| Blanche of Castile | |
|---|---|
 Contemporary depiction from theBible of St Louis, c. 1230 | |
| Queen consort of France | |
| Tenure | 14 July 1223 – 8 November 1226 |
| Coronation | 6 August 1223 |
| Queen regent of France | |
| Regency |
|
| Queen consort of England (disputed) | |
| Tenure | 2 June 1216 – 20 September 1217 |
| Born | 4 March 1188 Palencia,Castile |
| Died | 27 November 1252(1252-11-27) (aged 64) Paris, France |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | |
| House | Ivrea |
| Father | Alfonso VIII of Castile |
| Mother | Eleanor of England |
Blanche of Castile (Spanish:Blanca de Castilla;French:Blanche de Castille; 4 March 1188 – 27 November 1252) wasQueen of France by marriage toLouis VIII. She acted asregent twice during the reign of her son,Louis IX: during his minority from 1226 until 1234, and during his absence from 1248 until 1252.
Blanche was born inPalencia, Spain, in 1188, the third daughter ofAlfonso VIII,King of Castile, andEleanor of England, sister of KingRichard I of England and KingJohn of England.[1] In her youth, she visited theAbbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, founded by her parents,[2] several times.[3] In consequence of theTreaty of Le Goulet betweenPhilip Augustus andJohn of England, Blanche's sister,Urraca, was betrothed to Philip's son, Louis. After meeting the two sisters, their grandmotherEleanor of Aquitaine (who had been a queen consort of France herself) judged that Blanche's personality was more fit to fulfil the role. In the spring of 1200, Eleanor crossed thePyrenees with her and brought her to France instead.[3]
Eleanor of Aquitaine judged that Urraca, Blanche's sister, was more beautiful than Blanche, although Catherine Hanley states we have no knowledge about what Blanche looked like.[4]
Blanche was twelve years of age, and Louis was only half a year older, by the time the marriage treaty was finally signed. King John ceded the fiefs ofIssoudun andGraçay as a dowry. The marriage was celebrated 23 May 1200, atPort-Mort on the right bank of theSeine, in John's domains, as those of Philip lay under aninterdict.[5][6] Blanche bore her first child in either 1205 or 1213, as sources vary.[3][7]
During the English barons' rebellion of 1215–16 against King John, it was Blanche's English ancestry as granddaughter toHenry 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-oldHenry.
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.[8] She established herself atCalais and organized two fleets, one of which was commanded byEustace the Monk, and an army underRobert of Courtenay.[9] With French forces defeated atLincoln 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 offSandwich and Louis was forced to sue for peace.[citation needed]
Philip died in July 1223, and Louis VIII and Blanche were crowned on 6 August.[8] Upon Louis' death in November 1226 from dysentery,[10] 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 saintedLouis IX – was but twelve years old.[9] She had him crowned within a month of his father's death inReims 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 releasedFerdinand, Count of Flanders, who had been in captivity since theBattle of Bouvines. She ceded land and castles toPhilip I, Count of Boulogne, son of King Philip II of France and his controversial wife,Agnes of Merania.[11]
Several key barons, led byPeter 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 byTheobald 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 andHenry 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.[12] Not everyone was happy with her administration. Her enemies called her "Dame Hersent" (the wolf in theRoman de Renart)[8]
In 1229, she was responsible for theTreaty of Paris,[1] in whichRaymond 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 pass only to his heirs. He gave up all the lands conquered bySimon de Montfort to the crown of France. It also meant the end of theAlbigensian 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 marryYolande of Brittany, Mauclerc's daughter. Blanche instead forced her father to give Yolande to Blanche's son John. When Henry became engaged toJoan, 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 inPoitou, Blanche managed to keep the EnglishQueen motherIsabella, Countess of Angoulême, and her second husband,Hugh X of Lusignan, from supporting the English side. However, Mauclerc did support the English andBrittany rebelled against the crown in 1230. Originally, the English landed in Brittany with 275 knights, men at arms, and barons to meet his allyPeter I, Duke of Brittany.[13] The campaign began well for Henry III, who probably recruited foot soldiers on the continent as he brought 7,800 marks with him.[13] On the other hand, Blanche's troops were insubordinate to her and refused to serve beyond the 40 day feudal contract; most disbanded after 40 days.[13]Philip I, Count of Boulogne, left the royal forces and proceeded to raid Champagne.[13] Blanche had to chase Philip to try to stop him from raiding the important county, leaving Henry III to proceed without serious resistance.[13]
Meanwhile, the Norman nobles were also in open rebellion against Blanche.[13] However, instead of marching to help the Norman rebels, he followed the advice of his vassal, advisor, and former regentHubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent, and marched into Poitou.[13] In any case, it appears that Henry's excursion toAquitaine was not necessary despite the calls for help by Geoffrey Beauchamp, who probably panicked due to a slight rise in unrest in Aquitaine.[13] Henry besieged Mirabeau and proceeded toBordeaux, apparently "securing" the south while also losing massive amounts of money and being forced to take loans.[13] What made it worse was that Aquitaine was not in any serious danger of being taken by the French because what remained of the French royal army was trying to quash a rebellion inChampagne, nowhere near Aquitaine.[13]
Henry's military operation was still not a complete loss. He was able to get money, military engines, and bolts for crossbows along with the militia ofLa Réole.[13] Henry marched north into Poitou but the gifts which Blanche had sent to Hugh X of Lusignan, Count of La Marche, and Raymond I, Viscount of Thouars, kept them loyal to the French.[13] Although the local lords could not see Henry off, he was either unable or unwilling to commit to a large offensive investment and decided to return to Brittany, where he spent the remainder of his money on feasts.[13] He proceeded to England having accomplished little. He lost money and prestige even if he had not taken significant casualties.[13] Thus the rebellion died out, which helped establish Blanche and Louis as more stable rulers.[12] 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.[14]
Louis began to take part in political affairs by declaring his maturity, but Blanche was very influential and powerful in politics and court affairs, and her son did not withhold anything from her. No one dared to criticize the Queen Mother. In 1233, Raymond of Toulouse was starting to chafe under the terms of the treaty of Paris, thus Blanche sent one of her knights, Giles of Flagy, to convince him to cooperate. Blanche heard through troubadours of the beauty, grace, and religious devotion of the daughters ofRamon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence, and assigned Giles 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 marriedMargaret of Provence, who was the eldest of the four daughters of Ramon, Count of Provence, andBeatrice of Savoy.
She did not have a good relationship with her daughter-in-law, perhaps due to the controlling relationship Blanche had with her son, and she wanted to maintain control of her son and the court. 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. Joinville also remarks 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".[15]
In 1239, Blanche insisted on a fair hearing for theJews, who were under threat by increasingantisemitism in France. She presided over a formal disputation in the king's court. Louis insisted on the burning of theTalmud and other Jewish books, but Blanche promised RabbiYechiel of Paris, who spoke for the Jews, that he and his goods were under her protection.[16]
In 1248, Blanche again became regent during Louis IX's absence on theCrusade, 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 atMelun in November 1252 and was taken to Paris, but lived only a few days.[9] She was buried atMaubuisson Abbey, which she had founded herself.[17] Louis heard of her death in the following spring and reportedly did not speak to anyone for two days afterwards.[18]
Though she was never officially canonized as a Saint by the Catholic Church, her cult has been recognized by popular piety in both local communities as well as churches devoted to St Louis or royal saints generally. This may be due to her being the mother of two canonized saints, St Louis IX, and St Isabelle. Due to this she is sometimes honored, though unofficially, with the titles “blessed” or even “Saint” and some Catholic Churches even honor her with stain glass windows.
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 practise Christian virtues rigorously 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 andIsabelle, her only surviving daughter, were canonized.[19]
The chansonAmours ou trop tard me suis pris, a prayer to the Virgin Mary, is often attributed to Blanche.[20]
Blanche of Castile is mentioned inFrançois Villon's 15th century poemBallade des Dames du Temps Jadis (Ballad of Ladies of Times Past), together with other famous women of history and mythology. Blanche's selection as bride for Louis and travel to France is noted inElizabeth Chadwick'sThe Autumn Throne andE. L. Konigsburg'sA Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver.
Blanche andIsabella of Angoulême are the main characters inJean Plaidy's novelThe Battle of the Queens,[26] and she is briefly mentioned inMarcel Proust'sSwann's Way, in a disaparaging way by Doctor Cottard and Brichot.[27]
Blanche is a key character in the novelFour Sisters, All Queens, by Sherry Jones, which focuses on her daughters-in-lawMargaret of Provence andBeatrice of Provence and their sistersSancha of Provence andEleanor of Provence.[28] She is a supporting character in the novelThe Crown Rose byFiona Avery, based on the life of her daughterSaint Isabelle of France. Blanche is also a central antagonist in the fictional middle grade novel,The Inquisitor's Tale, written byAdam Gidwitz.
Blanche's betrothal is depicted in theShakespeareanhistory playKing John.[29]
An image of Blanche of Castile has been used on thehomekit of FrenchRugby union teamStade Français since the 2008 season.[30]
During the 1950s FrenchrestaurateurNoël Corbu claimed that Blanche of Castile had deposited a treasure inRennes-le-Château that was later discovered byBérenger Saunière during the late 19th century. This was later utilised byPierre Plantard in his development of thePriory of Sion mythology.[31]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Blanche of Castile".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 40.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Aside from the works of Joinville andWilliam of Nangis, see Élie Berger, "Histoire de Blanche de Castille, reine de France", inBibliothèque des Ecoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome, vol. lxx. (Paris, 1895);Le Nain de Tillemont, "Vie de Saint Louis", ed. by J. de Gaulle for theSociété de l'histoire de France (6 vols., 1847–1851); and Paulin Paris, "Nouvelles recherches sur les mœurs de la reine Blanche et de Thibaud", inCabinet historique (1858).
Blanche of Castile Cadet branch of theHouse of Ivrea Born: 4 March 1188 Died: 27 November 1252 | ||
| French royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Queen consort of France 1223–1226 | Succeeded by |
