Constance of Burgundy, Queen of Castile and Léon

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_of_Burgundy

The daughter of Duke Robert I of Burgundy and Helie de Semur-en-Brionnais, she was Queen consort of Castile and León by her marriage to Alfonso VI of León and Castile. Also she was the granddaughter of King Robert II of France, the second monarch of the French Capetian dynasty. She was the mother of Urraca of León, who succeeded her father in both Castile and León.

In 1065, Constance married her first husband, Hugh II, Count of Chalon. They were married for fourteen years until Hughes' death in 1079, they had no children.

In late 1079, Constance remarried to Alfonso VI of León and Castile. The marriage appears to have been orchestrated via the Cluniac connections at Alfonso's court. He had previously been married to Agnes of Aquitaine, whom he had either divorced or had been widowed by. The marriage of Constance and Alfonso initially faced papal opposition, apparently due to a kinship between Constance and Agnes.

Constance and Alfonso had several children but only one of these lived to adulthood:

Urraca (b. April 1079-March 8, 1126) Queen of Castile and León in her own right. Married firstly to Raymond of Burgundy, and arried secondly to Alfonso the Battler.

Constance died in 1093 leaving her fourteen-year-old daughter and her husband a widower. He went on to marry three further wives after her death, but only had a son by his Muslim mistress, Zaida of Seville.

After her death, the corpse of Constance was taken to the town of Sahagún and was buried in the Monastery of St. Facundo and Primitivo, where her husband, King Alfonso VI would be buried along with all his wives. The grave that contained the remains of Alfonso VI was destroyed in 1810 during a fire in the Monastery. Today, the remains of Alfonso VI are buried in the Royal Monastery of San Benito in Sahagún, at the foot of the temple, in a stone chest covered with smooth, modern marble and in a tomb near equally plain, lie the remains of several of the king's wives, including those of Constance.

Constance married Alfonso VI of León and Castile, King of León, Castille and Galicia. Alfonso was born ca 1047, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain; died Jul 1109, Toledo, Castilla, Spain; was buried , Sahagun Monastery, Sahagun, Provincia de León Castilla y León, Spain. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urraca_of_Le%C3%B3n

Born in Burgos, Urraca was the eldest and only surviving child of Alfonso VI of León with his second wife Constance of Burgundy; for this, she was heiress presumptive of the Kingdoms of Castile and León until 1107, when her father recognized his illegitimate son Sancho as his heir.

Urraca?s place in the line of succession made her the focus of dynastic politics, and she became a child bride at age eight (1087) to Raymond of Burgundy, a mercenary adventurer. Author Bernard F. Reilly suggests that, rather than a betrothal, the eight-year-old Urraca was fully wedded to Raymond of Burgundy, as he almost immediately appears in protocol documents as Alfonso VI's son-in-law, a distinction that would not have been made without the marriage. Reilly doubts that the marriage was consummated until Urraca was 13, as she was placed under the protective guardianship of a trusted magnate. Her pregnancy and stillbirth at age 14 suggest that the marriage was indeed consummated when she was 13 or 14 years old.

Urraca's marriage to Raymond was part of Alfonso VI's diplomatic strategy to attract cross-Pyrenees alliances, and she gave birth two children: a daughter, Sancha Raimúndez and a son, Alfonso Raimúndez, who would become Alfonso VII. However, Raymond died in 1107, leaving Urraca a widow with two small children.

Urraca became again an heiress presumptive after the death of her brother Sancho at the Battle of Uclés in 1108. Alfonso VI reunited the nobles of the Kingdom in Toledo and announced that his widowed daughter was the chosen one to succeeded him.

The nobles agreed with the royal designation but demanded that Urraca should marry again. Several candidates for the hand of the heiress to the thrones of León and Castile appeared immediately. Alfonso VI feared that the rivalries between Castilian and Leonese nobles would be increased if she married any of these suitors and decided that his daughter should wed Alfonso I of Aragon, known as the Battler, opening the opportunity for uniting León-Castile with Aragon.

Marriage negotiations were still underway when Alfonso VI died on 29 June/1 July 1109 and Urraca became queen. Many of Alfonso VI?s advisers and leading magnates in the kingdom formed a ?quiet opposition? to the marriage of the queen to the King of Aragon. According to Bernard F. Reilly, these magnates feared the influence the King of Aragon might attempt to wield over Urraca and over Leonese politics.

Urraca protested against the marriage but honored her late father's wishes (and the Royal Council's advice) and continued with the marriage negotiations, though she and her father's closest advisers were growing weary of Alfonso I's demands. Despite the advisers' opposition, the prospect of Count Henry of Portugal filling any power vacuum led them to go ahead with the marriage which took place in early October 1109 at the Castle of Monzón de Campos. As events unfolded, these advisers underestimated Urraca's political prowess, and later advised her to end the marriage.

The marriage of Urraca and Alfonso I almost immediately sparked rebellions in Galicia and scheming by her illegitimate half-sister Theresa and brother-in-law Henry, the Countess and Count of Portugal. Also, they believed that the new marriage of Urraca could put in jeopardy the rights of the son of her first marriage, Alfonso Raimúndez.

The Galician rebellion against the royal power was only the beginning of a series of political and military conflicts which, with the complete opposite personalities of Urraca and Alfonso I and their mutual dislike, gave rise to a continuous civil war in the Hispanic kingdoms over the following years.

As their relationship soured, Urraca accused Alfonso of physical abuse, and by May 1110 she separated from Alfonso. Additionally, as Urraca was married to someone many in the kingdom objected to, the queen's son and heir became a rallying point for opponents to the marriage.

Estrangement between husband and wife escalated from discrete and simmering hostilities into open armed warfare between the Leonese-Castilians and the Aragonese. By the fall of 1112 a truce was brokered between Urraca and Alfonso with their marriage annulled. Though Urraca recovered Asturias, Leon, and Galicia, Alfonso occupied a significant portion of Castile (where Urraca enjoyed large support), while her half-sister Theresa and her husband Count Henry of Portugal occupied Zamora and Extremadura. Recovering these regions and expanding into Muslim lands would occupy much of Urraca's foreign policy.

She is characterized in her contemporary history Historia Compostelana as prudent, modest, and with good sense. But this source also attributes her "failings" to her gender, "the weakness and changeability of women, feminine perversity, and calls her a Jezebel" for her liaisons with her leading magnates, with at least one relationship producing an illegitimate son. The measure of success for Urraca?s rule was her ability to restore and protect the integrity of her inheritance, that is, the kingdom of her father, and transmit that inheritance in full to her own heir.

Urraca married Raymond of Burgundy. Raymond was born ca 1070, Besançon, County of Burgundy, France; died 24 May 1107, Grajal de Campos, Provincia de León Castilla y León, Spain; was buried , Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela Provincia da La Coruña Galicia, Spain. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_VII_of_Le%C3%B3n

The son of Urraca of León and Raymond of Burgundy of the first of the House of Ivrea to rule in the Iberian peninsula, he became the King of Galicia in 1111 and King of León and Castile in 1126. Alfonso first used the title Emperor of All Spain, alongside his mother Urraca, once his mother vested him with the direct rule of Toledo in 1116.

Alfonso was a dignified and somewhat enigmatic figure. He also sought to make the imperial title meaningful in practice, though his attempts to rule over both Christian and Muslim populations was even less successful. During his tenure, Portugal became de facto independent, in 1128, and was recognized as de jure independent, in 1143. He was a patron of poets, including, probably, the troubadour Marcabru.

In 1111, Alfonso was crowned King of Galicia in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. He was a child, but his mother had in 1109 succeeded to the united throne of León-Castile-Galicia and desired to assure her son's prospects and groom him for his eventual succession.

By 1125 he had inherited the formerly Muslim Kingdom of Toledo. On 10 March 1126, after the death of his mother, he was crowned in León and immediately began the recovery of the Kingdom of Castile, which was then under the domination of Alfonso the Battler, King of Navarre and Aragón. By the Peace of Támara of 1127, the Battler recognised Alfonso VII as King of Castile. This territory had gained much independence during the rule of his mother and experienced many rebellions. After his recognition in Castile, Alfonso fought to curb the autonomy of the local barons.

In 1135, Alfonso was crowned "Emperor of Spain" in the Cathedral of León. By this, he probably wished to assert his authority over the entire peninsula and his absolute leadership of the Reconquest. He appears to strive for the formation of a national unity which Spain had never possessed since the fall of the Visigothic kingdom.

Alfonso was a pious prince. He introduced the Cistercians to Iberia by founding a monastery at Fitero. He adopted a militant attitude towards the Moors of Andalusia and led a series of crusades subjugating the Moors. By 1144, he advanced as far as Córdoba.

When Pope Eugene III preached the Second Crusade, Alfonso VII, with García Ramírez of Navarre and Ramon Berenguer IV, led a mixed army of Catalans and Franks, with a Genoese?Pisan navy, in a crusade against the rich Mediterranean port city of Almería, in Andalusia, which was occupied in October 1147. Six years later, Almería entered into Moorish possession again. Alfonso was returning from an expedition against them when he died in pass of Muradel in the Sierra Morena mountains.

Alfonso was at once a patron of the church and a protector, though not a supporter of, the Moors, who were a minority of his subjects. His reign ended in an unsuccessful campaign against the rising power of the Muslim Almohads. Though he was not actually defeated, his death in the pass, while on his way back to Toledo, occurred in circumstances which showed that no man could be what he claimed to be, "king of the men of the two religions." Furthermore, by dividing his realm between his sons, he ensured that Christendom would not present the new Almohad threat with a united front.

In November 1128, he married Berenguela, daughter of Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona. She died in 1149. Their children were:

1. Sancho III of Castile (1134-1158)

2. Ramon, living 1136, died in infancy

3. Ferdinand II of León (1137-1188)

4. Constance (c.1138-1160), married Louis VII of France

5. Sancha (c.1139-1179), married Sancho VI of Navarre

6. García (c.1142-1145/6)

7. Alfonso (c.1144-by 1149)

In 1152, Alfonso married Richeza of Poland, the daughter of Ladislaus II the Exile. They had:

8. Ferdinand, (1153-1157)

9. Sancha (1155-1208), the wife of Alfonso II of Aragón.

Alfonso also had two mistresses, having children by both. By an Asturian noblewoman named Guntroda Pérez, he had an illegitimate daughter, Urraca (1132-1164), who married García Ramírez of Navarre, the mother retiring to a convent in 1133.

Later in his reign, he formed a liaison with Urraca Fernández, widow of count Rodrigo Martínez and daughter of Fernando Garcés de Hita, an apparent grandson of García Sánchez III of Navarre, having a daughter Stephanie the Unfortunate (1148-1180), who was killed by her jealous husband, Fernán Ruiz de Castro.



Buried:
Grave location, biography, and historical portraits:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=88303926

Alfonso married Berenguela (Berengaria) of Barcelona, Queen of Castille, León and Galicia. Berenguela (daughter of Ramon Berenguer, III of Barcelona, Count of Barcelona, Girona, and Ausona , and Count of Provence and Douce I of Provence, Countess of Provence) was born ca 1116, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; died 15 Jan 1149, Palencia, Castile and León, Spain; was buried , Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela Provincia da La Coruña Galicia, Spain. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipeida
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_II_of_Le%C3%B3n

He was was King of León and Galicia from 1157 to his death. Born in Toledo, Castile, he was the son of King Alfonso VII of León and Castile and of Berenguela, of the House of Barcelona. At his father's death, he received León and Galicia, while his brother Sancho received Castile and Toledo. Ferdinand earned the reputation of a good knight and hard fighter, but did not display political or organising faculty.

He spent most of his first year as king in a dispute with his powerful nobles and an invasion by his brother Sancho III. In 1158 the two brothers met at Sahagun, and peacefully solved the heritage matters. However, Sancho died in the same year, being succeeded by his child son Alfonso VIII, while Ferdinand occupied parts of Castile.The boundary troubles with Castile restarted in 1164: he then met at Soria with the Lara family, who represented Alfonso VIII, and a truce was established, allowing him to move against the Muslims who still held much of southern Spain, and to capture the cities of Alcántara and Alburquerque. In the same year, Ferdinand defeated King Afonso I of Portugal, who, in 1163, had occupied Salamanca in retaliation for the repopulation of the area ordered by the King of León.

In 1165 he married Urraca, daughter of Afonso of Portugal. However, strife with Portugal was not put to an end by this move. In 1168 Afonso of Portugal again felt menaced by Ferdinand II's repopulation of the area of Ciudad Rodrigo: he then attacked Galicia. As his troops were also besieging the Muslim citadel of Badajoz, Ferdinand II was able to push the Portuguese out of Galicia and rush to Badajoz. When Afonso saw the Leonese arrive he tried to flee, but he was disabled by a broken leg caused by a fall from his horse, and made prisoner at one the city's gates. Afonso was obliged to surrender as his ransom almost all the conquests he had made in Galicia in the previous year. When in the same years the Almoravids laid siege to the Portuguese city of Santarém, Ferdinand II came to help his father-in-law, and helped to free the city from the menace.

In 1175 Pope Alexander III annulled Ferdinand II and Urraca of Portugal's marriage due to consanguinuity. The King remarried to Teresa Fernández de Traba, daughter of count Fernando Pérez de Traba, and widow of count Nuño Pérez de Lara. In 1185 Ferdinand married for the third time to Urraca López de Haro (daughter of Lope Díaz, lord of Biscay, Nájera and Haro), who was his mistress since 1180. The second Urraca tried in vain to have Alfonso IX, first son of Ferdinand II, declared illegitimate, to favor her son Sancho.

Ferdinand II died in 1188 at Benavente, while returning from a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. He was buried in the cathedral of Compostela.

In 1230 Forty two years after Ferdinand II's death his namesake grandson Ferdinand III of Castile united Castile with Leon permanently.

Ferdinand married Urraca of Portugal around 1165, they had one son, King Alfonso IX.

Following her repudiation, he formed a relationship with Teresa Fernández de Traba, daughter of count Fernando Pérez de Traba, and in August 1179 he married her, having Ferdinand (1178-1187), legitimized through his parents' subsequent marriage, and a child whose birth led to the death of its mother.

He then formed a liaison with Urraca López de Haro, daughter of Lope Díaz I de Haro, whom he married in May 1187, having García (1182-1184), Alfonso, b.1184, legitimized through the subsequent marriage of his parents, died before his father, and Sancho (1186-1220), Lord of Fines.



Buried:
Grave location, historical portrait, biography, and photo of cathedral:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=57133062

Ferdinand married Urraca of Portugal, Queen of León. Urraca (daughter of Afonso Henriques I of Portugal and Matilda (Mafalda) of Savoy) was born ca 1151, Coimbra, Portugal; died 16 Oct 1188, Valladolid, Provincia de Valladolid, Castilla y León, Spain; was buried , Monastery of Santa María de Wamba, Valladolid, Provincia de Valladolid, Castilla y León, Spain. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_of_Castile

She was Queen of France as the second wife of Louis VII, who married her following the annulment of his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine.[1] She was a daughter of Alfonso VII of León and Berengaria of Barcelona, but her year of birth is not certainly known.

Constance died giving birth to her second child. Desperate for a son, her husband remarried a mere five weeks after her death.

Constance bore her husband two children:

1. Margaret, 1157-1197, who married first Henry the Young King of England, and then Béla III of Hungary

2. Alys, 1160-1220, who married William IV of Ponthieu


Buried:
Grave location, biography and effigy photo:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21065

Constance married King Louis VII of France. Louis (son of King Louis VI France and Adelaide of Maurienne, de Savoy) was born 1120, Paris, France; died 18 Sep 1180, Saint-Pont, Auvergne, France; was buried , Saint Denis Basilique, Saint-Denis, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet]