| Blanche of Castile | |
|---|---|
|
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| Tenure | 14 July 1223 – 1 January 1234 |
| Coronation | 6 August 1223 |
| Spouse | Louis VIII of France |
| Issue | |
| Louis IX of France Robert I, Count of Artois Alphonse, Count of Toulouse and Poitiers Saint Isabelle of France Charles I of Sicily |
|
| House | House of Burgundy House of Capet |
| Father | Alfonso VIII of Castile |
| Mother | Eleanor of England |
| Born | 4 March 1188 Palencia, Castile |
| Died | 26 November 1252 (aged 64) Paris, France |
Blanche of Castile (Blanca de Castilla in Spanish; 4 March 1188 – 26 November 1252), was a Queen consort of France as the wife of Louis VIII. She acted as regent twice during the reign of her son, Louis IX.
She was born in Palencia, Spain, 1188, the third daughter of Alfonso VIII, king of Castile, and Eleanor of England. Eleanor was a daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
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In her youth, she visited the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, founded by her father, several times.[1] Later in life, she would establish Cisterian abbeys and would be buried in one eventually.
In consequence of the Treaty of Le Goulet between Philip Augustus and John of England, Blanche's sister Urraca was betrothed to Philip's son, Louis. Their grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine, upon getting acquainted with the two sisters, judged that Blanche's personality was more fit for a queen consort of France. In the spring of 1200 Eleanor crossed the Pyrenees with her and brought her to France instead.[2]
On 22 May 1200 the treaty was finally signed, John ceding with his niece the fiefs of Issoudun and Graçay, together with those that André de Chauvigny, lord of Châteauroux, held in Berry, of the English crown. The marriage was celebrated the next day, at Port-Mort on the right bank of the Seine, in John's domains, as those of Philip lay under an interdict.
The marriage was only consummated after a few years, and Blanche bore her first child in 1205.[3]
During the English baron's rebellion of 1215-16 against King John, it was Blanche's English ancestry as granddaughter to Henry II that led to Louis being offered the throne of England as Louis I. However, with the death of John in October 1216, the barons changed their allegiance to John's son, the nine-year-old Henry.
Louis continued to claim the English crown in her right, only to find a united nation against him. Philip Augustus refused to help his son, and Blanche was his sole support. She established herself at Calais and organized two fleets, one of which was commanded by Eustace the Monk, and an army under Robert of Courtenay. With French forces defeated at Lincoln in May 1217 and then routed on their way back to their London stronghold, Louis desperately needed the reinforcements from France. On 24 August, the English fleet destroyed the French fleet carrying those reinforcements off Sandwich and Louis was forced to sue for peace.
Upon his death in November 1226, he left Blanche, by then 38, regent and guardian of his children. Of her twelve or thirteen children, six had died, and Louis, the heir — afterwards the sainted Louis IX — was but twelve years old. She had him crowned within a month of his father's death in Reims and forced reluctant barons to swear allegiance to him.[4]
The situation was critical, since Louis VIII had died without having completely subdued his southern nobles. A minority made the Capetian domains even more vulnerable. To gain support, she released Ferdinand, Count of Flanders, who had been in captivity since the Battle of Bouvines. She also ceded land and castles to Philip Hurepel, son of Philip II and his controversial wife Agnes of Merania.[5] Still, Blanche had to break up a league of the barons (1226), and helped by Theobald IV of Champagne and the papal legate to France, Romano Bonaventura, she organized an army. Its sudden appearance brought the nobles momentarily to a halt.[6]
Twice more did Blanche have to muster an army to protect Capetian interests against rebellious nobles and Henry III of England. One of the barons tried to kidnap Louis. He took refuge in a castle and the people of Paris rode to his rescue.
In 1229, she was responsible for the Treaty of Paris,[7] in which Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse, submitted to Louis. By it his daughter and heir Joan was forced to marry Blanche's son, Alfonso. It also meant the end of the Albigensian Crusade.
At the cost of some of the crown's influence in Poitou, Blanche managed to keep the English Queen mother Isabelle, Countess of Angoulême and her second husband Hugh X of Lusignan from supporting the English side.[8] Pierre Mauclerc did support the English and Brittany rebelled against the crown in 1230. Blanche organized a surprise attack in the winter. She accompanied the army herself and helped collect wood to keep the soldiers warm.[9] The rebellion was put down, which added to the growing prestige of Blanche and Louis.[10]
St Louis owed his realm to his mother and remained under her influence for the duration of her life.
There was also an end to the calumnies circulated against her, accusing her of fornication with Count Theobald IV of Champagne and Romano Bonaventura. These rumors were based on the poetical homage rendered her by the former and the prolonged stay in Paris of the latter.
After Louis came of age, in 1234, aged 20, her influence upon him may still be traced. The same year, he was married, and Blanche became Queen mother. Louis married Margaret of Provence, who was the eldest of the four daughters of Ramon, count of Provence, and Beatrice of Savoy.
She did not have a good relationship with her daughter-in-law Margaret of Provence, perhaps due to the strong relationship she had with her son. Jean de Joinville tells of the time when Queen Margaret was giving birth and Blanche entered the room telling her son to leave saying "Come ye hence, ye do naught here". Queen Margaret then allegedly fainted out of distress. When Queen Blanche was present in the royal household she did not like Margaret and Louis to be together "except when he went to lie with her".[11]
In 1239, Blanche insisted on a fair hearing for the Jews, who were under threat by increasing Antisemitism in France. She presided over a formal disputation in the king's court. Louis insisted on the burning of the Talmud and other Jewish books, but Blanche promised Rabbi Rehiel of Paris, who spoke for the Jews, that he and his goods were under her protection.[12]
In 1248 Blanche again became regent, during Louis IX's absence on the Crusade, a project which she had strongly opposed. In the disasters which followed she maintained peace, while draining the land of men and money to aid her son in the East. She fell ill at Melun in November 1252, and was taken to Paris, but lived only a few days. She was buried at Maubuisson Abbey, which had been established by her.[13] Louis only heard of her death in the following spring and reportedly did not speak to anyone for two days afterwards.[14]
Blanche was a patron of the arts and owned a variety of books, both in French and in Latin.[15] Some of these were meant as teaching tools for her son. Le Miroir de l'Ame was dedicated to Blanche. It instructs queens to rigorously practice Christian virtues in daily life.[16] She oversaw the education of her children, all of which studied Latin. She also insisted on lessons in Christian morals for all of them.[17] Both Louis and Isabelle, her only surviving daughter, were Canonized.
Besides the works of Joinville and William of Nangis, see Élie Berger, "Histoire de Blanche de Castille, reine de France", in Bibliothèque des Ecoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome, vol. lxx. (Paris, 1895); Le Nain de Tillemont, "Vie de Saint Louis", ed. by J. de Gaulle for the Société de l'histoire de France (6 vols., 1847–1851); and Paulin Paris, "Nouvelles recherches sur les mœurs de la reine Blanche et de Thibaud", in Cabinet historique (1858).
Blanche and Isabella of Angoulême are the main characters in Jean Plaidy's novel The Battle of the Queens.
An image of Blanche of Castille has been used on the home kit of French Rugby Union team Stade Français since the 2008 season.[18]
During the 1950s French restaurateur Noël Corbu claimed that Blanche of Castile had deposited a treasure in Rennes-le-Château that was later discovered by Bérenger Saunière during the late 19th century. This was later utilised by Pierre Plantard in his development of the Priory of Sion mythology.[19]
Library of Congress DC91.6.B5 P37 1991 The Physical Object Pagination 282, [20] p. : Number of pages: 282 ID Numbers Open Library OL1777332M ISBN 10 2221070933 LC Control Number 92132929 Goodreads 1154971 Paris, Isabelle comtesse de (1991), Blanche de Castille, mon aïeule, Paris: R. Laffont, ISBN 2221070933, 2221070933, http://openlibrary.org/books/OL1777332M/Blanche_de_Castille_mon_aïeule
| French royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ingeborg of Denmark |
Queen consort of France 1223–1226 |
Succeeded by Margaret of Provence |