Английская Википедия:Berengaria of Castile
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Berengaria (Castilian: Berenguela), nicknamed the Great (Castilian: la Grande) (1179 or 1180 – 8 November 1246), was Queen of Castile[1] for a brief time in 1217, and Queen of León from 1197 to 1204 as the second wife of King Alfonso IX. As the eldest child and heiress presumptive of Alfonso VIII of Castile, she was a sought after bride, and was engaged to Conrad, the son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I. After Conrad's death, she married her cousin Alfonso IX of León to secure the peace between him and her father. She had five children with him before their marriage was voided by Pope Innocent III.
When her father died, Berengaria served as regent for her younger brother Henry I in Castile until she succeeded him on his untimely death. Within months, she turned Castile over to her son Ferdinand III, concerned that as a woman she would not be able to lead Castile's forces. However, she remained one of his closest advisors, guiding policy, negotiating, and ruling on his behalf for the rest of her life. She was responsible for the re-unification of Castile and León under her son's authority, and supported his efforts in the Reconquista. She was a patron of religious institutions and supported the writing of a history of the two countries.
Early life
Berengaria was born either in 1179Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn or 1180,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn in Burgos.Шаблон:Sfn She was the eldest daughter of King Alfonso VIII of Castile and his wife, Eleanor of England. She was the elder sister of Henry I of CastileШаблон:Sfn and was named in honor of Alfonso VIII's grandmother Berengaria of Barcelona.Шаблон:Sfn Those who cared for the young infanta were generously rewarded.Шаблон:Sfn Her nurse, Estefanía, received land from Alfonso and Eleanor on her retirement in May 1181.Шаблон:Sfn Another nurse, Elvira, received a similar retirement gift in 1189 at Berengaria's request.Шаблон:Sfn
As the eldest child of King Alfonso and Queen Eleanor, who preferred to give birth to a son and therefore later king,Шаблон:Sfn Berengaria was the heiress presumptive to the throne of Castile for several yearsШаблон:Sfn because many of the children born later to the couple died shortly after birth or in early infancy. She became a greatly desired bride throughout Europe.Шаблон:Sfn
Berengaria's first engagement was agreed in 1187 when her hand was sought by Conrad, the fifth child of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa.Шаблон:Sfn The next year, the marriage contract was signed in Seligenstadt, including a dowry of 42000 Maravedí.Шаблон:Sfn Conrad then marched to Castile, where in Carrión the engagement was celebrated and Conrad was knightedШаблон:Sfn making him a servant of his new lord, Alfonso. Berengaria's claim to the throne was based in part on documentation in the treaty and marriage contract,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn which specified that she would inherit the kingdom after her father or any childless brothers who may come along.Шаблон:Sfn Conrad would only be allowed to co-rule as her spouse, and Castile would not become part of the Empire.Шаблон:Sfn Furthermore, he was not allowed to claim the throne for himself in case of Alfonso's death but was obliged to defend and protect the kingdom until Berengaria arrived.Шаблон:Sfn The treaty also documented traditional rights and obligations between the future sovereign and the nobility.Шаблон:Sfn
The marriage was not consummated because Berengaria was less than 10 years old.Шаблон:Sfn Conrad and Berengaria never saw each other again.Шаблон:Sfn By 1191, Berengaria requested an annulment of the engagement from the pope, influenced, no doubt, by third parties such as her grandmother Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was not interested in having a Hohenstaufen as a neighbor to her French fiefdoms.Шаблон:Sfn Those fears were neutralized when Conrad was assassinated in 1196.Шаблон:Sfn
Queen consort of León
In order to help secure peace between Castile and León and by becoming a mediator between her father and her husband,Шаблон:Sfn Berengaria married King Alfonso IX of León, her first cousin once removed, in Valladolid in 1197.Шаблон:Sfn As part of the marriage, and in accordance with Spanish customs of the time, she received direct control over a number of castles and lands within León.Шаблон:Sfn Most of these were along the border with Castile, and the nobles who ran them in her name were allowed to seek justice from either king in the event of being wronged by the other.Шаблон:Sfn In turn, these knights were charged with maintaining the peace along the border in the queen's name.Шаблон:Sfn
Starting in 1198, Pope Innocent III objected to the marriage on the grounds of consanguinity and even threatened to excommunicate Alfonso, though the couple stayed together until 1204.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn They vehemently sought a dispensation in order to stay together, including offering large sums of money.Шаблон:Sfn The pope denied their request, but they succeeded in establishing the legitimacy of their children.Шаблон:Sfn The marriage was dissolved in 1204. Berengaria returned to her parents in Castile in May, where she dedicated herself to the care of her children.Шаблон:Sfn The eldest of them, Eleanor (1198/99-1202), had died; Constance (1200-1242), Ferdinand (1201–1252), Alfonso (1203–1272), and Berengaria (1204–1237) survived infancy.Шаблон:Fact
Between queenships
Though she had left her role as queen of León, she retained authority over and taxing rights in many of the lands she had received there, including Salamanca and Castroverde,Шаблон:Sfn which she gave to her son Ferdinand in 1206.Шаблон:Sfn Some of the nobles who had served her as queen followed her back to the court in Castille.Шаблон:Sfn The peace which had prevailed since her marriage was lost, and there was war again between León and Castille, in part over her control of these lands.Шаблон:Sfn In 1205, 1207, and 1209, treaties were made again between the two countries, each expanding her control.Шаблон:Sfn In the treaties of 1207 and 1209, Berengaria and her son were given again significant properties along the border, including many key castles, including Villalpando.Шаблон:Sfn The treaty in 1207 is the first existing public document in the Castilian dialect.Шаблон:Sfn
In 1214, on the death of her father, Alfonso VIII, the Castilian crown passed to his only surviving son, Berengaria's 10-year-old brother, Henry I.Шаблон:Sfn Their mother Eleanor assumed the regency, but died 24 days after her husband.Шаблон:Sfn Berengaria, now heir presumptive again, replaced her as regent.Шаблон:Sfn At this point internal strife began, instigated by the nobility, primarily the House of Lara.Шаблон:Sfn They forced Berengaria to cede regency and guardianship of her brother to Count Álvaro Núñez de Lara.Шаблон:Sfn
In 1216, an extraordinary parliamentary session was held in Valladolid, attended by such Castilian magnates as Lope Díaz II de Haro, Gonzalo Rodríguez Girón, Álvaro Díaz de Cameros, Alfonso Téllez de Meneses and others, who agreed, with the support of Berengaria, to make common cause against Álvaro Núñez de Lara.Шаблон:Sfn At the end of May the situation in Castile had grown perilous for Berengaria, so she decided to take refuge in the castle of Autillo de Campos, which was held by Gonzalo Rodríguez Girón (one of her allies) and sent her son Ferdinand to the court of his father.Шаблон:Sfn On 15 August 1216, an assembly of all the magnates of Castile was held to attempt to reach an accord that would prevent civil war, but disagreements led the families of Girón, Téllez de Meneses, and Haro to break definitively with Álvaro de Lara.Шаблон:Sfn
Queen of Castile
Circumstances changed suddenly when Henry died on 6 June 1217 after receiving a head wound from a tile which came loose while he was playing with other children at the palace of the bishop of Palencia.Шаблон:Sfn His guardian, Count Álvaro Núñez de Lara, tried to hide the fact, taking the king's body to the castle of Tariego, although it was inevitable that the news would reach Berengaria.Шаблон:Sfn
The new sovereign was well aware of the danger her former husband posed to her reign; being her brother's closest agnate, it was feared that he would claim the crown for himself.Шаблон:Sfn Therefore, she kept her brother's death and her own accession secret from Alfonso.Шаблон:Sfn She wrote to Alfonso asking that Ferdinand be sent to visit her, and then abdicated in their son's favour on 31 August.Шаблон:Sfn In part, she abdicated as she would be unable to be the military leader Castile needed its king to be in that time.Шаблон:Sfn
Royal advisor
Although she did not reign for long, Berengaria continued to be her son's closest advisor, intervening in state policy, albeit in an indirect manner.Шаблон:Sfn Well into her son's reign, contemporary authors wrote that she still wielded authority over him.Шаблон:Sfn One example was how she arranged the marriage of her son with princess Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen (known as Beatriz in Castile), daughter of Duke Philip of Swabia and granddaughter of two emperors: Frederick Barbarossa and Isaac II Angelos of Byzantium.Шаблон:Sfn The wedding took place on 30 November 1219 at Burgos.Шаблон:Sfn Another instance in which Berengaria's mediation stood out developed in 1218 when the scheming Lara family, still headed by former regent Álvaro Núñez de Lara, conspired to have Alfonso IX, King of León and King Ferdinand's father, invade Castile to seize his son's throne.Шаблон:Sfn However, the capture of Count Lara facilitated the intervention of Berengaria, who got father and son to sign the Pact of Toro on 26 August 1218, putting an end to confrontations between Castile and León.Шаблон:Sfn
In 1222, Berengaria intervened anew in favor of her son, achieving the ratification of the Convention of Zafra, thereby making peace with the Laras by arranging the marriage of Mafalda, daughter and heiress of the Lord of Molina, Gonzalo Pérez de Lara, to her own son and King Ferdinand's brother, Alfonso.Шаблон:Sfn In 1224 she arranged the marriage of her daughter Berengaria to John of Brienne, a maneuver which brought Ferdinand III closer to the throne of León, since John was the candidate Alfonso IX had in mind to marry his eldest daughter Sancha.Шаблон:Sfn By proceeding more quickly, Berengaria prevented the daughters of her former husband from marrying a man who could claim the throne of León.Шаблон:Sfn
Perhaps her most decisive intervention on Ferdinand's behalf took place in 1230, when Alfonso IX died and designated as heirs to the throne his daughters Sancha and Dulce from his first marriage to Theresa of Portugal, superseding the rights of Ferdinand III.Шаблон:Sfn Berengaria met with the princesses' mother and succeeded in the ratification of the Treaty of Las Tercerías, by which they renounced the throne in favor of their half-brother in exchange for a substantial sum of money and other benefits.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Thus were the thrones of León and Castile re-united in the person of Ferdinand III,Шаблон:Sfn which had been divided by Alfonso VII in 1157.Шаблон:Sfn She intervened again by arranging the second marriage of Ferdinand after the death of Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen.Шаблон:Sfn Although he already had plenty of children, Berengaria was concerned that the king's virtue not be diminished with illicit relations.Шаблон:Sfn This time, she chose a French noblewoman, Joan of Dammartin, a candidate put forth by the king's aunt and Berengaria's sister Blanche, widow of King Louis VIII of France.Шаблон:Sfn Berengaria served again as regent, ruling while her son Ferdinand was in the south on his long campaigns of the Reconquista.Шаблон:Sfn She governed Castile and León with her characteristic skill, relieving him of the need to divide his attention during this time.Шаблон:Sfn
Patronage and legacy
She met with her son a final time in Pozuelo de Calatrava in 1245, afterwards returning to Toledo.Шаблон:Sfn She died on 8 November 1246Шаблон:Sfn and was buried at Las Huelgas near Burgos.Шаблон:Sfn
Much like her mother, she was a strong patron of religious institutions.Шаблон:Sfn She worked with her mother to support the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas.Шаблон:Sfn As queen of León, she supported the Order of Santiago and supported the Basilica of San Isidoro, not only donating to it, but also exempting it from any taxes.Шаблон:Sfn She re-established the tradition of Leónese royal women supporting the Monastery of San Pedro de Eslonza, last performed by her great-grand aunt, Sancha Raimúndez.Шаблон:Sfn
She is portrayed as a wise and virtuous woman by the chroniclers of the time.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn She was also concerned with literature and history, charging Lucas de Tuy to compose a chronicle on the Kings of Castile and León to aid and instruct future rulers of the joint kingdom.Шаблон:Sfn She herself was discussed in the works of Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, whose work was sponsored by her son Ferdinand, and Juan of Osma,Шаблон:Sfn who was chancellor of Castile under Ferdinand.Шаблон:Sfn
Notes
References
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- Шаблон:Cite encyclopedia
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Further reading
- Шаблон:Cite book Explores Berenguela's use of authority as both queen and regent, at varied times, for the Spanish thrones of Castile and León.
- Шаблон:Citation
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Шаблон:Castilian monarchs Шаблон:Infantas of Castile Шаблон:Leonese royal consorts Шаблон:Authority control
- ↑ The full title was Regina Castelle et Toleti (Queen of Castille and Toledo).
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