of Beja (1453-1470) and 2nd Duke of Viseu (1460-1470), mother of King of Portugal Manuel I
• Infanta Philippe of Portugal (1432-1444), Señora de Almada

• João (D.) "(en portugués) . Portugal - Dicionário Histórico, Corográfico, Heráldico, Biográfico, Bibliográfico, Numismático e Artístico pág. 1056.