The Double Marriage: An English timeline

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The Double marriage

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Constance of Brittany died, age 40, on 5 September 1201 at Nantes. She was buried at Villeneuve Abbey in Nantes.


Constance's cause of death is debated. Some historians believe she died of leprosy. Others believe she died from complications of childbirth, shortly after delivering twin daughters. Still others believe that she had leprosy, leading to a difficult delivery, and ultimately to her death shortly after the birth of the twins.


Hearing the birth of her sisters and the burial of his own mother was very traumatic and left a mark on him he decided that he is the duke and a heir would be needed and a marriage between him and Sanchia of Aragon rather than a young princess of France would be a good scenario.

Arthur would negotiate for the hand of Princess Eleanor of Aragon, the eldest unmarried sister of the King of Aragon in exchange for his older sister’s hand to the King of Aragon, he would betroth his sister, Margaret to Philippe, a younger son of Philippe Auguste, apparently, Philippe II seen the need of a heir in Arthur’s point of view which is more important than an alliance to him and besides he had betrayed Arthur in the treaty of La Goulet.


The King of Aragon, Peter II or Peter the Catholic of Aragon, he would accept the marriage and Eleanor of Brittany becomes the bride of Peter II of Aragon, it was apparent that Peter II needs a wife in order to provide himself of a heir, the bride and groom are almost the same age and Arthur thinks Peter II can make his own sister happy.


On 1202, Eleanor of Brittany is married in proxy to Peter II of Aragon once the dispensation to Pope Innocent has been settled the same was for Eleanor of Aragon to Arthur of Brittany, Eleanor of Brittany and Arthur met their respective spouses on Commingues on the same year.

The religious marriage between Eleanor of Brittany and Peter II and coronation as Queen of Aragon happened later in Barcelona so does the marriage between Eleanor of Aragon and Arthur, the dowry of Eleanor is Val D’Aran and the disputed areas between the English and the Aragonese, per the double marriage treaty Arthur of Brittany would renounce his claims to Bearn, Val d’Aran and Commingues which lie in the border of Aquitaine and those will be under Aragon and he transfers his rights to the County of Toulouse to Peter II as a part of the marriage arrangement , each side paid 20,000 marks which off-setted the dowries of their brides.

One of the conflict the marriage treaty will produce is a conflict between Castile, France who claimed Gascony and King John as Eleanor of Aquitaine’s heir since those lands were recognized as parts of Gascony.

This was said to be a double marriage that would cause more conflict than the peace it was intended to make as Aragon had a legitimate claim to the supposed fiefs inside Gascony.
 
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Crown_of_Constance_of_Aragon_-_Cathedral_of_Palermo_-_Italy_2015.JPG

the Crown of Eleanor of Brittany as Holy Roman Empress

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Eleanor became fatherless at the age of two and was brought up by her uncle King Richard I of England and grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine. However, Richard's ward also meant that she was under Angevin custody, and thus even her mother Constance never considered her a potential heir to Brittany, which weakened her later claim to the duchy. As her younger brother Arthur was the heir presumptive to England and Brittany, she was one of the most marriagable princesses at that time. In 1190, after Richard failed to marry his younger sister Joan to Al-Adil I, brother of Saladin, he proposed that Eleanor should be the bride instead, but the negotiation was also in vain, as Al-Adil showed no interest in Christianity. In 1193, she was engaged to Frederick, son of Leopold V, Duke of Austria, as part of the conditions to release Richard, who had been taken prisoner by Emperor Henry VI. However, when she was on the way to Austria with Baldwin of Bethune the next year, the duke died, so the marriage never took place, and under order of Pope Celestine III she returned to England, accompanied by her grandmother Eleanor.


In summer 1195, a marriage between her and Louis, son of Philip II of France, was suggested, for an alliance between Richard and Philip, but negotiations failed again. It is said[citation needed] that the Emperor opposed the marriage; and the failure was also a sign that the King would replace Arthur as heir to England with his only living brother, John. This soon led to a sudden deterioration in relations between Richard and Philip. Another marriage, with Duke Odo of Burgundy, may have been suggested, for in 1198 Philip forbade Odo to marry any relatives of Richard without his permission.


On 1201, after the death of Duchess Constance, marriage alliance is arranged between the Kingdom of Aragon and the Duke of Brittany which was a double marriage of Eleanor, Fairmaid of Brittany and Arthur of Brittany to the King of Aragon and Princess Eleanor of Aragon, on 1202 proxy marriages were arranged on both sides.


The religious marriage between Eleanor of Brittany and Peter II and coronation as Queen of Aragon happened later in Barcelona so does the marriage between Eleanor of Aragon and Arthur, the dowry of Eleanor is Val D’Aran and the disputed areas between the English and the Aragonese, per the double marriage treaty Arthur of Brittany would renounce his claims to Bearn, Val d’Aran and Commingues which lie in the border of Aquitaine and those will be under Aragon and he transfers his rights to the County of Toulouse and the overlordship of Foix to Peter II as a part of the marriage arrangement , each side paid 20,000 marks which off-setted the dowries of their brides.


She would transmit the Poitevin ideals of love in the Aragonese court in the same way as her aunts Agnes of Poitou and Eleanor of England in the Castillan courts, the marriage alliance would mean that the King of Aragon would give military support to the Duke of Brittany in his claims to England.


From her marriage with Peter II, Eleanor gave birth two children: Infanta Sancha (born in 1203), Infanta Eleanor(born in 1205), Infante James (born in 1206) and Infante Peter(born 1208).


On 1209, her husband would die fighting and crusading against the Cathars in Languedoc with her brother, Arthur. Eleanor would remarry to Frederick I of Sicily 1210, the groom was fifteen and the bride was 25, apparently the marriage between Eleanor of Brittany would give birth to further children with Frederick I, Henry(born 1211), Helen(born 1212), Jordan(born 1215), Henry Otto(born 1216) and Margaret(born 1218)


Pope Honorius III crowned Frederick II Holy Roman Emperor on 22 November 1220. Eleanor of Brittany adopting the name Helena was crowned Holy Roman Empress while their son Henry became the new King of Germany. She died of malaria less than two years later in Catania and was buried in the Cathedral of Palermo, in a Roman sarcophagus with a beautiful oriental tiara.

She was said to be the Mother of the East and the West as she was an ancestress of Polish, Ruthenian and Hungarian via her children with Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, and the western monarchs primarily via her children with Peter II.
 
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On 1203, Eleanor of Aquitaine would die in the Fontravraud Abbey, the death apparently would cause the Duchy of Aquitaine to be divided between Arthur and John, the Counties of Bearn and Commingues would be loyal to the Aragonese.


On 1204, Eleanor of Aragon would be heavily pregnant, since Eleanor and Arthur took time to like each other for the marriage to work.


Apparently, Eleanor of Aragon gave birth to the first child of Arthur named Henry, after his own grandfather, Henry II


Arthur would renounce Normandy for Philippe Auguste to recognize his claims to the English throne and to keep what he has and to inherit the Duchy of Aquitaine from his Grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine instead of his uncle John who married wrongfully to Isabella of Angouleme.


Philippe learned that parts of Gascony were given out to the Aragonese, Arthur pointed out that like Brittany, Gascony was independent from the Frankish Kingdom in the early days and he needed an alliance with Peter II against his uncle, so a double marriage between them would be needed.


Philippe Auguste apparently did not like what happened in the negotiation of the marriage of the wife of the King of Aragon since it gave the overlordship of Foix and the rights to Toulouse of Philippa of Toulouse as well as Commingues and Foix.
 
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