Eleanor of Aquitaine’s Descendants Through Eleanor, Queen of Castile

Through Eleanor, Queen of Castile

Eleanor, Queen of Castile (1162 – 1214) was the second daughter and sixth child of Eleanor of Aquitaine and her second husband, Henry II of England.

She married King Alfonso VIII of Castile in about 1177, part of a diplomatic agreement about Aquitaine’s border. They had eleven children.

Alfonso was succeeded by Henry I, his youngest child by Eleanor, then by his eldest daughter,Berengaria, then her son Ferdinand.

Alfonso VIII was the great grandson of Urraca of Leon and Castile,

Through Berengaria of Castile

Beregaria (Berenguela) was the eldest child of Alfonso VIII of Castile and his queen, Eleanor, Queen of Castile, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England.

1.  Berengaria (about 1178 – 1246),in 1188 contracted a marriage with Duke Conrad II of Swabia, which was annulled. She then in 1197 married Alfonso IX of León (dissolved 1204) with whom she had five children.

Alfonso IX had been married previously to Theresa of Portugal; none of his children from the first marriage had children. He also had illegitimate children.

Berengaria ruled Castile briefly in 1217 after first her father's then her youngest brother Henry’s death, abdicating that year in favor of her son Ferdinand.  This reunited Castile and León.

The children of Berengaria and Alfonso IX of León:

1. Eleanor (1198/9 – 1202)
2. Constance (1200 – 1242), who became a nun
3. Ferdinand III, King of Castile and León (1201? – 1252). Canonized by Pope Clement X in 1671. He was married twice.
4. Alfonso (1203 – 1272). Married three times: Mafalda de Lara, Teresa Núñez, and third, Mayor Téllez de Meneses.  His only child was a daughter, Maria of Molina, born during his third marriage. She married Sancho IV of León and Castile, whose grandfather was Ferdinand III, her father’s brother.
5. Berengaria, who married John of Brienne, King of Jerusalem, as his third wife. They had four children: Marie of Brienne married Emperor Baldwin II of Constantinople; Alphonso of Brienne became count of Eu; John of Brienne, whose second wife was Marie de Coucy whose father had once been married to a granddaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine; and Louis of Acre who married Agnes of Beaumont and was the grandfather of Isabel de Beaumont who married the 1st Duke of Lancaster and was the maternal grandmother of King Henry IV of England.

More Children of Eleanor, Queen of Castile

More children of Alfonso VIII of Castile and his queen, Eleanor, Queen of Castile, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England: these three all died in early infancy.

2. Sancho (1181 – 1181)

3. Sancha (1182 – about 1184)

4. Henry (1184 – 1184?) - his existence is not recognized in all histories

Read More

A List of Eleanor of Aquitaine’s Descendants Through John, King of England

By Jone Johnson Lewis

Through Urraca, Queen of Portugal

Urraca was the fifth child of Alfonso VIII of Castile and his queen, Eleanor, Queen of Castile, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine  and Henry II of England.  She was originally proposed as a bride for Louis VIII of France, but when Eleanor of Aquitaine journeyed to visit, she decided that Urraca's younger sister Blanche would make a better fit with Louis VIII.

Urraca of Castile, Queen of Portugal, was the 2nd great granddaughter of Urraca of Leon and Castile (depicted above) and the 4th great grandmother of Isabella I of Castile.

5.  Urraca (1187 – 1220), married Alfonso II of Portugal (1185 – 1223) in 1206.  Their children included:

1. Sancho II of Portugal (1207 – 1248), married about 1245.
2. Afonso III of Portugal (1210 - 1279), married twice: Matilda II of Boulogne and Beatrice of Castile, an illegitimate daughter of Alfonso X of Castile.  They had a number of children, including Denis, King of Portugal, who married Isabel of Aragon; and Afonso, who married a daughter of Manuel of Castile. Two daughters entered convents.
3. Eleanor (about 1211 – 1231) who married Valdemar the Young, King of Denmark. She died in childbirth and the child apparently died a few months later.
4. Fernando, Lord of Serpa (1217 – 1246), married Sancha Fernández de Lara. No children of the marriage, though an illegitimate son survived and had descendants.
5. possibly another child named Vicente.

Through Blanche, Queen of France

Blanche was the sixth child of Alfonso VIII of Castile and his queen, Eleanor, Queen of Castile, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine  and Henry II of England:

6.  Blanche (1188 – 1252), married Louis VIII of France, who had been originally betrothed to Blanche’s older sister Urraca before Eleanor of Aquitaine met the sisters and decided Blanche was a more appropriate queen of France.  Famously, Eleanor crossed the Pyrenees with her granddaughter in 1200, when Eleanor would have been in her 70s, to bring Blanche to France to marry the grandson of Eleanor’s first husband, Louis VII of France. At the time of their marriage, Louis was a prince, and was also the disputed King of England 1216 - 1217. He was almost matched with Eleanor of Brittany, Blanche's cousin and daughter of Blanche's maternal uncle Geoffrey II of Brittany.

Blanche and Louis VIII had 13 children:

1. Unnamed daughter (1205?)
2. Philip (1209 – 1218)
3. Alphonse (1213 – 1213), a twin
4. John (1213 – 1213), a twin
5. Louis IX of France (1214 – 1270), king of France. He married Margaret of Provence in 1234. Margaret was one of four sisters who married kings.  One married the King of England, Henry III; Richard Earl of Cornwall who became King of the Romans; and Louis’ younger brother Charles who became King of Sicily. The surviving children of Margaret of Provence and Louis IX of France included Isabella who married Theobald II of Navarre; Philip III of France; Margaret, who married John I of Brabant; Robert, married to Beatrice of Burgundy, and ancestor of the Bourbon kings of France; and Agnes, who married Robert II of Burgundy.
6. Robert (1216 – 1250)
7. Philip (1218 – 1220)
8. John (1219 -1232), betrothed in 1227 but not married
9. Alphonse (1220 – 1271), married Joan of Toulouse in 1237. They had no children. She accompanied him on crusade in 1249 and 1270.
10. Philip Dagobert (1222 – 1232)
11. Isabelle (1224 – 1270), who entered a convent at Longchamp with a revised rule modified from that of the Poor Clares. She was beatified as a saint of the Roman Catholic faith in 1521 by Pope Leo X and canonized in 1696 by Pope Innocent XII.
12. Etienne (1225 – 1227)
13. Charles I of Sicily (1227 – 1285), married Beatrice of Provence, with whom he had seven children, then Margaret of Burgundy, which whom he had one daughter who died in childhood.  Children of his first marriage included Blanche, who married Robert III of Flanders; Beatrice of Sicily who married Philip of Courtenay, titled as Emperor of Constantine; Charles II of Naples, Philip, titled King of Thessalonica; and Elizabeth, who married Ladislas IV of Hungary.

Seventh Through Ninth Children of Eleanor, Queen of Castile, and Alfonso VIII

More children of Alfonso VIII of Castile and his queen, Eleanor, Queen of Castile, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine  and Henry II of England:

7. Ferdinand (1189 – 1211). Died of a fever after a campaign against the Muslims.

8. Mafalda (1191 – 1211).  Engaged to Ferdinand of Leon, her eldest sister’s stepson

9. Eleanor of Castile (1200 – 1244).  Married James I of Aragon. They had one son, Afonso of Bigorre.

• Afonso of Bigorre married Constance of Montcado and died three days after their marriage.  (Constance later briefly married another great grandson of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry of Almain, a grandson of John of England, and then married again, having no children in any of her three marriages.)

James I married again (Violant of Hungary) after divorcing Eleanor in 1230 and the children of that marriage were his heirs, not Afonso.

Tenth and Eleventh Children of Eleanor, Queen of Castile, and Alfonso VIII

More children of Alfonso VIII of Castile and his queen, Eleanor, Queen of Castile, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England:

10. Constance (about 1202 – 1243), became a nun, known as the Lady of Las Huelgas.

11. Henry I of Castile (1204 – 1217).  He became king in 1214 when his father died. His sister Berengaria was his regent. In 1215, he married Mafalda of Portugal, daughter of Sancho I of Portugal, and the marriage was dissolved. He was killed by a falling tile.  At the time of his death, he was betrothed but not yet married to Sancha of León, a stepdaughter of Henry’s eldest sister Berengaria and a second cousin of Henry. He was succeeded by his eldest sister, Berengaria.

More About Eleanor of Aquitaine's Descendants

More in this series:

• Eleanor of Aquitaine's Children and Grandchildren
• Eleanor of Aquitaine’s Descendants Through John, King of England
• Siblings of Eleanor of Aquitaine