Henry I (Castile)

Tomb of Henry I of Castile, Las Huelgas Monastery , Burgos

Henry I of Castile (Spanish: Enrique I de Castilla ; born April 14, 1204 in Valladolid ; † June 6, 1217 in Palencia ) was King of Castile from 1214 to 1217.

Life

Henry I was the youngest son of King Alfonso VIII of Castile and Eleanor Plantagenet . Since his older brothers died in childhood before Alfonso VIII, he followed his father as a ten-year-old prince after his father's death at the beginning of October 1214, initially under the tutelage of his mother Eleanor. However, Eleanor died only about 25 days later on October 31, 1214. Thereupon Heinrich's eldest sister Berenguela took over the reign according to the will of Alfonso VIII.

In the next year 1215, however, opposed part of the Castilian nobility led by Count Álvaro Núñez de Lara against the rule exercised by Berenguela. As the ostensible reason for his resistance, Álvaro Núñez stated that he wanted to prevent Berenguela from employing her son Ferdinand to put her brother Heinrich I on the throne. Berenguela gave in and left the reign of the Count of Lara, but demanded a say in declaring wars and other important decisions. Álvaro Núñez was unwilling to comply with this request. As a result, there was further tension between him and Berenguela.

In order to weaken Berenguela's influence, Álvaro Núñez negotiated the marriage of Henry I to Princess Mafalda of Portugal in 1215 , who was a daughter of Sancho I , King of Portugal , and his wife Dulce of Barcelona . Because of Henry's young age, however, the marriage was not consummated and at Berenguela's instigation in 1216 by Pope Innocent III. canceled due to consanguinity .

At the age of only 13, Henry I died on June 6, 1217 of a head injury that he suffered from a falling roof tile while playing with other children in the Bishop's Palace in Palencia. Although Count von Lara tried to keep Heinrich's accidental death a secret, Berenguela soon found out about it and then relinquished her claim to the throne to her son, who was named Ferdinand III in early July 1217. became the new Castilian king. Henry I found his final resting place in the Las Huelgas monastery near Burgos .

literature

• Luis Suárez-Fernández: Henry I . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 4, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-7608-8904-2 , Sp. 2055 f.
• Theresa M. Vann: Enrique I, King of Castile , in: Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia , 2003, p. 303.

Web links

Commons : Henry I (Castile)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	Successor
Alfonso VIII	King of Castile 1214–1217	Berenguela