Beatrice of Rethel (1130/35 – 30 March 1185) was a French noblewoman and

Queen of Sicily The monarchs of Sicily ruled from the establishment of the County of Sicily in 1071 until the "perfect fusion" in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1816. The origins of the Sicilian monarchy lie in the Norman conquest of southern Italy which oc ...

as the third wife of

Roger II Roger II ( it, Ruggero II; 22 December 1095 – 26 February 1154) was King of Sicily and Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, became Duke of Apulia and Calabria in ...

Family

Beatrice was born in 1130 or 1135, the eldest daughter and one of the nine children of

Guitier of Rethel Guitier (Ithier) of Rethel (died 1171), son of Odo of Vitry and Matilda, Countess of Rethel, nephew of Baldwin II of Jerusalem, was Count of Rethel, succeeding his mother. (His father is named as count, but it is not clear that he ever served.) ...

and Beatrix of Namur. Her father was

Count of Rethel This is a list of counts and dukes of Rethel. The first counts of Rethel ruled independently, before the county passed first to the Counts of Nevers, then to the Counts of Flanders, and finally to the Dukes of Burgundy. In 1405 the County became par ...

from 1158 to 1171.

Marriage, issue and widowhood

In 1151, Beatrice married

Roger II of Sicily Roger II ( it, Ruggero II; 22 December 1095 – 26 February 1154) was King of Sicily and Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily Roger I ( it, Ruggero I, Arabic: ''رُجار'', ''Rujār''; Maltese: ''Ruġġieru'', – 22 June 1101), nicknamed Rog ...

. She was queen for three years, until Roger's death on 26 February 1154. Beatrice was a little over three weeks pregnant at the time of his death, and their only child,

Constance Constance may refer to: Places *Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English *Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada * Constance, Kentucky * Constance, Minnesota * Constance (Portugal) * Mount Constance, Washington State People * Consta ...

, was born the following November. Beatrice survived her husband by thirty-one years but there is no record of her having married again. Her daughter Constance was confined to a monastery as a nun since childhood due a prophecy that "her marriage would destroy the kingdom". Beatrice lived long enough to see her betrothed in 1184. Constance became queen of Sicily in 1194.

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beatrice of Rethel 1130s births 1185 deaths Year of birth uncertain Royal consorts of Sicily 12th-century French women 12th-century French people 12th-century Italian women 12th-century Italian nobility Hauteville family Roger II of Sicily