Fernando, Lord of Serpa

Infante Fernando
Lord of Serpa and Lamego
Coat of Arms of Infante Fernando, Lord of Serpa.
Born	summer of 1217 Kingdom of Portugal
Died	19 January 1246 (aged 29) Kingdom of Portugal
Spouse	Sancha Fernández de Lara
Issue	Sancho Fernandes de Serpa
House	House of Burgundy
Father	Afonso II
Mother	Urraca of Castile
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Infante Fernando of Portugal (Portuguese pronunciation: [fɨɾˈnɐ̃du]), or Ferdinand in English, was a Portuguese infante (prince), son of King Afonso II of Portugal and his wife Urraca of Castile, daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castile.

Fernando was born in the summer of 1217 and was made Lord of Serpa and Lamego in 1223. It is known that he travelled to Rome in 1237 to beg for a pardon from Pope Gregory IX for his violence against certain clerics. He died January 19, 1246.

He married Sancha Fernández de Lara, daughter of Fernando Núñez de Lara and wife Mayor González, without any documented issue.

He had, however, a bastard son by an unknown woman named Sancha Fernandes de Serpa, who was a Prior at Santo Esteban de Alfama, but had illegitimate issue, being the ancestor of the de Serpa family.

In a study from the Spanish historian Faustino Menéndez-Pidal de Navascués, the infante Fernando should have used a Coat of Arms representing a Wyvern (Serpe in Portuguese), the symbol of his Lordship of Serpa, in south Alentejo, with a border where, alternately, are represented the arms of Portugal (paternal ancestry) and those of Castile (maternal ancestry).