Berengaria of Castile - Marriage and Children

Marriage and Children

At the time of her birth, Berengaria was the only child of the king and queen, as those born earlier had not survived. Therefore she was the heir apparent to the throne of Castile, and hence a greatly desired party in all of Europe.

Berengaria's first engagement was agreed in 1187 when her hand was sought by Conrad, Duke of Rothenburg and fifth child of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. The next year, in Seligenstadt, Germany, the marriage contract was signed. Conrad then marched to Castile, where in Carrión the engagement was celebrated and the young count was knighted.

The marriage was not consummated, at first due to Berengaria's age and later because the king and queen, in 1189, had a son, Ferdinand, who was then designated heir to the throne. At this, Emperor Frederick, seeing his aspirations in Castile frustrated, lost all interest in continuing with his son's wedding in spite of the princess's dowry of 42,000 aureos. Conrad and Berengaria never saw each other again. Berengaria requested an annulment of the engagement from the Pope, influenced, no doubt, by third parties such as her grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was not interested in having a Hohenstaufen as a neighbor to her French fiefdoms. But those fears would later be neutralized when the duke was assassinated in 1196.

Two years later, Berengaria married King Alfonso IX of León, her first cousin once removed, in Valladolid. They had five children:

• Berengaria (1198 –1235), married John of Brienne, King of Jerusalem;
• Constance (1200–1242), a nun in the Abbey of las Huelgas;
• Ferdinand III (1201–1252), King of Castile and León;
• Eleanor (1202) ;
• Alfonso (1203 –1272), Lord of Molina and Mesa by his first marriage. He married, first, Mafalda de Lara, heiress of Molina and Mesa, second, Teresa Núñez, and third, Mayor Téllez de Meneses, Lady of Montealegre and Tiedra, by whom he was the father of María of Molina, wife of King Sancho IV of León and Castile.

But in 1204, Pope Innocent III annulled the marriage on the grounds of consanguinity, despite the fact that Celestine III had permitted it at the time. This was the second annulment for Berengaria as well as for Alfonso, and they vehemently sought a dispensation in order to stay together. But this pope was one of the harshest on matrimonial issues and denied their request, although they succeeded in having their children considered legitimate. Her marriage dissolved, Berengaria returned to Castile and to her parents, where she dedicated herself to the care of her children.