Pedro Afonso, Count of Barcelos

Pedro Afonso, Count of Barcelos (1287–1354), was the illegitimate son of King Denis of Portugal by Grácia Froes, and in 1314 his father gave him the town of Barcelos with the title of count. When Denis fell out with his heir Afonso, Pedro tried to hold a middle line until exiled to Castile in 1317, where he met the court culture of his great-grandfather Alfonso X the Wise.

Recalled in 1322, he sided with the heir in the civil war and regained his confiscated lands in 1324, after backing Queen Elizabeth's peacemaking. He fought beside Afonso IV at Salado in 1340.

A poet and troubadour like his father, he made his seat at Lalim near Lamego a cultural centre, and is credited with many major texts of medieval Portuguese literature. He died there in 1354 and was buried at Tarouca, under a tomb carved with boar-hunting scenes.