Sancha of León (1191/2 before 1243) was briefly ''
suo jure
''Suo jure'' is a Latin phrase, used in English to mean 'in his own right' or 'in her own right'. In most nobility-related contexts, it means 'in her own right', since in those situations the phrase is normally used of women; in practice, especi ...
''
Queen of León, reigning alongside her younger sister,
Dulce. The eldest child and daughter of
Alfonso IX of León
Alfonso IX (15 August 117123 or 24 September 1230) was King of León from the death of his father Ferdinand II in 1188 until his own death.
He took steps towards modernizing and democratizing his dominion and founded the University of Salaman ...
by his first wife,
Teresa of Portugal, Sancha was made co-heiress following the death of one of her younger brothers and the accession to the throne of
Castile of the other. Sancha and her sister did not get to reign, as their stepmother succeeded in setting up her own son on the throne.
Biography
Sancha was raised at the court of their father, but her younger sister
Dulce and her brother
Ferdinand
Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...
were raised with their mother in Portugal after the annulment of their parents' marriage in 1195.
[Salvador Martínez, 32–33.] Although in
Castile it was customary for females to inherit, and Sancha's stepmother became queen, briefly, of Castile, in León female succession was barred,
although her ancestor
Urraca had been the first queen regnant of Western Europe.
After the death of Sancha's brother (1214), Alfonso IX named his second son by his second wife, also
Ferdinand
Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...
, his heir, bestowing on him the title ''
infante
Infante (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as "infant" or translated as "prince", is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to the ...
'' (1216). In 1217, with the support of the aristocracy, Alfonso granted his daughters Sancha and Dulce the villages of Portela de San Juan, Burgo de Ribadavia and
Allariz
Allariz is a town and municipality () in the province of Ourense, in the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. It occupies the center of the western half of the province, connecting with the towns (''concellos'') of Taboadela, Paderne, Sand ...
, to be ruled by them until their deaths, after which they would revert to the Crown.
[Yáñez Neira, 54.] In that same year, Ferdinand's mother,
Berengaria, inherited the
Kingdom of Castile
The Kingdom of Castile (; : ) was a polity in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. It traces its origins to the 9th-century County of Castile (, ), as an eastern frontier lordship of the Kingdom of León. During the 10th century, the Ca ...
, but ceded it to her son, who was proclaimed king at
Valladolid
Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...
on 2 July. With his heir out of the kingdom and ruling in another place, Alfonso attempted to make his eldest daughters his joint heirs. In the Treaty of Boronal concluded with Portugal in 1219, Alfonso expressly states that if he should die, Portugal should respect the agreement with his daughters.
Alfonso also attempted to secure his eldest daughter's rights by marrying her to
John of Brienne
John of Brienne ( 1170 – 19–23 March 1237), also known as John I, was the king of Jerusalem from 1210 to 1225 and Latin emperor of Constantinople from 1229 to 1237. He was the youngest son of Erard II of Brienne, a wealthy nobleman in Cham ...
, the former
King of Jerusalem
The king or queen of Jerusalem was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader state founded in Jerusalem by the Latin Church, Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade, when the city was Siege of Jerusalem (1099), conquered in ...
, but his wife Berengaria blocked this action in order to advance her son.
In the spring of 1224, John was on the
Way of Saint James
The Camino de Santiago (, ; ), or the Way of St. James in English, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tr ...
, passing through Alfonso's kingdom, when he decided to stop in
Toledo in order to see his prospective bride. There the queen convinced him instead to marry her daughter,
Berengaria, and on his return trip, at
Burgos
Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos.
Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...
, he did, his wife and he being accompanied as far as
Logroño
Logroño ( , , ) is the capital of the autonomous community of La Rioja (Spain), La Rioja, Spain. Located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, primarily in the right (South) bank of the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of pa ...
by the king and former queen of Castile.
After this fiasco, Alfonso declared Sancha and Dulce his heirs, but upon his death on 24 September 1230, the people of León, who had pledged for
Ferdinand
Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...
in 1206, refused to recognise his daughters, and they in turn ceded their rights to his kingdom to their half-brother on 11 December 1230. She was 38 years old at the time. This agreement, negotiated at
Valencia de Don Juan
Valencia de Don Juan (; ''Coyanza'' in Leonese language) is a municipality located in the León (province), province of León, Castile and León, Spain. In 2023, the municipality had a population of 5,185.
Originally, Valencia de Don Juan was nam ...
by Berengaria and Theresa, with Sancha and Dulce present, is known as the
"pact of the mothers".
The treaty was signed
Benavente and in compensation Ferdinand promised a yearly stipend of 30,000 ''
maravedí
The ''maravedí'' () or ''maravedi'' (), deriving from the Almoravid dinar (), was the name of various Iberian coins of gold and then silver between the 11th and 14th centuries, and the name of different Iberian accounting units between the 11t ...
es'' to each of his half-sisters and the lordship of certain castles.
After the renunciation, Sancha retired to the
Cistercian
The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...
monastery of Santa María in
Villabuena, in
El Bierzo
El Bierzo (; or ''El Bierzu''; ) is a '' comarca'' in the province of León, Spain. Its capital is the town of Ponferrada. Other major towns are Bembibre and Villafranca del Bierzo, the historical capital.
The territory of El Bierzo inclu ...
, which had been founded by her mother, with her father's blessing. Sancha died there before 1243, when the Archbishop of Toledo,
Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, mentions in his history of the Iberian peninsula, ''
De rebus Hispaniae, that Teresa of Portugal had had three children: Sancha and Ferdinand, who had died childless, and Dulce, who was still living.
Footnotes
:1. The ancient monastery of Santa María at Villabuena was destroyed in the 16th-century during a flood, due to its proximity to the
river Cúa. Thenceforth, the nuns relocated to the nearby
Monastery of San Miguel de las Dueñas.
[Yáñez Neira, 58, n. 19.]
References
Bibliography
*Janna Bianchini. 2015. "Foreigners and Foes in the Leonese Succession Crisis of 1230". James Todesca, ed. ''The Emergence of León-Castile, c.1065–1500: Essays Presented to J. F. O'Callaghan''. Aldershot: Ashgate, pp. 47–68.
*Ramón Bustamante y Quijano. 1948. ''Romance de Doña Sancha''. Madrid.
*Maria Fernandes Marques. 2008. ''Estudos sobre a Ordem de Cister em Portugal''. Coimbra.
*H. Salvador Martínez. 2010. ''Alfonso X, the Learned: A Biography''. Brill.
*María Damián Yáñez Neira. 1982
"La princesa Doña Sancha, hija primogénita de Alfonso IX" ''Tierras de León'', 22(47):47–60.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sancha Of Leon
1190s births
13th-century deaths
12th-century Spanish women
13th-century Spanish women
Castilian House of Burgundy
Leonese infantas
13th-century queens regnant
Daughters of kings