“Berengaria's first engagement was agreed in 1187 when her hand was sought by Conrad, Duke of Rothenburg and fifth child of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. The next year, the marriage contract was signed in Seligenstadt, including a dowry of 42000 Maravedí. Conrad then marched to Castile, where in Carrión the engagement was celebrated and Conrad was knighted.[8] Berengaria's status as heir of Castile when she inherited the throne was based in part on documentation in the treaty and marriage contract, which specified that she would inherit the kingdom after her father or any childless brothers who may come along. Conrad would only be allowed to co-rule as her spouse, and Castile would not become part of the Empire. The treaty also documented traditional rights and obligations between the future sovereign and the nobility.
The marriage was not consummated, due to Berengaria's young age, as she was less than 10 years old. Conrad and Berengaria never saw each other again. By 1191, Berengaria requested an annulment of the engagement from the Pope, influenced, no doubt, by third parties such as her grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was not interested in having a Hohenstaufen as a neighbor to her French fiefdoms. Those fears were neutralized when the duke was assassinated in 1196.
To help secure peace between Castile and León, Berengaria married Alfonso IX of León, her first cousin once removed, in Valladolid in 1197. As part of the marriage, and in accordance with Spanish customs of the time, she received direct control over many castles and lands within León. Most of these were along the border with Castile, and the nobles who ran them in her name could seek justice from either king in the event of being wronged by the other. In turn, these knights were charged with maintaining the peace along the border in the queen's name.”
Starting in 1198, Pope Innocent III objected to the marriage on the grounds of consanguinity, on 1199 and 1200, Berengaria gave birth to daughters named Constance (1199) and Berengaria(1200) which would have caused Alfonso IX of Leon to agree to a divorce with Berengaria, she became the choice for Eleanor of Aquitaine to marry Louis VIII who decided to wait for Berengaria’s annulment, ignoring her two younger sisters and in the latter part of 1200, Eleanor of Brittany is betrothed to Alfonso IX and married in proxy in the beginning of 1201 as negotiated by Arthur for an alliance against his uncle John.
Alfonso IX would betroth his daughter, Sanchia to Prince Alfonso of Portugal and his daughter, Berengaria to Theobald of Blois the younger, who is the presumed heir of Sancho as Sancho has no children with his previous marriage, this would give Alfonso links with both Navarre and Portugal.
Eleanor of Brittany would give Alfonso IX, his spare son on the summer of 1202 whom he named as Fernando of Leon followed by two children, Beatrice(1204) and Alfonso(1206), afterwards he would leave his third wife Eleanor for herself and Alfonso would give his attention to his first wife, Theresa of Portugal whom he loved.
The Treaty of Le Goulet was signed by the kings John of England and Philip II of France in January 1201 and aimed to ultimately settle the claims the Angevin kings of England had on French lands. Hence, it aimed to bring an end to the war over the Duchy of Normandy and finalize the new borders of what was left of the duchy, as well as the future relationship of the king of France and the dukes of Normandy. The treaty was a victory for Philip as it asserted his legal claims to overlordship over John's French lands.
The terms of the treaty signed at le Goulet, on the Gueuleton island in the middle of the Seine river near Vernon in Normandy, included clarifications of the feudal relationships binding the monarchs. Philip recognized John as King of England, heir of his brother Richard I, and thus formally abandoned his prior support for Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, the son of John's late brother, Geoffrey II of Brittany. John, meanwhile, formally recognized the new status of the lost Norman territories by acknowledging the Counts of Boulogne and Flanders as vassals of the kings of France, not those of England, and recognised Philip as the suzerain of the continental lands in the Angevin Empire. John also bound himself not to support any rebellions on the part of the counts of Boulogne and Flanders.
Philip had previously recognized John as suzerain of Anjou and the Duchy of Brittany, but with the treaty of le Goulet he extorted 20,000 marks sterling in payment for recognition of John's sovereignty of Brittany.
The treaty also included territorial concessions by John to Philip. The Vexin (except for Les Andelys, where Château Gaillard, vital to the defense of the region, was located) and the Évrécin in Normandy, as well as Issoudun, Graçay, and the fief of André de Chauvigny in Berry were to be removed from Angevin suzerainty and put directly into that of France.
The Duchy of Aquitaine was not included in the treaty. It was still held by John as heir to his still-living mother, Eleanor. The treaty was sealed with a marriage alliance between the Angevin and Capetian dynasties. John's niece Berengaria, daughter of his sister Leonora and Alfonso VIII of Castile, married Philip's eldest son, Louis VIII of France (to be eventually known as Louis the Lion). The marriage alliance only assured a strong regent for the minority of Louis IX of France. Philip declared John deposed from his fiefs for failure to obey a summons in 1202 and war broke out again. Philip moved quickly to seize John's lands in Normandy, strengthening the French throne in the process.
The marriage was not consummated, due to Berengaria's young age, as she was less than 10 years old. Conrad and Berengaria never saw each other again. By 1191, Berengaria requested an annulment of the engagement from the Pope, influenced, no doubt, by third parties such as her grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was not interested in having a Hohenstaufen as a neighbor to her French fiefdoms. Those fears were neutralized when the duke was assassinated in 1196.
To help secure peace between Castile and León, Berengaria married Alfonso IX of León, her first cousin once removed, in Valladolid in 1197. As part of the marriage, and in accordance with Spanish customs of the time, she received direct control over many castles and lands within León. Most of these were along the border with Castile, and the nobles who ran them in her name could seek justice from either king in the event of being wronged by the other. In turn, these knights were charged with maintaining the peace along the border in the queen's name.”
Starting in 1198, Pope Innocent III objected to the marriage on the grounds of consanguinity, on 1199 and 1200, Berengaria gave birth to daughters named Constance (1199) and Berengaria(1200) which would have caused Alfonso IX of Leon to agree to a divorce with Berengaria, she became the choice for Eleanor of Aquitaine to marry Louis VIII who decided to wait for Berengaria’s annulment, ignoring her two younger sisters and in the latter part of 1200, Eleanor of Brittany is betrothed to Alfonso IX and married in proxy in the beginning of 1201 as negotiated by Arthur for an alliance against his uncle John.
Alfonso IX would betroth his daughter, Sanchia to Prince Alfonso of Portugal and his daughter, Berengaria to Theobald of Blois the younger, who is the presumed heir of Sancho as Sancho has no children with his previous marriage, this would give Alfonso links with both Navarre and Portugal.
Eleanor of Brittany would give Alfonso IX, his spare son on the summer of 1202 whom he named as Fernando of Leon followed by two children, Beatrice(1204) and Alfonso(1206), afterwards he would leave his third wife Eleanor for herself and Alfonso would give his attention to his first wife, Theresa of Portugal whom he loved.
The Treaty of Le Goulet was signed by the kings John of England and Philip II of France in January 1201 and aimed to ultimately settle the claims the Angevin kings of England had on French lands. Hence, it aimed to bring an end to the war over the Duchy of Normandy and finalize the new borders of what was left of the duchy, as well as the future relationship of the king of France and the dukes of Normandy. The treaty was a victory for Philip as it asserted his legal claims to overlordship over John's French lands.
The terms of the treaty signed at le Goulet, on the Gueuleton island in the middle of the Seine river near Vernon in Normandy, included clarifications of the feudal relationships binding the monarchs. Philip recognized John as King of England, heir of his brother Richard I, and thus formally abandoned his prior support for Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, the son of John's late brother, Geoffrey II of Brittany. John, meanwhile, formally recognized the new status of the lost Norman territories by acknowledging the Counts of Boulogne and Flanders as vassals of the kings of France, not those of England, and recognised Philip as the suzerain of the continental lands in the Angevin Empire. John also bound himself not to support any rebellions on the part of the counts of Boulogne and Flanders.
Philip had previously recognized John as suzerain of Anjou and the Duchy of Brittany, but with the treaty of le Goulet he extorted 20,000 marks sterling in payment for recognition of John's sovereignty of Brittany.
The treaty also included territorial concessions by John to Philip. The Vexin (except for Les Andelys, where Château Gaillard, vital to the defense of the region, was located) and the Évrécin in Normandy, as well as Issoudun, Graçay, and the fief of André de Chauvigny in Berry were to be removed from Angevin suzerainty and put directly into that of France.
The Duchy of Aquitaine was not included in the treaty. It was still held by John as heir to his still-living mother, Eleanor. The treaty was sealed with a marriage alliance between the Angevin and Capetian dynasties. John's niece Berengaria, daughter of his sister Leonora and Alfonso VIII of Castile, married Philip's eldest son, Louis VIII of France (to be eventually known as Louis the Lion). The marriage alliance only assured a strong regent for the minority of Louis IX of France. Philip declared John deposed from his fiefs for failure to obey a summons in 1202 and war broke out again. Philip moved quickly to seize John's lands in Normandy, strengthening the French throne in the process.
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