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Berenguela of Castile Wikipedia

Berenguela (or Berengaria) (1180 – November 8, 1246), was briefly queen of Castile and Kingdom of Le??n|Le??n. The eldest daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castile and Leonora of Aquitaine, she was briefly engaged to Conrad II, Duke of Swabia, but he was murdered in 1197 before they could be married.

Berenguela married Alfonso IX of Castile|Alfonso IX in 1198, but this was annulled in 1204 by Pope Innocent III because they were cousins. Berenguela and Alfonso had five children, including one who died in infancy, and when she returned to her father's court in Castile, she brought her children with her.

Berenguela often found herself politically at odds with her former husband. Alfonso had two daughters, Sancha and Dulce, by an earlier wife, and wished to disinherit Berenguela's children in favor of these daughters. To this end, he invited John of Brienne to marry his eldest daughter and thus inherit his kingdom. Berenguela sabotaged this plan by convincing John of Brienne to marry her own daughter, also named Berenguela, instead. Later, in 1230 when Alfonso died, Berenguela and Fernando acted to set aside the rights of Sancha and Dulce, and seized the Leonese throne.

When her brother Henry I of Castile|Henry died by accident in 1217, Berenguela renounced her rights to the throne, in favor of her son Ferdinand III of Castile|Fernando. Thereafter she served as the king's mother; according to the Cronica Latina, her "total intent and desire being to procure honor for her son in every way possible". Berenguela helped quell the rebellious nobles, and then arranged for Fernando to marry a high-born wife, Elizabeth of Swabia.

Berenguela maintained strong connections with her sister Blanche of Castile|Blanca, who was Queen of France. It was Blanche who suggested sending Jeanne de Dammartin, Countess of Ponthieu|Jeanne of Ponthieu as a bride for Fernando after his first wife's death.