João Soares Coelho
Trovador medieval

Biographical Note:

Portuguese troubadour, still a descendant, although illegitimate, of Egas Moniz and the lords of Ribadouro, João Soares Coelho would have been born in the first years of the second decade of the 13th century, having been raised, probably, in Cinfães. The first news we have of him, dated 1235, locates him, however, in the Alentejo, bearing witness to a document from prince Dom Fernando de Serpa (the younger brother of King Sancho II), plausibly as his knight and vassal1. It’s possible, then, that João Soares followed the path of the prince throughout those years, a path that will take him to Rome first, in 1238, where he will beg the Pope forgiveness for the numerous abuses committed by him and his men against the bishops of Lisbon and Guarda, and next to Castilla, between 1240 and 1243, as a vassal to King Fernando III, his first cousin.
According to José Mattoso2, Dom Fernando de Serpa would have actually joined the forces of Prince Afonso, the castillian prince heir (future Alfonso X), which provides a credible context to the close relations clearly visible between João Soares Coelho and the troubadours and minstrels that are part, at that time, of the castillian prince’s circle. In any case, around those years, he married Maria Fernandes de Ordéns, a castillian lady of a relatively obscure lineage.
Upon the return of the Prince of Serpa to Portugal, in 1243, we do not know whether João Soares accompanied him or not. Those are equally the years that see the worsening of the conflict that led to the portuguese civil war, during which the Prince of Serpa took the side of his other brother, the count of Boulogne. Of João Soares’s position in that conflict we know nothing in concrete. Nevertheless, starting in 1249, João Soares appears in the court of Afonso III, the new king, where he becomes a constant presence, even receiving, in a donation dated 1254, the village of Souto de Riba Homem. His proximity to the monarch can also be proved by his family’s social ascension, namely by the fact that his son, Pero Coelho, was later the meirinho-mor of Dom Dinis. It’s possible that he passed away shortly after 1279, date of the last known document in which he appears.
It should be added, as a curious detail, that according to the lineage books (LL 36CD) two of his daughters were murdered by their husbands by “mao preço”(bad reputation). In a different tone, it should also be noted that one of his grandsons, Estêvão Peres Coelho, was also a troubadour.

References

1 Mattoso, José (1985), "João Soares coelho e a gesta de Egas Moniz", in Portugal Medieval. Novas interpretações, Lisboa, Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda.

2 Mattoso, José (2000), "A nobreza medieval portuguesa no contexto peninsular", in Naquele Tempo. Ensaios de História Medieval , Lisboa, Círculo de Leitores, p.330.