Ancestral Trails 2016 » ELEANOR PLANTAGENET (1162-1214)

Personal data ELEANOR PLANTAGENET 

• She was born on October 13, 1162 in Domfront, Orne, Basse-Normandie, France.

  Attention: Age at marriage (September 22, 1177) below 16 years (14).

• (Relationship) : 25th Great Grandmother.
• (Relationship) : 25th Great Grandmother.
• She died on October 25, 1214 in Burgos, Spain, she was 52 years old.
• A child of HENRY II OF ENGLAND and ELEANOR d'AQUITAINE

Household of ELEANOR PLANTAGENET

She is married to ALFONSO SANCHEZ de CASTILE.

They got married on September 22, 1177 at Burgos, Burgos, Castilla-Leon, Spain, she was 14 years old.

Child(ren):

1. Sancha de CASTILE  
2. Sancho de CASTILE  1181-1181
3. Enrique de CASTILE  1195-????
4. Eleanor de CASTILE  1202-1242 
5. Uraca de CASTILE  1185-1220 
6. BLANCHE de CASTILE  -1252 
7. BERENGARIA ALPHONSA de CASTILE  -1246 

• The couple has common ancestors.



Notes about ELEANOR PLANTAGENET

Eleanor of England (Spanish: Leonor; 13 October 1162 - 31 October 1214), or Eleanor Plantaganet, was Queen of Castile and Toledo as wife of Alfonso VIII of Castile. She was the sixth child and second daughter of Henry II, King of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Eleanor was born in the castle at Domfront, Normandy on 13 October 1162, as the second daughter of Henry II, King of England and his wife Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, and was baptised by Henry of Marcy. Her half-siblings were Marie and Alix of France, and her full siblings were Henry the Young, Duchess Matilda, King Richard, Duke Geoffrey, Queen Joan and King John.

In 1174, when she was 12 years old, Eleanor married King Alfonso VIII of Castile in Burgos. The couple had been betrothed in 1170, but due to the bride's youth as well as the uproar in Europe regarding her father's suspected involvement in the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket, the wedding was delayed. Her parents' purpose in arranging the marriage was to secure Aquitaine’s Pyrenean border, while Alfonso was seeking an ally in his struggles with his uncle, Sancho VI of Navarre. In 1177, this led to Henry overseeing arbitration of the border dispute.

Around the year 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, King of England granted her safe passage to visit him, perhaps to try opening peace negotiations. In 1208, Alfonso yielded on the claim.[13] 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. In her own 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. 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. 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.

Eleanor took 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.

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. Eleanor then took sick and died only twenty-eight days after her husband, and was buried at Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas.
SOURCE: Wikipedia


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