Queens of Castile

[umigon]

A complete list of Castilian queens since Alfonso VI (1040-1109):


·      Inés of Aquitaine (1052-1097), first wife of Alfonso VI. Married  1069, anullment in 1077.
·      Constanza of Burgundy (1046-1093), second wife of Alfonso VI. Married 1081, mother of Queen Urraca I.
·      Berta of Burgundy (1080-1097), third wife of Alfonso VI. Marrried in 1093.
·      Isabel of Aquitaine (1074-1104), fourth wife of Alfonso VI. Married in 1097.
·      Beatriz of Sicily (1090-1110), fifth wife of Alfonso VI. Married in 1108.
·      Urraca I of Castile (1082-1126), queen regnant since 1109. Mother of Alfonso VII.
·      Berenguela Berenguer of Barcelona (1112-1149), first wife of Alfonso VII. Married in 1128. Mother of Sancho III of Castile and Ferdinand II of Leon.
·      Riqueza of Poland (1139-1185), second wife of Alfonso VII. Married in 1152.
·      Urraca of Portugal (1151-1188), first wife of Ferdinand II of Leon. Married in 1165, annulment in 1175. Mother of Alfonso IX of Leon.
·      Teresa de Trava (1160-1179), second wife of Ferdinand II of Leon. Married in 1176.
·      Urraca de Haro (1165-1226), third wife of Ferdinand II of Leon. Married in 1180.
·      Eleanor Plantagenet (1162-1214), wife of Alfonso VIII, son of Sancho III and Blanche of Navarre, who had died before her husband became king. Married in 1177, mother of Enrique I and Berenguela I.
·      Saint Teresa of Portugal (1176-1250), first wife of Alfonso IX of Leon. Married in 1191, annulment in 1198.
·     Berenguela I of Castile (1180-1246), daughter of Alfonso VIII and Eleanor Plantagenet. Wife of Alfonso IX of Leon in 1198, annulment in 1209. Became queen regnant of Castile in 1217 and abdicated soon afterwards in her son, Fernando III.
·      Inés de Mendoza (1193-1265), third wife of Alfonso IX of Leon, married in 1212.
·      Mafalda of Portugal (1197-1257), first wife of Enrique I. Married in 1215, annulment in 1216.
·      Sancha of Leon (1193-1243), second wife of Enrique I. Married only by proxy in 1217.
·      Beatriz of Hohenstaufen (1198-1235), first wife of Fernando III. Married in 1219. Mother of Alfonso X.
·      Juana of Ponthieu (1216-1279), second wife of Fernando III. Married in 1237.
·      Violante of Aragon (1236-1301), wife of Alfonso X. Married in 1248. Mother of Sancho IV.
·      María of Molina (1260-1321), wife of Sancho IV. Married in 1281. Mother of Fernando IV.
·      Constanza of Portugal (1290-1313), wife of Fernando IV. Married in 1302. Mother of Alfonso XI.
·      Constanza Manuel de Castilla (1323-1345), first wife of Alfonso XI. Married in 1325, annulment in 1327. Later became queen of Portugal by marriage to Pedro I of Portugal.
·      María of Portugal (1313-1357), second wife of Alfonso XI. Married in 1328. Mother of Pedro I.
·      María de Padilla (1337-1361), first wife of Pedro I. Married in 1353.
·      Blanca of Bourbon (1336-1361), second and bigamous wife of Pedro I. Married in 1353.
·      Juana de Castro (1334-1374), third and poligamous wife of Pedro I. Married in 1354.
·      Juana Manuel de Castilla (1339-1381), wife of Enrique II, son of Alfonso XI and his mistress Leonor de Guzmán. Married in 1350. Mother of Juan I.
·      Leonor of Aragon (1358-1382), first wife of Juan I. Married in 1375. Mother of Enrique III of Castile and Fernando I of Aragon.
·      Beatriz I of Portugal (1372-1410), second wife of Juan I of Castile. Married in 1383. Beatriz was queen regnant of Portugal in 1383 (deposed).
·      Catalina of Lancaster (1373-1418), wife of Enrique III. Married in 1388. Mother of Juan II.
·      María of Aragon (1396-1445), wife of Juan II. Married in 1420. Mother of Enrique IV.
·      Isabel of Portugal (1428-1496), wife of Juan II. Married in 1447. Mother of Isabel I and our first Alfonso XII (yes, we’ve had two Alfonso XII’s!).
·      Blanca of Aragon (1424-1464), first wife of Enrique IV. Married in 1440, annulment in 1453.
·      Juana of Portugal (1439-1475), second wife of Enrique IV. Married in 1455.
.       Isabel I of Castile (1451-1504), queen regnant since 1474. Her daughter, Queen Juana I, inherited both Castile and Aragon, so she became the first “queen of Spain".


queens regnant

queens regent

[bell_the_cat]

Thanks for the great list, Umigon.

I'm working my way through to see which ones I recognise. Is Queen Urraca the one who was in love with the Cid? Or am I getting her mixed up with someone else (the one who was always looking daggers at Sophia Loren in the film)?

I've found that there's a box you can tick when you post to disable the smileys! This is useful when listing lots of people who died in years with eights in it. There was one post listing all the Konstantinovichi who died in 1918, which looked as if the poster was really happy

[isabel]

You impress me every day¡

Inmejorable

[trentk80]

I'm working my way through to see which ones I recognise. Is Queen Urraca the one who was in love with the Cid? Or am I getting her mixed up with someone else (the one who was always looking daggers at Sophia Loren in the film)?

As far as I know, the princess Urraca who was in love with the Cid was an infanta, not a queen, but I don't know if she later became a queen.

Bell, which film are you talking about?

[bell_the_cat]

Hi trentk80!

It's called "The Cid"  (!) with Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren. Urraca is an Infanta, but her brothers are both losers and I had the idea she went on to become Queen.

[umigon]

Hi!

This Urraca about whom you are talking is Queen Urraca of Zamora, a Castilian infanta, daughter of King Ferdinand I and Sanchia of Leon. When Ferdinand died he divided his reign between his children: Sancho II received Castile, Alfonso VI received Leon, García received Galicia, Urraca received Zamora and Elvira received Toro. Urraca had been a lover of her brother Alfonso VI (giving him a daughter who ended her days as a nun) and Elvira, mother of Jimena (the Cid's wife), had also very probably been Alfonso's mistress.

Urraca was a powerful and agressive woman. She was to be deposed by Alfonso VI and locked in a convent for the rest of her life. She lived 1033-1101.


P.S. I always forget! Thanks to everybody for your nice  comments!

[bell_the_cat]

Sophia Loren plays Jimena in the film (it's a stunning performance). She's called "Chimène" however as the plot is loosely based on the play by Corneille ("Le Cid") - i.e. Chimène loves the Cid, but refuses to marry him after he kills her father in a duel.

There's a good bit at the end as Chimène straps the Cid's dead body (Charlton Heston) to his horse to lead the armies out to fight the Moors!

[trentk80]

This Urraca about whom you are talking is Queen Urraca of Zamora, a Castilian infanta, daughter of King Ferdinand I and Sanchia of Leon. When Ferdinand died he divided his reign between his children: Sancho II received Castile, Alfonso VI received Leon, García received Galicia, Urraca received Zamora and Elvira received Toro. Urraca had been a lover of her brother Alfonso VI (giving him a daughter who ended her days as a nun) and Elvira, mother of Jimena (the Cid's wife), had also very probably been Alfonso's mistress.

I didn't know that Urraca was the lover of her own brother! It could be true, but we have to remember that they were real-life historical figures whose story was romanticized in the medieval Spanish epic poems.

[Prince_Lieven]

A leeetle bit off topic but does anyone know the English form of Urracca? Please humour me . . .  

[umigon]

Magpie, maybe?

[cimbrio]

Umigon, that "first" Alfonso XII you mention, Isabel I's brother, did he actually become King? His father, Juan II, died in 1454 and was succeeded by his son Enrique IV (died 1474); by then Alfonso was dead, so how come he could have been King? Explain please!!!!!!!!!

[umigon]

He was a king of Castile in some territories, I think it could be Guadalajara and surroundings, not quite sure, but I 'll look it up sometime...

Some nobles deposed his brother in a symbolic ceremony and crowned him king. He was Alfonso XII, he even had his own coins, from about 1466 to Alfonso's aged 15 death in 1468. His brother, Isabel, refused to accept the stolen Crown at his death. But we will never know how she felt about because later in her life she sometimes got angry if anyone said that Alfonso had been king  but then she sometimes refered to him as 'my late brother king Alfonso' so... he is not officially included in the lists of Castilian Kings, but he was indeed, for some parts of Castile, the king!

[umigon]

A small account on the rivalry between María of Portugal wife of Alfonso XI, and Alfonso's mistress, Leonor Núñez de Guzmán.

María was born in Coimbra, Portugal, on the 15th May 1313, the first child born to King Alfonso IV of Portugal and infanta Beatriz of Castile. She married her cousin, King Alfonso XI of Castile (born in 1311), in 1328. At a start the marriage was quite happy, as María was a beautiful and intelligent woman. In 1329, however, Alfonso met for the first time the woman who would become the true and only love of his life: Leonor Núñez de Guzmán. Leonor had been born to a noble family of Seville (she had kings of Castile and Leon as her ancestors) in 1310. By 1329 she was the widow of the noble Juan de Velasco and the mother of a little girl, Leonor. She was reputed to be the most beautiful girl of Christendom of her times.

Alfonso fell madly in love with her, he abandoned his legitimate wife and made public marital life with Leonor. Alfonso, however, had to come back to María in 1331, urged by his advisors, by his father-in-law, and probably by his own conscience, in order to produce a legitimate heir. María gave birth to a son, Fernando, in 1332. After Fernando's birth Alfonso abandoned María again and returned to Leonor. After Fernando's death in 1333 he had another child by María, Pedro (1334-1369). In the meanwhile, Leonor had been giving Alfonso several sons and they would end up having 10 children in total, 9 sons and one daughter:

1. Pedro (1330-1338)
2. Sancho (1331-1342)
3. Enrique (1334-1379)
4. Fadrique (1334-1358), twin to Enrique.
5. Fernando (1336-1342)
6. Tello (1337-1370)
7. Juan (1341-1359)
8. Sancho (1342-1374)
9. Pedro (1345-1359)
10. Juana (1348-1419)

María, madly in love with her husband, couldn't cope with his mistress and, as she couldn't hate Alfonso, she hated Leonor, who was the real queen of Castile during Alfonso's lifetime. María and the ñlegitimate heir, Pedro, lived isolated, in a hostile Court in which Leonor and her supporters were who really reigned while Alfonso was out doing the war to the Moors. In 1350, however, Alfonso died suddenly of the plague when he was conquering Gibraltar to the Moors. His son became Pedro I, and he was a revenge-thirsty sixteen-year-old.

Leonor was taken to Talavera de la Reina, in Toledo, under Queen María's orders. There María and Pedro met Leonor. She was condemned to death by garrotte. It was Pedro himself who pulled the rope on Leonor's neck while Queen María watched and said:

"Spin it twenty times, Pedro, twenty. One for each year she was with him".

It was January 25th 1351, a civil war started between Pedro and his supporters and his brother Enrique and his. Pedro ordered the murders of some of his half-brothers (Fadrique, Tello's first wife, Juan and his wife and young Pedro were killed under his orders).Pedro gradually got stranged from his mother. In 1354 María fled Castile and went to Portugal, were she lived under the protection of her father King Alfonso IV. Save, or so she thought, in Évora, she conspired against her son and supported her father when he decided to kill his son Pedro's mistress Inés de Castro.

Pedro of Portugal, infuriated with his sister for this, became an ally of his nephew Pedro of Castile. On the 18th January 1357 María was poisoned in Evora castle. It was probably done by Pedro of Portugal, although we don't know if he did it on his own or if María death was requested by her own son. Pedro of Castile would later be murdered by his brother Enrique of Trastámara, who became the new king of Castile.

[bell_the_cat]

What a horrible story!  

Pedro was married to Ines de Castro's sister, right? I wouldn't have been able to sleep at night if I was her!

Was Enrique de Trastamara the twin of Fadique, or is this another Henry? I know that Edward III of England supported Pedro in his war against his half-brother.

[umigon]

Well, Juana de Castro had no need to fear Pedro, as they only slept together once! Pedro was stunned by Juana, as she was reported to be one of the prettiest nobles of her time, as well as being a very young and rich widow... He wanted to go to bed with her, but she said that she would only consent if married. So, Pedro convinced her that his marriage to Blanche of Bourbon was invalid (it was, as Pedro had also married María de Padilla, but this had been a secret marriage!). Juana and Pedro were married in Cuéllar, Segovia, on April 10th, 1354. That night they slept together and the morning after Pedro left her, never to see her again. Juana, who would always entitle herself as Queen, gave birth to a healthy son 9 months after, Juan of Castile (that's what I call having a good shot!). Pedro consented on passing them a pension if Juana was discreet, and she was. In his will, Pedro said that Juan was his legitimate son and heir to the throne but, that he could only succeed after his daughters by María de Padilla!!! In 1369, after Pedro was murdered by his half-brother Enrique of Trastamara (yes, Fadrique's older twin), Enrique II kept Juana de Castro and her son imprisoned in Dueñas Castle. Juana would die there aged 40 and Juan would only be released in 1393 by Enrique III because it was his wife's desire. Catherine of Lancaster, Enrique III's wife, was the daughter of John of Gaunt and Constanza of Castile, half-sister to Juan. By 1393 Juan, who was 38, had already married Elvira de Eril y Falces, the daughter of the castle keeper. They had a son and a daughter (Pedro and Constanza), who became members of religious orders. Pedro, however, left illegitimate issue.