Eleanor of Castile (1307-1359)

Eleanor of Castile ( Leonor de Castilla ; * shortly before December 14, 1307, † 1359 in Castrojeriz ) was the second wife of Alfonso IV. From 1329 to 1336 Queen of Aragon .

Life

Eleanor was the eldest child of King Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal, the daughter of King Dionysius of Portugal and St. Elizabeth . At the end of 1308, Ferdinand IV made an agreement with King James II of Aragon that his son Jacob would later become Eleanor's husband. Already as a small child Eleanor lost her parents, since her father died in 1312 and her mother died the following year.

At the age of 12, Eleanor married Jacob, her chosen bridegroom, on October 18, 1319 in Gandesa , but shortly afterwards he decided to pursue a spiritual career and had his marriage annulled. He became a member of the Order of St. John on December 22, 1319 and renounced his claim to succession.

Ten years later, King Alfonso XI arranged of Castile a second marriage of his older sister Eleanor with King Alfonso IV of Aragón, the younger brother of Eleanor's first husband Jacob. The wedding took place on February 5, 1329 in Tarazona . The couple had two sons:

• , Marquis of Tortosa, on the orders of king Ferdinand († 1363 * 1329) Peter IV of Aragon. Killed
• Johann (* 1331; † 1358), executed on the orders of the Castilian King Peter I, the Cruel

Encouraged by her lady-in-waiting, Sancha de Velasco, Eleanor influenced her husband's government to the best of his ability. Huesca and other places of the crown property came into their possession. Since Alfonso IV was married to Teresa d'Entença for the first time, her son Peter (IV) was entitled to the right of succession to the throne in Aragón. Therefore Eleanor tried at least to obtain goods from the crown for her two children. Despite widespread criticism in the kingdom, the indulgent Alfonso IV complied with his wife's wishes. Ferdinand received the margravate Tortosa , located on the border between Valencia and Castile, and Johann the towns of Castelló, Borriana and Llíria as inheritance. However, the nobles of the region around Valencia opposed this regulation. Peter (IV.) Also saw with displeasure the ambitious efforts of his stepmother to provide her sons with Aragonese possessions. Shortly before the death of Alfonso IV in January 1336, Eleanor escaped with her sons to Castile in order to be safe from her stepson.

Peter IV now took over the government in Aragón, but did not stick to his father's will and refused to surrender the possessions bequeathed to Eleanor. So it came to a conflict between him and the Castilian crown. In order to arbitrate this, Peter IV finally agreed in 1338 to hand over the disputed goods to his stepmother, subject to jurisdiction. It was not until 14 years later (October 1352) that the rights of Eleonore's children were recognized.

Eleonore also tried to secure influential positions for her sons in Castile. Peter the Cruel, who in 1350 his father Alfonso XI. In 1355 Eleanor gave the city of Cuenca to the government . But she joined the latter in the civil war between Peter and his stepbrother Heinrich von Trastámara . Therefore, one of Peter's allies killed Eleanor's son John in June 1358. To avoid an act of revenge, Peter ordered that Eleanor and John's wife, Isabel Nuñez de Lara, be arrested in Roa. Then the 52-year-old Eleanor was murdered in Castrojeriz.

literature

• L. Vones: Eleonore 2). In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Vol. 3 (1986), Col. 1804f.
• Kendall W. Brown: Eleanor of Castile (1307-1359) . In: Anne Commire (Ed.): Women in World History . Vol. 5 (2000), pp. 103f.

Remarks

1. ↑ L. Vones (see lit.), col. 1804 gives the end of 1358 as the date of death.