Infante James of Coimbra

Infante James of Coimbra (1433–1459), also known as James of Coimbra, James of Portugal, James of Lusitania or Jacobus, was the 3rd son of Infante Pedro, Duke of Coimbra, and Isabella of Aragon, Countess of Urgell.

At the age of just 14, he took part in the battle of Alfarrobeira where his father's army was defeated by the Portuguese royal army.

He was imprisoned, but he escaped and, together with his brother John and his sister Breatrice, took refuge in Burgundy, under his aunt’s protection: Isabella of Portugal was married to Duke Philip III the Good.

He studied in Flanders and, on March 23, 1453, was made Bishop of Arras. Later he became Archbishop of Lisbon.

On his aunt’s advice, he traveled to Rome where Pope Calixtus III gave him the Bishopric of Paphos, in Cyprus, where his brother, Infante John of Coimbra, had married Charlotte of Lusignan, Princess of Cyprus.

On February 20, 1456, he was appointed Cardinal, and in 1458, he participated in the conclave that elected Pius II as the new Pope. He was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, number 58, at the 9th Chapter of the order, held in 1456 at The Hague.

He died in Florence on August 15, 1459, at the age of twenty-six, and was buried in the Basilica di San Miniato al Monte.

Ancestry

External links

• Genealogical information on Jaime of Coimbra (in Portuguese)

References

• "Nobreza de Portugal e Brasil", Vol. I, page 271. Published by Zairol Lda., Lisbon, 1989