Ancestral Trails 2016 » FERNANDO de CASTILE III (1201-1252)

Personal data FERNANDO de CASTILE III 

• He was born on August 19, 1201 in Zamora, Zamora, Castilla-Leon, Spain.
• Title: King of Castile & Leon
• (Nickname) : Saint Fernando.
• He died on May 30, 1252 in Sevilla, Seville, Andalucia, Spain, he was 50 years old.
• He is buried in the year 1252 in Seville Cathedral, Seville, Andalusia, Spain.
• A child of ALFONSO IX FERNANDO CAPET de LEON and BERENGARIA ALPHONSA de CASTILE

Household of FERNANDO de CASTILE III

(1) He is married to JOAN d'AUMALE.

They got married September 1237 at Burgos, Burgos, Castilla-Leon, Spain, he was 36 years old.

Child(ren):

1. Ferdinand de CASTILE  1240-1260
2. Simon de CASTILE  1246-????
3. Luis de CASTILE  1244-????
4. ELEANOR de CASTILE  1242-1290 
5. Juan de CASTILE  1248-????

(2) He is married to Elizabeth von HOHENSTAUFEN.

They got married on November 30, 1219 at Burgos, Castilla-Leon, Spain, he was 18 years old.

Child(ren):

1. Alfonso de CASTILE  1221-1284 
2. Henry de CASTILE  1230-1303
3. Juan Manuel de CASTILE  1234-1283 
4. Frederick de CASTILE  1223-1277
5. Philip de CASTILE  1231-1274

Notes about FERNANDO de CASTILE III

Ferdinand III (1199 or 1201 - 30 May 1252) was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 as well as King of Galicia from 1231. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berenguela of Castile. Through his second marriage he was also Count of Aumale. Ferdinand III was one of the most successful kings of Castile, securing not only the permanent union of the crowns of Castile and León, but also masterminding the most expansive campaign of Reconquista yet.

By military and diplomatic efforts, Ferdinand greatly expanded the dominions of Castile into southern Spain, annexing many of the great old cities of al-Andalus, including the old Andalusian capitals of Córdoba and Seville, and establishing the boundaries of the Castilian state for the next two centuries.

Ferdinand was canonized in 1671 by Pope Clement X and, in Spanish, he is known as Fernando el Santo, San Fernando or San Fernando Rey.

The exact date of Ferdinand's birth is unclear. It has been proposed as early as 1199 or even 1198, although more recent researchers commonly date Ferdinand's birth in the Summer of 1201. Ferdinand was born at the Monastery of Valparaíso (Peleas de Arriba, in what is now the Province of Zamora).

As the son of Alfonso IX of León and his second wife Berengaria of Castile, Ferdinand is descendent of Alfonso VII of Leon and Castile on both sides of his parents as his paternal grandfather Ferdinand II of Leon and maternal great grandfather Sancho III of Castile were the sons and successors of Alfonso VII. Ferdinand has other royal ancestors from his paternal grandmother Urraca of Portugal and his maternal grandmother Eleanor of England a daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

From his birth to 1204 Ferdinand was designate as the heir to his father's kingdom of Leon with the support of his mother and the kingdom of Castile despite he was Alfonso IX's second son. Alfonso IX already had a son and two daughters from his first marriage to Teresa of Portugal but at the time he never acknowledge his first son also named Ferdinand as his heir, But the Castilians see Teresa's Ferdinand as a protenial rival and a threat to Berengaria's Ferdinand.

The marriage of Ferdinand's parents was annulled by order of Pope Innocent III in 1204, due to consanguinity. Berengaria then took their children, including Ferdinand, to the court of her father, King Alfonso VIII of Castile. In 1217, her younger brother, Henry I, died and she succeeded him to the Castilian throne and Ferdinand as her heir, but she quickly surrendered it to her son.

On the domestic front, Ferdinand strengthened the University of Salamanca and erected the current Cathedral of Burgos. He was a patron of the newest movement in the Church, that of the mendicant Orders. Whereas the Benedictine monks, and then the Cistercians and Cluniacs, had taken a major part in the Reconquista up until then, Ferdinand founded houses for friars of the Dominican, Franciscan, Trinitarian, and Mercedarian Orders throughout Andalusia, thus determining the future religious character of that region. Ferdinand has also been credited with sustaining the convivencia in Andalusia. He himself joined the Third Order of St. Francis, and is honored in that Order.

He took care not to overburden his subjects with taxation, fearing, as he said, the curse of one poor woman more than a whole army of Saracens.

Ferdinand III had started out as a contested king of Castile. By the time of his death in 1252, Ferdinand III had delivered to his son and heir, Alfonso X, a massively expanded kingdom. The boundaries of the new Castilian state established by Ferdinand III would remain nearly unchanged until the late 15th century. His biographer, Sister María del Carmen Fernández de Castro Cabeza, A.C.J., asserts that, on his death bed, Ferdinand said to his son "you will be rich in land and in many good vassals, more than any other king in Christendom."

Ferdinand was buried in the Cathedral of Seville by his son, Alfonso X. His tomb is inscribed in four languages: Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, and an early version of Castilian. He was canonized as St. Ferdinand by Pope Clement X in 1671. Today Saint Fernando can still be seen in the Cathedral of Seville, for he rests enclosed in a gold and crystal casket worthy of the king. His golden crown still encircles his head as he reclines beneath the statue of the Virgin of the Kings. Several places named San Fernando were founded across the Spanish Empire in his honor.

The symbol of his power as a king was his sword Lobera.

First marriage
In 1219, Ferdinand married Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen (1203-1235), daughter of the German king Philip of Swabia and Irene Angelina. Elisabeth was called Beatriz in Spain. Their children were:

Alfonso X, his successor
Frederick
Ferdinand (1225-1243/1248)
Eleanor (born 1227), died young
Berengaria (1228-1288/89), a nun at Las Huelgas
Henry
Philip (1231-1274). He was promised to the Church, but was so taken by the beauty of Christina of Norway, daughter of Haakon IV of Norway, who had been intended as a bride for one of his brothers, that he abandoned his holy vows and married her. She died in 1262, childless.
Sancho, Archbishop of Toledo and Seville (1233-1261)
Manuel of Castile
Maria, died an infant in November 1235

Second marriage
After he was widowed, he married Joan, Countess of Ponthieu, before August 1237. They had four sons and one daughter:

Ferdinand (1239-1260), Count of Aumale
Eleanor (c.1241-1290), married Edward I of England. They had sixteen children including the future Edward II of England and every English monarch after Edward I is a descendant of Ferdinand III.
Louis (1243-1269)
Simon (1244), died young and buried in a monastery in Toledo
John (1245), died young and buried at the cathedral in Córdoba
SOURCE: Wikipedia

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