The Daughter of Richard the Lionhearted

The Daughter of Richard the Lionhearted




Filha de Leon
On 1192, Berengaria of Navarre, the Queen of England gives birth to a daughter named Berengaria, the fate of the two Kingdoms of France and England would rest upon her, her cousin, Eleanor are also the possible heiresses to the Angevin inheritance, she is the heiress of Richard the Lionhearted to his domains which are Aquitaine, Gascony and Poitou but she will not inherit England, Anjou and Normandy - it would be inherited either by her cousin, Arthur or John Lackland..

On 1195, the more or less three year old Infanta Berengaria is married to the eight year old Louis of France, the son of Philippe Auguste in order seal peace between England and France, she would be the heiress to Aquitaine and possible heiress to Navarre and not to England, Anjou and Normandy, the marriage contract stipulated that she would swear off her claims to England but not with the Continental lands of the Angevins, the birth of Berengaria had already destroyed the value of Eleanor of Brittany as a heiress to the all of the Angevin Inheritance.

On 1196, after Philippe Auguste repudiated Ingeborg of Denmark, Richard arranged a marriage betrothal Eleanor of Brittany and Valdemar but when the Gertrude of Saxony died on 1197, Canute VI offered his hand for Eleanor of Brittany which Richard accepted, due to this Philippe Auguste was forced to accept back his real wife, Ingeborg of Denmark and live with her again which resulted in a son in 1198 who was named as Charles.

On 1199, Richard the Lionhearted dies in the crusade in action in a battle against Saladin, the succession of England is in question, Infanta Berengaria is mere 7 year old and married to the Crown Prince of France and is in Paris and is the heiress of Aquitaine, while John Lackland usurps the throne at the death of Richard the Lionhearted.
 
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Treaty of Goulet and the death of Prince Arthur
The Treaty of Le Goulet was signed by the kings John of England and Philip II of France in May 1200 and meant to settle once and for all the claims the Norman kings of England had as Norman dukes on French lands, including, at least for a time, Brittany. Under the terms of the treaty, Philip recognised John as King of England as heir of his brother Richard I and thus formally abandoned any support for Arthur I, Duke of Brittany. John, meanwhile, recognised Philip as the suzerain of continental possessions of the Angevin Empire.

Philip had previously recognised John as suzerain of Anjou and the Duchy of Brittany, but with this he extorted 20,000 marks sterling in payment for recognition of John's sovereignty of Brittany as well as the inheritance of Aquitaine by Berengaria of England and her renunciation of her claims to England.

After the signing of the Treaty of Le Goulet, and feeling offended by Philip, Arthur fled to John, his uncle, and was treated kindly, at least initially. However, he later became suspicious of John and fled back to Angers.


After his return to France, and with the support of Philip II, Arthur embarked on a campaign in Normandy against John in 1202. Poitou revolted in support of Arthur. The Duke of Brittany besieged his grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, John's mother, in the Château de Mirebeau. John marched on Mirebeau, taking Arthur by surprise on 31 July 1202. Arthur was captured by John's barons on 1 August, and imprisoned in the Château de Falaise in Falaise, Normandy, months after this Eleanor of Aquitaine took the veil as a nun in Fontravraud abbey and buried in the same abbey with her second husband, Henry II of England, the Duchy of Aquitaine, Poitou and Gascony passed to Berengaria of England completely.

“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.”

There are two claimants after his death, the sister of Arthur, Eleanor, Duchess of Brittany, Queen of Denmark and Berengaria, Duchess of Aquitaine and Crown Princess of France, both rich heiresses.

The heavily pregnant Eleanor of Brittany heard about the death of her brother which made her weak for a time, she gave birth to Prince Valdemar, a month after the death of Arthur, she was grieving at the same time she went to labour.
 
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Michelle Jenner as Eleanor of Brittany, just after giving birth to Prince Valdemar, she laments about the death of her brother, from the series the Capetians..


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Carmen Sanchez as the Young Berengaria, Duchess of Aquitaine, just after the Treaty of Goulet, from the series the Capetians.

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Meryem Urzeli as Ingeborg of Denmark, from the series the Capetians
 
Eleanor of Brittany and Berengaria, Duchess of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Brittany was a woman who married her husband in order to neutralize the alliance between France and Denmark, in the same time Berengaria was married in order to secure peace between the Capetians and the Plantagenets and due to the death of Prince Arthur, who is related to the two of them, the future of England as well as Brittany went uncertain.

Prince Arthur was the real heir to Richard to the throne of England, as well to the Counties Anjou, Maine and Normandy, the Duchy of Aquitaine was Berengaria’s inheritance, she also is the heiress presumptive of Navarre, her mother, Berengaria was at her side and her husband, Louis is also at her side and due to this Eleanor of Brittany felt envy with her own cousin, Berengaria and this would be the rivalry that would be remembered in history.

John quietly reigned but Philip annexed Anjou and Maine, causing Normandy to be the only Plantagenet possession in the continent and Alix of Brittany as the de facto duchess and the real duchess is the Queen of Denmark.
 
Eleanor of Brittany and Berengaria, Duchess of Aquitaine part II

Eleanor of Brittany gave birth to two further children after giving birth to Valdemar, the two children are the twin girls Matilda and Constance(1206) and the second son is named as Frederick(1208), Eleanor of Brittany proved to be a very fertile queen, while Berengaria’s marriage is yet to be consummated till 1208 and the two are rivals.

Berengaria gave birth to a son 1209, named Philippe just after her marriage was consummated.

On 1210, Canute VI died and his brother succeeded him and Eleanor of Brittany is left as the Dowager Queen without power and gave her rights as the Duchess to her son, the new King Valdemar II is married to Blanche of Castile.

Eleanor of Brittany, The Dowager Queen of Denmark is betrothed to the King of Sicily, Frederick, the son of Constance of Sicily and Henry VI of Germany who has just reached his majority, the groom is 16 year old and the bride is 25 year old, Alix of Brittany was forced to give up her power to her nephew as forced by King John of England, Eleanor of Brittany leaves her son Valdemar in Brittany so that he will be the Duke of Brittany and puppet to John the King of England and Duke of Normandy, while his younger brother and his sisters were left in Denmark.

Eleanor of Brittany finally reached Sicily to marry Frederick in Abruzzi where in she met her future groom, she is crowned and married to Frederick I of Sicily just after his coronation.
 
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