ERHAPS the most curious funeral on record occurred just at the dawn of the Renaissance—that of the ill-fated Inez de Castro—"the Queen crowned after death"—who was murdered in the 14th Century by three assassins in her own apartment at Coimbra. "Being conveyed," says the Chronicle of Fray Jao das Reglas, "to the chapel of the neighbouring convent, her body was arrayed in spotless white and decked with roses. The nuns surrounded the bier, and the Queen-mother of Portugal, Brittes, sat in state—her crown upon her head and her royal robes flowing around her—as chief mourner, having given an order that the body should not be buried until after the return of her son Don Pedro. When he did come back, he was transported with grief and anger at the foul murder of his consort; and, throwing himself upon the corpse, clasped it to his heart, covered its pale lips, its hands, its feet with kisses, and, refusing all consolation, remained for thirty hours with the body clasped in his embrace! At last, being overcome with fatigue, the unhappy Prince was carried away senseless from the piteous remains of his most dear Inez, and they were consigned to the grave. It was his father who had instigated the murderers to commit their foul deed, and this determined Pedro to take up arms against him; and Portugal was desolated by civil war. Eventually the reasoning of the Queen (Brittes) prevailed, and peace was restored. Pedro, however, never spoke to his father again until the hour of his death, when he forgave the great wrong he had done him. He now ascended the throne, and his first act was to hunt down the three murderers, two of whom were put to death, with tortures too awful to describe, and the other escaped into France, where he died a beggar. After this retributive act, Don Pedro assembled the Cortes at Cantandes, and, in the presence of the Pope's Nuncio, solemnly swore that he had secretly married Inez de Castro at Braganza, in the presence of the bishop and of other witnesses." "Then occurred an event unique in history," continues this naive contemporary chronicle. "The body of Inez was lifted from the grave, placed on a magnificent throne, and crowned Queen of Portugal. The clergy, the nobility, and the people did homage to her corpse, and kissed the bones of her hands. There sat the dead Queen, with her yellow hair hanging like a veil round her ghastly form. One fleshless hand held the sceptre, and the other the orb of royalty. At night, after the coronation ceremony, a procession was formed of all the clergy and nobility, the religious orders and confraternities—which extended over many miles—each person holding a flaring torch in his hand, and thus walked from Coimbra to Alcobaça, escorting the crowned corpse to that royal abbey for interment. The dead Queen lay in her rich robes upon a chariot drawn by black mules and lighted up by hundreds of lights."
Fig. 15.—Bird's-eye view of the Monument (restored) of the Queen Inez of Castro, Abbey of Alcobaça, Portugal.
The scene must indeed have been a weird one. The sable costumes of the bishops and priests, the incense issuing from innumerable censers, the friars in their quaint garments, and the fantastically-attired members of the various hermandades, or brotherhoods—some of whom were dressed from head to foot entirely in scarlet, or blue, or black, or in white—with their countenances masked and their eyes glittering through small openings in their cowls; but above all, the spectre-like corpse of the Queen, on its car, and the grief-stricken King, who led the train—when seen by the flickering light of countless torches, with its solemn dirge music, passing through many a mile of open country in the midnight hours—was a vision so unreal that the chronicler describes it as "rather a phantasmagoria than a reality." In the magnificent abbey of Alcobaça the requiem mass was sung, and the corpse finally laid to rest.
The monument still exists, with the statue, with its royal diadem and mantle, lying thereon. The tomb of Don Pedro is placed foot to foot with that of Inez, so—the legend runs—that at the Judgment Day they may rise together and stand face to face.
In 1810 the bodies of Don Pedro I. and Dona Inez de Castro were disturbed by the French, at the sack of Alcobaça. The skeleton of Inez was discovered to be in a singular state of preservation—the hair exceedingly long and glossy, and the head bound with a golden crown set with jewels of price. Singularly enough, this crown, although very valuable, was kicked about by the men as a toy and thrown behind the high altar, whence, as soon as the troops evacuated the monastery, it was carefully taken and laid aside by the Abbot. Shortly afterwards it again encircled the unhappy Queen's head, when, by order of the Duke of Wellington, the remains were once more replaced in the tomb, with military honours.
Fig. 16.—Funeral Service, in which are shown the Candelabra and Incense Vessels which were deposited in the coffin.—Drawing of the 14th Century—Collection of the Rev. Father Cochet.
Fig. 17.—Angels praying over a Skull.—Bas-relief of 16th Century.