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Birth:          Jun 1180 Burgos, Castile
Death:          8 Nov 1246 Burgos, Castile
Burial:         Las Huelgas, near Burgos, Castile

Notes
b Jan/June 1180
heiress of Castile
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berengaria_of_Castile
Berengaria (Castilian: Berenguela; nicknamed the Great (Castilian: la Grande); 1179 or 
1180 – 8 November 1246) was queen regnant of Castile[1] in 1217 and queen consort 
of León from 1197 to 1204. As the eldest child and heir 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 Barbarossa. After his 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, she 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 family life[edit]

Berengaria was born either in 1179[2][3] or 1180,[3][4] in Burgos.[3] She was the 
eldest daughter of King Alfonso VIII of Castile and Eleanor of England. Those who 
cared for the young infanta were generously rewarded.[5] Her nurse, Estefanía, 
received land from Alfonso and Eleanor on her retirement in May 1181.[5] Another 
nurse, Elvira, received a similar retirement gift in 1189 at Berengaria's request.[5]

As the eldest child of king Alfonso and Eleanor, she was the heiress presumptive of 
the throne of Castile for several years,[6] because many of her siblings who were born 
after her died shortly after birth or in early infancy, so Berengaria became a greatly 
desired partner throughout Europe.[6]

Berengaria's first engagement was agreed in 1187 when her hand was sought by 
Conrad, Duke of Rothenburg and fifth child of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I 
Barbarossa.[7] The next year, the marriage contract was signed in Seligenstadt, 
including a dowry of 42000 Maravedí.[7] Conrad then marched to Castile, where in 
Carrión the engagement was celebrated and Conrad was knighted.[8] Berengaria's 
status as heir of Castile when she inherited the throne was based in part on 
documentation in the treaty and marriage contract,[9][10] which specified that she 
would inherit the kingdom after her father or any childless brothers who may come 
along.[9] Conrad would only be allowed to co-rule as her spouse, and Castile would 
not become part of the Empire.[7] The treaty also documented traditional rights and 
obligations between the future sovereign and the nobility.[11]

The marriage was not consummated, due to Berengaria's young age, as she was less 
than 10 years old.[12] Conrad and Berengaria never saw each other again.[13] By 
1191, Berengaria requested an annulment of the engagement from the Pope, 
influenced, no doubt, by third parties such as her grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine, 
who was not interested in having a Hohenstaufen as a neighbor to her French 
fiefdoms.[13] Those fears were neutralized when the duke was assassinated in 1196.
[13]

Marriage to Alfonso IX[edit]

In order to help secure peace between Castile and León, Berengaria married Alfonso 
IX of León, her first cousin once removed, in Valladolid in 1197.[14] 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.[14] 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.[14] In turn, 
these knights were charged with maintaining the peace along the border in the 
queen's name.[15]

Berengaria and Alfonso IX had five children:
Eleanor (1198/1199 – 1202).
Constance (1200 – 1242), a nun in the Abbey of las Huelgas.
Ferdinand III (1201 – 1252), King of Castile and León.
Alfonso (1203 – 1272), Lord of Molina and Mesa by his first marriage. He married, first, 
Mafalda de Lara, heiress of Molina and Mesa, second, Teresa Núñez, and third, Mayor 
Téllez de Meneses, Lady of Montealegre and Tiedra, by whom he was the father of 
María of Molina, wife of King Sancho IV of León and Castile.
Berengaria (1204 – 1237), married John of Brienne, King of Jerusalem.

Starting in 1198, Pope Innocent III objected to the marriage on the grounds of 
consanguinity, though the couple stayed together until 1204.[16] They vehemently 
sought a dispensation in order to stay together, including offering large sums of 
money.[17] However, the pope denied their request, although they succeeded in 
having their children considered legitimate.[18] Her marriage dissolved, Berengaria 
returned to Castile and to her parents in May 1204, where she dedicated herself to the 
care of her children.[18]

Between queenships[edit]

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,[19] which she gave to her son Ferdinand in 1206.[20] Some of the 
nobles who had served her as queen followed her back to the court in Castille.[21] 
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.[22] In 1205, 1207, 
and 1209, treaties were made again between the two countries, each expanding her 
control.[23] 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.[24] The treaty in 1207 is the first existing public document in the Castilian 
dialect.[25]

In 1214, on the death of her father, Alfonso VIII of Castile, the crown passed to his 
only surviving son, Berengaria's 10-year-old brother, Henry I.[26] Their mother Eleanor 
assumed the regency, but died 24 days after her husband.[26] Berengaria, now heir 
presumptive again, replaced her as regent.[26] At this point internal strife began, 
instigated by the nobility, primarily the House of Lara.[27] They forced Berengaria to 
cede regency and guardianship of her brother to Count Álvaro Núñez de Lara.[27]

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.[28] 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.[28] 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.[28]

Queen of Castile[edit]

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.[29] 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.[30]

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.[29] Therefore, she kept her brother's death and her own accession secret 
from Alfonso.[29] She wrote to Alfonso asking that Ferdinand be sent to visit her, and 
then abdicated in their son's favor on 31 August.[29] In part, she abdicated as she 
would be unable to be the military leader Castile needed its king to be in that time.[31]

Royal advisor[edit]

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.[32] Well into her 
son's reign, contemporary authors wrote that she still wielded authority over him.[32] 
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.[33] The wedding took place on 30 November 1219 at Burgos.[33] 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.[33] 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.[33]

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.[34] 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.[35] By proceeding more 
quickly, Berengaria prevented the daughters of her former husband from marrying a 
man who could claim the throne of León.[35]

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.[36] 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.
[36][37] Thus were the thrones of León and Castile re-united in the person of 
Ferdinand III,[36] which had been divided by Alfonso VII in 1157.[9] She intervened 
again by arranging the second marriage of Ferdinand after the death of Elisabeth of 
Hohenstaufen.[38] Although he already had plenty of children, Berengaria was 
concerned that the king's virtue not be diminished with illicit relations.[38] 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.[38] 
Berengaria served again as regent, ruling while her son Ferdinand was in the south on 
his long campaigns of the Reconquista.[39] She governed Castile and León with her 
characteristic skill, relieving him of the need to divide his attention during this time.
[39]

Patronage and legacy[edit]

She met with her son a final time in Pozuelo de Calatrava in 1245, afterwards returning 
to Toledo.[40] She died 8 November 1246,[41] and was buried at Las Huelgas near 
Burgos.[42]

Much like her mother, she was a strong patron of religious institutions.[43] She worked 
with her mother to support the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas.[43] 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.[43] 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.[43]

She is portrayed as a wise and virtuous woman by the chroniclers of the time.[44][45]
[46] 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.[44] She herself was discussed in the works of Rodrigo Jiménez 
de Rada, whose work was sponsored by her son Ferdinand, and Juan of Osma,[45] 
who was chancellor of Castile under Ferdinand.[46]

Parents
SANCHEZ Alfonso VIII "the Noble" (11 Nov 1155 - 5 Oct 1214)
____ Eleanor (13 Oct 1162 - 25 Oct 1214)

Siblings
OF CASTILE Bernegaria (Berenguela) (Jun 1180 - 8 Nov 1246)
DE CASTILE Urraca (ABT 1185 - 3 Nov 1220)
DE CASTILE Blanche (Blanca) Alphonsa (BEF 4 Mar 1188 - 27 Nov 1252)

Marriage To FERNANDEZ Alfonso IX (15 Aug 1171 - 24 Sep 1230)
    m. Dec 1197 Valladolid, Spain his 2d

Notes

Parents
ALFONSEZ Fernando II (1137 - 22 Jan 1188)
AFFONSEZ Urraca (1151 - 16 Oct 1188)

Children by FERNANDEZ Alfonso IX 15 Aug 1171 - 24 Sep 1230
ALFONSEZ Fernando III "The Saint" (5 Aug 1201 - 30 May 1252)
ALFONSEZ Alfonso (1202 - 6 Jan 1272)
ALFONSEZ Bernegaria (Berenguela) (1204 - 12 Apr 1237)

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