Eleanor of Castile (1200González González, Julio ''El reino de Castilla en la época de Alfonso VIII''. 3 vol. Madrid, 1960 Volumen I pág 211Martínez Díez, Gonzalo (2007) ''Alfonso VIII: rey de Castilla y Toledo (1158-1214)''. Ediciones Trea, S.L. 272 págs. pág 51—1244) was

Queen of Aragon This is a list of the kings and queens of Aragon. The Kingdom of Aragon was created sometime between 950 and 1035 when the County of Aragon, which had been acquired by the Kingdom of Navarre in the tenth century, was separated from Navarre ...

by her marriage to King

James I of Aragon James I the Conqueror ( es, Jaime el Conquistador, ca, Jaume el Conqueridor; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was King of Aragon and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276; King of Majorca from 1231 to 1276; and Valencia from 1238 to 1276 ...

Queenship

Eleanor was the daughter of

Alfonso VIII of Castile Alfonso VIII (11 November 11555 October 1214), called the Noble (''El Noble'') or the one of Las Navas (''el de las Navas''), was King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo. After having suffered a great defeat with his own army at ...

and

Eleanor of England Eleanor of England ( es, Leonor; – 31 October 1214), was Queen of Castile and Toledo as wife of Alfonso VIII of Castile. She was the sixth child and second daughter of Henry II, King of England, and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Early life and fa ...

. In 1221 at

Ágreda Ágreda is a municipality located in the province of Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. Ágreda is the regional services center in the Northeast of the province of Soria. Its abundant heritage as well as the local fi ...

, Eleanor married King

; she was nineteen and he was fourteen. The next six years of James's reign were full of rebellions on the part of the nobles. By the Peace of Alcalá of 31 March 1227, the nobles and the king came to terms. The couple had a son,

Alfonso Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...

, who married

Constance of Béarn Constance (died 1310) was ''suo jure'' Viscountess of Marsan as well as titular Countess of Bigorre, daughter of Gaston VII, Viscount of Béarn and his first wife Martha of Marsan. Constance inherited all of her titles from her mother and contend ...

. Eleanor's marriage to James was annulled in 1230, and the agreement prohibited her from remarrying. Their son, Alfonso, was declared legitimate, but he pre-deceased James.

Monastic life

Eleanor became a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

after the annulment. She went to the

Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas The Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas is a monastery of Cistercian nuns located approximately 1.5 km west of the city of Burgos in Spain. The word ''huelgas'', which usually refers to "labour strikes" in modern Spanish, refers i ...

to join her elder sister Berengaria who had retired from ruling Castile and

Leon Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...

, and their other sister Constance, who was long a nun there. All three sisters died there, Constance in 1243, Eleanor in 1244, and Berengaria in 1246. All are buried in the Abbey.

Burial

Eleanor was buried in the Monastery of Las Huelgas in Burgos. Her remains were deposited in a tomb which is now located in the Nave of Santa Catarina of the Gospel, and lies between the tomb containing the remains of

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

, son of Sancho IV and

María de Molina María Alfonso Téllez de Meneses (c. 1265 – 1321), known as María de Molina, was queen consort of Castile and León from 1284 to 1295 by marriage to Sancho IV of Castile, and served as regent for her minor son Ferdinand IV (1295 - c.1301) ...

, which is placed to the right, and the tomb containing the remains of

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

, brother of Philip. During work on the Monastery in the middle of the twentieth century it was found that the remains of Eleanor, mummified and in good condition, lay in her tomb of limestone; the roof had two slopes and was smooth, although in the past was polychrome. Her coffin was wooden and devoid of cover, although there were still remnants of its shell and lysed cross made of studded gold braid, as well as clothing that was buried with the Queen, among which highlighted three brocade garments in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

, which

Manuel Gómez Moreno Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name) * Manuel (Fawlty Towers), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Charlie Manuel, manager of the Philadelphia Phillies * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manu ...

considered similar to those found in the grave of her grandnephew

References

Sources

* * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Eleanor Of Castile 1244 deaths Castilian House of Burgundy Burials at the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas Aragonese queen consorts Countesses of Barcelona 13th-century Castilians Castilian infantas Consorts of Montpellier Year of birth unknown 13th-century Spanish women 13th-century people from the Kingdom of Aragon Daughters of kings