ARTOIS, Robert I Count of

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Robert the Good

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. OF ARTOIS, Blanche was born in 1248; died on 2 May 1302.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: The Lion

King + OF CASTILE, Blanche. Blanche (daughter of CASTILE, Alfonso VIII of and ENGLAND, Eleanor of) was born on 4 Mar 1188 in Palencia, Castilla-Leon, Spain; died in Nov 1226 in Paris, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Web Address: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_II_of_France
• Name: Philip Augustus

King + OF HAINAUT, Isabelle. Isabelle (daughter of HAINAUT, Count of Hainaut Baldwin V of and Living) was born on 5 Apr 1170 in Valenciennes, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France; died on 15 Mar 1190 in Paris, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: called the Noble (El Noble) or the one of the Navas (el de las Navas)
• Royalty & Nobility: Between 1158 and 1214; King of Castile and Toledo

Alfonso + ENGLAND, Eleanor of. Eleanor (daughter of HENRY, II and OF AQUITAINE, Duchess of Acquitaine Eleanor) was born on 13 Oct 1162 in Falaise, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France; died on 31 Oct 1214 in Burgos, Burgos, Castilla-Leon, Spain. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Royalty & Nobility: Princess of England, Queen of Castile and Toledo

Notes:

In 1170 Eleanor married King Alfonso VIII of Castile in Burgos.[1] Her parents' purpose in arranging the marriage was to secure Aquitaine's Pyrenean border, while Alfonso was seeking an ally in his struggles with Sancho VI of Navarre. In 1177, this led to Henry overseeing arbitration of the border dispute.[8]

Around the year 1200, Alfonso began to claim that the duchy of Gascony was part of Eleanor's dowry, but there is no documented foundation for that claim. It is highly unlikely that Henry II would have parted with so significant a portion of his domains. At most, Gascony may have been pledged as security for the full payment of his daughter's dowry. Her husband went so far on this claim as to invade Gascony in her name in 1205. In 1206, her brother John granted her safe passage to visit him, perhaps to try opening peace negotiations. In 1208, Alfonso yielded on the claim.[9] Decades later, their great-grandson Alfonso X of Castile would claim the duchy on the grounds that her dowry had never been fully paid.

Of all Eleanor of Aquitaine's daughters, her namesake was the only one who was enabled, by political circumstances, to wield the kind of influence her mother had exercised.[10] In her own marriage treaty, and in the first marriage treaty for her daughter Berengaria, Eleanor was given direct control of many lands, towns, and castles throughout the kingdom.[11] She was almost as powerful as Alfonso, who specified in his will in 1204 that she was to rule alongside their son in the event of his death, including taking responsibility for paying his debts and executing his will.[12] It was she who persuaded him to marry their daughter Berengaria to Alfonso IX of León. Troubadours and sages were regularly present in Alfonso VIII's court due to Eleanor's patronage.[13]

Eleanor took particular interest in supporting religious institutions. In 1179, she took responsibility to support and maintain a shrine to St. Thomas Becket in the cathedral of Toledo. She also created and supported the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, which served as a refuge and tomb for her family for generations, and its affiliated hospital.[14]

When Alfonso died, Eleanor was reportedly so devastated with grief that she was unable to preside over the burial. Their eldest daughter Berengaria instead performed these honours. Eleanor then went sick and died only twenty-six days after her husband, and was buried at Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas.[15]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Relation to Me: Husband of 26 GGM
• Royalty & Nobility: King of France

King married CHAMPAGNE, Adele of in Nov 1160 in Bordeaux, Gironde, Aquitaine, France. Adele was born about 1140 in Blois, Loir-et-Cher, Centre, France; died on 4 Jun 1206 in Paris, Paris, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Baldwin + Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: called the Desired (el Deseado)
• Royalty & Nobility: Between 1157 and 1158; King of Castile and Toledo

Notes:

Sancho was the eldest son of King Alfonso VII of León and Castile and Berengaria of Barcelona.[6] He was endowed with the "Kingdom of Nájera" in 1152, and according to Carolina Carl never appears in documents as "king of Nájera".[7] His father's will partitioned the kingdom between his two sons: Sancho inherited the kingdoms of Castile and Toledo, and Ferdinand inherited León.[8] The two brothers had just signed a treaty when Sancho suddenly died in the summer of 1158, being buried at Toledo.

Sancho + NAVARRE, Blanche of. Blanche (daughter of NAVARRE, García Ramírez of and L'AIGLE, Margaret of) was born after 1133 in Laguardia, Alava, Pais Vasco, Spain; died on 12 Aug 1156. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Royalty & Nobility: Queen of Castile

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: Henry II appears as a character in several modern plays and films. He is a central character in James Goldman's 1966 play The Lion in Winter, set in 1183 and presenting an imaginary encounter between Henry's immediate family and Philip Augustus over Christmas at Chinon.
• Relation to Me: 26 GGF
• Royalty & Nobility: Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland
• Royalty & Nobility: King of England
• Name: Henry II Curtmantle Plantagenet
• Birth: 5 Mar 1133, Anjou, Isère, Rhône-Alpes, France
• Death: 6 Jul 1189, Loire, Rhône-Alpes, France

Notes:

Henry was not a popular king and few expressed much grief on news of his death. Writing in the 1190s, William of Newburgh commented that "in his own time he was hated by almost everyone"; he was widely criticised by his own contemporaries, even within his own court. Many of the changes Henry introduced during his long rule, however, had major long-term consequences. His legal changes are generally considered to have laid the basis for English Common Law, with the Exchequer court a forerunner of the later Common Bench at Westminster. Henry's itinerant justices also influenced his contemporaries' legal reforms: Philip Augustus' creation of itinerant bailli, for example, clearly drew on the Henrician model. Henry's intervention in Brittany, Wales and Scotland also had a significant long-term impact on the development of their societies and governmental systems.

II married OF AQUITAINE, Duchess of Acquitaine Eleanor on 18 May 1152 in Bordeaux, Gironde, Aquitaine, France. Eleanor (daughter of AQUITAINE, Guillaume X of and DE CHATELLERAULT, Aenor) was born on 6 Dec 1122 in Bordeaux, Gironde, Aquitaine, France; died on 1 Apr 1204 in Fontevraud Abbey, Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire, France; was buried in Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Books About: Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Biography
• Books About: The Autumn Throne: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Middle Ages Queen of England
• Books About: The Summer Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick
• Books About: The Winter Crown: A Medieval Tale of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of England
• Differentiator: Member of the Ramnulfid dynasty of rulers in southwestern France, and one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe during the High Middle Ages. She led armies several times in her life, and was a leader of the Second Crusade.
• Relation to Me: 26 GGM
• Royalty & Nobility: Duchess of Acquitaine, Queen Consort of England, Queen Consort of France

Notes:

As Duchess of Aquitaine, Eleanor was the most eligible bride in Europe. Three months after she became duchess, she married King Louis VII of France, son of her guardian, King Louis VI. As Queen of France, she participated in the unsuccessful Second Crusade. Soon afterwards, Eleanor sought an annulment of her marriage,[1] but her request was rejected by Pope Eugene III.[2] However, after the birth of her second daughter Alix, Louis agreed to an annulment, as fifteen years of marriage had not produced a son.[3] The marriage was annulled on 11 March 1152 on the grounds of consanguinity within the fourth degree. Their daughters were declared legitimate and custody was awarded to Louis, while Eleanor's lands were restored to her.

As soon as the annulment was granted, Eleanor became engaged to Henry, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, who became King Henry II of England in 1154. Henry was her third cousin (cousin of the third degree), and eleven years younger. The couple married on 18 May 1152 (Whit Sunday), eight weeks after the annulment of Eleanor's first marriage, in a cathedral in Poitiers, France. Over the next thirteen years, she bore Henry eight children: five sons, three of whom would become kings; and three daughters. However, Henry and Eleanor eventually became estranged. Henry imprisoned her in 1173 for supporting her son Henry's revolt against her husband. She was not released until 6 July 1189, when Henry died and their son ascended the English throne as Richard I.

Now queen dowager, Eleanor acted as regent while Richard went on the Third Crusade; on his return Richard was captured and held prisoner. Eleanor lived well into the reign of her youngest son, John. She outlived all her children except for John and Eleanor.