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Eleanor of England (Spanish: Leonor; 13 October 1162[1] – 31 October 1214[2]) was Queen of Castile and Toledo[3] as wife of Alfonso VIII of Castile.[4][5] She was the sixth child and second daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine[6] and received her first name as a namesake of her mother.[7]
She was born in the castle at Domfront, Normandy on 13 October 1161,[8] and was baptised by Henry of Marcy. Her half-siblings were Marie and Alix of France, and her full siblings were Henry the Young, Duchess Matilda, King Richard, Duke Geoffrey, Queen Joan and Prince John.
When she was 15 years old, before 17 September 1177, Eleanor was married to King Alfonso VIII of Castile in Burgos.[9][10] The marriage had been arranged with a betrothal in 1170 but, because of Eleanor’s youth at the time, and the uproar in Europe six months later of Archbishop Thomas Becket's murder implicating her father, the wedding was delayed. Her parents' purpose in arranging the marriage was to secure Aquitaine’s Pyrenean border, while Alfonso was seeking an ally in his struggles with his uncle, Sancho VI of Navarre. In 1177, this led to Henry overseeing arbitration of the border dispute.[11]
Around the year 1200, Alfonso began to claim that the duchy of Gascony was part of Eleanor's dowry, but there is no documented foundation for that claim. It is highly unlikely that Henry II would have parted with so significant a portion of his domains. At most, Gascony may have been pledged as security for the full payment of his daughter’s dowry. Her husband went so far on this claim as to invade Gascony in her name in 1205. In 1206, her brother John, King of England granted her safe passage to visit him, perhaps to try opening peace negotiations. In 1208, Alfonso yielded on the claim.[12] Decades later, their great-grandson Alfonso X of Castile would claim the duchy on the grounds that her dowry had never been fully paid.
Of all Eleanor of Aquitaine’s daughters, her namesake was the only one who was enabled, by political circumstances, to wield the kind of influence her mother had exercised.[13] In her own marriage treaty, and in the first marriage treaty for her daughter Berengaria, Eleanor was given direct control of many lands, towns, and castles throughout the kingdom.[14] She was almost as powerful as Alfonso, who specified in his will in 1204 that she was to rule alongside their son in the event of his death, including taking responsibility for paying his debts and executing his will.[15] It was she who persuaded him to marry their daughter Berengaria to Alfonso IX of León. Troubadours and sages were regularly present in Alfonso VIII’s court due to Eleanor’s patronage.[16]
Eleanor took particular interest in supporting religious institutions. In 1179, she took responsibility to support and maintain a shrine to St. Thomas Becket in the cathedral of Toledo. She also created and supported the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, which served as a refuge and tomb for her family for generations, and its affiliated hospital.[17]
When Alfonso died, Eleanor was reportedly so devastated with grief that she was unable to preside over the burial. Their eldest daughter Berengaria instead performed these honours. Eleanor then took sick and died only twenty-eight days after her husband, and was buried at Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas.[18]
Eleanor was praised for her beauty and regal nature by the poet Ramón Vidal de Besalú after her death.[23] Her great-grandson Alfonso X referred to her as "noble and much loved".[24]
Eleanor was played by Ida Norden in the silent film The Jewess of Toledo.[25]
Richard I of England, Henry the Young King, John, King of England, House of Plantagenet, Henry I of England
Richard I of England, Henry II of England, Magna Carta, Robin Hood, House of Plantagenet
Le Havre, Rouen, Caen, Duchy of Normandy, Cider
Spain, Municipalities of Spain, Madrid, Belgium, France
House of York, House of Lancaster, House of Vasa, House of Savoy, House of Bonaparte
Sancho III of Castile, Henry I of Castile, Burgos, Soria, Berengaria of Castile
Alfonso VIII of Castile, Berengaria of Castile, Palencia, Anscarids, Kingdom of Castile
Palencia, Louis IX of France, Spanish language, Henry II of England, Eleanor of Aquitaine
Henry II of England, John, King of England, Richard I of England, Louis VII of France, Poitiers