Five Minute History - by Catherine Mathis
Inês is set in the years 1324 -1364. The novel explores the events underpinning the legend of Pedro and Inês, Portugal’s Romeo & Juliet story.
Portugal pushed out the Muslim rulers in 1139 and became an independent country in 1143. Afonso Henriques, the country’s first king, was a Count in the House of Burgundy, hence the first ruling house of Portugal is referred to as the Burgundians. While borders will fluctuate for centuries, the basic shape of the country is discernable by 1143, making it one of the oldest in Europe. Pedro, the protagonist in the novel, was the grandson of King Dinis who made Portuguese the official language of the country though church affairs remained in Latin. Portugal has a strong sense of self-identity.
King Afonso IV (dies in 1357) and Queen Beatriz are the parents of Pedro, the only one of their four sons who survived infancy. The fate of the family’s rule rests on Pedro providing heirs.
In the period of the novel, the threat of the Moor (as Muslims were referred to) was visceral because they still held parts of Castile to the east and regularly made attempts to seize additional land. The Catholic Church wished for peace among the countries on the Iberian Peninsula to allow them to band together and force the Moor out of Iberia. In 1340 the seminal Battle of Rio (river) Salado will find Portugal riding to help their Castilian neighbors push back a Muslim invasion while the Aragonese military contingent is small and shows up late. While Salado was important in Portuguese history, it is not essential to the Inês story. Alas, territorial disputes and wars of various severity take place between Portugal and Castile/Galicia. In particular, King Afonso wanted to keep Portugal clear of internal disputes in Castile. This is an important motivation for events in the novel.
The feudal state was slowly ebbing away as conflicts over the rights and privileges of the Church and noble class versus royal rule were solidifying under the crown’s control. Powerful noble families were essential to the country’s security as the crown had no dedicated military force. While the nobility had substantial land holdings, the Church (abbeys and bishops) and the four religious military orders (Avis, Hospitaler, Santiago and Christ, formerly Templars) controlled the superior tracts of rural land and privileges in urban areas. For most people, subsistence agriculture was their employment on land they did not own, or working in salt flats, tin mines, or fishing. Portugal and Castile are both significant maritime powers with trade being an important economic engine. Major Portuguese exports were wine, salt, dried fish, almonds, and dried fruits. Textiles and ceramics were regarded as lower quality goods for domestic consumption. For the years of the book, the currency is relatively stable and inflation is not an issue.
As the novel opens, the population is estimated at 1.5MN people of which 10% were noble and less than 1% of the Church. The ‘ricos-homens’ were the honorable citizens in the professions of trade, law, and medicine. The Black Death (or Great Pestilence as it was called) enters Portugal in late 1348 by vessel arriving in the Port of Lisboa and from the north entering via Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. Perhaps half of Lisboa died, and as a country one-third may have died, only estimates as statistics are not available. There are references to a lack of labor available and empty homes. Today Portugal has about 10.5MN people.
A residual Celtic influence from a long-ago invasion remains even today in Portuguese culture. You may be surprised on a trip to come across a band with bagpipes, even sounding Irish to the modern ear. Troubadour culture had its own original characteristics with influences from France via Aragon and even from Muslim culture. Cantigas are the poetry of troubadour songs, the strongest literary form in Portugal in these years. There are three types of songs that survive – addressed to a female, addressed to a male, or mocking/critical songs. King Dinis (of language fame above) wrote 130 cantigas. He also planted a pine forest near Leiria which remains today. Foreign texts were translated in Portuguese on matters of agriculture, medicine, ancient writings, and astrology. While Portugal was an early founder of a university (in 1290 in Lisboa that soon moved to Coimbra), it was not prestigious as a cultural matter. Education for royal and noble people took place in the home and every lord had at least one tutor on the payroll.
King Afonso IV was Portugal’s seventh king. His mother, Elizabeth of Aragon, was canonized as a saint in 1626. His father, King Dinis, had a number of bastard sons, one of which was his favorite, Afonso Sanches, Lord of Albuquerque. Infante Afonso, heir to the throne, was deeply jealous of Afonso Sanches, who he feared would be named king by his father despite being illegitimate. Afonso Sanches shared a love of music and poetry with his father that kept them close, while Afonso was more regimented and strict in his life habits. The rivalry of these two sons of King Dinis led to civil wars often brought to truce by Queen Elizabeth, whose negotiating skills also led to the Treaty of Alcañices in 1290 to end Portugal’s war with Castile. Queen Elizabeth is credited with preventing her husband, King Dinis, from killing their son, then Infante Afonso, during one of their son’s rebellions.
It should not have surprised King Afonso IV when Pedro rebelled against him. But wait – no novel spoilers here.
Inês arrives in Portugal with Constanza Manuel, daughter of Castile’s most powerful noble. Constanza weds Pedro. For the rest of the story…please enjoy the novel.
Publisher: Histria Books
Page Length: 398
Genre: Historical Fiction / Historical Romance
An heir to the throne, a gorgeous blonde lady-in-waiting, the king's trusted advisor. When a father and son don't understand each other, the son pays an outrageous price.
Love, jealousy, loyalty, and revenge roil the court of 14th century Portugal.
In this engrossing launch to the Queens of Portugal trilogy, Catherine Mathis gives a fresh take on the tale of Pedro and Inês, Portugal's real-life Romeo and Juliet. Pedro's father would not have been king if not for his trusted advisor, Gonçalves. Once king, he wants no part in neighboring Castile's royal convulsions though his son, Pedro, befriends powerful Castilians.
The all-consuming drive of the king is to ensure his line rules Portugal for centuries to come. He needs legitimate, strong heirs. The Infante Pedro loves a woman not deemed worthy to wear the crown as queen. Between father and son is Gonçalves, the king's powerful, unquestioned counselor who is mentor to the son. Both Gonçalves and Pedro seek the attention of Inês.
There is a horrific cost to winning the love of Inês. She will not release her grip on Pedro until he keeps the two sworn oaths he made to her. Can Pedro do the impossible to satisfy Inês?
Inês is based on real people and events, exploring a cultural touchstone of Portuguese history.
Praise for Inês:
“Mathis masterfully weaves emotional depth into the narrative, creating a deeply engaging experience that leaves a lasting impression and invites readers on an unforgettable journey through the grandeur and intrigue of Portugal’s past.”
~ Mary Anne Yarde, The Coffee Pot Book Club 5* Review
“This exciting start to the Queens of Portugal trilogy describes the legendary love story of Pedro and Inês, and I was amazed at the excellent storytelling and how the author brings the courts to life. There is a lot of drama and intrigue, and the characters' emotions are beautifully captured in this engrossing tale.”
~ Readers Favorite 5* Review
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Catherine Mathis was born in Berlin, the daughter of an American spy. As she grew up in Washington, D.C., her spy father turned into a drug enforcement agent. His career change wrecked any chance at high school popularity.
She graduated from Sewanee | The University of the South with a degree in history focused on the medieval period. After a career in finance, she returned to her first love of medieval history to ‘Share Iberian Tales.’
Outside of writing, spare time joys are family, friends, reading, collecting folk / outsider art, and travel.
Library Journal included Inês on its list of coming historical fiction for July 2025 - June 2026 in June 2025 during the annual meeting of the American Library Association. The book is in the Turbulent Relationship category, a great category name.
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