A Legacy of El Cid:
Our European cousins: Diverse royal
European ancestry of an American
family
Figure 1
A Shield from the EL Cid Era-
Basura
CHAPTERS
1. Ferdinand I “The Great”
EMPEROR OF SPAIN- KING OF CASTILE
AND LEON
2. Rodrigo Diaz De Vivar “EL CID”-
CAMPEADOR -PRINCE OF VALENCIA and
Family
3. García VI el Restaurador,
KING OF NAVARRA
4. Blanca de Navarra, QUEEN
CONSORT OF CASTILLE
5. King Alfonso VIII “THE
NOBLE,” KING OF CASTILLE-EMPEROR OF
SPAIN
6. Berenguela I “THE GRAND,”
QUEEN OF CASTILLE
1
7. Fernando III “THE SAINT,” KING
OF CASTILLE
8. Eleanor of Castile, PRINCESS OF
CASTILE, QUEEN CONSORT OF ENGLAND
AND Edward I KING OF ENGLAND
9. Blanche Bourgogne de Castile
PRINCESS OF CASTILE-QUEEN CONSORT
OF FRANCE and LOUIS VIII Of FRANCE
By
John Pierre Biddle Warden
(ISBN 1503060985).
Preface
pg. 2
Charles the Great Charlemagne (742/747/748 – 28January 814) Figure2
The day I finished this book
I ran across an article purporting
to say that we are all directly
related to Charlemagne. Mr. Lee
thesis cannot be correct because
even he admittedly states that the
formula does not take into account
factors that would influence a
proper answer. Here is a portion
of what he has to relate: On Thu,
2006-08-17, James Leone wrote:
3
“As I was
researching my Lee
ancestral line back into
the Middle Ages, I was
excited to find that I
am apparently a direct
descendant of
Charlemagne, the first
Holy Roman Emperor. As I
dug deeper, I found at
least three separate
lines of descent from
him to me, and I saw
more and more
genealogical sites on
the Web
pg. 4
that claimed similar
descent…30” 1 He goes on
to relate a probability
formula that he claims
makes it certain that we
all are related to
Charlemagne.2
that claimed similar
descent…” 3 He goes on
to relate a probability
formula that he claims
make it sure that we all
are related to
Charlemagne.4
1 Everyone is descended from Charlemagne -Colleen Genealogy,http://www.colleengenealogy.net/everyonecharlemagne.html_br (accessed October 4,2014).
2 Ibid.
3 Everyone is descended from Charlemagne - Colleen Genealogy, http://www.colleengenealogy.net/everyonecharlemagne.html_br (accessed October 4, 2014).4 Ibid.
5
In this writters opinion, this
mathematical formulation is
nonsensical or a non-sequitur for
all practicality. It is an insult
to genealogist who has patiently
traced direct bloodlines. We may
all be related to Charlemagne as we
are related to each other but not
in a direct line. However, to say
we are all directly linked to
Charlemagne is wishful thinking.
The line from Charlemagne in the
8th Century means the calculation
is based on one person being
Charlemagne, and 14,999,999 are not
Charlemagne. It assumes that the
15 or so million males and females,
living at the time, other than
Charlemagne did not exist. They did
not produce, or did or did not
contribute to the holes in the
probability theory. Now the
number of probably descendants is
not just one trillion but 15
million trillion. How can this be?
An utter mind-boggling and
confusing figure. More importantly
pg. 6
The European population in
2007 is only 731 million.5 It
means that obviously one person is
Charlemagne and whatever the
correct number is -are not
Charlemagne. This formulation is
pure mathematical and is not based
on pure foundational research.
None of the probability formula
takes into account wartime deaths,
couples who do not produce, disease
or the birth and death rates. These
three factors alone could nullify
all likelihood calculations. They
do not account for the monstrous
miscalculation that is produced
using their formula to estimate
todays' population based on their
projections. It probably will
never be entirely accurate for all
families. In many cases, the
ravages of war have destroyed
records. Presently, we can only
consider the exact number of
descendants of those people, who
5 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics of Europe, (Accessed October 24, 2014).
pg. 8
can without mistake calculate their
direct line to Charlemagne. The
adage correctly applies here: Prove
it! It also means that determining
the correct number of the
descendants of the 14,999,999 has
also not been determined. It seems
that to be accurate without
probability curves we need to trace
a direct line to every individual
who was alive in Europe during the
reign of Charlemagne. Obviously
this is an impossibility.
9
What is known is that one
trillion descendants are for all
practical purposes a non-workable
number given that the European
population of today is only 741.2
million according to the United
Nations' estimate. It is not one
trillion! That number could only
be correct if there were no
disease, or wars, great health, no
poverty on earth, and a functioning
two party couple who guarantees at
least one birth per couple. If we
subtract 731 million from one
trillion, we have 999,269,000,000.
The number nine hundred and ninety-
nine billion two hundred and sixty-
nine million is a large mistaken
calculation. The probability
formula simply is false: in and
off itself it points to the
unworkability of the formula given
the correct numerical outcomes.
Where is our common sense? The
calculation is just comparing
apples and oranges. However, here
the mathematicians are more than a
pg. 10
fruit bushel away. Therefore, I
reason that such a calculation is
entirely incorrect in calculating
descendants. I choose to look
only at people who can prove that
they have a direct line to
Charlemagne based on linear
research, not probability. So much
for the defeatist attempt to
neutralize the elitists.
11
While I may criticize Mr. Lee
at the same time, I wish him well
because he has cared enough to
venture into the unknown. I would
also like to thank my patient wife,
Millie, my sister Sue and cousin
Sondra. Thanks also to Sue’s linear
offspring. They gave support to my
ideas for collecting research by
going to other people’s homes and
drearily walking through graveyards
to locate headstones. Gratitude
is for the people I love who have
put up with my incessant seat at
the computer, thanks for your
patience. To my students who have
helped the research along the way;
you all know who you are—thank you.
pg. 12
In Navarre Spain, the birth of
Sancho III Garcés 6 is sometime
around "992, and the emperor dies
18 October 1035 at the Cathedral of
Pamplona.7 “This Man was able
politically to outmaneuver his
opponents and militarily defeats
them in battle. Many sources call
him Sancho “the Great”8 (Spanish:
el Mayor, Basque: Nagusia). He
acquired the Kingdom of Navarra
through a royal blood line in 1004.
Through conquest and political
maneuvering, the King, increases
his power. Sancho stabilizes the
Christian Empire until the time of
his death in 1035. Bearing the
title of Rex Hispaniarum, he firmly
6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sancho_II_of_Pamplona (Accessed October 24, 2014)7 Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.comPublication information: Book title: The Latin Chronicle of the Kings of Castile. Contributors:Joseph F. O'Callaghan - Translator. Publisher: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Place of publication: Tempe, AZ. Publication year: 2002. 8https://www.google.com/#newwindow=1&safe=active&q=sancho+iii+navarre&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgwYHsxCnfq6-QVJKrqGBEphpmFNkUaTFF5BaVJyfF5yZklqeWFmcM1Xcz9cwJD534fuPEUL1Pcd_K-wCABv4pPVFAAAA (accessed October 5, 2014).
pg. 14
controls a majority of Christian
Iberia. Having gone further than
any of his antecedents in uniting
the divided kingdoms of Iberia, he
leaves a relatively stable empire
at the time of his demise.
It was a warm day in Pamplona,
and the village fills with
visitors. The children are
gleefully playing in the streets as
all await the King’s arrival. A
crowd of numerous people and
nobility has gathered at the
footsteps of the Cathedral. They
were merry and
15
anticipated seeing the King.
Suddenly, a child came running down
the street yelling the King is
coming. His carriage approaches
the steps of the Cathedral and
stops as the crowd continues
hailing the King. As he steps
onto the grounds of the Cathedral,
Sancho is assaulted with swords by
three assassins who have adroitly
and quietly made their way through
the crowd. Now the King steps out
of the carriage immediately he is
thrust from the back, the front,
and the left side, he wobbles
momentarily and then falls bloody
and still; he is dead. “Count
García of Aragon and King of
Pamplona is assassinated by”
members of the Vela family, namely
Bernardo, Nepociano, and Rodrigo.”9
9 Joseph F. O'Callaghan, Trans. The Latin Chronicle ofthe Kings of Castile (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center forMedieval and Renaissance Studies, 2002), 1,http://www.questia.com/read/120185746.
pg. 16
Garcés judgment becomes
questionable in the area of
succession to the crown. If
indeed, the crowns were elective
the only one it seems that is
electing was the king and not the
Cortes.10 Change is the hallmark
that points to a period of chaos
that deviates from the old Visigoth
idea of election to the crown. For
now and probably from sometime
prior, the crown is not elective
but hereditary. For the unity
that Garcés has so admirably
created shatters in a brief moment
of decision-making. The
achievements of a lifetime implode
when he divides his domains to
provide for his progeny. The
Kingdom of Navarre, this Basque
centered community, continues for
six centuries after his death, but
it never reaches the heights of
power as is achieved under Sancho
“the Great.” Nevertheless,
Pamplona lives and thrives today.
10 Cortes: Spanish council.
17
It is the unfortunate practice
of this historical time to dispute
the line of succession for almost
every crown. The primary
argument, in this case, is where
Fernando the Great’s place is in
the birth order of King Sancho
III’s four sons. Scholars seem to
have a field day in debating where
in the succession line Fernando
fits. On the one hand, it would be
valuable information to know where
Fernando did belong in the familial
line for the sake of historical
accuracy. On the contrary, it is
as if the debating historians
cannot see the trees for the
forest. It does not matter where
in the line of succession Fernando
belongs; his historical presence is
built not by the succession order
but with pure warrior conquest over
his brothers. Simply put, he
achieves by the sword.
19
According to the most
legitimate charters, he is the
“youngest son” 11 and is probably
born later than 1011, about the
time his parents' marriage
happens.12 One charter names
Sancho's male children in this
order: Ramiro, García, Gonzalo,
and then Fernando. Another scholar
reiterates that there are three
other records from the” Cathedral
of Pamplona’ that list them”13 in
this sequence. “The monastery of
San Juan de la Peña “14 yield four
other records that collaborate this
birth order. One last charter from
Pamplona, dated 29 September 1023,
is authenticated by Sancho's
mother, Jimena Fernandez, and his
11 Martínez Díez, Gonzalo. Sancho III el Mayor: Rey de Pamplona, Rex Ibericus. Madrid: Marcial Pons Historia, 2007, 151–53.12https://www.google.com/#newwindow=1&safe=active&q=sancho+iii+navarre&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgwYHsxCnfq6-QVJKrqGBEphpmFNkUaTFF5BaVJyfF5yZklqeWFmcM1Xcz9cwJD534fuPEUL1Pcd_K-wCABv4pPVFAAAA ((accessed October 5, 2014).13 Jaime Goñi Gaztambide, Colección diplomática de la catedral de Pamplona (829–1243) (Pamplona:1997), docs. 5, 7, 12.14 Martínez Díez 2007, 152.
pg. 20
wife, Mayor. Her children, lists as
García, Fernando then Gonzalo, and
their brother, the illegitimate
Ramiro.
21
In San Salvador, Spain de
Leire scholars find “In five
documents of the monastery
….Fernando lists after Gonzalo.
“Two of these documents confirms to
17 April 1014. If authentic, they
place Fernando's birth before that
date.”15 Other documents from the
same sources show: “Three
additional documents from Leire are
only ones to set Fernando second in
the order of succession. They
suffer, however, from different
anachronisms and interpolations.”
It is not amazing given the
historical time span from then to
the present, that so many documents
all reach different conclusions.
From this writer's perspective, it
does not matter historically what
the birth rite or order is: what
matters is the outcome of
individual actions on the events of15https://www.google.com/#newwindow=1&safe=active&q=sancho+iii+navarre&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgwYHsxCnfq6-QVJKrqGBEphpmFNkUaTFF5BaVJyfF5yZklqeWFmcM1Xcz9cwJD534fuPEUL1Pcd_K-wCABv4pPVFAAAA ((accessedOctober 5, 2014).
pg. 22
Banished Castilian noblemen
murder Count Garcia Sanchez as he
is entering the church of John the
Baptist in León. The King has gone
to the Church where he is scheduled
to marry Sancha, sister, of the
King of León. After the slaying of
Garcia Sanchez and as a young
person, Fernando experiences the
atmosphere of a chaotic Christian
Spain. During this chaotic time,
Fernando becomes the Count of
Castile. Sancho III of Navarre
designates for election his younger
son Fernando, born to the deceased
count's sister Mayor. As the count
of Castile, Sancho III arranges the
marriage of the dead King Garces
bride to be, Sancha, to Fernando in
1023. The Committee recognizes
Sancho as the ruler of Castile
until his death. After his death,
the Committee issues the title of
Count to Fernando. On 7 July 1029,
before the council in Burgos,
Óneca, who is the aunt of the late
King Garcia and Queen Mayor, adopts
pg. 24
Sancho and Mayor, making them her
heirs. “ 16
Burgos,
Spain
Figure 6
A later charter dated 1
January 1030, explicit lists Sancho
as in León (the overlord of
Castile) and Fernando as count in
Castile.”17 The first indication
that Fernando was independently
reigning de facto over “Castile is
a charter of the monastery of San
Pedro de Cardena” 18 Castile
stability is achieved by Sancho's
decision to make his son the Count
of Ardenas
16 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_I_of_León_and_Castile
17 Martínez Díez 2007, 15018 Ibid.
25
Documents indicate that no
Castilian document after 1028
indicates that the only monarch
mentioned is Sancho III. Fernando
is the first count of Castile, who
does not pay homage to the king of
León. “A Counsel appointed
Fernando the Count of Castile”19
when his uncle dies in 1029. He
became the King of León after
defeating his brother-in-law in
1037. Vermudo III dies on the
battlefield at the Battle of
Tameron. Again the ambitions of
his other brother, Garcia III,
silences when Ferdinand’s troops
leave his bloodied corps on the
battlefield. Fernando is the first
to place on his head the emperor's
tiara. Consequently, his heirs
followed this practice... As a
younger son of Sancho III of
Navarre and Mayor of Castile, he
recognizes the suzerain of his
eldest brother, García Sánchez III
of Navarre.
19 Ibid.
pg. 26
As the Leonese declined in
power, Ferdinand begins the rule of
the “Jiménez Dynasty” 20 over
western Spain. This rise to
dominance among Christian rulers of
Iberia placed the state of power
westward from where it had been
located. He has the largest
Christian nation ever developed in
Spain before his death. His death
came 24 December 1065. In 1032,
the intended bride for Sancho
Garces of Castile married Count
Fernando. Princess Sancha brings
property to Castile. Her dowry is
the lands between the Cea and
Pisuerga Rivers.21 After his
father's death, Fernando continues
rule of Castile as a Count.
Contemporary documents stress
Fernando's status as nobility and
subordinate to the King of Leon's
vassalage.
20 The Jiménez or Giménez/Ximenes (Basque pronunciation: [ʃimenes̺]) were an Iberian rulingfamily from the 10th century to the 13th century. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim%C3%A9nez_dynasty.21 Pisuerga River. A river in Spain that runs thru the city of Valladolid.
27
A document issued by his
brother states in part that
“emperor” 22 Vermudo reigns in León
and count Fernando governs in
Castile. King Ramiro reigns in
Aragon. King García in Pamplona and
king Gonzalo reigns in Ribagorza."23
In January 1037, two private
Castilian documents both express
Fernando's continuing vassalage to
the Leonese monarchy. In a
dispute over the land area between
Cea and the Pisuerga Rivers
Fernando defeats his brother García
at the Battle of Atapuerca.24 Fernando
continues to wage war, and he slays
his brother Vermudo III and leaves
his body on the field. Fernando
defeats and kills his suzerain at
the Battle of Tamarón in 1037.
22 The use of quotation marks around the wordemperor is to indicate that the useage of theterm was controversial in Europe since it wasonly to be use by the Holy Roman Emperor.
23 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzalo_of_Sobrarbe_and_Ribagorza (Accessed October 17, 2014).24 Parenthetically “Atapuerca is where some of the first Homo sapiens have been found”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_antecessor (Accessed October 17, 2014)
29
Fernando then claims possession of
León. His wife has succession
rights in Leon. On 22 June 1038
Fernando has himself crowned and
anointed king in León the
progression to power was by simple
steps. Fernando kills his other
brother Garcia Sanchez.
pg. 30
On 1 September 1054 at the
site of Piedrahita, Fernando wages
war and defeats his brother García
at the Battle of Atapuerca, 25 thereby,
reducing Navarre to his vassal
state. He places his brother’s
son, Sancho, under his reign.
Therefore, Fernando now indirectly
rules the city-state of Navarre.
With his late brother’s son in
command at Navarre, Fernando
demands only the city of Bureba to
be included in Castile. Over the
next ten years, he controls more of
the western area of “Navarre at the
expense of Sancho IV and this
accomplishes without further
bloodshed.” 26
25 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand I of León andCastile ( Accessed October 20, 2014)26 Ibid.
31
The people of the Al-Andalus27
are an assorted mixture. Indeed
the Arab elite is a vast minority
of those people and, therefore, are
not responsible for the conquest of
the Iberian Peninsula. These
Arabs are intermarried with the
indigenous Iberians and thus are
assimilated by them. In terms of
sheer numbers, Berber's account for
the conquests on the Iberian
Peninsula more so than any other
people and the Jewish people also
are widely influential. The
offspring of African and European
slaves by this time are integrated
into that society. In the 11th
century, these peoples amalgamate
into the new Andalusian strain.
27 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand I of León andCastile ( Accessed October 20, 2014)
pg. 32
In 1060, Fernando invaded the
taifa of Zaragoza. He attacks
through the upland valley of the
Duero. 28 Berlanga, San Esteban de
Gormaz, and Vadorrey fall to El
Magno. He even gets as close to
Zaragoza as an old ‘’Roman road
that connects Zaragoza to Toledo.’29 30 The success of the attack is
possible because the Emir is
flanked on all sides of his border.
The emir is already making tribute
to Sancho IV of Navarre. Seeing
how close Fernando’s armies have
come to Zaragoza the Emir agrees
also to pay homage to Fernando.
“The tribute lasts until Fernando’s
death.”31
28 Ibid.29 Ibid.30 Ibid.31 Ibid.
33
Now that al-Muqtadir is no
longer a threat, Fernando now turns
the mass of his army southward
toward Toledo. Emir Yahya ibn
Ismail al-Mamun sees impending doom
and witnesses; his countryside
wasted as he waits to make a
decision. Fernando takes Talamanca
and Alcalá de Henares. 32 Perceiving
his country ravaged and plundered,
al-Mamun agrees to pay tribute.
King Fernando now has another
vassal state. Fernando upon payment
leaves satisfied that he had
obtained his objective during this
mission.
Toledo Spain
32
? Reilly, Bernard F., The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI, 1065–1109. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988.
pg. 34
In 1055, Fernando, attacks the
taifa of Badajoz located close to
the Portuguese border. His first
serious campaign of Reconquista is”
an invasion of the lower basin of
the Duero River.” 33 He invades
between the coast and the mountains
that have long been held by León.
“On 29 November 1057, his army
conquered Lamego and its valleys. “34 Having secured the Duero,
Fernando begins to bring the valley
of the Mondego River under his
control,” first taking Viseu in its
middle stretch on 25 July 1058 and
then moving down towards the sea.”35 It is "a long and grueling
battle" before Coimbra at the mouth
of the Mondego falls. After a six-
month siege, the city succumbs on
July 25.
Mondego River
33 Ferdinand I of León and Castile - Wikipedia, the free .., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_I_of_Le%C3%B3n_br (accessed October 4, 2014).34 Ibid.35 Ibid.
pg. 36
“In 1063, using the new income
from his parias,“36 Fernando
organized a "great raid or razzia"
into the taifas of Seville and
Badajoz. Seville and Badajoz,
located deep in the south of Spain,
also pays a ransom for his
withdrawal. This attack is
“probably also designed to remove
Badajoz as a threat during his
“planned siege of Coimbra the next
year”.37 In 1065, Fernando
embarked on his last military
campaign. He invades the taifa of
Valencia and gets as far as the
vicinity of the city itself, where
he defeats the emir Abd al-Malik
al-Muzaffar late in the autumn. The
emir's father-in-law, al-Mamun of
Toledo, seizes “control of
Valencia, and the frightened emir
of Zaragoza” 38 renews his tribute
payments to León. Fernando fell ill
36 Ferdinand I of León and Castile - Wikipedia, the free .., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_I_of_Le%C3%B3n_br (accessed October 4, 2014).37 Ibid..38 Ibid.
pg. 38
in November and returned to his
kingdom.
Fernando is not the first to
call himself by the title
"emperor,” not by himself or his
“scribes, but by the notaries of
his half-brother, the petty king
Ramiro I of Aragon.”39 These
notaries were also calling
Fernando's predecessor as king of
León by the same title. In a royal
Aragonese charter of 1036, before
the Battle of Tamarón, Ramiro
refers to his brother as "emperor
in Castile and León and Astorga".
39 Ibid.
39
A similarly-worded charter
issues in 1041 and again in 1061,
where the order of kingdoms
reverses “and Astorga ignored:
"emperor in León and Castile."40
The first use of the imperial style
dates to the year 1056. It is
implemented "under the rule of the
emperor King Fernando and the
empress Queen Sancha ruling the
kingdom in León and Galicia as well
as in Castile."41 On this basis,
Fernando crowned himself emperor in
1056. Use of the imperial title
occurs on one other occasion during
Fernando's “reign. A document of
1058 dates itself "in the time of
the most serene prince Lord
“42Fernando and his consort Queen
Sancha" and later qualifies him as
"this emperor, the aforesaid
Fernando". After becoming ill
40 Ibid.41 Ferdinand I of León and Castile - Wikipedia, the free .., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_I_of_Le%C3%B3n_br (accessed October 4, 2014).42 Imperator totius Hispaniae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_of_Spain_br(accessed October 25, 2014).
pg. 40
during at Siege of Valencia and the
Battle of Paterna, Fernando dies on
24 December 1065, in León. He
displays many manifestations of
piety. He lays the crown and royal
mantle to one side. Dressing in the
robe of a monk, Fernando lays on a
funeral bier. The platform covered
with ashes attests to the devotion
of his Catholicism.
41
By his will, Fernando divides
his kingdom among his three sons.
The eldest, Sancho, receives
“Castile; the second, Alfonso,
León; and from the latter” parts of
the region of Galicia carve” off to
create a separate state for
García.” Fernando's two daughters
each receives cities: Elvira that
of Toro and Urraca that of Zamora.
In giving his children these
territories, he expresses his
desire that they respect his wishes
and abide by the split. No sooner
than Fernando’s death Sancho and
Alfonso attacked Garcia leaving his
corps on the field of Battle.43 The
remaining brothers then fought each
other. Alfonso escapes to Toledo
and the victorious Sancho reunited
their father's possessions under
his control in 1072. However,
Sancho is murdered that same year,
and the territories passed to the
“suspicious” Alfonso VI.
43 Reilly, Bernard F., The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI, 1065–1109.Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988.
pg. 42
The Chronicon Complutense, 44
probably written shortly after
Fernando's “death, extols him as
the "exceedingly strong emperor”
(imperator” fortissimos) when
mentioning the siege of Coimbra.
After his death, Fernando's
children took to calling him
"emperor" and "the great" (magnus).
In 1072, Alfonso, Ferdinand's
second son, referred to himself as
"offspring of the Emperor
Fernando."
44 History 9; Chronicon Conimbricense ChroniconComplutense sive Alcobacense, and ChroniconLamecense, PMH SS 1: 2, 18-19; Rodrigo,Historia, 203-5, Bk. 6. “a short medieval Latinhistory, in the form of annals, of events inGalicia and Portugal up to the death ofFerdinand I "the Great", whom the anonymouschronicler lauds as an "exceedingly strongemperor" (imperator fortissimus), in 1065.” ,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronicon_complutense
43
Bernard Reilly45 states:
“Fernando had married Sancha in
late 1032. (19) Bishop Pelayo, who
should have known, names the
children of the marriage as Urraca,
Sancho, Alfonso, García, and
Elvira.” Furthermore, he
surmises that “Since Urraca is
mentioned before any of the sons
this was presumably the order of
their birth as well.”46 It seems
most likely that Alfonso was born
in 1037 and so had attained about
twenty-six years in 1063. We have
no reliable data to establish the
age of the others, but estimates of
roughly twenty-eight for Sancho and
perhaps twenty-three for García
appear reasonable.” 47 Two years
later (1074), Urraca and Elvira
referred to themselves as
"daughters of the Emperor Fernando
45 Noted Medieval Scholar.
46 Reilly, Bernard F., The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI, 1065–1109. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988.47 Ferdinand I of León and Castile - Wikipedia, the free .., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_I_of_Le%C3%B3n_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
pg. 44
the Great [or, the great emperor
Fernando]." In a later charter of
1087 the following word usage
appears: Fernando is referred to
first as "great emperor", and
finally here appears "emperor"
alongside his consort, is "queen"
then "empress." In the fourteenth
century, the legend appears in
several “chronicles according to
which the Pope, the Holy Roman
Emperor, and the King of France”48
demands a tribute from Fernando. In
certain versions of the event, the
Pope is Urban. Fernando prepares
to pay, but one of his vassals,
later known as El Cid, declares”
war on the Pope, the Emperor and
the Frank.” 49
48 Imperator totius Hispaniae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_of_Spain_br(accessed October 25, 2014).
49 Ferdinand I of León and Castile - Wikipedia, the free .., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_I_of_Le%C3%B3n_br (accessed October 25, 2014).
45
As a result of this action,
the later rescinds their demand.
For this reason "Don Fernando is,
afterward, called ‘the Great’: the
peer of an emperor." “In the
sixteenth century, this account re-
appeared, extended and elaborated”50
on by Juan de Mariana. He “wrote
that in 1055, at a synod in
Florence, the Emperor Henry III
urged “Victor II to prohibit under
severe penalties the use of the
imperial title by “51 Fernando of
León. The use of the word emperor
obviously creates some friction
between the crown of Spain and the
Holy Roman Emperor.
50 Ibid.51 Ibid.
pg. 46
The story of El Cid declaring
war on the King of France and the
Pope simultaneously seems mythical,
but, nonetheless, it may have some
historical truth associated with
this event. Some modern authors
have accept it as a basic truth or
see a kernel of historical truth in
it. Spanish historian A.
Ballesteros argues that Fernando
adopts the title in opposition to
the Holy Roman Emperor's imperial
pretensions. German historian E.
E. Stengel believes the version
found in Mariana.
47
He interprets the now lost
acts of the Council of Florence as
his reference. “Juan Beneyto Pérez
was willing to accept it as based
on tradition and Ernst Steindorff,
the nineteenth-century student of
the reign of Henry III, “52transmits
via the Romancero. Menéndez Pidal,
a noted scholar of the Cid,
accepted the account of Mariana but
placed it in the year 1065.
Figure 7
Coat of Arms of
Castile and Leon
RESOURCES (via Wikipedia)
52 Imperator totius Hispaniae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_of_Spain_br(accessed October 25, 2014).
pg. 48
1. Reilly, Bernard F., The
Kingdom of León-Castilla under King
Alfonso VI, 1065–1109. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1988.
2. Martínez Díez, Gonzalo. Sancho
III el Mayor: Rey de Pamplona, Rex
Ibericus. Madrid: Marcial Pons
Historia, 2007, 151–53.
3. Martínez Díez 2007, 152. They
are, by date: 7 April 1014, albeit
improperly dated. (Ranimirus proles
Regis, confirmat. Garseanus, frater
eius, confirmat. Gundisaluus,
frater eius, confirmat. Fernandus,
germanus eius, confirmat.); 21
October 1022 (Garsias ET Ranimirus,
Gundesalbus ET Fernandus, testes.);
and 1033 (in presencia de filios
Regis pernominatos Ranimirus,
Garseanus, Gundesaluus,
Fredinandus), found in Jaime Goñi
Gaztambide, Colección diplomática
de la catedral de Pamplona (829–
1243) (Pamplona: 1997), docs. 5, 7,
12.
49
4. Martínez Díez 2007, 152.
Although all of these contain
anachronisms, they are not entirely
worthless. They are: two dated 21
April 1028, one of 1030 and one
from 5 April 1031, found in Antonio
Ubieto Arteta, Cartulario de San
Juan de la Peña, I (Valencia:
1962), docs. 47–48, 51, 56.
5. Martínez Díez 2007, 152: Sunt
tests Eximina Regina ET mater Regis
Regina dompna Maiora cum filiis
Suis dompno Garsia ET Fredinando ET
Gundesalbo ET fratre eorum Ranimiro
in Goñi Gaztambide 1997, doc. 8.
6. Martínez Díez 2007, 152. They
report 21 October 1022, 26 December
1032, and 1033, found in Ángel J.
Martín Duque, Documentación
medieval de Leire (siglos IX an
XII) (Pamplona: 1983), docs. 20,
23, 24.
pg. 50
7. Martinez Díez 2007, 152. They
read: Domina Maior Regina
confirmat. Ranimirus proles Regis
confirmat. Garseanus frater eius
confirmat. Gundisaluss frater eius
confirmat. Fernandous frater eius
confirmat. In Martín Duque 1983,
docs. 15–16.
8. Martínez Díez 2007, 153. Two
dates to 21 October 1015 and
another to 29 September 1023 found
in Martín Duque 1983, docs. 17–18,
21.
9. Martínez Díez 2007, 152–53.
They are both dated 1024, one to 17
May, and finds in José María
Lacarra, Colección diplomática de
Irache I, (958–1222) (Zaragoza:
1965), docs. 2, 4.
10. Martínez Díez 2007, 84.
11. Martínez Díez 2007, 150:
regnante gratia Dei, Principe
nostro domno Sanctio ET prolis eius
Fredinando comes ("[now] reigning
by the grace of God, the prince our
lord Sancho and his son count
Fernando").
51
12. Martínez Díez 2007, 150:
regnante Rex Sancio in Legione ET
comite Fernando in Castella ("[now]
reigning king Sancho in León and
count Fernando in Castile").
13. Martínez Díez 2007, 150:
Factum ... ipsas kalendas
novembrii, era MLXX currente,
Fredinando Sanzii comitatum gerente
("[this charter makes ... these
kalends of November, currently Era
1070 [AD 1032], Fernando [son] of
Sancho holding the county").
14. Martínez Díez 2007, 150–51.
15. Martínez Díez 2007, 182:
regnante imperator Veremundo in
Leione ET comite Fredinando in
Castella ET Rex Garsea in
Pampilonia ET rex Ranimirus in
Aragone ET rex Gundisalbus in
Ripacorça.
pg. 52
16. In the first Rodrigo Téllez,
on the occasion of his entering the
monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza,
donated his inheritance in
Jaramillo to the monastery
(Martínez Díez 2007, 182: rex
Vermudo et Fredinando comes in
regnis suis). The second issue by
Fernando's great aunt, the
AbbessUrraca of Covarrubias, and
reads: Facta carta conparationis
die sabbato, ipsas kalnedas
januarias, era TLXXVa, Rex Virimudo
ET Frenando comes in regnis Suis
(Martínez Díez 2007, 182).
17. Reilly 1988, 9–10.
18. Reilly 1988, 10–11.
19. Reilly 1988, 11–12.
20. García Gallo 1945, 226 n.
70: Regnante me Ranimiro ... ET
Fredelandus imperator in Castella
ET in Leione ET in Astorga ("me,
Ramiro, reigning ... and Fernando,
emperor in Castile and León and
Astorga").
53
21. This later, from García Gallo
1945, 226 n. 71, reads "King Ramiro
reigning in Aragon ... Fernando,
emperor in León and Castile"
(Regnante Ramiro rege in
Aragonie ... Fredelandus imperator
in Leione ET in Castella).
22. García Gallo 1945, 213 and
226 n. 72: sub imperio imperator is
Fredinandi Regis ET Sancie regine,
imperatrice regnum regentes in
Legione ET in Gallecia vel in
Castella.
23. García Gallo 1945, 213 226
n. 72: in tempore serenissimi
principis domni Fredinandi ET ejus
conjugis Sanciae reginae
perrexerunt ipsum imperatorem
Fredenandum.
24. Some sources give the feast
of John the Baptist, 24 June, as
the date of his death.
25. Reilly 1988, 13.
pg. 54
26. García Gallo 1945, 213 and
226 n. 74, partially quotes the
Chronicon′s entry: Rex Fernandous
cum coniuge eius Sancia Regina,
imperator fortissimus, and simul
cum Sui’s episcopis ... obsedit
civitatem Colimbriam ("King
Fernando with his consort Queen
Sancha, the exceedingly strong
emperor, likewise with his
bishops ... besieged the city of
Coimbra").
27. García Gallo 1045, 226 n.
73: Ego Adefonsus Regis, prolis
Fredinandi ymperatoris.
28. Ego Urraka ET Giluira,
Fredinandi imperatoris magni filie
(García Gallo 1045, 226 n. 73).
55
29. García Gallo 1045, 226 n.
73: "I, Urraca, daughter of King
Fernando ... to the reigning
Emperor Alfonso son of Emperor
Fernando the Great and Queen Sancha
... I, Urraca, daughter of that the
king and emperor Fernando and
Empress Sancha" (Ego Urraca prolis
Fredinandi regis ... Adefonso
imperatore regnante Ferdenandi
magni imperatores et Sancie regine
filio ... Ego Urraca filia ejusdem
regis et imperatoris Federnandi et
Sancie imperatricis).
30. García Gallo 1945, 213–14.
The most likely king of France is
Henry I, though Philip I also fit.
The Emperor would have been Henry
III, or possibly his father, Conrad
II.
31. García Gallo 1945, 214: fué
llamado Don Fernando el Magno: el
par de emperador.
32. García Gallo 1945, 214,
citing Menéndez Pidal 1929, I, 137–
38, and López Ortiz 1942, 43–46.
pg. 56
33. In Revista de Archivos,
Bibliotecas y Museos, 40 (1919):
473, cited in García Gallo 1945,
226 n. 78.
34. Kaisertitel und Souveränitätsidee:
Studien zur Vorgeschichte des modernen
Staatsbegrifts (Weimar: 1939), 7–8, 11–
13, 15–16, and 23, cited in García
Gallo 1945, 226 n. 78.
35. España y el problema de Europa:
contribución a la historia de la idea de imperio
(Madrid: 1942), 46–48, cited in
García Gallo 1945, 226 n. 78;
Steindorff 1881, 484ff.
57
36. He further suggested that the
Spanish response against Rome
encouraged a later Castilian
nationalist reaction against the
Spanish "empire," cf. García Gallo
1945, 214, citing Menéndez Pidal
1929, I, 138 and 256–64, who
completely rejects this thesis. It
is a belief that the origins of the
Jimenez dynasty lay in Gascony
according to the Códice de Roda- a
medieval manuscript, which
represents a unique source for
details of the 9th century Kingdom
of Navarre and neighboring
principalities. The Chronicon
Complutense alcobacense ("Complutensian
Chronicle, that is, [from a
manuscript] of Alcalá de Henares
[ancient Complutum]") is a short
Medieval Latin history. It is in
the form of annals, of events in
Galicia and Portugal up to the
death of Ferdinand I "the Great."
The anonymous chronicler lauds as
one "exceedingly strong emperor"
(imperator fortissimo), in 1065.
pg. 58
CHAPTER TWO:
El CID
ALFONSO AND SPAIN! - RODRIGO DE
VIVAR
AND FAMILY
Figure 8
© Biddle Family Media, Inc.
59
Statue of El Cid in Balboa Park, San
Diego California. John Pierre
Biddle Warden. 2012.
A Replica of the Shield of Rodrigo
de Vivar
Figure 9 © Biddle Family Media,
Inc.
pg. 60
British Author Southey
compiled and scripted, from the
Cronica General de Espana, events
about the life and times of Rodrigo
el Cid Campeador Díaz de Vivar.
Rodrigo is better known to history
as “El Cid." This basic historical
rendition written in 1808 is full
of El Cid’s historical events.
Southey has gathered and
transcribed events that happened
between the years 1252 A.D. and
1284 A.D. It writes some 200 years
after the demise of “El Cid” and
from the administration of Alfonso,
the Wise. This writer has modified
Robert Southey’s account of the
Crónica General de Espana. Thus by
consulting portions of the Cantar
de Mio Cid this writer is rendering
his interpretation based from these
accounts.
61
Alfonso the Wise53 writes the
Cronica General de Espana during his
reign. Knowledgeable in the studies
of his time, Alfonso is also a
troubadour. These combinations
enhance Alfonso's artistic
endeavor. Alfonso reigned between
the years 1252 and 1284, and the
King writes this Chronicle himself,
or administrators under his
immediate direction continue
writing the events. Crónica
General de Espana is the most
ancient of the Prose Chronicles of
Spain. It is the source of the
adventures of El Cid. The Cronica
de Espana describes Rodrigo's
escapades and tells in this
secondary source a history of the
life and times of Rodrigo Diaz de
Vivar.
53 Alfonso X, called the Wise, was the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30May 1252 until his death. During the Imperial election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be King of the Romans on 1 April. Wikipedia
pg. 62
Robert Southey —is already known as
the author of "Thalaba," published
in 1802, and of "Madoc," published
in 1805—He produces and publishes
this "Chronicle of the Cid” in 1808.
The Chronicle tells its readers
that Rodrigo of Bivar trains in the
military arts and that he earns the
respect of the people. He bears
the responsibility to protect the
land from the Moors. Rodrigo is so
skilled in military matters that he
never loses a battle. Although,
many of his enemies are Moors,
Rodrigo also befriends many of
these same people. He also makes
enemies among his own. It was for
these reasons that Rodrigo earns
the epitaph of “leader and
champion” or in Arabic “El Cid."
63
Before “El Cid’s” birth, the
country is without a king.
Therefore, the people meet and
chose two judges, of whom the one
is Nuño Rasuera, and the other Layn
Calvo. Layn married Nuño's
daughter; Elvira Nuñez unites the
two families in blood
relationships. From Nuño Rasuera
King Don Fernando descends.
In 1026, Rodrigo came from
solid noble lineage. He is born in
the city of Burgos, and in the
street of St. Martin in the
neighborhood of the palace of the
Counts of Castille. Layn Calvo is
Rodrigo’s grandfather. His father
is Diego Laynez. His mother is
Dona Teresa Rodriguez, the daughter
of Don Rodrigo Alvarez the Count of
Asturias.
pg. 64
During this time, an argument
ensues “between Count Don Gomez the
Lord of Gormaz, and Diego”54 Laynez-
Rodrigo’s father. The Count insults
Diego and gives him a slap across
the face with his glove—the highest
of insults during the Middle Ages.
Now Diego is a man of considerable
years, and his health has long
since passed. It is obvious that
he could not take any physical
vengeance to protect himself, and
so disgraced he retires from the
castle to his home to stay alone
and deliberate about his dishonor.
He could not eat, or sleep, he
sits staring downward. He does not
leave his house, or see his
friends. As if the venom of his
shame would pollute them, he turned
from them in silence. Indeed the
height of his depression
debilitates his usually cheerful
presence.
54 Count Don Gomez - MTDNA Haplogroup W Home,http://www.thecid.com/cid/gomez.htm_br (accessedOctober 4, 2014).
65
Rodrigo is young, and the
Count Don Gomez the Lord of Gormaz
is a mighty and renowned man in
arms, one who gives his voice first
in the Cortes (the Spanish
equivalent of the Council). The
Count is the best warrior in all of
Spain. So powerful is he that he
has thousands of friends spread
throughout the mountain regions.
Rodrigo, however, young and
impatient, is oblivious to these
things when he thinks of the
insults hurled at his father and
the devastating depression that it
causes. It is the first insult -and
Rodrigo vowed- it would be the last
which would be extended to the
blood of Layn Calvo. Rodrigo lives
in the court of King Fernando I,
and he lives in the household of
the King's eldest son, who is to be
the future King Sancho II.
pg. 66
Rodrigo asks nothing of Heaven
but justice. He asks only for a
fair arena, and his father seeing
that his son is pure of heart gives
to him, his sword and his blessing.
Now he is no longer bearing the
responsibility of protecting the
Calvo name. From the bullying, the
power of his father’s physical body
lies dormant before him, yet more
importantly Count Don Gomez's
actions crush Layn’s soul.
67
In his father’s presence,
silently, Rodrigo plots to avenge
the name of Calvo. The sword is
the sword of Mudarra, a hero, in
former times, and when Rodrigo
holds its cross in his hand, he
thinks within himself that his arm
is no weaker than Mudarra's.
Thereafter, he left his home and
challenged Count Gomez to battle.
In a confrontation, Rodrigo
assassinates him. He sliced off his
head with his father’s sword and
carried it home. The Cid rectifies
the insults that have so viciously
destroyed his father’s soul.
Restored and regenerated now is a
new sense of honor delivered to his
father’s home.
pg. 68
Depressed and despondent, the
old man is sitting at the table.
The food is lying before him
untasted. Rodrigo returns and
pointing to the head which hung
from the horse's collar, dropping
blood, he asks his father to look
up. This head is a medicine that
will restore Layne’s appetite. The
tongue that insults is no longer,
and the hand that wrongs severed; I
restore the honor of the Calvo
name.
69
Now history relates that King
Don Fernando argues with King Don
Ramiro I of Aragon over the city of
Calahorra. All claim this city as
their own; in covert pretense the
King of Aragon places it upon trial
by combat He confidently relies
upon the prowess of Don Martin
Gonzalez, who is at that time held
to be the finest warrior knight in
all Spain. King Don Fernando
accepts the challenge and names
Rodrigo of Vivar as his champion.
Rodrigo is not then present, but he
will appear. “His real name is
Rodrigo or Ruy Diaz de Vivar (i.e.
"son of Diego"), a Castilian noble
by birth.”55
55 Full text of "Hernani" - InternetArchive: Digital Library of ..,http://www.archive.org/stream/hernanihu00hugouoft/hernanihu00hugouoft_djvu.txt_br(accessed October 4, 2014).
pg. 70
In the spring of 1063, Rodrigo
fights in the Battle of Graus, where
King Ferdinand's half-brother,
Ramiro I of Aragon, lays siege to
the Moorish town of Cinca, which is
in Zaragoza lands. Al-Muqtadir,
“accompanied by Castilian troops
including El Cid,” 56 fight against
the Aragonite.
Rodrigo emerges victoriously;
Ramiro I is slain on the field of
battle and the Aragonite flee the
field. One legend conveys that,
during the conflict El Cid kills an
Aragonite knight in single combat,
this earned him the honorific title
Campeador (Champion). Finally,
Rodrigo does so well in the facets
of military skill that King
Fernando makes him commander and
chief of his armies.
56 : El Cid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cid_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
71
As the years passed, the Moors
continued invading Castille. They
come in larger and larger numbers.
Five Kings invade with detachments
of Moors and they past near Burgos,
and cross the mountains of Oca, and
plunder Carrion and Vilforado, and
Saint Domingo de la Calzada, and
Logroño, and Najara. They carry
away many captives both male and
female, and mares, and flocks of
all kinds.
pg. 72
Rodrigo Diaz of Vivar, as
commander of Fernando armies, combs
the country, and finally locates
the Moors in the mountains of Oca.
The Cid descends upon them and
embarrasses them with his military
prowess and maneuvers. He takes
back all their illicit booty and
captures all the five Moorish
Kings. El Cid is thankful that he
can return the illicit plunder to
the people and to secure the safety
of their borders. He says to his
mother that he did not think it a
good thing to keep the Kings in
captivity, but to let them go; and
so he sets them free and tells them
to leave.
73
Accordingly, each returns to
his country, praising and blessing
Rodrigo for his freedom, and the
Moor sent him great gifts, and
immediately the Moor sent him
tribute and acknowledges themselves
to be his vassals. So El Cid now
had the allegiance of five armies.
At the same time, there came before
Alfonso VI, Ximena Gomez, the
daughter of the Count that Rodrigo
had slain. She is the King’s
cousin, who properly addressed the
King “and said, Sir I am the
daughter of Count Don Gomez of
Gormaz, and Rodrigo of Bivar has
slain the Count, my father.”57
57 Count Don Gomez - MTDNA Haplogroup WHome, http://www.thecid.com/cid/gomez.htm_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
pg. 74
I am the youngest. Sir, I come
to ask a favor, that will give me
Rodrigo of Bivar to be my husband,
and I am greatly honored; for I am
sure that he will have more fame
and wealth than any man in your
dominions. Since Rodrigo has
murdered my father, therefore; I am
seeking his protection. In exchange
for that protection, I vow to
forgive Rodrigo a good marriage and
be a good and faithful wife.
What has not been said is that
Ximena and Don Rodrigo had been
lovers since childhood. Their
families had been great friends and
wherever you would find Ximena you
would also find Rodrigo. It would
be difficult indeed to forgive a
man who had slain her father but
the closeness of the two that had
grown through the years held sway.
75
When the King thought it an
appropriate time, he speaks to
Rodrigo and says that Doña Ximena
Gomez, the daughter of the Count
that is slain, has come to ask me
to make Rodrigo, her husband. She
would forgive her father's death;
Alfonso requested him to think it a
good thing. Again what is
cleverly concealed at this point in
time is that Alfonso is Xmena’s
cousin.
So Rodrigo left the King and
took his spouse with him to the
house of his mother. He gives her
to his mother's protection. In the
presence of his mother, he took
Ximena's hand and made a vow. He
proclaims that he would never go
anywhere until he had won five
battles in the field. He
explained that these battles were
necessary for the protection and
security of the realm.
pg. 76
When Ferdinand died, Sancho
II, with the aid of Rodrigo
continues to enlarge his territory,
Rodrigo conquers both Christian
cities and the Moorish cities of
Zamora and Badajoz. When Sancho
learns that Alfonso was planning on
overthrowing him in order to
increase his area, Sancho sent El
Cid to bring Alfonso back so that
Sancho could speak to him. In
Cid’s absence, “Sancho is
assassinated in 1072, as the result
of a pact between his brother
Alfonso and his sister Urraca.
Since Sancho” 58 dies unmarried and
childless, all of his power passes
to his brother Alfonso.
58 Digital heart book, http://watchronpaul.com/books/10421/The-Cid/_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
77
Under Sancho II, son of
Ferdinand, Rodrigo serves “as
commander of the royal troops. In a
war between the two brothers,
Sancho II and Alfonso VI of Leon,”
because of a military maneuver on
the part of Rodrigo, Sancho is
victorious, and his brother is
forced to seek refuge with the
Moorish King of Toledo.
pg. 78
As the leader of the
Castilians, Alfonso never forgave
the Cid for having compelled him to
swear that he, Alfonso, had no hand
in the murder of his brother. “In
1072, Sancho was assassinated at
the siege of Zamora, and he left no
heir. The Castilians had to
acknowledge Alfonso as King”. 59 “So
he was the first person who united
the areas of Castille and Leon.”60
Alfonso VI was the first, who was
called King of both Castille and
Leon. Previous to this time the
lords of Castile are simply called
Counts.
59 Chronicle Of The Cid by Various - epubBooks,https://www.epubbooks.com/book/344-chronicle-of-the-cid_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
60 Ibid.
79
Historically, the earliest
literary treatment of El Cid's life
is found in Carmen Campidoctoris
written by a Catalan partisan to
celebrate El Cid's victory over
Berenguer Ramón II. The author of
the Campidoctoris reports that, as
a young man, according to the epic
of El Cid, Alfonso VI was forced to
say publicly that he has not
participated to kill his brother.
The oath was made openly” in front
of Santa Gadea (Saint Agatha)
Church in Burgos on holy relics
multiple times.”61 This oath giving
is widely reported as the truth
among some historians, “but
contemporary documents on the lives
of both Rodrigo Diaz and Alfonso VI
of Castile and León do not mention
any such event.” 62
61 El Cid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cid_br (accessedOctober 4, 2014).
62 Ibid.
pg. 80
In 1057, Rodrigo battled
against the Moorish stronghold of
Zaragoza. His conquest makes its
emir, al-Muqtadir, and a vassal of
King Sancho II. Almost immediately,
Alfonso returns from exile in
Toledo and takes his seat as king
of Castile and León. He is deeply
suspected in Castile by the
nobility of the realm, of
involvement in Sancho's murder.
Rodrigo's position as armiger Regis
is taken away and given to
Rodrigo's enemy, Count Garcia
Ordonez.
81
“In 1079, Rodrigo was sent by
Alfonso VI to Seville to the court
of al-Mutamid to collect the parias
owed by that taifa to León–
Castile.”63 While the Cid is in
Seville Granada, assisted by other
Castilian knights, attacks Seville,
and Rodrigo and his forces repulse
the Christian and Grenadine
attackers at the Battle of Cabra, in
the mistaken belief that he was
defending the king's tributary.
The Count Garcia Ordonez and the
other Castilian leaders are taken
captive by the Cid “and held for
three days before being released”64.
63 El Cid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, andhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cid_br (accessedOctober 4, 2014).
64 El Cid - Shelf3D, http://shelf3d.com/i/El%20Cid_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
pg. 82
In the” Battle of Cabra (1079)”,65 El Cid rallies his troops and
turns “the battle into a rout of
Emir Abdulallh of Granada and his
ally Garcia Ordonez.”66 However, El
Cid's unauthorized expedition into
Granada greatly angers Alfonso and
on May 8, 1080, El Cid confirms the
last document in King Alfonso's
court. This unauthorized expedition
is one of the given reasons for El
Cid's exile. Several other motives
are plausible and may have been
contributing factors. It is
thought that jealous nobles turn
Alfonso against El Cid, or
Alfonso's animosity once again
raises its ugliness towards El Cid
and an accusation of pocketing some
of the monies from Seville help to65http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cabra The Battle of Cabra took place in 1079 in southern Iberia (now Spain) between two Islamic states, Granada and Seville. Each side was aidedby Castilian knights under Alfonso VI. It resulted in a victory for El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz),who routed the invading forces of Emir Abd Allah of Granada and his Christian allies led byCount García Ordóñez.66 Rodrigo "El Cid Campeador" Diaz (1043 - 1099) - Find A Grave .., http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8091411_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
83
At first he goes “to
Barcelona, where Ramón Berenguer II
(1076–1082) and Berenguer Ramón II
(1076–1097)”67 refuse his offer of
service. Then he journeys to the
Taifa of Zaragoza where he receives
a much warmer welcome. Alfonso
never forgives Rodrigo for having,
as of the Castilians, compelling
him to swear that he has no hand in
the murder of his brother. Alfonso
does, though, as a conciliatory
measure, gives his cousin Ximena,
daughter of the Count of Oviedo, to
the Cid in marriage. There
afterwards, in 1081, when he finds
himself firmly entrenched on the
throne, and encouraged by Leonese
nobles Alfonso strikes back.
Rodrigo’ enemies unjustly accuse
him of stealing money; they say he
is embezzling funds from the royal
treasury. Alfonso VI yields to his
feelings of resentment—and he
67 El Cid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cid_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
85
“At the head of a large body
of followers, the Cid”68 finally
joins the Moorish King of Zaragoza,
in whose service he fights against
both Moslems and Christians with
equal vigor. It is during this
exile that he is first called “El
Cid," an Arabic title, which means
the lord. He is very successful in
all his battles never losing any
military encounters. During the
exile years, the Cid conquers city
after city in Spain and claims that
all is done in Alfonso's name. To
regain his integrity, he fought
“against the Moorish armies and
conquered Valencia. By these heroic
acts, he regains the confidence of
the king,”69 after a disastrous
defeat at the hands of the Moors of
68 The Cid by Pierre Corneille - Books Should BeFree, http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/book/Cid-by-Pierre-Corneille_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
69 Cantar De Mio Cid The Story Cantar Del Destierro Cantar De Las, http://www.masterliness.com/a/Cantar.de.Mio.Cid.htm_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
87
Alfonso commanders, Rodrigo return
to Alfonso’s court, and his honor
restored. Alfonso knows he must
now depend on Rodrigo and his honed
fighting skills and leadership.
Rodrigo's function is to restore
the morale of the troops.
In honor of his return, King
Alfonso VI personally marries
Rodrigo’s daughters to two princes
from Carrion (there are some
historical questions about the
assumed marriages). However, when
men from El Cid’s army makes fun of
the princes because they ran from a
Lion; the two beat their wives in
revenge and left their wives tied
to a tree. El Cid demands justice.
The two are beaten in a duel and
stripped of their honor, and they
pay the dowry back to Rodrigo. The
two daughters remarry; one a prince
from Aragon and the other a prince
from Navarre. Through these
marriages, Rodrigo helps to begin
the unification of Spain.
pg. 88
Moctadir invades Valencia in
1088, but afterwards carries “on
operations alone, and finally,
after a long siege,” 70 makes
himself master of the city in June,
1094. He retains possession of
Valencia for five years. Rodrigo
reigns as an independent sovereign
over one of the richest territories
on the Peninsula. El Cid dies
suddenly in 1099 some say of anger
on hearing that his relative, Alvar
Fañez, is vanquished. The army that
El Cid has sent for is decimated.
70 The Cid by Pierre Corneille - Books Should BeFree, http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/book/Cid-by-Pierre-Corneille_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
89
After Cid's death, Doña Ximena
holds Valencia till 1102. Finally,
she is coerced to yield to the
Almoravides and then escaped to
Castile where she dies in 1104. Her
remains are placed by those of” “El
Cid” in the monastery of San Pedro
de Cardeña.”71 Alfonso is convinced
that he can not hold Valencia and
so he burns the city. The great
popular hero in the AGE OF CHIVALRY
in Spain is born in the village of
Vivar near Burgos around 1040;
Rodrigo or Ruy Diaz dies at
Valencia, Spain in 1099. His
adoring countrymen gave him the
honorable epithets of El Cid (lord,
chief) by the Moors and that of
Campeador (champion) by the
Spaniards.
71 "Scenes and Adventures in Spain: From 1835 to 1840", http://www.archive.org/stream/scenesandadvent00msgoog/scenesandadvent00msgoog_djvu.txt_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
pg. 90
“Tradition and legend have
cast a deep shadow over the history
of this brave knight, to such an
extent that some question his very
existence,”72 but there is, however,
no reason to doubt his existence.
Some historians paint Rodrigo as a
free agent, a dishonorable
adventurer, one who battles with
equal vigor against Christians and
Moors alike. They see him as a man
who furthers his greedy ends. In
their view, he destroys a Christian
church with the same zeal as he
destroys a Moslem temple.
72 CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: El Cid - New Advent, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03769a.htm_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
91
To these people El Cid
plunders and murders for gain and
not from a conscientious, patriotic
motive. It must be accepted in
mind, however, that the facts that
discredit him have reached us
through the hostile eyes of Arab
historians and that to deal with
him impartially, “he should be
judged according to the standard of
his country in his historical time
context.”73
73 Ibid.
pg. 92
The Cid of romance, legend,
and ballad is famous. In that role,
he is fancied as the tender, loving
husband and father; the intrepid
and fearless soldier; the noble and
generous conqueror, staunchly loyal
to his country and his king.
Chivalry is the Cid whose name is
hallowed and linked to the
inspiration of Spanish nationalism.
Some historians and artists
describe Rodrigo’s career as being
somewhat legendary, and others see
him as vicious. On the other hand,
there are detractors but mainly
from Arab historians.
93
Whatever the real truth is,
the real adventures of El Cid
Campeador has been told over and
over throughout the centuries. “His
name has come down to us in modern
times in connection with a long
series of heroic achievements.”74
El Cid stands out as the central
figure “in the long struggle of
Christian Spain against the
invading Moslem hoards.”75
74 CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: El Cid - New Advent, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03769a.htm_br (accessed October 4, 2014).75 http://www.vernonjohns.org/snuffy1186/elcid.html(accessed October 10, 2014)
95
When his daughters are abused by
their first marriage, El Cid
demands justice. Through the use
of champions and duels the princes
are killed, and justice is served.
Next, the daughter of the Cid marry
again. Rodrigo lives long enough
to see his two daughter happily
married. Cristina Dias Rodriguez,
the oldest daughter of El Cid, was
born in 1077. She had one son in
1099. He is to become King of
Navarre, and he is to be known as
Garcia VII (among other epitaphs)
King of Navarre. Ramiro Sánchez,
Lord of Monzón weds Cristina in
1099 or shortly before the Prince
García Ramírez is born. This
marriage produces the future king
of Pamplona, García Ramírez “the
Restorer,"76 who in 1130 marries his
first wife, Marguerite de L’Aigle.
They are also parents of Elvira
Ramirez, wife of Count Rodrigo
Gomez, son of Count Gomez Gonzaletz
that of Candespina, with the right76http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garc%C3%ADa_Ram%C3%ADrez_of_Navarre
pg. 96
to royal succession. Garcia
Ramirez is the grandson of El Cid.
In 1099 García VII Ramírez 77
is born in Navarre, Spain. His
father, Ramiro, was 29 and his
mother, Cristina, was 22. He had
one daughter in 1133. He dies in
1150 in Larca, Spain," at the age
of 51."
RESOURCES (Via Wikipedia)
1. Actas Del Congreso Internacional el Cid,
Poema e Historia (12-16 de Julio de
1999), Ayuntamiento de Burgos,
2000, págs. 55-92. ISBN 84-87876-
41-2
77 Son of Ramiro Sánchez, señor deMonzón andElvira Cristina Rodriguez Diaz deVivarHusband of Marguerite del'Aigle; N.N. and Urraca la Asturiana Alfonso deCastillaFather of Sancho VI el Sabio, rey deNavarra;Blanca de Navarra, reina consorte deCastilla;Margherita di Navarra, regina consortedi Sicilia;Rodrigo García; Vela Ladrone deGuevara and 1 otherBrother of Alfonso Ramírez, señor deCastroviejoand Cdesa. Elvira Ramírez. Geni.com.
97
2. Ramón Menéndez Pidal,
«Autógrafos inéditos Del Cid y de
Jimena en dos diplomas de 1098 y
1101,» Revista de Filología
Española, t. 5 (1918), Madrid,
Sucesores de Hernando, 1918.
Digital copies Valladolid, Junta de
Castilla y León. Consejería de
Cultura y Turismo. Dirección
General de Promociones e
Instituciones Culturales, 2009-
2010. Original in Archivo de la
Catedral de Salamanca, caja 43,
legajo 2, n. º 72.
3. Alberto Montaner Frutos y Ángel
Escobar, «El Carmen Campidoctoris y la
materia cidiana,» in Carmen Campidoctoris
Poema Latino del Campeador, Madrid,
Sociedad Estatal España Nuevo
Milenio, 2001, pág. 73 [lam.]. ISBN
978-84-95486-20-2
4. Alberto Montaner Frutos,
«Rodrigo el Campeador como princeps en los
siglos XI y XII»
pg. 98
5. Georges Martin «El primer testimonio
cristiano sobre la toma de Valencia (1098), »
en el número monográfico «Rodericus
Campidoctor» de la revista
electrónica e-Spania, n. º 10
(diciembre de 2010). Online since
January 22nd, 2011. URL <http://e-
spania.revues.org/19945> Last time
visited November 28th, 2011.
Complete text (Edition of the Latin
text) in José Luis Martín & al.,
Documentos de los Archivos
Catedralicio y Diocesano de
Salamanca (siglos XII-XIII),
Salamanca, Universidad, 1977, doc.
1, p. 79-81.
6. A b Chaytor, Henry John (1933).
"Chapter 3: The Reconquista." A History of
Aragon and Catalonia, London: Methuen.
Pp. 39–40.
99
7. The Historia Roderick says that
the other two Castilian leaders
were Diego Pérez and Lope Sánchez.
De los Rios, José Amador (1863).
"Capitulo 3: Primeros Monumentos
Escritos de la Poesía Castellana
(Chapter 3: First Written Monuments
of Castilian Poetry)." Historia
Crítica de la Literatura Española,
Tomo III, (II Parte, Subciclo I)
(The History and Criticism of
Spanish Literature, Volume III,
(Second Part, subpart I)) (in
Spanish). Madrid, Spain: J.
Rodriguez. P. 104.8. ^ a b c d
Perea Rodríguez, Óscar. "Díaz de
Vivar, Rodrigo El Cid, (1043-
1099)." Retrieved 23 April 2012.
9. Alonso, J. I. Garcia; Martinez,
J. A.; Criado, A. J. (1999).
"Origin of El Cid's sword revealed
by ICP-MS metal analysis."
Spectroscopy Europe (John Wiley &
Sons, Ltd.) 11 (4)
Translations into English
pg. 100
Robert Southey, Chronicle of the
Cid, 1808, prose translation with
other matter from chronicles and
ballads, with an appendix including
a partial verse translation by John
Hookham Frere.
John Ormsby, The Poem of Cid,
1879, with introduction and notes.
Archer Milton Huntington, Poem of
the Cid, (1897–1903), reprinted
from the unique manuscript at
Madrid, with translation and notes.
Lesley Byrd Simpson, the Poem of
the Cid, 1957.
W.S. Merwin, the Poem of the Cid,
1959.
Paul Blackburn, Poem of the Cid: a
modern translation with notes,
1966.
Fuentes Ian Michael, 1976,
(Introducción) a su Ed, Ian
Michael, 1976, 'Introduction' to
his ed. DePoema de Mío Cid, Madrid,
Castalia p. 39. ISBN 978-84-7039-
171-2.
101
Alberto Montaner Frutos, 2011, La
Historia Roderici y el archivo cidiano:
cuestiones filológicas, diplomáticas, jurídicas e
historiográficas, e-Legal History Review, 12,
Alberto Montaner Frutos, 2011,
"History and the file Roderici
cidiano: philological issues,
diplomatic, legal and
historiographic,' e-Legal History
Review, 12, ISSN 1699-5317 ISSN
1699-5317.
Wikipedia.com The legendary sword of
“El Cid-Tizona. (Accessed September 24,
2014).
pg. 102
COUNTESS ALVIRA CRISTINA DIAZ
RODRIGUEZ DE VIVAR
Maria "and Cristina, daughters of
Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, are “beaten
and left for dead by their
husbands, the lords of Carrión.
Cristina was eventually remarried
to Ramiro Sanchez.”78 This
particular story of the beatings of
the daughters of El Cid according
to many sources may well be false.
The sources for such a tale simply
are not in place. What is known is
that the two daughters eventually
married into royal families. 79
78 Ramiro Sánchez, Lord of Monzón - Wikipedia, the free .., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramiro_S%C3%A1nchez,_Lord_of_Monz%C3%B3n_br (accessed October 4, 2014).79 See Appendix A.
103
CHAPTER 3
KING GARCÍA RAMÍREZ, THE RESTORER
Do not confuse this Garcia for
the earlier one of the same name, a
Navarre’s sub-king, García Ramírez
of Viguera. Historians report
“García Ramírez, sometimes García
IV, V, VI or VII (died 21 November
1150),”80 is called the Restorer
(Spanish: el Restaurador), is Lord
of Monzón and Logroño, and, from
1134, King of Navarre. He
"restored" the freedom” of the
Navarrese crown after 58 years of
union with the Kingdom of Aragon.”81
80 : García Ramírez of Navarre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garc%C3%ADa_Ram%C3%ADrez_of_Navarre_br, and (accessed October 4, 2014).81 Ibid.
pg. 104
The birth of Garcia takes
place during the early part of the
“twelfth century.” His father,
Ramiro Sánchez of Monzón, is the
son of Sancho Garcés, illegitimate
son of García Sánchez III of
Navarre and half-brother of Sancho
IV. His mother Cristina is a
daughter of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar,
better known in the annals of
history as El Cid.” 82 He is the
grandson of El Cid.
Garcia Ramirez IV King of
Navarre
Figure 12
Garcia Rameriez
82 Ibid.
105
In 1076, as a consequence of
the murder of king Sancho IV by his
siblings, Navarre united with
Aragon. However, with the loss of
the childless warrior king Alfonso
the Battler in 1134 the succession
fell into dispute. In his unusual
will, Alfonso had left the combined
kingdoms to three crusading orders,
which effectively neutralized the
Papacy from exercising a role in
selecting among the potential
candidates. The nobility83 quickly
rejected the will, with that of
Aragon favoring Alfonso's younger
brother Ramiro, a monk.
83 : García Ramírez of Navarre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garc%C3%ADa_Ram%C3%ADrez_of_Navarre_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
pg. 106
The nobility of Navarre is
skeptical of Ramiro abilities, and
whether having the necessary
temperament, he is able to resist
the incursions by their western
neighbor. The western neighbor was
another claimant, King Alfonso VII
of León and Castile. They, perhaps
chafing under the continued
Aragonese hegemony, initially
favored a different candidate,
Peter of Atarés, a grandson of
Alfonso's illegitimate uncle,
Sancho Ramírez, Count of Ribagorza.84
84 Ibid.
107
A convocation of the bishops
and nobility convenes at Pamplona.85
The meeting is to compare
leadership qualities between Peter
and Ramiro. Peter alienates the
convention as he acts arrogantly.
Consequently, they are in favor of
an heir from their dynasty, García
Ramírez, Lord of Monzón. Garcia is
the husband of Cristina de Vivar,
the daughter of El Cid.
He like Peter descended from
an illegitimate brother of a former
king. The nobility and clergy of
Navarre select Garcia to reign as
King. At the same time, Ramiro
enthrones at Aragon, and he
strongly opposed Garcia’s election
in Navarre.
85 Ibid.
pg. 108
In a light of this, the Bishop
of Pamplona grants García his
church's treasure to fund his
government against Ramiro's
pretensions. Among Garcia’s other
early supporters were Lop
Ennechones, Martinus de Leit, and
Count Latro, who carries “out
negotiations on the king's behalf
with Ramiro.”86
“Eventually, however, in
January 1135 with the Pact of
Vadoluongo the two monarchs reached
a mutual accord of "adoption": 87
Deeming García as a "son" and
Ramiro as a "father" attempts to
maintain both the freedom of each
kingdom and the de facto supremacy
of the Aragonese.
86 : García Ramírez of Navarre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garc%C3%ADa_Ram%C3%ADrez_of_Navarre_br (accessed October 4, 2014).87 Ibid.
109
In May 1135, García declares
himself a vassal of Alfonso VII.
The security and lordship of
Castile now operate under the
vassalage of Garcia. Therefore,
Alfonso recognizes Garcia’s royal
status. Now that Garcia submits
to Castile it operates as an act of
protection for Navarre. It results
in putting Navarra in an offensive
alliance against Aragon.
Now that García turns to
Alfonso, this law forced Ramiro to
marry and to produce an heir.
Ramiro then forges an alliance with
Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona.
“On the other hand, García may have
been responding to Ramiro's
marriage, which proved beyond doubt
that the king of Aragon seeks
another heir other than his distant
relative and adopted son.” 88
88 Descendants of HALFDAN "the Aged" Sveidasson (c.762-c.800), http://www.ffish.com/family_tree/Descendants_Halfdan_Sveidasson/D1.htm_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
pg. 110
Before September 1135, Alfonso
VI grants García the area of
Zaragoza as a fief. [Seven]
Recently conquered from Aragon,
this outpost of Castilian authority
in the east is “clearly beyond the
military capacity of Alfonso to
control and provides further
reasons for the recognition of
García in Navarre in return for not
only his homage, but his holding
Zaragoza on behalf of Castile. “89
In 1136, Alfonso VI now does
homage to Zaragoza and, therefore,
he recognizes Ramiro as King of
Zaragoza. In 1137, the suzerainty
of Zaragoza changed hands to
Raymond Berengar of Catalonia. ,
however, Alfonso retains reign over
it because Garcia’s reign over it
has closed. “Sometime after 1130,
but before his succession, García
marries Marguerite de l'Aigle.”90
89 García Ramírez of Navarre - Wikipedia, thefree encyclopedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garc%C3%ADa_Ram%C3%ADrez_of_Navarre_br (accessed October 4,2014).
90 Ibid.
111
She is to bear him a son and
successor, Sancho VI, as well as
two daughters whom kings marry.
The elder, Blanche, is born after
Berengar IV has confirmed by a
peace treaty to another bride in
1149, despite the count's existing
betrothal to Petronilla of Aragon,
but García dies before the marriage
could be carried out. Instead, she
marries Sancho III of Castile.
King Sancho's younger
daughter, Princess Margaret,
marries King William I of Sicily.
Garcia’s relationship with his
first queen is, “however, shaky.
She took on many lovers and showed
favoritism to her French
relatives.”91 She generates a
second son named Rodrigo, but her
husband refused to recognize as his
own.”92
91 Ibid.
92 Ibid.
pg. 112
“On 24 June 1144, in León,
García marries “Urraca, called "La
Asturiana" (the Asturian),
illegitimate daughter of Alfonso
VII by Guntroda Pérez, “93 to
strengthen his relationship with
his overlord. “This type of
marriage was common among the
nobility.”94 The marriage must
ennoble on the basis of wealth and
position not love.
93 Ibid.
94 Descendants of HALFDAN "the Aged" Sveidasson (c.762-c.800), http://www.ffish.com/family_tree/Descendants_Halfdan_Sveidasson/D1.htm_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
113
In 1136, García obliged to
surrender Rioja to Castile but, in
1137, he allies with Alfonso I of
Portugal and confronts Alfonso VII.
They confirmed the peace between
1139 and 1140. He is thereafter an
ally of Castile in the Reconquista
and is “instrumental in the
conquest of Almería in 1147. In
1146, he occupied Tauste, which
belonged to Aragon, and Alfonso VII
intervenes to mediate peace between
the two kingdoms.”95
García dies on 21 November
1150 in Lorca, near Estella, and
entombs “in the cathedral of Santa
María la Real in Pamplona.”96
Garcia's eldest son, Sancho VI-the
Wise, succeeds him. Garcia leaves
one daughter by Urraca: Sancha,
she “married successively Gaston V
of Béarn, “97 and then Pedro
Manrique de Lara.
95 Ibid.96 Ibid.97 García Ramírez of Navarre (Refinisher) - Pics,Videos .., http://www.spokeo.com/Garcia+Vi+Of+Navarre+1_br (accessed October 4, 2014).
pg. 114
He leaves a widow in the
person of his third wife, Ganfreda
López. García greatest legacy
besides the restoration is “the
primary monument of his reign, the
monastery of Santa María de la
Oliva in Carcastillo. It is a fine
example of Romanesque
architecture.”98
Figure 13
98 Ibid.
115
Chapter 4
Alfonso VIII “The Noble”
The daughter of García Ramírez
— Blanche de Navarre and Sancho III
de Castile gave birth to Alfonso
VIII in Soria, Spain on 11 November
1115. Epitaphs given to Alfonso
VIII (11 November 1155 – 5 October
1214) were "The Noble" or "el de
las Navas.” The latter is a
reference to his victory “at the
Battle of las Navas de Tolosa”. “This
battle marked the beginning of the
end of Muslim rule in Spain.” 99
These epitaphs are a reflection on
his character and his fighting
skills.
99 Britain in the New World [ushistory.org] - USHistory, http://www.ushistory.org/us/2.asp(accessed October 15, 2014).
pg. 116
He is the King of Castile from
1158 to his death and also the King
of Toledo. The conquests of the
Almohad Caliphate sites on the
Peninsula is the legacy he leaves
to the Spanish Christians.
Previously, Alfonso is defeated in
Alarcos by the hands of the
Almohads. But, thereafter, the
power of the Almohads breaks when
Alfonso leads a coalition of
Christian princes and foreign
crusaders against them.
In 1212, at the Battle de the
Navas de Tolosa, Alfonso is completely
victorious. The battle marks
Alfonso VIII de Castile as a solid
leader. It also celebrates a turn
of the tide of Christian fortunes
and supremacy on the Iberian
Peninsula. Leon and Castile and
Aragon are lead to a closer
coalition with each other, thereby
cementing the rule of these three
Christian areas.
117
To control the regency was to
control the kingdom, so it was
thought by a majority of nobles.
Immediately, the various noble
houses plunged Castile into turmoil
while rivaling for the open
position of reagent. The child
king to be lives by the actions of
a squire. When nobles approached
too close for comfort the squire
took him to a royal Stronghold so
that rival families could not harm
him.
The two major contenders for
the regency were the powerful noble
houses of Lara and Castro. His
uncle, Ferdinand II de Leon even
vied for the honor. During the
year of 1159, Garcia Garces de Aza
took custody of Alfonso; however,
he did not have enough money to
support him. The problem of
regency came to a head when the
Castro and Lara families met in
battle in March of 1160.
pg. 118
While the Castro family won
the Battle de Lobregal, the
guardianship of Alfonso and the
rule of the kingdom went to
Manrique Perez de Lara. By the age
of fifteen, Alfonso stepped forward
to take control of his kingdom.
“He wrest his capital, Toledo, away
from the Lara Family.” He is named
after his grandfather, Alfonso VII,
although his childhood, arguably,
did not resemble the life of his
emperor grandfather. Traumatic
events marked his early upbringing.
First came the death of his
mother and within the space of
three years his father died.
Although a hapless infant, he is
proclaimed king when only three
years of age. The rowdy nobles of
the realm consider his presence
merely a nuisance as they plot
their expected course. To control
the regency was to control the
kingdom, so it is thought by a
majority of nobles.
119
Immediately, the various
noble houses plunge Castile into
turmoil while rivaling for the open
position of reagent. The child
survives by the actions of a
squire. As the nobles approached
too close for comfort - the squire
took him to a royal Stronghold so
that rival families could not harm
him.
The two major contenders for
the regency are the powerful noble
houses of Lara and Castro. His
uncle, King Ferdinand II de Leon
even vies for the honor. During
the year of 1159, Garcia Garces de
Aza takes custody of Alfonso;
however, he does not have enough
money to support him. The problem
of regency comes to a head when the
Castro100 and Lara families meet in
battle in March of 1160.
100 A high ranking political family of Spain.Centered on Granada during the Middle Ages.
pg. 120
Alfonso gives to the Knights
de Templar the municipality of
Uclés for a source of income. In
1177, it was from here that plans
and executions with the Knights
commence and end in the reconquest
of Cuenca. From the date of 21
September, the citizens on the
feast of Saint Matthew celebrate
their independence from the Moors.101 Through negotiations and with
political wrangling Alfonso allies
the major Christian kingdoms of
Iberia.
Now Navarre, León, Portugal,
and Aragon will stand and fight
against the “Almohads.”102 So
elaborate was his plan that by “the
Treaty de Cazola of 1179,” expansion
plans for future military conquest
of encompassing areas of the future
were in place.
101 Moor, Berbers, and Almoravids all Muslimtribes involved in the conquest of Spain.
102 Berber people who controlled the IberianPeninsula 1199–1214) are defeated at theBattle in the Sierra Morena by an alliance ofthe Christian princesof Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and Portugal.
121
The king of Castile also in
1186 retrieves a part of the land
area that lies between the
triangular land areas, of Burgos to
Soria and then to Longoria, known
as La Rioja. Because of his love
of learning, Alfonso founds the
first university in Castile and
locates it in Plasencia. “The city
is built from the ground up” and
contains six gates, 68 towers and a
double line of walls. After
founding Plasencia (Cáceres) in
1186, he embarks on a major
initiative.
Figure 14
Present day Plasencia.
pg. 122
He addresses a problem that
has plagued Spain's entities for
centuries. Reconquista is his
ultimate goal, and he needs a
united nobility to accomplish this.
Ultimately, Alfonso is able not
only to unite his nobles but to
unite most Christian kingdoms of
Spain to wage the Pope's
Reconquista.
123
The principal town of Alacros
in Castile came under attack by the
Almohads. Concurrently, in 1195
Alfonso is forced to come to its
aid. What follows is unfortunate
for Castile. Alfonso loses the
fray and in battle nearly escapes
with his life. Caliph Abu Yaqub
Yusuf as-Mansur assumes that his
victory has stabilized the Moor
interests in the Iberian Peninsula
and unwisely leaves for Africa.
Then the city of Calatrava falls to
the Moor as the Moor exploits the
surrounding area. Toledo now
becomes the stalwart boundary
between the Castilians and the
Moor.
pg. 124
Now, however, the days of the
Almohads are numbered. Pope
Innocent III in 1212 launches a
crusade against the Almohads. The
Christian opposition to the Moor is
the Castilians under Alfonso, the
Franks, the Catalans and Aragonese
under Peter II and Navarrese under
Sancho VII. There was also a
contingent of the military orders
present. Three major cities of
Benavente, Alarcos, and Calatrava
surrender before the onslaught.
This time Alfonso and his allies
are successful, and the power of
the Almohad diminishes in
increments. The historic and
decisive battle ensues at the”
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa on 16 July,
1212.”103 The Moorish caliph
Muhammad an-Nasir now in turn
tastes the bitterness of defeat
103 Álvaro Núñez de Lara (died 1218) - Wikipedia,the free ..,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81lvaro_N%C3%BA%C3%B1ez_de_Lara_(died_1218) (accessed October15, 2014).
125
By means of a letter,
Berenguela contacts her sister
Blanche-the Queen of France. She
writes a letter describing the
action of the battle. Berenguela
relates that the number of dead is
estimated to be up to 70,000 men,
15,000 women. From ours, however,
about 200 were found to have
fallen. The booty found in the
Saracen tents in gold and silver,
clothes, animals, cannot be
estimated because of the vast size
of the plunder; 20,000 pack animals
can scarcely carry the darts and
arrows alone; the tents of those
who fled were estimated at 100,000.
127
She goes on to relate that
their father did not retain
anything of all that the booty for
his use or his men’s, but he
divided it all among the kings of
Navarre and Aragon, and those who
were with them and the whole ...
expedition. A little more than
twenty-four month’s later Emperor
Alfonso dies. His faithful Queen,
Leonor of England, Queen of
Castile, dies only twenty-six days
later. The Emperor leaves an
amazing legacy for a medieval
Spanish ruler. Alfonso has ruled a
long fifty-six years. As a result
of his successes, illustrious lives
lie in wait for his children.
pg. 128
One of his daughter Berenguela
becomes the mother of Saint
Fernando III, King of Castile and
Leon. Another daughter, Blanca,
marries the King of France, Louis
VIII, and becomes the mother of a
second saint, Saint Louis IX King
de France. Alfonso’s descendants
double in their divinely chosen
path.
Then the son of only eleven years,
Enrique I take the throne of
Castile.
129
Eleanor Plantagenet and Alfonso
VIII delivers Enrique I on 14 April
1204, but Enrique (or Henry) is
forced to take the throne when his
older brother Ferdinand dies.
Henry marries Mafalda de Portugal,
daughter of Sancho I of Portugal.
The regency resumes by Henry's
older sister Berenguela de Castile,
wife of Alfonso IX of Leon. In
1215, Henry marries Mafalda de
Portugal, daughter of Sancho I of
Portugal. Consanguinity between the
two becomes an issue, and the Pope
dissolves the marriage in 1216.
Henry I of Castile dies a year
later from a freak accident. A
tile fell off the roof and struck
him in the head while playing with
his peers. Consequently, his
sister Berenguela succeeds him.
Then she renounces the throne so
that her son can rule.
Henry I The Boy King
pg. 130
Eleanor of Aquitaine and King Henry
II of England are the grandparents
of Queen consort Berenguela104 of
Castile. Likewise, she is the
older daughter of Eleanor
Plantagenet, Princess of England,
and her husband King Alfonso VIII
of Castile. Also carrying the same
first name is Berenguela, the
granddaughter of Alfonso VII of
León. Berenguer IV of Barcelona
knows her as his sister through a
matrilineal link she is related to
the most powerful personages of the
historical period, - Queen Eleanor
of Aquitaine and King Henry II of
England. Also, Queen Berenguela is
the Queen consort of King Alfonso
IX of Leon.
The older daughter of Alfonso
VIII of Castile and Eleanor
Plantagenet of England holds the
throne as regent for her brother
Henry and then for her son
Fernando.
104 Another name for Berenguela isBerengaria.
pg. 132
Berenguela should have been the
reigning Queen of Castile but
instead nobly gives up her throne
for her son- Fernando. Eventually,
the king unites the kingdoms of
Castile and León while still under
his reign. Eleanor births her
daughter Berenguela in Segovia,
Spain. She is educated, in an
effective and efficient way, by her
mother Eleanor of Castile, who
gives the same education for all
her children. Berenguela's
character is excellent, as well.
Her sisters Urraca and Blanche of
Castile, both become Queens in
their right, as well as have the
traits of excellent education and
character instilled in them by
their mother.
133
After the marriage plans end, with
the assassination of Duke Conrad,
her mother’s matchmaking skills
begin anew. Weighing the choice's
mother Lenore decides to stay
within Spain’s borders. She
chooses Alfonso IX, King of Leon.
In 1197, the union took place. Her
dowry is large including several
castles and land revenues. In
return, Castilla returns to Leon
all territories incurred as a
result of former wars. Berenguela
bears five children to the
marriage, including Fernando, the
future king who united both under
his scepter and became Saint
Fernando.
pg. 134
When King Alfonso died in
1214, his third surviving son
became King of Castile. Enrique I
or Henry was only ten years old,
thereon, a regency rule
predominated until such time as
Henry was ready to rule. The
king’s mother reigned under the
regency for 24 days until the time
of her death. Berenguela, now the
heir presumptive, then ruled under
the regency in place of her younger
brother. Henry I was still in line
to rule but because of his tender
age his sister, Berenguela, reigned
instead. It was during this time
that the internal agitation began
in the area. It involved the
nobles but mainly from the House of
Lara. In order to avoid civil
discordance and agitation
Berenguela negotiates with the
political factions. She turns over
the regency of the king and the
realm to Count Álvaro Núñez de
Lara. This political move quiets
factions of the nobility- but only
135
for a little while. What it
accomplishes is a split among the
nobility.
Circumstances change suddenly when
Henry dies on 6 June 1217. His
death caused by a blow to the head
from a tile that came loose
accidentally while he was playing
with some other children at the
palace of the Bishop of Palencia.
His guardian, Count Álvaro Núñez de
Lara, tries to hide the fact,
taking the king's body to the
castle of Tariego, though it is
inevitable that the news must reach
Berenguela.
The new sovereign is well aware of
the danger her former husband poses
to her reign. Berenguela fears
that Alfonso IX will claim the
crown for himself. Therefore, she
keeps her brother's death and her
accession secret from Alfonso
before finally abdicating in her
son's favor on 31 August.
pg. 136
When King Alfonso VIII died in
1214, his third surviving son
became King of Castile. Enrique I
or Henry was only ten years old,
thereon a regency rule,
predominated until such time as
Henry was ready for rule. The
king’s mother reigned under the
regency for 24 days until the time
of her death; the devoted Queen
died less than four weeks after her
King. Berenguela, now the heir
presumptive, then ruled under the
regency. Henry is still in line to
rule but because of his tender age
his sister, Berenguela, reigns
instead.
137
However, a special parliamentary
session is held in the Cortez
during February 1216. Holding this
session in Valladolid, notable
aristocracy are present. They
agreed to place their trust in
Queen Berenguela and to oppose the
actions of the de Lara family.
The country is not stable in May,
so Berenguela decides to send her
son to his father in Leon. She
then takes refuge in the castle of
Autillio de Campos. One further
attempt is initiated to avoid war
with the Lara family but to no
avail. Alvaro Nunez de Lara was a
man of many Alvaro Nunez de Lara
was a man of many talents and has
emanated from a power family.
Their power lies both in the realms
of Leon and Castile. His brothers
sought their route to success
through the royal offices of
Castile and did Alvaro. He and his
brothers took part in the Battle of
Las Navas de Tolosa. This famous
Spanish battle marks the beginning
pg. 138
of the end of Muslim rule in Spain.
His father was ranked as an
ancestor of the counts of Castile.
The mother of the three de Lara
brothers is Theresa Fernandez. Her
relatives are from the powerful
Galician house of Traba. She is a
descendant of an illegimate child
of King Alfonso VI. So the family
has a royal connection. Her
relatives are from the powerful
Galician house of Traba. When her
husband Nunez de Lara dies, she
marries King Fernando II of Leon.
As a result, her children are
raised in the royal household along
with the future King Alfonso IX.
139
His brothers were also counts of
the area. Count Alvaro Nunez de
Lara served in Kings post of
majordomo and also as bearing the
standard in Battle. His brothers,
Fernando and Gonzalo, held similar
prestigious posts. The account of
his bravery during the Battle of Las
Navas de Tolosa is found in the
ancient text of Chronica latina regum
Castellae. Because of his bravery
in battle King Alfonso VIII granted
Alvaro the town of Castroverde and
the payments that it included.
pg. 140
Prince Ferdinand of Leon,
who was the son of Alfonso IX of
Leon and his first wife Teresa of
Portugal dies at the age of twenty-
two. Now it was hoped that
Fernando III who was the son of
Alfonso IX’s second wife,
Berenguela of Castile, would
succeed his father. All this
complexity of succession had to
take into account Alfonso’s two
daughters, Sancha and Dulce, and
their position on the matter.
Nonetheless, just days later King
Alfonso VIII dies. Queen Eleanor
because of sickness cedes the
regency to Berenguela.
141
Just a few days after this action
Queen Eleanor dies. In a Castilian
council a majority of the nobility
thought that Berenguela was letting
the Church have too much of a say
so in the regency of Henry I. They
were in agreement that the regency
should go to Alvaro Nunez de Lara.
Alvaro kidnapped the young King and
Berenguela is faced with an action
already completed. Nonetheless,
Alvaro had to promise the council
he would levy no taxes or take any
lands on penalty of high treason.
This was not a new path that was
strolled for Alvaro since his
father had done the same as regent
for King Alfonso VIII. In 1216
Alvaro requested that Berenguela
give up six of her castles.
pg. 142
In the spring of 1216 Alvaro
issued a document stating the King
Henry would rule in Toledo and
Castile and the rest of the country
was to be ruled by Alvaro.
Obviously, a power grab was in the
offing. Furthermore he suggested
to Alfonso IX that his ex-wife give
up all of her castles. He claims
that he is acting under King
Henry’s orders. His sister
Berenguela is not sure what is
going on so she cedes the castle to
Alvaro. When Berenguela sent a
messenger to ask her brother what
was going on and to meet with her,
Alvaro has the messenger killed.
143
There was a fake letter
circulated by Alvaro stating that
Berenguela should kill her brother
the King. This drove most of the
nobility to the side of Berenguela.
Because of the political pressure
placed on Queen Berenguela she
calls for her son Fernando III to
leave his father Alfonso IX and
come to her.
pg. 144
The year 1217 brought
all of these events to a head.
According to the Chronica latina
regum Castellae the year 1217 was
the worst year for tension
ever recorded. Alvaro is not
making friends, in fact he is
quickly making enemies during
the progress of the year.
War finally breaks out between
the forces of Alvaro and the
supporters of Queen Bereguela.
At first the battles proceed
slowly for Bereguela because
her brother King Henry is
spotted among Alvaro’s troops.
Alfonso IX troops surrounded
Castejon. Here Alvaro took
sick and he headed for Toro
and later die there.
145
Chapter 6
SAINT FERNANDO III OF CASTILE AND
LEON
The noble king of Castile
and Leon is Ferdinand III (5 August
1199 – 30 May 1252). Some
historians refer to him also as
Fernando the Great, and other refer
to him as King Fernando the Saint.
He appears in Zamora, Ispanjia 5
August 1199 and dies in Seville, 30
May 1252. Fernando is the King of
Castile from 1217 and King of León
from 1230 as well as King of
Galicia from 1231. Spain is
beginning to have greater Christian
unity. [1] Alfonso IX of Leon is
his father and Berenguela of
Castile is his mother.
pg. 146
As a result of his second
marriage in 1237 to Joan, Countess
of Ponthieu, he also becomes Count
of Aumale... Ferdinand III matches
the record of his illustrious
ancestor El Cid for never losing in
any battle against any foe whether
Almohad or otherwise. The
conquering sword Lobera of Fernando
results in the acquisition of the
Kingdoms of Seville, Cordoba, Jaen,
and Murcia. Through
Succession rights and negotiation
he also combines Leon with Castile.
The core Christian countries of the
Peninsula at this juncture begin
evolving into modern day Spain.
147
Early in his childhood the
Pope declared that Fernando’s
mother and father’s marriage is not
legal due to the common charge of
consanguinity. The couple appeal
for a dispensation. Berenguela
marries King Alfonso IX, her uncle,
because the couple delays their
separation the Pope excommunicates
them. During the time of their
marriage, they produced four
children other than Fernando -
Sancha, Dulce, Alfonso of Molina,
and Berenguela. As a result of
the Pope’s actions Berenguela
returns to Castile, and Alfonso
stays in Leon. The children remain
in Leon. As a conciliatory move
Pope Innocent III legitimizes the
children. The Pope also declares
that her castles and her dowry be
returned to her.
pg. 148
The Kings of Leon and Castile
meet to discuss the allocation of
the castles and the dowry. Alfonso
VIII is impressed with Fernando and
asks that he come to his court for
training. Not only did Alfonso IX
allow this but he also includes the
three sisters of Fernando.
Shortly, thereafter, the
Muslim threat begins anew for
Spain. Alfonso with the Pope
alerts the Kings of Christendom.
Knights and foot soldiers begin
pouring into Castile at the Pope’s
urging. So it is that in 1212, the
King that has lost the battle at
Alarcos now defeats a large army of
Almohads at the Battle of the Navas de
Tolosa. This battle marks the
beginning of the Christian
supremacy on the Iberian Peninsula
after 500 years of Muslim
domination. In just 200 more years
the Muslims are expelled from the
Spanish Peninsula.
149
Fernando never knew any one
king greater than his mother’s
father Alfonso VIII. It is later
that the de Lara family attempts to
take over the regency of Fernando,
this after the debacle of King
Henry I’s regency and death. Even
his father moves to invade Castile
at the suggestion of Don Alvaro
Nunez de Lara. However, Fernando
makes peace with his father leaving
him free to fight against the de
Lara family. Fernando never likes
the idea of his father’s betrayal
of all the other Christian kingdoms
when he has refused to send an army
to help the Christians in their
fight against the Almohads.
pg. 150
Earlier in his life, Fernando
has the best training that a royal
could have. His grandfather is a
great warrior and the king to be
receives training at his hand and
although Fernando has a religious
bent concerning his personality he
loves practicing with weapons and
studying war strategies. When
Fernando is ten years old, the
history writers report that he has
a disease and is taken to a
monastery where he miraculously
recovered. From that time forward,
the Virgin Mary is his guardian
angel. His daily prayers and
commitments are dedicated to the
Virgin. In his prayers, he
promises her (he called her My
Lady) that he would give Andalusia
over to her and build monuments to
her name. As soon as Fernando
conquers the de Lara family he then
devotes the remainder of his life
to conquering the rest of
Andalusia.
151
Eleanor of Castile is the
first queen of Edward I of England.
She opens her Spanish eyes to the
world in 1241 and dies November 28,
1290. Eleanor is the Countess of
Ponthieu succeeding her mother. She
ruled Ponthieu with her husband and
her mother. The Countess commences
her life in Spain and is the
daughter of Ferdinand III the Saint
and Joan, the French Countess of
Ponthieu. The name Eleanor or
(Alienor) comes from her great
grandmother, the Queen of England.
Two of her brother dies
prematurely. She has an older
brother Ferdinand and a younger
brother Louis. She also has a half-
brother, Alfonso X of Castile. Both
of the Kings of Castile father and
son, Ferdinand III and Alfonso X,
support the arts. So it is that
Eleanor is habituated and
acculturated to the literary arts.
153
The first attempt to marry Eleanor
was a practical one. She is to
marry Theobald II of the Kingdom of
Navarre. He is the King of Navarre
and the marriage proposal on the
part of the Castilians is to secure
its border with the Navarre.
However, Theobald II’s mother would
have none of this proposal, she
states its smacks of Castilian
control over Navarre. Instead in
1252 in a treaty with James I of
Aragon she promises that Eleanor
would never marry Theobald.
pg. 154
Secondly, fate seems to be gently
smiling upon Eleanor. The King of
Castile had a long-standing claim
on the territory of Gascony that is
in Aquitaine and borders Castile.
Nonetheless, the English King Henry
did not want to lose this area
because of its valuable commercial
products. He has already placed
more troops in Gascony. So a
compromise is composed in which
Eleanor would marry Henry’s son
Edward and Castile would give up
all claims to Gascony. Quite out
of character King Henry pushes up
the time of the ceremony so the
marriage would take place almost
immediately.
155
King Henry has made extravagant
plans for the knighting of Edward
in England, but he is so proud of
his diplomatic marriage that he
instead sent Edward to Spain to
marry Eleanor. Here King Alfonso
would knight Edward just before the
wedding is to take place. On
November 1, 1254, Edward I and
Eleanor are married in the
monastery of Las Huelgas, Burgos,
Castile Spain. To each other they
were second cousins once removed.
pg. 156
King John of England is Edward's
grandfather and Eleanor, John’s
wife, was Edward’s great-
grandmother. King Henry II and
Eleanor of Aquitaine are the
parents of King John and Eleanor of
England. At home Edward’s vassals
thought that this marriage would
bring hordes of Eleanor’s relatives
to England. They feared that the
generosity of the King would ruin
the English economy. Many Castilian
relatives visited but instead spent
their money on the English economy.
The visitors were far from ruinous,
and parenthetically she was too
young to influence their decisions
to travel. The pseudo excuse pro-
offered was irrelevant for the
people of England had already made
up their minds that this marriage
was bad.
157
Perhaps to maintain the Queen’s
privacy there is little in the way
of records concerning Eleanor’s
life in England until the outbreak
of the Second Barons’ War. A
divided kingdom pits the Barons’
again King Henry and his
supporters. Rather than retreating
to her home base, Eleanor stayed in
England throughout the Barons’
conflict. She gave aid to her King
in every respect, even going to the
extreme of importing archers from
her mother’s homeland of Ponthieu,
located at the point where the
Somme meets the sea, northern
France. When Queen
Jeanne dies, Eleanor of Castile
inherited Ponthieu. Upon the
death of Eleanor, Ponthieu reverted
to Edward II in 1290. Isabella of
France was granted the land as part
of her dower in 1308. She lost her
dower in 1324 when all of her lands
confiscates to the crown.
Subsequently, she and Mortimer
triumphed in 1327, and the land is
pg. 158
restored to her dower.
The progression of the Baron’s
war took several twists and turns
but ultimately consisted of two
main battles. During the hiatus of
baronial battle Simon de Montfort
perpetrated revolt in London after
winning the first Battle of Lewes in
1264. Here he took Eleanor prisoner
and confines her to the Westminster
Place in 1264. Simon Montfort also
captures Prince Edward during this
period. When royalist forces win
the Battle of Evesham and order
returns in England, Edward and
Eleanor took an active part in
reforming the English government.
Eleanor’s status improved markedly
after she delivers to the English
people three daughters.
Consequently, she births John,
Henry, and Eleanor, who are healthy
offspring.
159
England is politically calmer by
the late 1200’s. Eleanor and Edward
leave to join their uncle, Louis
IX, The Saint, of France on the
Eighth Crusade. However. King Louis
IX died in Carthage, Africa. The
couple stays the winter in Sicily
and then journeys on to Acre.
Eleanor gave birth to a daughter in
the city of Acre in Palestine. The
city of Acre is the daughter's
namesake. Her name was “Joanna of
Acre." While encamped there is an
assassination attempt on Edward.
Edward receives a wound in his
shoulder and stories circulate that
Eleanor nursing heals him. The
Crusade was a military disaster and
while there they received word that
King Henry dies.
pg. 160
The now new King Edward I and
Eleanor make their way back from
the Crusade. They travel at a
leisurely pace through Italy and
Gascony to return to England.
Edward slowly proceeds to Britain
because, even in his absence; the
nobility has crowned him king.
Crowning kings in their absence is
a lesson the nobility learned early
on so they could keep the country
stable. When they arrive in
England, they are both crowned
together.
161
In many instances,
arrangements for royal marriage in
the middle ages did not always
portend a happy future. It is this
style of marriages that grew
stagnant in the middle Ages. It is
because they were based primarily
on political or boundary standards
and not on love. Be as it may, all
documentary evidence indicates that
both Edward and Eleanor were in
love. Edward is one of the few
kings known not to have had tawdry
affairs.
pg. 162
Rarely are the couple ever
absent one from the other. She is
on the Crusades with her husband
and on military campaigns in Wales.
Here is a loyal and steadfast
spouse. Every year at Easter time
and on Easter Monday Edward
participates in a slightly decadent
relationship. Eleanor’s ladies
would pile on him in his bed. He
had to pay each one to get off so
he could then go to Eleanor’s
bedroom. This yearly episode was
so important to him that even after
her death he continued the game in
her honor. Some writers indicate
that Edward hated ceremonies, and
they offer as an example that, in
1290, he refused to attend the
marriage of Earl Marshal Roger
Bigod, Fifth Earl of Norfolk. This
incident was not so much for the
dislike of ceremonies as it was for
the dislike of the Earl. Once the
Earl had refused to go to France
and to War and Edward retorted he
would or he will hang. The Earl
163
responds that he will not hang nor
go to war in France. Nonetheless,
Eleanor thoughtfully (or
sympathetically) paid minstrels to
play for Edward while the King sat
alone during the wedding.
pg. 164
It seems difficult for Edward to
contemplate a new marriage after
Eleanor’s death. There were nine
years that went by before Edward
engages in marriage once again.
The King exhibited deep devotion
for his deceased wife and states in
a letter to the abbot of Cluny:
"whom living we dearly cherished,
and whom dead we cannot cease to
love ".—in essence these are the
sentiments of a king truly in love.
His actions go beyond eloquent
writing and deep respect for her
memory. Edward goes even further
in ordering twelve embroidered
stone crosses. They mark the route
of her funeral procession between
Lincoln and London. Three of
those stone crosses has survived
the ravages of time and were almost
intact today. Parenthetically,
only one of Eleanor's four sons
survived childhood. A monarchical
catastrophe such as this creates
apprehension on the part of Edward.
If this son did not survive the
165
succession lines would go to the
daughters that may create further
problems in England. Edward,
however, despite his loss he
marries again after nine years.
His new wife Marguerite bore him
new sons but still Edward mourned
in memorial services each year for
Eleanor.
pg. 166
Edward wants the Queen to have her
income irrespective of the
governmental money of Britain. The
king himself makes a special
process that aids the Queen. The
King would give her debts that she
forecloses on lands pledged for the
debts. However, her reputation was
even more soiled by her association
with Jewish moneylenders. In the
space of sixteen years, Eleanor was
able to amass a sizeable yearly
income from her venture into the
land markets. There were rumors
enough that they finally came to
the Queen’s ear. While dying the
Queen pleaded with Edward to have
an investigation and if there was
any wrong doing on her part to
rectify the offence or offences.
The investigations show that there
were numerous wrongdoings on the
part of her administrative
assistances. The number of people
in England thought that she was
making Edward rule harshly.
167
Edward is in control of whatever
impact Eleanor might make on the
political history of the king’s
reign. Like a good husband,
Edward listens to his wife’s advice
but would choose to make his
decision. It seems that the only
area of agreement that both shared
completely was at what age their
daughters could marry.
Consequently, Eleanor role was one
of a diplomatic nature. She would
receive foreign ambassadors at
Court and bestow any honors due.
His response was not to the letter
of the law but consistent with the
spirit of the law. Edward always
honored his obligations to
Eleanor’s father. When King
Alfonso X request that Edward send
English knights to Castile he does
send knight, however, they are from
Gascony. Historians comment that
Eleanor did take part in some minor
dispute resolution, but Edward
always gave her the experts to aid
her and was always prepared to stop
pg. 168
her if she went too far. Mainly,
she was more engaged in subscribing
to the arts than she was in
political activity. Therefore, her
critics had little if nothing to
fear from the activities of Queen
Eleanor.
169
Eleanor is more interested in
romance writings and stories of the
Saints than she is in the more
mundane political intrigue. Her
interests in literature were
extremely broad. During the
Crusades, Eleanor has De Re
Militari by Vegetius translated.
She gives it as a gift to Edward
because this was the excepted gift-
giving during the Middle Ages for
lovers and friends and leaders in
the military. This treatise,
written around the fifth century,
is used by military commanders
during the Middle Ages and some
elements were incorporated in the
American army. For instance,
Vegetius recommends that soldiers
discipline is most important, and
the training must last at least
four months. During the 1960’s the
U.S. army had the similar length of
time schedule at work in the
service. The first eight weeks were
called “Basic Training” and the
next eight weeks were called
pg. 170
Specialization. During her tenure
as the Countess of Ponthieu a
religious leader wrote a work
addressed to Eleanor concerning
angels and what they are. An
author writes a biography of one of
the Counts of Ponthieu for the
Queen.
171
Eleanor patronized many of her
cousins but given the
xenophobia of England she was
careful to line up her female
cousins with land barons. King
Edward gives his tacit
approval to which Eleanor
wisely chooses mates for the
England landowner. It is his
belief that when these persons
marry each other they are more
likely to form a support
system for the King and Queen.
She would explicitly not
include male cousins from her
country given the dislike of
foreigners in England. Eleanor
had a strong religious
background. Not at all
unnoticed, Eleanor made sure
that alms were given to the
poor, but she would not
personally participate. The
Queen favored the Dominican
Order friars and made sure
that they had a solid
foundation in England. She
pg. 172
encouraged their work at the
University of Oxford and the
University of Cambridge and
gave generously to them.
The queen cultivates and enhances
the English gardens surrounding the
royal castles and introduces ponds
and swans to the royal scenery
while embellishing the grounds with
vines and roses. While the king
preferred falcons for his hunt the
Queen, preferred packs of hunting
dogs. She also establishes an
herbarium near her castle. One
example of overt flaunting of the
royal power was the gift of a cup
of 238 gold florins. (Double
Florin: 4 shillings).
173
The Queen's records do not
indicate that she had any
particular interest in a single
saint. Eleanor is interested more
in supporting monks than bishops in
England. The Queen aided struggling
scholars in Cambridge and Oxford
and help to support several
monasteries. She also introduces to
England the Merino breed of sheep.
It was fall, and the year is 1290
when Edward receives news that
Margaret, the Maid of Norway and
heiress to the throne of Scotland
is dead.
pg. 174
The parliament has just
dismissed in Nottinghamshire.
Edward waits in the area he is
awaiting news of the events in
Scotland. When the news concerning
Margaret is confirmed, Edward
begins his journey to the city of
Lincoln, which is 141 miles north
of London, to pay proper respect.
Queen Eleanor followed the King’s
procession making slower progress
because of a bout of malaria she
had contacted in Gascony. She still
is not fully recovered from the
fever, and she would never reach
Lincoln.
175
Eleanor was a healthy woman
for most of her life after all she
has survived sixteen pregnancies.
However, it was just after the
birth of her last child, that
financial accounts show increasing
payments of medicines for the
queen's use. The only hint of her
illness came from a letter to
England from a person in the royal
entourage who noted that the queen
had double quartan fever. Keeping
in line with the already
established history of selfless
service this was a trip of duty
that Eleanor had always succeeded
in supporting her husband, but
Eleanor had not yet healed from the
disease she encounters in Gascony.
She weakened and yet proceeded to
go to Lincoln with the King, but it
was a trip she would never
complete.
pg. 176
As the entourage reaches the
village of Harby, about 22 miles
(35 km) from Lincoln the queen
could travel no more. The journey
stops at this point and Richard de
Weston offered his house for her
accommodation. At her bedside is
Edward her closest companion. He
listens to her concerns for
restitution and forgiveness for the
things that she may have done in
her life and for him to pledge to
make it right. She dies in the
Weston House on the evening of the
28 November 1290.
177
Edward ordered that, for every
overnight stop, they made on the
route back to London and the
Westminster Abbey, memorial crosses
are to be erected. There is to be a
large memorial cross built at each
of the overnight stops in honor of
Eleanor. Today these crosses are
referred to as the Eleanor Crosses.
This idea is not new, and Edward
probably based it on his Cousin
Louis IX’s funeral procession. Only
three crosses survive till this
day, and there were twelve of these
"Eleanor crosses" built at the end
of the 1200’s. They built the
crosses at Charing, Dunstable,
Geddington, Grantham, Lincoln,
Northampton, Stamford, St Albans,
Stony Stratford, Waltham, Woburn,
and Westcheap. The best preserved
is that at Geddington.
pg. 178
Louis VIII also known as the Lion,
draws first breath on 5 September
1187 and expels last breath on 8
November 1226. He reigns as King
of France from 1223 to 1226. The
House of Capet is the ancestry of
Louis. Louis VIII is the son of
Philip Augustus and Isabelle of
Hainaut. He is born on the Île de
la Cité in Paris France. Louis is
also Count of Artois, inheriting
that land from Isabelle. Artois
belongs to the crown until Louis IX
under instructions from his father
gives it to his younger brother
Robert. Louis is married at the
age of 12 to Blanche of Castile,
who is the niece of King John of
England his sister, Eleanor of
England and the daughter of Alfonso
VIII of Castile, Spain. Arranging a
marriage is King Philip Augustus of
France and King John of England.
Louis and Blanche's marriage takes
place on 23 May 1200.
pg. 180
King John of England began his
French campaign of reconquest for
Normandy. From Philip II in
August 2012... John is confident of
ultimately winning back the former
territories of England from the
French. He makes alliances with
the Count of Flanders, Ferdinand,
who has the finest foot soldiers in
Europe. He allies with Count
Renaud of Boulogne and the Holy
Roman Emperor Otto IV. Philip’s
forces are to be split in half by
pushing north-east from Poitou
towards Paris. Ferdinand, Renaud,
Otto, are supported by William
Longespee, who marches from
Flanders. Philip II August
positions himself on the northern
front against the Otto IV and his
allies, Louis VIII’s mission is
against the Angevin possessions in
middle France. King John
outmaneuvers Prince Louis army and
retakes Anjou. He then besieges
the castle of Roche-au-Moine
forcing Louis into a battle
181
position. King Philip Augustus II
of France wins the Battle of
Bouvines again the Holy Roman
Emperor dashing all hope of King
John’s reconquest of Angevin
properties in France.
pg. 182
The First Barons’ War began in
England in 1215. It was a struggle
fought be a group of English baron
against the unpopular King John of
England. Due to their
dissatisfaction with King John the
barons offered the throne to Prince
Louis. Louis invades England
unopposed and proceeds to London.
There is little resistance entering
London. Once there Louis becomes
King of England. King Alexander
of Scotland and many nobles
gathered to pay homage to Louis.
But his proclamation would be short
lived. Louis captured the English
city of Winchester and now
controlled over half of the
England. But just when it seems
that England is his, King John's
dies in October 1216. This event
causes some of the rebellious
barons to back John’s son for King.
Henry III is only nine years old.
183
Blanche of Castile also known as
Blanca de Castilla in Spanish. She
breathes first breath in Palencia,
Spain, 4 March 1188, and all
recorded sources indicate that she
is dazzling when she reaches
maturity. She dies sixty-four
years later on 27 November 1252.
Blanche is the daughter of King
Alfonso VIII, Emperor of Spain and
his English wife Queen Eleanor.
She is the daughter of Henry II
King of England. She marries King
Louis VIII of France and serves as
the Queen Consort. During her
tenure, she acts twice as regent
during Louis XIV’s absences from
Paris.
pg. 184
Alfonso VIII, Blanche's
father, establishes the Abbey of
Santa Maria la Real de las Helga,
which Blanche visits several times
during her childhood. Later in
life, she would establish
Cistercian abbeys and would
eventually be buried in one. Early
on a treaty of Le Goulet is agreed
to between King John and Philip
Augustus in which Urraca, Blanche's
sister, is promised to Philip's
son, Louis VIII. However, their
grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine,
upon getting acquainted with the
two sisters, judges that Blanche's
personality is better suited to
meet the needs for a queen consort
of France. Consequently, Queen
Eleonore crosses the Pyrenees in
the spring of 1200 Eleanor crosses
the Pyrenees with Blanche and
offers her to Louis instead.
185
On 22 May 1200 a treaty is finally
signed, King John gives his niece
Blanche the following fiefs:
Gracay and Issoudun and those of
Andre de Chuvigny. The marriage
takes place the next day, at Port-
Mort on banks of the Seine, in King
John’s territory because King
Philip Augustus of France lay under
an interdict from the Catholic
Church. Because of Blanche’s young
age, the marriage is not
consummated for a few years and
Blanche gives birth to her first
child in the year 1205.
pg. 186
Blanche is the niece of King John
and, therefore, would likely be in
the English succession line.
Because she is married to Prince
Louis VIII of France during the
English Barons War Prince Louis was
offered to rule England by some
barons in 1215-1216. However, the
barons switch their allegiance upon
the death of King John in October
1216. Their allegiance now goes
to John's nine year old son Henry.
Louis is in a precarious position
for he has already invaded England
and taken most of the English land
by force. Now he must fight to
maintain his position in London.
His father Philip Augustus refuses
to assist Prince Louis, but Blanche
comes to the rescue. She tells
Philip if he would not help Louis
then she will sell her children to
aid him. Philip repents and gives
Blanche what she needs. Blanche
organizes two fleets. However, on
the way to England they sink in a
battle with the English ships. The
187
defeat of the French at Lincoln
Castle in England spells doom for
Louis and Blanche's hopes to rule
England. Louis sues for peace and
compensation follows for his losses
providing that he gives up claim to
the English throne.
pg. 188
King Philip Augustus dies on 14
July 1223, and Louis VIII now
becomes king. His reign begins on
6 August 1223. Louis VII continues
to follow his father’s footsteps,
and grabs land away from the
Angevins. He seizes Avignon,
Languedoc, Poitou and Saintonge
from the English. Louis
reverses the policies that were set
by his father on 1 November 1223;
he does not allow debt to Jews to
be recorded. The interest rates of
these debts were excessive. Usury
(lending money with interest) is
illegal for Christians. Usury was
seen as a vice in which other
people profited by one’s
misfortune. For committing
usury, it is a punishable church
crime from the Catholic Church by
excommunication. Jews, of course,
were not Christian so they could
not be excommunicated. The attempt
by Louis VIII is to curb this
practice is commendable because it
is a constant source of friction
189
between the Church and the French
state.
The proposal is accepted by twenty-
six barons, with one exception.
Theobald IV, the Count of
Champagne, does not agree. His
agreements with the Jews are
extremely profitable for him.
Theobald IV stands as a major force
against the Capetian regime, and he
is hostile toward the
administration of the King. It is
during the siege of Avignon that
he performs only perfunctory
service of 40 days, and then left
abruptly for home amid charges of
treachery for he is accused of
poisoning King Louis.
pg. 190
The Count of Toulouse, Raymond
VII, was excommunicated by the
council of Bourges in 1225. Also,
the Council of Bourges declares a
crusade against the Albigensian,
whom the council maintains is
supported by the southern barons.
In order to enforce his royal
rights the Lion happily and
physically engages in the conflict.
Count of Foix, Roger Bernard the
Great, tried to keep the peace, but
the king will have no part of it.
Thereupon, the counts of Foix and
Toulouse go to war against him. The
king is hugely successful, but he
is unable to complete the task
before he dies. Upon returning
to Paris, the “Lion” succumbs and
becomes ill with dysentery. He
dies on the 8th of November 1226.
King Louis is buried in a crypt at
the Saint Denis Basilica. His son
Louis IX, “Saint Louis," succeeds
him on the throne.
191
Blanche is awarded the regency
at Louis’s request to his barons on
his deathbed in November 1226.
Blanche, by then is 38 years old
and becomes regent and guardian of
his children. Of her thirteen
children, six had died, and Louis,
the heir to the throne of France is
but twelve years old. She has him
crowned in Reims and forced
hesitant barons to swear allegiance
to him. The political landscape is
critical while many of the
rebellious southern nobles are
still uncontrolled. In order to
gain more support Blanche releases
Count Ferdinand of Flanders from
prison. Ferdinand has long been an
enemy of the crown. Also, she
grants land and castles to Philip
Hurepel one of the sons of Philip
II. A League of Barons was formed
in 1226, and Blanche has to break
their allegiance apart from one
another. The Count of Champagne
Theobald IV and the papal legate to
France helps Blanche to break up
193
the League. Her organizing an
army and it sudden appearance on
the scene gave the Baron’s League
pause.
pg. 194
Blanche has to muster an army
two more times in order to protect
the Crown’s interests against
southern rebellious nobles and the
encroachment of Henry III of
England. A kidnapping attempt of
Louis occurs by one of the barons,
but the people of Paris gather and
rise to his rescue. Blanch
concluded the Treaty of Paris in
1229. According to its terms, the
Count of Toulouse Raymond VII pays
homage to King Louis IX. Ten
thousand pounds for ten years are
also paid to Hugh of La Marche.
Hugh, on the other hand, is also to
give up all lands conquered by
Simon de Montfort to Louis IX.
Blanche also manages to stop Count
Hugh X of Lusignan and the English
Queen dowager Isabelle, now
Countess of Angouleme, from joining
the side of the English. Later,
however, Pierre Mauclerc supports
the English and the fief of
Brittany rebels against Saint Louis
in 1230.
195
The warfare during the Middle
Ages follows a predictable pattern,
one of the campaigns during the
warm months and rest during the
cold months. Queen Blanche,
however, put together a surprise
attack in the midst of winter and
even went with her soldiers during
this campaign. The rebellion is
quickly quashed, and her success
embellishes the prestige of the
crown. There is little doubt that
the inordinate strength of St.
Louis’s mother immensely
contributes to the stability of his
reign and the lifelong influence
she has on her son. Her fearless
actions put an end to all gossip
circulating about her fornications
with the Count of Champagne and
Romano Bonaventura.
pg. 196
In 1234 at the age of 20, he
was married to Margaret of
Provence. She is the senior
daughter of Count Ramon and
Beatrice of Savoy. Blanche had an
overbearing relationship with
Margaret of Provence, her daughter
in law, due no doubt to the healthy
relationship she had with her son.
Jean de Joinville, a contemporary
friend of King St. Louis, reveals
that when Queen Margaret is
birthing, and Louis is present
Queen Blanche asks her son to
leave the room saying he had no
place to be there. One biographer
of the time notes that Queen
Blanche does not want Margaret and
Louis to be alone except when they
go to bed.
197
During the Middle Ages, there
is increasing Anti-Semitism and
Queen Blanche in 1239 demanded that
Jews receive a fair hearing in the
French courts. The Queen presided
over a formal disputation in the
king's court. King Saint Louis
wants to burn the book of the Jews,
the Talmud, and other religious
instructions, but Blanche will not
allow this to happen and assures
Rabbi Rehiel of Paris that this
would not happen.
The noble ranks of Dukes and
Counts primarily ruled their
territories in France after the
breakup of the Charlemagne
dynasties. There are many
petite despotisms scattered
throughout France during this era.
It was the House of Capet from 978
A.D., however, that claimed the
title of King of France. The
princes' of the Capetian dynasty
for some 200 years had little power
on the outside of their princely
territories.
pg. 198
Capetian territories lie in
Northern France between the rivers
of Loire and the Seine. It was
very fertile land although not huge
it contains two large towns,
Orleans and Paris. Because the
counts and dukes had many
resources, they would not allow the
monarchy to interfere with their
internal affairs.
“On the other hand, they pay
homage to the kingship and on some
occasions send troops to enhance
the king’s army.”105 On some other
occasions, the dukes or counts
declare war on the monarchy.
Nevertheless, the idea of a central
head of the country remained as it
also does in the neighboring
country of Germany. The German
monarchs have some peculiar
weakness. While their power is
stronger than the French kings,
they do not tend to preserve one
dynastic power over a number of
years. 105 http://usna.edu/Users/history/abels/hh315/capetian.htm (Accessed October 19, 2014).
199
Instead, they are bogged down
with having the crown of the Holy
Roman Empire within the bounds of
their territory. Finally, they were
constantly bickering with the Pope
and attacking small kingdoms in
Italy. French monarchs, on the
other hand, tried not to stir up
enemies and waste their power;
instead they tended to bid their
time and extend their power in
degrees as opportunities presented
themselves over the years.
pg. 200
Consequently, as the
French monarchs moved
cautiously, they gained the
blessings of the Church rather
than use disruptive tactics.
In doing this they had the
support instead of the
animosity of the Church. The
Popes favored the growth of
the French monarchy because it
acted as a buffer against the
power of the Holy Roman
Emperor. Also, the clergy of
France considered the monarchy
as protectors against the
oppression of some lay people.
201
Therefore, the prime
task
of the French Monarchy is to
consolidate and increase their
power among the various
factions of the nobility.
Secondly, is to weaken the
independence of the status quo
of the feudal system and bring
under their direct control the
various land areas of certain
nobility for the Crown. Being
successful means that the
monarchy is once again a
powerful entity, and it is to
restore the former glory of
the Empire of Charlemagne.
pg. 202
Monarchial power in France
slowly begins increasing especially
under the bellicose rule of Louis
VI and the conquest of the
combative nature of the French
nobility. The power of the Crown
begins growing for a century and a
half until that power is no longer
weak but is now resilient. In the
mid to late thirteenth-century, the
power of the French monarchy is so
great that they are replacing some
of the heads of vassal lands and
placing them under the king’s
ownership. Now the monarchy grows,
and when subjects dare now to
oppose the Crown, successful
disciplinary attacks occur.
Finally, it is the policy of three
reigns of Capetians- Louis VI thru
Philip Augustus- that draw the
fragmented parts of France into a
whole and indigenous united nation.
It is left to Louis VIII and Louis
IX to firmly consolidate the power
of the Crown over the nobles.
203
The Norman House was merge by
marriage with that of Anjou and by
a further marriage inherited
Aquitaine. In France, the greatest
authority both north and south of
the Loire River is the English
King, at least that monarch ruled
until the debacles of King John of
England. There is a vast
difference in culture and customs
in the areas of Gascony, Normandy,
Anjou and Aquitaine than existed on
the English island. It takes a
man of considerable energy and
Henry II of England, who first
united these territories, is just
such a man of noticeable energy and
practicality in war and peace.
These traits aid his endeavors to
keep united the various far flung
counties of France united under the
English monarchy. King Henry can
collectively keep the provinces in
unity under his seal, and he added
the areas in France of Berry,
Vixen, and Brittany to the Crown.
However, he is never able to corral
pg. 204
the ambitions of the French King.
All Louis the VII can do is to
harass Henry, but he cannot
seriously cripple the power of the
Plantagenet’s.
The successor of Louis VI is
Philip Augustus, King of France.
He achieves much more. Like America
in the mid-eighteenth century,
under Philip Augustus, France
completes its Manifest Destiny in
the thirteenth century. Philip
marries the niece of the Count of
Flanders and then proceeds to make
war against Flanders. Ah… family
life. It is during Philips reign
that Flanders is added to the
Capetian House.
205
Noticeably neutral is the
English King, who at the time is at
peace with France and he adroitly,
keeps neutral in the French
disputes over Flanders. He even
helps to negotiate peace.
Nonetheless, it is not long before
the old rival’s dispute each
other’s interests once again.
Hostilities end by the advent of
the Third Crusade and the death of
Henry III.
pg. 206
Philip does not want to join
the Crusades. His only inclination
to do so is that he is aware of the
feelings of the French as a
Christian nation and that they
demand that something is done to
save the destruction of Jerusalem.
He does not tarry for long before
continuing the attack on the family
of Henry II. Nor did he wait for
its conclusion to resume his
attacks upon the great enemy of the
French, he took advantage of the
dissensions that continued to
prevail in the family of his
rivals. Philip protected John
Plantagenet against Richard, and
after Richard's death, he upheld
Arthur, John nephew, against John.
At the end finding no satisfactory
solution in this disagreement,
Philip makes peace in 1200 A.D. He
bolsters the peace by having his
eldest son Louis VIII marry Blanche
of Castile, who is the daughter of
Alfonso VIII King of Castile, and
is also King John of England’s
207
niece.
Philip’s chance for revenge
against King John comes two years
later, when John, who more than any
other royal, has stained his crown
by his outrageous and reprehensible
behaviors. For example, King John
kidnaps, Isabella of Angouleme, who
is betrothed to the Hugh X “the
Brown” of Lusignan, Count of La
Marche. The abduction naturally
enrages the Count but not much can
be done instantly for the Count is
a vassal of King John. Philip on
the basis of King John’s homage as
Count of Poitou summons John to
appear before the Royal Court.
Philip of France is at peace with
England, and the King intends to
keep it that way. He keeps above
the fray in the dispute and then
helps to come to an agreement
between the two parties.
Eventually, the King of France and
the King of England will war on one
another again.
pg. 208
King Philip is less than happy
when suggested that he go on a
Crusade. He enters upon that
undertaking less from inclination
than in obedience to the prevailing
sentiment of Christendom, which
demands overwhelmingly that an
endeavor resembling all-out war
should take place against the
Infidel, and restore the kingdom of
Jerusalem from its recent
destruction. Nonetheless,
dissention continues to prevail in
the family of Philip’s rivals. He
opposes one of Henry's sons to the
other and after King Richard dies
he supports John against Arthur's
claim to the English throne. He
finds no prospect of immediate
success, and he makes peace in the
year 1200. Philip Augustus cements
it by marrying his eldest son Louis
with Blanche, John's niece, and the
daughter of the Alfonso VIII King
of Castile.
209
In August 1012, King John of
England begins his French campaign
of reconquest for Normandy. From
Philip II, John is confident of
ultimately winning back the former
territories of England from the
French. He makes alliances with
the Count of Flanders, Ferdinand,
who has the finest foot soldiers in
Europe. He allies with Count
Renaud of Boulogne and the Holy
Roman Emperor Otto IV. Philip’s
forces split in half by pushing
north-east from Poitou towards
Paris. King John is responsible
for this battle plan. Ferdinand,
Renaud, Otto, are supported by
William Longespee, who marches from
Flanders. Philip II August
positions himself on the northern
front against the Otto IV and his
allies, Louis VIII’s mission is
against the Angevin possessions in
middle France. King John
outmaneuvers Prince Louis army and
retakes Anjou. He then besieges
the castle of Roche-au-Moine
pg. 210
forcing Louis into a battle
position. King Philip Augustus II
of France wins the Battle of
Bouvines again the Holy Roman
Emperor dashing all hope of King
John’s reconquest of Angevin
properties in France.
Two years later opportunities
occur for Philip Augustus ‘revenge
on King John. John, more than any
other monarch in history indulges
in private passions to the
detriment of his Crown. He enrages
the Count of La Marche, his
greatest vassal in Poitou, when he
kidnaps and then marries the counts
bride. Furthermore, King John
earns the hatred of the people of
Brittany and the condemnation of
all men by his murder of his nephew
Arthur. Normandy is overrun by
Philip Augustus and falls to his
conquest. The people hardly
objected since King John has lately
introduced heavy taxation.
211
Philip confirmed his conquest
by leniency of treatment to the
conquered and by preserving the
privileges of the vanquished.
Detested by many of his vassals
King John descends into a moral
morass. He not only fails to
recover his losses, but endures in
the following years the loss of
other continental properties
including Poitou, Touraine, Anjou,
and Maine. They now come under the
prevue of France. King John is
forced to relinquish everything
that is north of the river Loire.
Philip's land doubles in size and
France enjoys a seven-year peace.
The lull in warfare gives Philip
time to increase his authority in
the new land areas. The policy of
the Apostolic Holy Roman Emperor
See divides Western Christendom
into two factions. The head of the
Catholic Church is Pope Innocent
III. On the one side, the Pope is
pursuing his inevitable feud
against the Holy Roman Emperor.
pg. 212
John of England is on the other
side, and the Emperor Otto is
behind the troop of the Emperor,
who is his uncle. John is
excommunicated by the Pope, and the
Holy Father plans to take the crown
from John and offer his kingdom to
Philip. However, this is not done
when John finally submits to the
Pope’s ruling. Philip turned his
arms against the Counts of Flanders
and Boulogne, who having reason
before to complain of his
encroachment had revealed
themselves in this juncture as the
allies of his enemies. Their
friends did not desert them; a
coalition formed which hoped to
destroy the French King and to
split his swollen monarchy into
fragments. But the fortune of
battle was otherwise. The
confederated army of Otto IV the
Holy Roman Emperor and his allies
lose at the battle of Bouvines.
Otto fled wounded and broken from
the field; Ferdinand of Flanders
213
and Reginald of Boulogne finish the
battle as prisoners. Meanwhile,
Prince Louis drives the King of
England from Poitou; Flanders
becomes compliant, and the French
lands grow and the kingdom is
strengthened.
pg. 214
King John’s invasion of France
meets some successes in the
beginning stages during the year
1202. In the end, John has to
abandon the expedition in France
and return to England mainly; as a
result, of his treatment of his
continental nobles in France. They
simply refused to fight for him.
The Anglo-French war dragged on
from 1202 until 1214. It
culminated in the Battle of Bouvines.
The victory of Philip Augustus led
to the effective loss of the
Angevin Empire on the Continent. A
year later the intolerable
disorders of England and the
failure of the First Baron’s
Rebellion leads the barons of that
country to offer its crown to
Prince Louis of France because his
wife is King John’s niece.
215
Philip’s victory places John
in a weak position in England, and
the King was forced by twenty-five
barons to sign the Magna Carta in
1215. It also sets the stage for a
minority of barons to offer the
crown of England to Prince Louis of
France. Prince Louis invades
England unopposed and proceeds to
London. There is little resistance
entering London. Once Louise
arrives in London, he is proclaimed
King of England. King Alexander
of Scotland and many nobles gather
to pay homage to Louis. However,
his occupation of England would be
short lived. Louis’s reign in
England is sixteen months in
duration. Louis captures the
English city of Winchester and now
controls over half of the England.
[8] But just when it seems that all
of England is within his grasp,
King John's dies in October 1216.
This event causes some of the
rebellious barons to back John’s
son for King. Henry III is only
pg. 216
nine years old.
Accordingly, John's death
reverses the situation and now the
nation is prone to view Prince
Louis as a foreign invader.
Princess Blanche raises men and
money to help Louis to come home to
the continent while surrounded by
English forces. She has put
together a large convoy and
equipped it with men. Blanche’s
ingenuity is astounding under the
circumstances, however, the convoy
sinks at sea through the actions of
the English fleet. Louis’ father
Philip Augustus does not support
his son’s efforts toward obtaining
the English crown. He thinks it
unwise, overreaching, and
dangerous.
217
The Pope forbids the invasion,
and Louis suffers excommunication
for carrying out the battle because
now the Pope is supporting King
John. It is hard for the Pope to
support a wretched soul such as
King John accept for the following
event. In a genius move, King
John donates all of his kingdoms to
the Pope so now it is the Pope’s to
protect. Eventually, Louis is
extricated from the situation in
England, and a peace treaty ensues.
A consolidation of power is
taking place in northern France
under Philip’s leadership.
Meanwhile, in southern France, the
Languedoc area is afflicted by a
curious religion called Albigensian
or Cathar and Pope Innocent III
labels the belief a heresy. About
this time Cistercian monk, Pierre
de Castelnau, is crossing a bridge
at the Rhone River when a knight
spears him with a lance.
pg. 218
The Pope accuses Raymond VI
of Toulouse of protecting the
knight that committed the murder.
After all the same Pierre de
Castelnau who, was the Pope’s
Legate, had excommunicated Count
Raymond. The count has a motive to
be complicit in the murder. Since
the Count also refuses to act
against the Cathar the Pope then
excommunicates him and declares a
Crusade against the Albigensian.
The sudden killing of the Papal
Legate is the immediate cause of
launching a crusade that will last
twenty-one years.
219
This Cathar belief is
extremely complicated, and it took
many forms. The belief system of
this religion is a relative of
Zoroastrianism. The religion has
its origins in ancient times. In
Zoroastrianism, the universe is
controlled by two powers. One
power for good- lightness and
another power for evil- darkness.
Accordingly, the Christian
understood the religion as a heresy
and too simplistic to carry the
truth. Nevertheless, some people
of southern France were embracing
this religion. On the other hand,
the European Catholic view is to
maintain orthodoxy, confine
speculation. The Catholic belief
is one of complete and
unquestioning faith in the
doctrines of the Church. Going to
Church regularly, doing of good
works, and full faith in the
policies of the Church are the
Catholic standard. This view leaves
no room for constant questioning
pg. 220
King Philip Augustus would not
actively participate in the
Albigensian Crusade. He did not
see these people as an enemy. He
sees the Holy Roman Emperor and the
King of England-as, his enemy.
Atrocities and cruelty were the
hallmarks of the Albigensian
Crusade. The Crusaders fought
against their fellow countrymen as
if they were Muslims. There is
no mercy after the Battle of Beziers.
Twenty thousand human beings were
slaughtered at this city in the
name of Christ. When asked how the
soldiers could tell the difference
between Cathar and Catholics the
purported answer is: “Kill them all
… God will sort the differences.”106 For the struggle had changed
from a religious war to political
conflict. It is one with
Montfort's endeavor to establish
himself politically in Languedoc,
and neither the King of Aragon nor
the King of England wished the106 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_at_B%C3%A9ziers ( Accessed October 17, 2014).
pg. 222
Count of Toulouse to be crushed to
the profit of France and the Pope.
But the combined forces were
defeated at A D Muret, and the
Councils of Montpellier * I2I3 and
the Lateran declared Raymond
deprived of Toulouse and all his
possessions west of the Rhone,
which were assigned to Montfort and
his heirs. The crusaders had
conquered but could not hold
Languedoc.107 After a short time,
the whole country rose against
them. Barely surviving in the
field, Montfort was nevertheless
able to maintain the siege of the
city of Toulouse for nine months
until a stone split his head during
the siege from a catapult.
The Coat of Arms
of Languedoc
107 Lengadòc [ˌleŋɡɔˈðɔ]) is a formerprovince of France, now continued in themodern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillonand Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France,and whose capital city was Toulouse, now inMidi-Pyrénées.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languedoc( Accessed October 30, 2014).
223
Louis marched again and had
some successes; but, failing to
take Toulouse in face of the
obstinate defense of the citizens,
he retired, having accomplished the
forty days of service which earned
the indulgences promised to the
crusade. Amaury got no more aid and
lost the whole province with the
exception of a few strong places.
It seems that the King, advanced in
age and failing in health, shrank
from a new and arduous task, or
perhaps he considered the fruit not
yet ripe. At any rate he refused
the cession, which Amaury offered
in his straits, of all the
territories which the two Councils
had bestowed on the House of
Montfort. Philip Augustus died in
1223, leaving an immense treasure,
and a Crown marvelously increased
in., strength and reputation over
that which he had received. His son
Louis, eighth of the name,
succeeded him without trouble or
opposition, being the first prince
225
of the Capetian House, who had not
been solemnly crowned and
associated in the kingdom during
his father's lifetime. He was
already in the prime of his years,
an approved soldier and zealous
churchman, of a bold and upright
character, ambitious of power, but
inferior to Philip in prudence and
politic genius.
pg. 226
He was willing to suppress
the southern heresy which had
sprung into new vigor with the
expulsion of the invaders; and
accepted Amaury's cession, subject
to the Pope's confirmation. But
“Honorius at this moment had
changed his views and was more
anxious to promote the crusade of
Palestine that the Emperor
Frederick was undertaking.” 108 He
discouraged, therefore, any renewal
of the attack on Toulouse; and the
King, though reluctant, obeyed. The
Pope's exhortations to peace with
England were less favorably heard.
Louis not only rejected the demand
for the restoration of Normandy
which Henry III put forward,
alleging a stipulation of the
treaty that closed the late
unfortunate invasion; but, the
existing truce having expired; he
prepared to complete the conquest
108 Full text of "Saint Louis (Louis IX. ofFrance): the most ..,http://www.archive.org/stream/saintlouislouisi00perruoft/saintlouislouisi00perruoft_djvu.txt(accessed October 17, 2014).
227
of Poitou. With a great army, which
was joined by many magnates of
France, he entered that province,
captured the strong town of
Rochelle, and continued as far as
the river Garonne a march that
resembled a triumphal progress
rather than a campaign. The Count
of La Marche came over to his side,
and the whole country yielded
almost without resistance, having
small affection for the English
suzerain, who, distracted by
quarrels with his baronage, seemed
to have abandoned Aquitaine to its
fate.
pg. 228
An expedition that crossed in
the following year recovered
little. The Emperor had deferred
his crusade, and the Pope reverted
to the affairs of Languedoc. He
sent a Legate into France to
procure a suspension of hostilities
“against the English, and to
arrange for the destruction of the
heretics.”109 A council of French
prelates convoked at Bourges
refused to be satisfied with the
assurances of Raymond of Toulouse,
son of the Count whom Montfort had
dispossessed. The final decision
was referred to the Pope; who
through the mouth of the Legate, in
the assembly of barons and bishops
at Paris, excommunicated Raymond
and his adherents, and called for
the King to take possession of the
fiefs renounced by Amaury of
Montfort. The papal mandate, the
urgent entreaties of the prelates,
who declared that he alone could
accomplish the business, and his
109 Ibid
229
own inclination, led Louis to
consent. The crusade was preached
zealously throughout France and was
undertaken by a vast multitude of
all ranks. The clergy contributed a
tenth of its revenues to the war.
The King of England was threatened
with excommunication if he troubled
France; the King of Aragon
forbidden, under the same penalty,
to assist the Count of Toulouse.
pg. 230
The rendezvous of the
crusaders begins at Bourges, a
month after Easter, 1226. They
amounted, and it is said, to fifty
thousand horse. The King, leaving
Queen Blanche at Paris to govern in
his absence, led them to Lyons and
down the valley of the Rhone,
finding no opposition till he came
to Avignon. The heretics were
strong in that rich and fortified
city, and either through hostility
or fear passage was denied to the
royal army. Louis laid siege with
all his forces. The defense was
vigorous and prolonged, for the
town was well-furnished with men
and machines of war. The besiegers
lost great numbers in assaults and
through sorties, and were
distressed by the summer heats and
the plague which followed, and by
failure of food and forage, as the
Count of Toulouse had wasted the
surrounding country. “At the end of
forty days Count Theobald of
Champagne, declaring that he had
231
fulfilled the period of service to
which he was bound by feudal law,
withdrew from the camp. His
defection was suspect.”110 He
aligns with magnates, who saw their
forces being exhausted for the
aggrandizement of royal power.
Nevertheless the King persisted in
the siege, and after three months
the town was brought to capitulate.
It received easy terms: a fine of
money, the delivery of hostages,
the breach of its walls, and
filling up of the moat.
110 Full text of "Saint Louis (Louis IX. ofFrance) : the most ..,http://www.archive.org/stream/saintlouislouisi00perruoft/saintlouislouisi00perruoft_djvu.txt(accessed October 17, 2014
pg. 232
The army, much diminished by
its losses and the return of many
of the crusaders, proceeded through
Languedoc to within a few miles of
Toulouse. There was no resistance
anywhere, Count Raymond having
gathered his forces within the
walls of his capital and left the
country unoccupied except by a
peaceful population or those who
favored the invader. Louis bypassed
Toulouse, thinking he would attempt
a siege next spring. So he left
part of his army at strategic
points and marched homewards. At
Montpelier in, he fell sick of
dysentery and fever brought on by
the unhealthy stress of
campaigning. On November 8th,
1226 the Lion dies. Before doing
so, he calls all of his loyal
barons and bishops and has them
swear to be loyal and faithful to
the new King and to support Blanche
as the guardian and regent of Louis
IX.
233
The son of Blanche of Castile
and Louis VIII, Louis is born on 25
April 1214 at Poissy, near Paris,
it marks eight centuries of history
since his birth. Baptized in La
Collegial Notre-Dame church in
Poissy, his clerical tutors taught
him, the lingua franca of the day,
Latin. Latin during this period is
not a subject for Royalty. Some of
his other subjects are government,
military arts, writing and public
speaking. His grandfather, King
Philip II of France, dies when
Louis is nine years of age. His
father, Louis VIII, a member of the
Capetian Dynasty, then inherits the
throne. On 8 November 1226 Louis’s
father dies, and Louis is only
twelve years old. Within thirty
days, Louis is crowned Louis IX of
France. Blanche inherits the
regency of Louis IX according to
the last wishes of Louis VIII.
pg. 234
There is no conclusive date
given for the start of his reign.
France’s contemporaries see his
reign as a co-equal role between
the king and his mother. According
to some historians, this is a
skewed view of Louis’s reign.
Louis began rule immediately. It
is true that his mother is his
regent, but she stays in the
background of Louis' decisions.
Historians, though, believe he
begins the reign sometime in the
year 1234. His mother, Blanche has
already been Queen in her right and
probably allows Louis to make his
decisions with her aid. Because of
her unswerving trust in him at the
tender age of she only aids in his
decisions. Queen Blanche is more
or less an advisor for Louis’
kingly evaluations. She is Regent
two more times during Louis’
absence from France. Margaret of
Provence becomes Louis’ bride on 27
May 1234. Eleanor, Margaret’s
sister, marries King Henry III of
235
England. France and England now
have a common tie.
Portions of the nobility were
in Corbeil during 1228. They
involved their crews in an
insurrection against the monarchy.
There is a conspiracy afoot by the
insurrectionists to kidnap the king
when he stops at Montlhéry. The
Queens spies are everywhere, and
she learns of the plot.
Summoning the chivalrous faithful
to her presence, Queen Blanche
convinces the people to present a
show of force at Mouthier thereby
dissuading the conspirators to act.
The group agrees wholeheartedly,
and the young king is saved through
the graces of the people.
Accordingly, some years later in
1236, Louis IX. Now controls the
throne. Blanche transfers all power
into his hands, and now the vassals
fear and respect the monarch. It
has been an arduous and turbulent
decade and now the power of the
monarchy blossoms.
pg. 236
The death of Louis VIII has
left a void in the life of Queen
Blanche of Castile. She is now
burdened with the responsibility of
raising five young children. She is
faced with feinting off lovers and
traitors Louis is the eldest of
the children (Louis IX), and he
will become the esteemed St. Louis.
He is just twelve years old.
Queen Blanche as directed by the
last words of King Louis VIII
becomes regent of France. In that
role, she ensures that her children
are given the best masters and that
they are raised by religious
persons who place the fear of God
within them. The Queen plays a
crucial role in enabling France to
profit somehow from the ill-aimed
war with the Albigenses.
237
Blanche helps to neutralize
the conflict in Languedoc.
Raymond VII, who is madly in love
with the Queen, and Queen Blanche
sign The Treaty of Paris in 1229.
The Count of Toulouse, Raymond VII,
creates seneschalships between her
and Raymond VII. The Count of
Toulouse attaches to the monarchy
shares of Languedoc and also
forming the seneschalships of
Carcassonne and Beaucaire. The
brother of the King, Alphonse,
inherits the seneschalships if
there is no heir born to the
daughter of Raymond. His daughter
is Jeanne. When Margaret of
Provence is thirteen, she marries
King Louis IX.
pg. 238
During the regency, jealousy
rears its ugly head when Queen
Blanche separates Margaret and
Louis for six years. Even
thereafter Blanche seems to show
resentment toward Queen Margaret In
1236 Margaret sister, Eleonore,
married King Henry III of England.
A few years afterwards the sister
of this princess married Henry III,
King of England. Now the King of
France and the King of England are
brother-in-laws. Soon, however,
Louis IX would be plagued with an
uprising from the nobility. The
Counts de la Marche, de Foix and
several other areas unite with King
Henry against Louis.
239
The conflict between elements
of the French nobility climaxed in
1242 in The Battle of Taillebourg. This
battle wages between the troops of
Alphonse of Poitiers and his
brother the Capetian King Louis IX
and the rebel Hugh X of Lusignan
with his followers and Henry III of
England. Many pundits question the
wisdom of this conflict in view of
the fact that the Mongols are at
Europe’s door. Every battle that
the Mongols has engaged in their
warriors exterminate all
opposition. Their policy is
surrender, and you are enslaved
resist and you are put to the
sword. Margret sold the city of
Damietta for four-tenths of a
million lire so that she could
ransom her husband from the Moor.
She can secure his freedom and the
freedom of his knights. His
knight’s return, but he prefers to
stay some four years longer. He
implores his knights to return to
him in Syria. Here is spent a
pg. 240
fortune on fortifying Sidon, D’Acre
and other sites in Palestine where
Christians live.
When the news of this
political disaster (the taking of
Jerusalem) and conquest reaches the
Continent St. Louis is ill and lies
almost dying. However, after he
recovers he determines to set a new
crusade to deliver the Holy Land
from the Mongols. Upon recovery
from his illness Louis assembles an
army and sets sail from Argues-
Mortes to land in Egypt by way of
Cyprus. He left France in 1248.
Unfortunately, his choice of
embarking from Argues-Mortes is
ultimately tied to the failure of
this adventure.
241
Louis spends a year in Cyprus
preparing for his invasion of
Egypt. Finally upon arriving at
the shore of Egypt he leaps into
the sea with sword in hand, at
running to be first ashore he is
successful. The enemy retreats and
Louis and his army take Dametia.
Here the army remains for five
months. Finally, they march
without any hesitation to Mansurah.
Turks surround the Knights, and
then fight their battles with Greek
fire and in response Louis commands
the issuing of the battle cry.
pg. 242
The Count of Artois, the
King’s brother, imprudently
advances on Mansourah and surprises
the town, but upon entry he is
surrounded there and killed along
with the accompanying knights. The
king, who had been unable to
alleviate their plight, instead
charges on a camp of the Saracens,
carried the battle and closes
himself up in it. There disease and
repeated assaults carried off one-
half of his army, and in the end he
is taken.
243
There disease and repeated
assaults carry off one-half of his
army, and he is himself taken
dangerously ill. He orders a
retreat from Damietta. He has left
the Queen and a powerful garrison,
but Turkish galleys blocks the
passage of the river, and he falls,
with all his knights, into the
hands of the Mussulmans. Queen
Margaret, at Damietta, proved
herself worthy. Margret sold the
city of Damietta for four-tenths of
a million lire so that she could
ransom her husband from the
Mussulman. She can secure his
freedom and the freedom of his
knights. His knights return to the
Continent, but he prefers to stay
some four years longer. He
implores his knights to return to
him in Syria. Here he spends a
fortune on fortifying Sidon, D’Acre
and other sites in Palestine where
Christians live.
pg. 244
During 1252 Queen Blanche
dies, and Louis grieves heavily. As
a result of his mother’s death, he
speaks to no one for some two days
before he makes preparations to
return to France. With a swarthy
complexion and slightly wrinkled
edifice after two years in the
Middle East, Louis returns from the
fields of the bloody abattoir to
France. In order to fend off his
years of disappointment in the Holy
Lands, he throws his efforts into
the reformation of his country.
In so doing, he shows his talents
in the legislative field. He
reforms the court system and
thereby deprives the nobles of
their authority in their lands. It
is during this period that the King
introduces France to Justinian law.
The Justinian laws are far superior
to the old feudal system. He
effectuates change by training
lawyers to train the nobles in the
study of the new law.
245
Saint Louis creates a
parliament with the lawyers he has
patiently trained and calls it the
court of justice. Judicial affairs
are now in the hands of Louis’s
lawyers. This change effectively
nullified the power base of the
nobility and ensures the absolute
power of the monarchy. The
practicality of this move
effectively shows by the
appointment of the king’s lawyers
to the parliament where the lawyers
simply seconds all legislation
proposed by the king. Private
wars among nobility are illegal,
and judicial combats proscribed.
pg. 246
This sincere and benevolent
monarch attempts to put an end to
the private wars between his barons
and prohibits combats by honor,
ordering instead that judicial
debates should be replaced for
these encounters, and he
considerably enlarges the influence
of the crown by establishing 'royal
cases." He sits purposefully to
hear the causes between disputants.
In further reforms, he permitted no
city to exist independent of the
king. Nor did the king permit
cities to be rendered independent
of his authorization. By the
ordinance of 1256, Louis changes
the communes into royal towns.
Their mandate is to place four
candidates from which the king will
choose a person to be mayor. The
mayor is responsible only to the
king.
247
While Saint Louis epitaphs are
pious and saintly, the rest of the
family does not appear to meet this
standard. Tempestuous and perilous
for France his family begins its
misadventures. A cruel and
ambitious prince, Charles of Anjou,
is Saint Louis’s brother. It
sounds almost anathema to mention
“saint” and “cruel” in the same
family. However, as the old saying
goes: “you can divorce your spouse,
but you cannot divorce your family.
Beatrice of Provence, who is
Charles’s wife makes Louis anxious.
When the Pope offers Naples and
Sicily to Louis, he turns it down
but offers it to his brother
Charles.
pg. 248
He hopes thereby to put some
distance between the crown of
France and Charles. The
complication is that Manfred of
Swabia rules Sicily and it has to
be taken by force. However, since
Manfred is the son of Frederick II,
who is on the outs with the Pope
Louis finds no problem in the
undertaking. Then with the
blessing of Louis, Charles sails
for Sicily with a fleet and army,
then within six years he has
conquered Naples and Sicily. He
defeats Manfred at the Battle of
Benevento on the plains of
Granadilla in 1266 and is crowns as
King of Naples and Sicily.
249
Current events in the Middle
East again attract the attention of
Saint Louis. The Greeks retake
Constantinople in 1261 and the
Latin Empire in the East ends.
The crushing event captivates the
attention of Louis IX more than
ever. The Christians who are split
in the Middle East are quickly
taken advantage of by a series of
raids from the sultan of Egypt.
Thousands of Christians are
massacred in Antioch. Blood and
carnage are foul in the street of
Christian cities. The areas of
Palestine, Jaffa, Caesarea, and
Antioch fall to the sultan’s
conquest. Saint Louis takes up the
cross once more and again embarks
for the Middle East. He sails for
Tunis and lands close to ancient
Carthage. All have to suffer a
multitude of wicked incidents, from
the barren dryness of the soil, the
devastating blistering heat of the
sun, and the arrows of the Moors.
The dysentery carries away one-half
pg. 250
of his army. He faces a
strategically unsound nightmare of
now being unable to move.
Charles of Anjou, Louis’s
uncle, enters into the port of
Carthage as Louis dies. He has a
fleet and a new army. Later that
year an armistice ensues and a once
proud army returns to the
Continent, ravaged from the heat,
exhaustion, and the dysentery
derived from the African desert.
Philip returns to France with the
casualties of war: his uncle
Alphonso, died shortly afterwards
without offspring, and his death
made Philip heir to the county of
Toulouse. Philip has lost his
father, his brother, his wife, his
son, the “Count of Nevers, and his
brother-in-law, Thibaut II, Count
of Champagne, King of Navarre.”111
111 Full text of "The history of nations, Volume9",http://www02.us.archive.org/stream/TheHistoryOfNationsVolume9/TheHistoryOfNationsVolume9_djvu.txt (accessed October 17, 2014).
251
APPENDEX 1
Rodrigo Diaz
de Vivar,
Count of
Valencia
(1043 -
1099) “El
Cid” is the
28th great
grandfather
of the
present
Descendants
of the
Plantagenet’
s,
Beauforts,
Stewarts,
Grahams,
Patton’s,
Clicks,
Pitts, and
Biddles.
253
Cristina Rodriguez DE VIVAR
(1077 - 1116)
Daughter of Rodrigo Diaz de
Vivar, Prince of Valencia
Garcia VII Garcia KING OF
NAVARRE (1110 - 1150)
Son of Cristina Rodriguez DE
VIVAR
Blanca Garcia De NAVARRE
Daughter of Garcia Ramirez VII
KING OF NAVARRE and mother to
Alfonso VIII
King García of Navarre, Ramírez
"The Restorer" (- 1150)
Son of Blanca Garcia De NAVARRE
Blanche Ramírez PRINCESS OF
NAVARRA (1188 - 1253)
Daughter of King García of
Navarre, Ramírez "The Restorer"
Louis IX "the Saint" Capet KING
OF FRANCE (1215 - 1270)
Son of Blanche Ramírez PRINCESS
OF NAVARRA
Philip III Capet KING OF FRANCE
(1245 - 1285)
Son of Louis IX "the Saint"
Capet KING OF FRANCE
Philip IV KING OF FRANCE (1268
- 1314)
Son of Philip III Capet KING OF
FRANCE
Princess Isabella De France
(1292 - 1358)
Daughter of Philip IV KING OF
FRANCE
Edward III Plantagenet KING OF
ENGLAND (1312 - 1377) son of
Princess Isabella De France
Prince and Knight John of Gaunt
1st Duke of Lancaster
Plantagenet (1340 - 1398) son
of FII Plantagenet KING OF
ENGLAND
John Beaufort, 1st Earl of
Somerset (1373 - 1410) son of
Prince and Knight John of Gaunt
1st Duke of Lancaster
Plantagenet
Joan Beaufort, Queen Consort of
the Scots (1404 - 1445)
daughter of John Beaufort, 1st
Earl of Somerset
John Stewart (1440 - 1512)
Son of Joan Beaufort, Queen
Consort of the Scots
John Stewart, 2nd Earl of
Atholl (1478 - 1522)
Son of John Stewart
Lady Dorothea Ruthven of
Avondale (1552 - 1627)
Daughter of John Stewart, 2nd
Earl of Atholl
Margaret Ruthven, Countess of
Montrose (1577 - 1618)
Daughter of Lady Dorothea
Ruthven of Avondale
James Graham, 5th Earl and 1st
Marquess of Montrose (1612 -
1650) son of Margaret Ruthven,
Countess of Montrose
Lord, John Graham (1630 - 1668)
Son of James Graham, 5th Earl
and 1st Marquess of Montrose
Graham, William Provost James
Graham (1648 - 1751) son of
Lord, John Graham
Christopher Graham (1670 -
1746) son of Graham, William
Provost James Graham
Rebecca Jane (Graham) Walkup
(1742 - 1769)
Daughter of Christopher Graham
Florence Graham (1760 - 1840)
Daughter of Rebecca Jane
(Graham) Walkup
Samuel Patton (1788 - 1870)
Son of Florence Graham
Nancy A. Patton (1805 - 1890)
Daughter of Samuel Patton
Harry Harvey Click (1830 -
1900)
Son of Nancy A. Patton
John Harvey Click (1863 - 1964)
Son of Harry Harvey Click
Essie Click (1891 - 1966)
Daughter of John Harvey Click
Marjorie Louise Pitts (1924 -
2007)
Appendix 2
Charlemagne, Emperor of the West is your 35th
great grandfather.
John Pierre Biddle Warden
→ Marjorie Pitts
your mother→ Esse Click
her mother
→John Harvey Click
her father
→Harry Harvey Click
his father
→David Click
his father
→Susan Click
his mother
→ Samuel W Drake
her father
→Cornelius Drake
his father
→William Drake
his father →
John Drake
his father→
Aeltjie Adams Drake (Brouwer)
his mother→
Magdalena Jacobse Verdon
her mother →
Maritje Thomas Badye Badie
her mother →
Thomas Badie
her father →
Karl II, Markgraf von Baden-Durlach
his father →
Ernst, Markgraf von Baden-Durlach
his father →
Christoph I, Markgraf von Baden
his father→
Katharina von Österreich-Habsburg, Markgräfin zu
Baden-Baden
his mother
→
Cymburgis of Masovia
her mother →
Siemowit IV Mazowiecki, książę
her father →
Eufemia Eufemie Opavská
his mother →
Mikuláš II Opavský av Schlesien-Troppau, kníže
her father
→
Justine von Hohenzollern-Nürnberg
his mother
→
Adelheid von Frontenhausen
her mother
→
Heinrich II, Graf von Lechsgemünd-Frontenhausen
her father
→
Heinrich II, Graf von Lechsgemünd-Frontenhausen
his father→
Heinrich I Graf von Lechsgemünd
his father→
Kuno I von Lechsgemünd, I
his father→
Heinrich I an der Pegnitz, Graf an der Pegnitz
his father
→
Gerberga von Grabfeldgau von Gleiberg, Gräfin
von Kinziggau
his mother
→
Héribert I von Kinziggau, Pfalzgraf von
Gleiberg
her father
→
Cunégonde de Vermandois
his mother→Herbert I, comte de Vermandois
her father→ Pépin II, seigneur de Péronne
his father →
Bernard, King of Lombardy
his father
→
"Pépin" Carloman, King of Italy, son of
Charlemagne & Hildegard
his father
→
Charlemagne, Emperor of the West
his father112
112 www. Geni.com. The complete Genealogy verified by Heritage, andAncestry.com.