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Birth:          BEF 4 Mar 1188 Chateau de Palencia, Valencia
Death:          27 Nov 1252 Palais du Louvre, Paris, France
Burial:         30 Nov 1252 Abbaye de Maubison, Maubisson, France

Notes
d 1252 or 1253
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanche_of_Castile
Blanche of Castile (Spanish: Blanca; 4 March 1188 – 27 November 1252) was Queen 
of France by marriage to Louis VIII. She acted as regent twice during the reign of her 
son, Louis IX: during his minority from 1226 until 1234, and during his absence from 
1248 until 1252. She was born in Palencia, Spain, 1188, the third daughter of Alfonso 
VIII, king of Castile, and Eleanor of England. Eleanor was a daughter of Henry II of 
England and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Early life[edit]

In her youth, she visited the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, founded 
by her parents,[1] several times.[2] In consequence of the Treaty of Le Goulet 
between Philip Augustus and John of England, Blanche's sister, Urraca, was betrothed 
to Philip's son, Louis. Their grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine, after meeting the two 
sisters, judged that Blanche's personality was more fit for a queen consort of France. 
In the spring of 1200, Eleanor crossed the Pyrenees with her and brought her to 
France instead.[2]

Marriage[edit]

On 22 May 1200 the treaty was finally signed, John ceding with his niece the fiefs of 
Issoudun and Graçay, together with those that André de Chauvigny, lord of 
Châteauroux, held in Berry, of the English crown. The marriage was celebrated the 
next day, at Port-Mort on the right bank of the Seine, in John's domains, as those of 
Philip lay under an interdict.[3] Blanche was twelve years of age, and Louis was only 
a year older so the marriage was consummated a few years later. Blanche bore her 
first child in 1205.[2]

During the English barons' rebellion of 1215-16 against King John, it was Blanche's 
English ancestry as granddaughter to Henry II that led to Louis being offered the 
throne of England as Louis I. However, with the death of John in October 1216, the 
barons changed their allegiance to John's son, the nine-year-old Henry.

Louis continued to claim the English crown in her right, only to find a united nation 
against him. Philip Augustus refused to help his son, and Blanche was his sole 
support. Blanche raised money from her father-in-law by threatening to put up her 
children as hostages.[4] She established herself at Calais and organized two fleets, 
one of which was commanded by Eustace the Monk, and an army under Robert I, 
Latin Emperor.[3] With French forces defeated at Lincoln in May 1217 and then routed 
on their way back to their London stronghold, Louis desperately needed the 
reinforcements from France. On 24 August, the English fleet destroyed the French 
fleet carrying those reinforcements off Sandwich and Louis was forced to sue for 
peace.[citation needed]

Regency[edit]

Philip died in July 1223, and Louis VIII and Blanche were crowned on August 6.[4] 
Upon Louis' death in November 1226 from dysentery,[5] he left Blanche, by then 38, 
regent and guardian of his children. Of her twelve or thirteen children, six had died, 
and Louis, the heir — afterwards the sainted Louis IX — was but twelve years old.[3] She 
had him crowned within a month of his father's death in Reims and forced reluctant 
barons to swear allegiance to him. The situation was critical, since Louis VIII had died 
without having completely subdued his southern nobles. The king's minority made the 
Capetian domains even more vulnerable. To gain support, she released Ferdinand, 
Count of Flanders, who had been in captivity since the Battle of Bouvines. She ceded 
land and castles to Philip I, Count of Boulogne, son of Philip II and his controversial 
wife Agnes of Merania.[6]

Several key barons, led by Peter Mauclerc, refused to recognize the coronation of the 
young king. Shortly after the coronation, Blanche and Louis were traveling south of 
Paris and nearly captured. Blanche appealed to the people of Paris to protect their 
king. The citizens lined the roads and protected him as he returned.

Helped by Theobald IV of Champagne and the papal legate to France, Romano 
Bonaventura, she organized an army. Its sudden appearance brought the nobles 
momentarily to a halt. Twice more did Blanche have to muster an army to protect 
Capetian interests against rebellious nobles and Henry III of England. Blanche 
organized a surprise attack in the winter. In January 1229, she led her forces to 
attack Mauclerc and force him to recognize the king. She accompanied the army 
herself and helped collect wood to keep the soldiers warm.[7] Not everyone was 
happy with her administration. Her enemies called her “Dame Hersent” (the wolf in the 
Roman de Renart)[4]

In 1229, she was responsible for the Treaty of Paris,[8] in which Raymond VII, Count 
of Toulouse, submitted to Louis. By the terms of the agreement, his daughter and heir, 
Joan, married Blanche's son, Alphonse, and the county could only pass to his heirs. 
He gave up all the lands conquered by Simon de Montfort to the crown of France. It 
also meant the end of the Albigensian Crusade.

To prevent Henry III of England from gaining more French lands through marriage, 
Blanche denied him the first two brides he sought. In 1226, he sought to marry 
Yolande of Brittany, Mauclerc's daughter. Blanche instead forced her father to give 
Yolande to Blanche's son John. When Henry became engaged to Joan, Countess of 
Ponthieu, Blanche lobbied the Pope to deny the marriage based on consanguinity, 
denying the dispensation Henry sought.

In 1230, Henry III came to invade France. At the cost of some of the crown's 
influence in Poitou, Blanche managed to keep the English Queen mother Isabelle, 
Countess of Angoulême and her second husband, Hugh X of Lusignan, from 
supporting the English side. Mauclerc did support the English and Brittany rebelled 
against the crown in 1230. The rebellion was put down, which added to the growing 
prestige of Blanche and Louis.[7] Henry's failure to make any significant impact with 
his invasions ultimately discouraged Mauclerc's rebellion, and by 1234 he was firm in 
his support of Louis.

St. Louis owed his realm to his mother and remained under her influence for the 
duration of her life.[9]

Queen mother[edit]

In 1233, Raymond of Toulouse was starting to chafe under the terms of the treaty of 
Paris, and so Blanche sent one of her knights, Giles of Flagy, to convince him to 
cooperate. Blanche had also heard through troubadours of the beauty, grace, and 
religious devotion of the daughters of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence. So 
she assigned her knight a second mission to visit Provence. Giles found a much better 
reception in Provence than in Toulouse. Upon his return to Paris, Blanche decided 
that a Provençal marriage would suit her son and help keep Toulouse in check. In 
1234, Louis married Margaret of Provence, who was the eldest of the four daughters 
of Ramon, Count of Provence, and Beatrice of Savoy.

She did not have a good relationship with her daughter-in-law, perhaps due to the 
controlling relationship she had with her son. To maintain better control over the new 
queen, Blanche dismissed the family and servants who had come to her wedding 
before the couple reached Paris. Prior to the arrival of the new queen, Blanche was 
considered the beauty of the court, and had poems written about her beauty by the 
count of Champagne. In 1230, it was even rumoured that she was pregnant by 
Romano Bonaventura. The new queen drew the attention of the court and the king 
away from Blanche, so she sought to keep them apart as much as she could. Jean de 
Joinville tells of the time when Queen Margaret was giving birth and Blanche entered 
the room telling her son to leave saying "Come ye hence, ye do naught here". Queen 
Margaret then allegedly fainted out of distress. One contemporary biographer notes 
that when Queen Blanche was present in the royal household, she did not like 
Margaret and Louis to be together "except when he went to lie with her".[10]

In 1239, Blanche insisted on a fair hearing for the Jews, who were under threat by 
increasing Antisemitism in France. She presided over a formal disputation in the king's 
court. Louis insisted on the burning of the Talmud and other Jewish books, but 
Blanche promised Rabbi Rehiel of Paris, who spoke for the Jews, that he and his 
goods were under her protection.[11]

Second regency and death[edit]

In 1248, Blanche again became regent, during Louis IX's absence on the Crusade, a 
project which she had strongly opposed. In the disasters which followed she 
maintained peace, while draining the land of men and money to aid her son in the 
East. She fell ill at Melun in November 1252, and was taken to Paris, but lived only a 
few days.[3] She was buried at Maubuisson Abbey, which she had founded herself.
[12] Louis heard of her death in the following spring and reportedly did not speak to 
anyone for two days afterwards.[13]

Patronage and learning[edit]

Blanche was a patron of the arts and owned a variety of books, both in French and in 
Latin. Some of these were meant as teaching tools for her son. Le Miroir de l'Ame was 
dedicated to Blanche. It instructs queens to rigorously practice Christian virtues in 
daily life. She oversaw the education of her children, all of whom studied Latin. She 
also insisted on lessons in Christian morals for all of them. Both Louis and Isabelle, her 
only surviving daughter, were canonized.[14]

Issue[edit]
1.Blanche (1205 – died soon after).[15]
2.Philip (9 September 1209 – before July 1218), betrothed in July 1215 to Agnes of 
Donzy.
3.Alphonse (b. and d. Lorrez-le-Bocage, 26 January 1213), twin of John.
4.John (b. and d. Lorrez-le-Bocage, 26 January 1213), twin of Alphonse.
5.Louis IX (Poissy, 25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270, Tunis), King of France as 
successor to his father.
6.Robert (25 September 1216 – 9 February 1250, killed in battle, Manssurah, Egypt), 
Count of Artois.
7.Philip (20 February 1218 – 1220).[16]
8.John (21 July 1219 – 1232), Count of Anjou and Maine; betrothed in March 1227 to 
Yolande of Brittany.
9.Alphonse (Poissy, 11 November 1220 – 21 August 1271, Corneto), Count of Poitou 
and Auvergne, and by marriage, of Toulouse.
10.Philip Dagobert (20 February 1222 – 1232[17]).
11.Isabelle (March 1224[18] – 23 February 1270).
12.Etienne (end 1225[19] – early 1227[20]).
13.Charles (posthumously 21 March 1227 – 7 January 1285), Count of Anjou and 
Maine, by marriage Count of Provence and Folcalquier, and King of Sicily.

Literature[edit]

Blanche of Castile is mentioned in François Villon's 15th century poem Ballade des 
Dames du Temps Jadis (Ballad of Ladies of Times Past), together with other famous 
women of history and mythology.

Blanche and Isabella of Angoulême are the main characters in Jean Plaidy's novel The 
Battle of the Queens.[citation needed]

Blanche of Castile is briefly mentioned in Marcel Proust's Swann's Way.[citation 
needed]

Blanche is a key character in the novel "Four Sisters, All Queens", by Sherry Jones.
[citation needed]

Blanche of Castile is a character, (as Lady Blanche of Spain), in King John (play) by 
William Shakespeare

In popular culture[edit]

An image of Blanche of Castile has been used on the home kit of French Rugby Union 
team Stade Français since the 2008 season.[21]

During the 1950s French restaurateur Noël Corbu claimed that Blanche of Castile had 
deposited a treasure in Rennes-le-Château that was later discovered by Bérenger 
Saunière during the late 19th century. This was later utilised by Pierre Plantard in his 
development of the Priory of Sion mythology.[22]

Parents
SANCHEZ Alfonso VIII "the Noble" (11 Nov 1155 - 5 Oct 1214)
____ Eleanor (13 Oct 1162 - 25 Oct 1214)

Siblings
OF CASTILE Bernegaria (Berenguela) (Jun 1180 - 8 Nov 1246)
DE CASTILE Urraca (ABT 1185 - 3 Nov 1220)
DE CASTILE Blanche (Blanca) Alphonsa (BEF 4 Mar 1188 - 27 Nov 1252)

Marriage To ____ Louis VIII "the Lion" (3 Sep 1187 - 8 Nov 1226)
    m. 23 May 1200 Abbey of Port-Mort, Bapaume, nr Pont-de-Audemer, Normandy

Notes

Parents
____ Philippe Auguste II (22 Aug 1165 - 14 Jul 1223)
DE HAINAUT ET FLANDRES Isabelle (5 Apr 1170 - 15 Mar 1190)

Children by ____ Louis VIII "the Lion" 3 Sep 1187 - 8 Nov 1226
____ Louis IX "Saint Louis" (25 Apr 1215 - 25 Aug 1270)
____ Robert I (25 Sep 1216 - 9 Feb 1250)
____ Charles I (21 Mar 1227 - 7 Jan 1285)

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