Early Life
A redheaded beauty, Dona Leonor Telles (or Teles) was the daughter of Martim Afonso Telo de Meneses, a nobleman in the Trás-os-Montes. She was great-great-great granddaughter of Teresa Sanches, the illegitimate daughter of King Sancho I of Portugal by his mistress Maria Pais Ribeira. At a young age she married Dom João Lourenço da Cunha, 2nd Lord of Pombeiro, with whom she had a son, Dom Álvaro da Cunha, 3rd Lord of Pombeiro, and a stillborn child.
Leonor's sister, Dona Maria Telles de Menezes, was a lady-in-waiting to the Infanta Beatrice, daughter of Peter I of Portugal and Inês de Castro. While visiting her sister Maria at court, Leonor had the privilege of attending Beatrice's marriage to Sancho, Count of Alburquerque. There, Leonor met Beatrice's elder half-brother, the Infante Ferdinand, heir to the Portuguese throne, who fell passionately in love with her and proceeded to seduce her, in spite of his promise to marry Eleanor, daughter of Henry II of Castile. Leonor did nothing to resist Ferdinand's advances and lashed out at her sister Maria for her attempts to prevent the affair from developing.
Read more about this topic: Leonor Telles De Menezes
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