Eleanor of Brittany, Queen of France, Romans and Queen of England


Eleanor of Brittany, Queen of France, Romans and Queen of England
Conrad of Swabia

Conrad of Swabia was engaged to Berengaria of Castile in 1187, and knighted by in 1188. The marriage was never completed, at first because of her young age of 9. By 1191, she resisted the marriage and sought an annulment of the marriage treaty.

In 1193, Eleanor of Brittany was engaged to , son of , as part of the conditions to release Richard, who had been taken prisoner by Emperor . However, when she was on the way to Austria with the next year, the duke died, so the marriage never took place, and under order of she returned to England, accompanied by her grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Due to the cancelation of the betrothal of Conrad of Swabia, Richard would marry Eleanor of Brittany to Conrad of Swabia.

the emperor stayed in Capua, where he had Count Richard of Acerra, held in custody by his ministerialis Dipold von Schweinspeunt, cruelly executed. He entered Sicily in March 1197 and applied himself to prepare his crusade in Messina.

Soon after, the tyrannical power of the foreign King in Italy spurred a revolt, especially around Catania and southern Sicily, which his German soldiers led by Markward of Annweiler and Henry of Kalden suppressed mercilessly. The rebels even sought to make Count Jordan of Bovino king in Henry's place. Even Queen Constance, provoked by the neglect of Henry and pitying her countrymen, joined the revolts against him and besieged him in a castle, forcing him into a treaty. In the midst of preparations Henry fell ill with chills while hunting near Fiumedinisi and on 28 September died, possibly of malaria, in Messina, although it is also widely believed that he was poisoned. His wife Constance had him buried at Messina, his mortal remains were transferred to Palermo Cathedral in 1198. Various items were removed from Henry VI's grave in the mid nineteenth century, some of which made their way to the British Museum in London. They include the remains of a shoe, a head band and an ornate silk textile that originally wrapped the body.

Henry's minor son Frederick II was to inherit both the Kingdom of Sicily and the Imperial crown. However, a number of princes around Archbishop Adolf of Cologne elected the Welf , son of Henry the Lion, anti-king. To defend the claims of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, Frederick's uncle Conrad of Swabia had himself elected King of the Romans in March 1198.

Eleanor of Brittany would assume the name Helena as the Queen of the Romans in 1198.

In 1201 Conrad was assassinated in Swabia, his death came in useful to many political actors.

Conrad was buried in the Speyer Cathedral, leaving behind his widow Eleanor of Brittany, Helena the Dowager Queen of the Romans.

Issue of Eleanor of Brittany and Conrad of Swabia

Helena, Duchess of Silesia b. 1199

married to Conrad the Curly, duke of Opole.

Constance, Queen of Castile b. 1201

married to Ferdinand III of Castile

Louis VIII

On 1200, Philippe Auguste would reject the terms of the Treaty of Goulet and contacted the Arthur of Brittany to marry Marie of France in place of the possible marriage between Blanche and Louis VIII.

According to the treaty of Rennes signed by Arthur of Brittany, the terms between the King of France and Arthur of Brittany would be the cession of the claims of Arthur in the lands in Berry and Normandy, King Philippe had already annexed the lands of Normandy from the uncle of the Dowager Queen of the Romans and the Duke of Brittany.

Arthur embarked on a campaign in Normandy against John in 1202. Poitou revolted in support of Arthur. The Duke of Brittany besieged his grandmother, , John's mother, in the Château de Mirebeau. John marched on , taking Arthur by surprise on 31 July 1202. Arthur was captured by John's barons on August 1.

After King John had captured Arthur and kept him alive in prison for some time, at length, in the castle of Rouen, after dinner on the Thursday before Easter, when he was drunk and possessed by the devil ['ebrius et daemonio plenus'], he slew him with his own hand, and tying a heavy stone to the body cast it into the Seine. It was discovered by a fisherman in his net, and being dragged to the bank and recognized, was taken for secret burial, in fear of the tyrant, to the priory of Bec called Notre Dame de Pres.

The Breton barons initally recognized Alix as Duchess of Brittany after the death of Arthur, instead of the dowager Empress, who is in Swabia, the Dowager Queen of Romans would remarry to Prince Louis of France on 1203, causing majority of the barons to switch sides to the Queen of the Romans and.

During the English barons' rebellion of 1215-16 against King John, it was Eleanor's English ancestry as the primogeniture claimant to Arthur led to Louis being offered the throne of England as Louis I.

Eleanor and Louis VIII were crowned on 1216 as King of England and France, Louis VIII would strip Eleanor of her rights to the duchy in favor of her eldest son, Philippe.

She would die on 1241 and interred with Louis VIII in Saint Denis, leaving behind children in many kingdoms of Europe as consorts or kings themselves and she was called as one of the most prolific queens in history.

Issue of Eleanor of Brittany and Conrad of Swabia

Philip III of France b. 1203

married to Elizabeth of Germany, the daughter of Philip of Swabia, giving him a claim to the German throne and ties to Sicily as well, his children would rule France and aquire sicily at a later time.

Robert of France b. 1205

married the countess of Flanders, Margaret of Flanders, he is Margaret of Flanders second husband.

Eleanor of France b. 1210

married to Valdemar the Young of Denmark, later Valdemar III and took the name Helena upon marriage.

Louis b. 1215

initially betrothed to the daughter of Joanna countess of Flanders and Ferdinand of Portugal, Marie, countess of Flanders initially but later married Margaret of Provence as his second wife.

Charles, duke of Toulouse b. 1220

married Joanne of Toulouse as a consequence of the treaty of Paris.

Isabella of France b. 1222

found a monastery of Poor Clares, saint.


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