Constance of Castile (1136 or 1140 – 4 October 1160) was Queen of France as the second wife of Louis VII, who married her following the annulment of his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine. She was a daughter of Alfonso VII of León and Berengaria of Barcelona, but her year of birth is not known.
Constance of Castile | |
---|---|
Queen consort of France | |
Tenure | 1154 – 4 October 1160 |
Coronation | 1154 |
Born | 1136–1140 |
Died | 4 October 1160 (aged 19–24) |
Burial | |
Spouse | |
Issue | |
House | Castilian House of Ivrea |
Father | Alfonso VII of León and Castile |
Mother | Berenguela of Barcelona |
Life
The official reason for her husband's annulment from Eleanor of Aquitaine had been that he was too close a relative of Eleanor for the marriage to be legal by Church standards; however, he was even more closely related to Constance. They were second cousins through William I, Count of Burgundy.
Constance died giving birth to her second child. Desperate for a son, her husband remarried a mere five weeks after her death.
Constance was buried in the Basilica of Saint-Denis, Paris.
Children
Constance had two children:
- Margaret, 1157–1197, who married first Henry the Young King of England, and then Béla III of Hungary
- Alys, 1160–1220, who married William IV of Ponthieu
References
Sources
- Bouchard, Constance (2001). Those of My Blood: Creating Noble Families in Medieval Francia. University of Pennsylvania Press.
- Bradbury, Jim (2007). The Capetians. Hambledon Continuum.
- Jaritz, Gerhard; Szende, Katalin, eds. (2016). Medieval East Central Europe in a Comparative Perspective. Routledge.
- Warren, W. L. (1978). King John. University of California Press.