Constance of Castile

Constance of Castile (1136 or 1140 - 4 October 1160)[1] was Queen of France as the second wife of Louis VII, who married her following the annulment of his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine.[2] She was a daughter of Alfonso VII of León and Berengaria of Barcelona,[3] but her year of birth is not known.

For other people named Constance of Castile, see Constance of Castile (disambiguation).
Constance of Castile
Queen consort of France
Tenure1154 – 4 October 1160
Born1136–1140
Died4 October 1160
Burial
Basilica of St Denis
Spouse
​
(m. 1154)​
IssueMargaret, Queen of England and Hungary
Alys, Countess of the Vexin
HouseCastilian House of Ivrea
FatherAlfonso VII of León and Castile
MotherBerenguela of Barcelona
ReligionRoman Catholicism

Life

The official reason for her husband's annulment from Eleanor of Aquitaine had been that he was too close a relative of Eleanor for the marriage to be legal by Church standards; however, he was even more closely related to Constance.

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

Constance was buried in the Basilica of Saint-Denis, France.

Children

Constance had two children:

  1. Margaret, 1157–1197, who married first Henry the Young King of England,[4] and then Béla III of Hungary[5]
  2. Alys, 1160–1220, who married William IV of Ponthieu[6]

References
  1. Deslot, Thierry (1996). Impératrices et Reines de France [Empresses and Queens of France] (in French). Paris: Les Editions La Bruyère. ISBN 2-84014-279-1.
  2. Bouchard 2001, p. 126.
  3. Bradbury 2007, p. 165.
  4. Warren 1978, p. 90.
  5. Jaritz & Szende 2016, p. 84.
  6. Warren 1978, p. 26.

Sources
  • Bouchard, Constance (2001). Those of My Blood: Creating Noble Families in Medieval Francia. University of Pennsylvania Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Bradbury, Jim (2007). The Capetians. Hambledon Continuum.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Jaritz, Gerhard; Szende, Katalin, eds. (2016). Medieval East Central Europe in a Comparative Perspective. Routledge.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Warren, W.L. (1978). King John. University of California Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
French royalty
Preceded by
Eleanor of Aquitaine		 Queen of France
1154–1160		 Succeeded by
Adele of Champagne
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.