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Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile

Eleanor of England (Spanish: Leonor; c. 1161[1] – 31 October 1214[2][3]), was Queen of Castile and Toledo[4] as wife of Alfonso VIII of Castile.[5][6] She was the sixth child and second daughter of Henry II, King of England, and Eleanor of Aquitaine.[7][8] She served as Regent of Castile during the minority of her son Henry I for 26 days between the death of her spouse and her own death in 1214.[9]

Early life and family

Eleanor was born in the castle at Domfront, Normandy c. 1161,[1] as the second daughter of King Henry II of England and his wife Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, and was baptised by Henry of Marcy. Her half-siblings were Countess Marie of Champagne and Countess Alix of Blois. Her full siblings were Henry the Young King, Duchess Matilda of Saxony, King Richard I, Duke Geoffrey II of Brittany, Queen Joan of Sicily and King John. Eleanor had an older brother, William (17 August 1153 – April 1156), the first son of Henry II, and Eleanor of Aquitaine, who died of a seizure at Wallingford Castle, and was buried in Reading Abbey at the feet of his great-grandfather Henry I.

Queenship

The betrothal of Alfonso VIII of Castille and Eleanor of England.

In 1170 Eleanor married King Alfonso VIII of Castile in Burgos at the age of 9.[1] Her parents' purpose in arranging the marriage was to secure Aquitaine's Pyrenean border, while Alfonso sought an ally in his struggles with Sancho VI of Navarre. In 1177, this led to Henry overseeing arbitration of the border dispute.[10]

Around 1200, Alfonso began to claim that the duchy of Gascony was part of Eleanor's dowry, but there is no documented foundation for that claim. It is highly unlikely that Henry II would have parted with so significant a portion of his domains. At most, Gascony may have been pledged as security for the full payment of his daughter's dowry. Her husband went so far on this claim as to invade Gascony in her name in 1205. In 1206, her brother John granted her safe passage to visit him, perhaps to try opening peace negotiations. In 1208, Alfonso yielded on the claim.[11] Decades later, their great-grandson Alfonso X of Castile would claim the duchy on the grounds that her dowry had never been fully paid.

Of all Eleanor of Aquitaine's daughters, her namesake was the only one who was enabled, by political circumstances, to wield the kind of influence her mother had exercised.[12] In her marriage treaty, and in the first marriage treaty for her daughter Berengaria, Eleanor was given direct control of many lands, towns, and castles throughout the kingdom.[13] She was almost as powerful as Alfonso, who specified in his will in 1204 that she was to rule alongside their son in the event of his death, including taking responsibility for paying his debts and executing his will.[14] It was she who persuaded him to marry their daughter Berengaria to Alfonso IX of León. Troubadours and sages were regularly present in Alfonso VIII's court due to Eleanor's patronage.[15]

Eleanor took a particular interest in supporting religious institutions. In 1179, she took responsibility to support and maintain a shrine to St. Thomas Becket in the cathedral of Toledo. She also created and supported the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, which served as a refuge and tomb for her family for generations, and its affiliated hospital.[16]

Regent

When Alfonso died, Eleanor was reportedly so devastated with grief that she was unable to preside over the burial. Their eldest daughter Berengaria instead performed these honours. In accordance with the will of her late spouse, Eleanor became regent of Castile during the minority of her son, in which her daughter acted as her advisor.[17] Her reign was not to be long, however; she was reportedly not in good enough health and left most of the affairs of state to her daughter, which created fear and opposition among the nobles that she was planning to leave the regency to her daughter.[18]

Eleanor later became sick and died only twenty-six days after her husband, and was buried at Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas.[19]

Children

Later depictions

Eleanor was praised for her beauty and regal nature by the poet Ramón Vidal de Besalú after her death.[32] Her great-grandson Alfonso X referred to her as "noble and much loved".[33]

Eleanor was played by actress Ida Norden in the silent film The Jewess of Toledo.[citation needed]

Notes

  1. ^ Historians are divided in their use of the terms "Plantagenet" and "Angevin" for Henry II and his sons. Some classify Henry II as the first Plantagenet King of England; others place Henry, Richard and John in the Angevin dynasty, and consider Henry III to be the first Plantagenet ruler.

References

  1. ^ a b c Vann 1993, p. 128.
  2. ^ David Williamson (1986). Debrett's Kings and Queens of Britain. Salem House. p. 53. ISBN 9780881622133.
  3. ^ Annales Compostellani
  4. ^ Fraser 2000.
  5. ^ Crónica Latina, Anales Toledanos
  6. ^ Cerda 2012.
  7. ^ José Manuel Cerda, The marriage of Alfonso VIII of Castile and Leonor Plantagenet: the first bond between Spain and England in the Middle Ages
  8. ^ Gillingham 2005.
  9. ^ "Leonor Plantagenet | Real Academia de la Historia".
  10. ^ Shadis 2010, p. 25-31.
  11. ^ Shadis 2010, p. 31-32.
  12. ^ Wheeler & Parsons 2002.
  13. ^ Shadis 2010, p. 27-30.
  14. ^ Shadis 2010, p. 38-39.
  15. ^ Mila y Fontanels 1966, p. 112.
  16. ^ Shadis 2010, p. 35-41.
  17. ^ "Leonor Plantagenet | Real Academia de la Historia".
  18. ^ "Leonor Plantagenet | Real Academia de la Historia".
  19. ^ Arco y Garay, Ricardo (1954): Sepulcros de la Casa Real de Castilla. Madrid: Instituto Jerónimo Zurita. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, p. 248.
  20. ^ New International Encyclopedia, Vol.13, (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1915), 782.
  21. ^ Robert de Torigny, Vol. II, pp. 103–4.
  22. ^ Colmenares, D. de (1846): Historia de Segovia (Segovia), Tomo I, p. 268.
  23. ^ Berganza, F. de: Antiguedades de España (1721) Secunda parte, Appendice CLIII, p. 466.
  24. ^ Castan Lanaspa, G. (1984): San Nicolás del Real Camino, un Hospital de Leprosos Castellano-Leones en la Edad Media (Siglos XII-XIV), Publicaciones de la Institución Tello Téllez de Meneses, no. 2, p. 136.
  25. ^ Berganza, F. de: Antiguedades de España (1721) Secunda parte, Appendice CLVI, p. 468.
  26. ^ Florez, H. (1770): Memorias de las reynas cathólicas, 2nd edn. Tomo I, p. 409, quoting Archivo de Arlanza letra S. n. 428, and Nuñez Alfonso VIII, p. 140.
  27. ^ Vicaire, pp. 89–98.
  28. ^ Osma 1997, p. 55-56, vol.20.
  29. ^ Szabolcs de Vajay (1989): From Alfonso VII to Alfonso X, the first two centuries of the Burgundian dynasty in Castile and Leon – a prosopographical catalogue in social genealogy, 1100–1300, Studies in Genealogy and Family History in tribute to Charles Evans, edited Lindsay L Brook (Association for the Promotion of Scholarship in Genealogy Ltd, Occasional Publication no 2), pp. 379 and 406, note 72, quoting Arco y Garay (1954), p. 246.
  30. ^ a b c Shadis 2010, p. 4.
  31. ^ Charles William Previté-Orton, The shorter Cambridge Medieval History, Cambridge University Press, 1952, p. 87.
  32. ^ Mila y Fontanels 1966, p. 126.
  33. ^ Shadis 2010, p. 48.

Sources

External links

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