Infanta Branca, Viscountess of Huelgas

Infanta Branca of Portugal (25 February 1259 – 17 April 1321; Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈbɾɐ̃kɐ]), Blanche in English, was a Portuguese infanta (princess), eldest daughter of King Afonso III and his second wife Beatrice of Castile. She was named after her great-aunt Blanche of Castile, queen of France.

Branca was born in Guimarães, Kingdom of Portugal. She became a nun at the Convent of Lorvão in Portugal, and after that she became the Abbess of the Convent of Huelgas in Castile, where she was called the Lady and Keeper of the Convent. She was titled Viscountess of Huelgas.

She died in Burgos, Crown of Castile.

According to Argote de Molina and de Gandara she had a natural son by a Castilian nobleman named Pedro Esteves Carpinteiro:

• Dom João Nunes de Prado, who was a Master of the Order of Calatrava and served King Alfonso XI of Castile and his son King Pedro of Castile, who had him killed at Almagro. He had two sons who originated family de/do Prado.^[1]

Ancestry

Notes