Pedro the Cruel

Peter
Alabaster sculpture of Peter the Cruel, from 1504
King of Castile and León
Reign	26/27 March 1350 – 13 March 1366
Predecessor	Alfonso XI
Successor	Henry II
King of Castile and León
Reign	3 April 1367 – 23 March 1369
Predecessor	Henry II
Successor	Henry II
Born	(1334-08-30)30 August 1334 Burgos, Castile
Died	23 March 1369(1369-03-23) (aged 34) Montiel, Toledo
Consort	María de Padilla Blanche of Bourbon Juana de Castro
Issue among others...	Constance, Duchess of Lancaster Isabella, Duchess of York
House	House of Ivrea Burgundy
Father	Alfonso XI of Castile
Mother	Maria of Portugal
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Peter (Spanish: Pedro; 30 August 1334 – 23 March 1369), called the Cruel (el Cruel) or the Just (el Justo), was the king of Castile and León from 1350 to 1369. Peter was the last ruler of the main branch of the House of Ivrea.

Peter was born in the defensive tower of the Monasterio de Santa Maria la Real de Las Huelgas in Burgos, Spain. His parents were Alfonso XI of Castile and Maria of Portugal.

According to chancellor and chronicler Pero López de Ayala, he had a pale complexion, blue eyes and very light blonde hair; he was tall (1.83 m) and muscular. He was accustomed to long, strenuous hours of work, lisped a little and "loved women greatly". He was well read and a patron of the arts, and in his formative years he enjoyed entertainment, music and poetry.

Peter began his reign when almost sixteen years old and subjected to the control of his mother and her favourites. He was to be married to Joan, daughter of Edward III of England; on her way to Castile, however, she travelled through cities infested with the Black Death, ignoring townspeople who had warned her not to enter their settlements. Joan soon contracted the disease and died.

Though at first controlled by his mother, Peter emancipated himself with the encouragement of the minister Alburquerque. Becoming attached to María de Padilla, he married her in secret in 1353. María turned him against Alburquerque, who fled to Portugal.

In the summer of 1353, the young king was practically coerced by his mother and the nobles into marrying Blanche of Bourbon; he deserted her at once. This marriage necessitated Peter's denying that he had married María, but his relationship with her continued and she bore him four children. He also apparently went through the form of marriage with Juana de Castro, widow of Don Diego de Haro, convincing her that his previous marriage to Queen Blanche was a nullity. The bishops of Avila and Salamanca were asked to concur, and were afraid to say otherwise. Peter and Juana were married in Cuellar, and Juana was proclaimed Queen of Castile. After two nights he then deserted her. (She bore him a son who died young, after Peter's death.) A period of turmoil followed in which the king was for a time overpowered and in effect imprisoned. The dissension within the party striving to coerce him enabled him to escape from Toro, where he was under observation, to Segovia.