Berengaria, Queen of Castile

## Berengaria of Castile

Queen of Castile

Konrad I, Margrave of Brandenburg

(m. 1171 d. 1200)

Fredrick II, Margrave of Brandenburg

Alfonso of Brandenburg

Sancho of Brandenburg

**Berengaria of Castile** (C. 1149 - 1213) was Queen of Castile in her own right following the murder of her brother until her abdication in favor of her son, and Queen Consort of Léon from her marriage to Alfonso IX of Léon until there annulment which they only had one child, she married her long time lover Konrad I, Margrave of Brandenburg which the 2 shared a happy marriage. Born the eldest child and daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castile and Eleanor of England, she was heiress prusumtive to the Castilian throne, until the birth of of her younger brother Infante John of Castile, she was married to Alfonso XI of Léon which the 2 where hostile to each other, they only had one child: Ferdinand of Léon, after the 2 where so unhappy with each other, the Pope eventually granted Berengaria and annulment, Berengaria also paid extra during the divorce trial to keep custody of her son, which infuriated her husband who remarried Sanchia of Albarracín. Berengaria had a lover named Konrad, who was the current Margrave of Brandenburg, they where married secretly in Rome with the pope's blessing which infuriated her parents, after the birth of Berengaria's child Maria of Brandenburg, Berengaria got into a feud with her parents, she wanted the Kingdom of Castile for herself, she had previosly murdered her younger brother when she was 11, but her younger brother Henry was heir, her father wanted Berengaria's younger sister Urracca to act as regent for Henry if he were do die early, but Berengaria murdered her younger sister, and her father died not long after, she became regent for Henry and arrested her remaining sisters and mother, she later murdered her younger brother, and she became Queen Consort of Castile, but her ex-husband started pressing his own claim on Castile, so 1 year into her reign, she abdicated in favour of her 11 year old son Ferdinand and she and her husband became regent, she had a few more children, and oversaw the reign of her son in Castile, her son later inherited Léon which united Castile and Léon in a personal union which dissolved the Kingdom of Castile, and established the Crown of Castile. She died in 1216.

## Early Life

### Childhood

Berengaria of Castile was born in 1149 as the eldest child and daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castile and Eleanor of England, she was born the same year her grandfather Henry II of England was murdered by her grand-mother Eleanor of Aquitaine, Berengaria was born while her father was on Crusade, so she was put in the care of her paternal grand-mother Blanche of Navarre who greatly detested Berengaria for not being a son. Berengaria was originally named 'Bianca' but her grand-mother Eleanor of Aquitaine thought Berengaria was a nicer name, and so Berengaria was always called Berengaria, she was extreamely beautiful which she inherited from her arrogont mother. She met her father for the first time when she was 5, after he was done crusading in the 6th Crusade. During her early years, her mother gave birth to Berengaria's younger sister Urracca of Castile, who proved to be Berengaria's most hated person, when Berengaria was just a young child, she was forced to give up her title as heiress of Castile for her younger brother Infante John of Castile, but to make up for it, when she was 7, she was betrothed to the 10 year old Alfonso IX of Léon.

### Education

Berengaria's mother educated Berengaria in math, science, politics, warfare, Léonese, English and Latin, Berengaria also learned the womanly skills of dance, music, song, and conversation. Berengaria though a innocent looking child, was a monster, she was reckless and when she was 11, she wanted her claim to Castile back, so she murdered her younger brother and his governess. She then fled with her teacher and possible lover Marcús Averélz to the Kingdom of Aragon, Berengaria's mother was heart broken with the death and lived to hate her own daughter, she sent a spy to kill Berengaria, but the spy drowned while trying to reach Aragon, Infante Henry was now heir. she lived in Aragon for 3 years in the protection of the King of Aragon and his Queen. When she was 14, she was called to Léon by the King of Léon to marry Alfonso of Léon, she was greeted by her father-in-law and Berengaria invited her friends to be her companions.

## Queen of Léon

6 weeks into there marriage, Berengaria's father-in-law died after her husband poisoned him, he was proclaimed King of Léon, and Berengaria became Queen Consort, they shared a hateful marriage and they had nothing in common, Alfonso once attempted to drown his wife by tying weights to Berengaria's legs and dropping her down the stairs naked into a pool. Berengaria survived, and was furious, she soon became pregnant with Alfonso's child Ferdinand, Alfonso often refused to let Berengaria see her son, Berengaria thought she suffered enough and killed her husband's mother Teresa of Castile who was also Berengaria's aunt, Alfonso was so furious he had her arrested, and tried to behead her, but the executioner refused to behead the young Berengaria, and told Alfonso to grow up in an old fashion way. She was eventually let free and able to see her son. Berengaria truamatized stabbed her husband in the chest, he survived, but after the attempted murder, he had a limp that made a lot of his mistresses leave him.

### Romance with Konrad I of Brandenburg

In 1166, a party was thrown in Léon where every countries nobility and royalty where to attend, Berengaria met the handsome Konrad I, Margrave of Brandenburg, he was 21 at the time and unmarried, Berengaria quickly fell for him, Konrad understood Berengaria's struggles, and he often shared stories on how he murdered his younger sisters and brothers in rage. Alfonso was alerted and spied on his wife when she was with him.

### Murder of Urracca of Castile

When Berengaria was 19, she heard her father was very ill, and she knew she would be regent, or at least she thought, her father did not trust her, he instead made Berengaria's younger sister Urracca, Queen of Portugal the would-be-regent of her younger brother, Berengaria was furious, and when her sister began planning in Castile, she forced her husband to give her a carriage ride to Castile, and when she arrived, she stabbed her pregnant sister to death with her husband's special dagger, and dragged her body around the Castle, and threw her sister's dead body on top of her sickly father. Her father furious demanded her capture, but all attempts failed.

### Regent of Castile

When Berengaria was 20, her father finally died and she was made regent for her younger brother, she imprisoned her younger brother Henry in a prison in Toledo, and she arrested her mother, and younger sister Isabella of Castile, her husband demanded power in Castile, but Berengaria refused him any, and after the argument with her husband she murdered her younger sister Isabella by drowning her. She tried to murder her mother, but she dodged all murder attempts.

### Annulment

When Berengaria was 23 years old and her son was 7, she began trying to think of ways to annul her marriage to marry Konrad of Brandenburg, her husband also started planning to marry Berengaria's lady-in-waiting Sanchia of Albarracín, they eventually brought there case to trial and the Pope granted them a divorce, but Berengaria's husband kept custody of her son, but Berengaria decided to pay the pope extra for custody of Ferdinand, which she was granted, which was unusual for a medival woman. She married her lover Konrad the next day and moved to Burgos.

## Queen of Castile and Abdication

Berengaria and her husband had 4 children, Maria, Fredrick, Alfonso, and Sancho. But she felt she did not wan't to just be a regent anymore, she wanted to be Queen, so while her brother was playing with a ball in the prison courtyard, Berengaria stabbed him to death, she became Queen following his murder. She and her husband where crowned King and Queen of Castile and Toledo. They reigned as co-monarchs and organized a marriage between there daughter Maria, and Berengaria's grand-niece Alfonso, Prince of Portugal. They also organized a marriage between there son Alfonso of Brandenburg and Mafalda González de Lara, Lady of Molína. But 5 months into there reign they experienced problems, Berengaria's ex-husband began claiming the throne for himself, as he was the most senior male heir in the branch from his mother Teresa of Castile, Berengaria was terrified of thinking her husband would cease her throne. So she and her husband agreed to abdicate in favor of Berengaria's 12 year old son Ferdinand, who became Ferdinand III of Castile, the 2 agreed to jointly act as co-regents before Ferdinand turned 18. Alfonso XI's claim fell, and he died a year later leaving the Léonese crown to Ferdinand. This established "The Crown of Castile and Léon" and 2 days later, Berengaria took her now 13 year old son to be crowned King of Léon, and Berengaria acted as regent, but her former lady-in-waiting Sanchia claimed the throne of Léon and Castile for her 3 year old son Garcío of Léon, Berengaria wanted to keep the crown to her son captured her former lady-in-waiting, murdered her son in front of her, and beheaded her in a court yard.

## Retirement and Death

In 1182, her son turned 18, and he was allowed to rule on his own, though he still kept his parents as advisors, she oversaw the wedding of her daughter Maria, and death of her husband, she raised most of her grand-children until she died of malaria in 1216, she was buried next to her husband in the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, she is remembered for her lust and blood-shed for her power and her son's power.