Early Life
Ferdinand was the sixth and youngest son of King John I of Portugal and his wife Philippa of Lancaster. Ferdinand and his brothers Edward of Portugal, Peter of Coimbra, Henry the Navigator and John of Reguengos, plus sister Isabella of Burgundy and half-brother Afonso of Barcelos, constitute what Portuguese historians have traditionally labelled the 'illustrious generation' (Ínclita Geração).
Ferdinand was born in Santarém on 29 September 1402, the feast day of St. Michael, a saint to whom he would remain affectionately attached. He had a complicated birth, and would remain a sickly child throughout much of his youth. Relatively sheltered because of his illnesses, Ferdinand had a quiet and very pious upringing, a favorite of his mother, Philippa of Lancaster, from whom Ferdinand acquired a preference for the Sarum Rite of Salisbury in the religious liturgy of masses he attended.
Read more about this topic: Ferdinand The Saint Prince
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