The Other Breton Girl and the Castilian Maiden
On 1189, a sick girl was able to recover and that girl is Matilda of Brittany, the daughter of Constance of Brittany and her late husband Geoffrey of Brittany, the girl is the other sister of the presumed heir of Richard I of England, Arthur of Brittany.
Eleanor and Matilda both became fatherless at the age of two and was brought up by her uncle King Richard 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 marriageable 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 and 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 and Richard was forced to handover his niece Berengaria of Castile to him because she is already married to Conrad of Swabia.
After this, Eleanor of Brittany is arranged to be betrothed to Eudes II of Burgundy but the King of France prevented the marriage of Eudes II to Eleanor of Brittany and instead Matilda of Brittany was married to Eudes of Burgundy, the men of Eudes picked up Matilda to the court of Eudes II of Burgundy on 1195.
On the early part of 1196, Matilda of Brittany is married off to the recently divorced Eudes II of Burgundy after she arrived in Dijon as a replacement for her sister who was proposed to be married to him, her sister, Eleanor was the one originally proposed but the marriage was not allowed by Philippe Auguste due to Eleanor being the prestigious bride and her being the third line to the Angevin domains, upon her marriage, she is the duchess of Burgundy, although the marriage will take time to be consummated because she is barely 10 year old but she is now away from the drama of her relatives and the Plantagenet rivalries, while Eleanor of Brittany, herself is betrothed to Louis of France but the negotiations did not push through yet, Eleanor of Brittany’s fate is in limbo and just like her brother whose fate could go worse if their uncle dies, in the same time, the first husband of Berengaria of Castile, Conrad of Swabia of had died on 1194 at the invasion of Sicily after that she stayed in the English court and Richard the Lionhearted proposed that the marriage of Berengaria should be with Peter II of Aragon and not Alfonso IX of Leon, the alliance with Aragon was important and they were married the same year her cousin, Matilda was married.
This was said that both Berengaria of Castile and Matilda of Brittany were both married in order for the Plantagenets to gain more powerful allies in France but the two marriages will change France for the better, but Berengaria and Matilda were happy in the long run.
The Double Marriage
Richard betrothed Arthur of Brittany Sanchia of Leon, in exchange Alfonso IX of Leon will marry Eleanor of Brittany, the decision was a very good decision for Richard himself.
On the late part of 1199 Philippe Auguste tried to seize lands from Richard I and was successful in getting Normandy and Anjou and in response Pope Innocent III excommunicated Philippe in support of Richard I of England due to his abandonment of Princess Isambour of Denmark and tried to force him to return Normandy to Richard I of England, Isambour was returned to the French court and the lands seized by Philippe Auguste was returned to Richard I by Philippe Auguste, in this time, he proposed that Eleanor of Brittany to marry Philippe Auguste’s son, Louis but the treaty for Louis to marry her was rejected.
Eleanor of Brittany decides to leave the Breton court with a retinue passing via Poiters, Bordeaux, Marsan, in Navarre and Asturias where she is swapped with Sanchia of Leon, the Bride of Arthur of Brittany.
Eleanor of Brittany became Queen consort of Leon through her marriage to Alfonso IX. This marriage was a double marriage itself because Sanchia is to be married to Arthur of Brittany.
The marriage itself, as was usually the case for the nobility in the Middle Ages, was a matter of state and political alliance, and the couple did not meet until twelve days after they were legally married. Eleanor of Brittany was considered to be very beautiful and was surnamed the Fairmaid of Brittany, and King Alfonso IX already had a previous wife, Teresa of Portugal, by whom he had three children, Sanchia, Dulce and Ferdinand. Their son Ferdinand was eight when Eleanor and Alfonso married. Eleanor allowed Afonso and his sister Dulce to be raised in the Leonese court (the eldest daughter child, Sanchia, was exchanged with her as a bride for Arthur).
The marriage between Arthur of Brittany and Sanchia would be celebrated as soon as Sanchia arrived.
Eleanor of Brittany, Queen of Leon
Eleanor of Brittany became Queen consort of Leon through her marriage to Alfonso IX. This marriage was a double marriage itself because Sanchia is to be married to Arthur of Brittany.
The marriage itself, as was usually the case for the nobility in the Middle Ages, was a matter of state and political alliance, and the couple did not meet until twelve days after they were legally married. Eleanor of Brittany was considered to be very beautiful and was surnamed the Fairmaid of Brittany, and King Alfonso IX already had a previous wife, Teresa of Portugal, by whom he had three children, Sanchia, Dulce and Ferdinand. Their son Ferdinand was eight when Eleanor and Alfonso married. Eleanor allowed Afonso and his sister Dulce to be raised in the Leonese court (the eldest daughter child, Sanchia, was exchanged with her as a bride for Arthur).
Matilda of Brittany, the younger sister of Eleanor of Brittany gave birth to a son named Eudes on 1199 but Eleanor of Britany gave birth to a daughter on 1201, named Constance.
Eleanor of Brittany would have 5 further children with Alfonso IX
Henry - 1205
Eleanor - 1207
Raymond - 1210
Berengaria - 1212
Almodis - 1214
Isabel - 1216
After the birth of Almodis, Alfonso IX and Eleanor of Brittany’s relationship soured and she gave birth to Infanta Isabel, Infanta Isabel is the rumored daughter of Eleanor of Brittany with Ferdinand, the son of the King of Leon, due to it is said that the two had an affair
Eleanor of Brittany is blamed for the Lusification of Leon due to her patronage of the Galician Language in the court of Leon although none of her sons succeeded in the throne.
Berengaria of Navarre and the death of Richard I
Richard had Berengaria brought to him by his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine. Since Richard was already on the Third Crusade, having wasted no time in setting off after his coronation, the two women had a long and difficult journey to catch up with him. They arrived at Messina in Sicily during Lent (when the marriage could not take place) in 1191 and were joined by Richard's sister Joan, the widowed Queen of Sicily. The two women became good friends and Berengaria was left in Joan's custody. En route to the Holy Land, the ship carrying Berengaria and Joan ran aground off the coast of Cyprus, and they were threatened by the island's ruler, Isaac Comnenus. Richard came to their rescue, captured the island, and overthrew Comnenus. Berengaria married Richard the Lionheart on May 12, 1191, in the Chapel of St George at Limassol on Cyprus, and was crowned the same day by the Archbishop of Bordeaux and Bishops of Évreux and Bayonne.
Children of Berengaria of Navarre
Berengaria of England b.1102
Henry of England b.1194,
Richard, duke of Normandy b. 1196
Eleanor, Princess of England b.1198
Richard is betrothed to Alys of France while marrying Berengaria of Navarre which made the legitimacy of the children of Richard dubious, Richard I died on 1200 and John took the regency for Prince Henry, Berengaria brought with her her daughters, Berengaria and Eleanor to the French court.