Berengaria of Castile - Royal Adviser

Royal Adviser

Although she did not wish to be queen, Berengaria was always at her son's side as an advisor, intervening in state policy, albeit in an indirect manner.

In this way she arranged the marriage of her son with princess Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen (known as Beatriz in Castile), daughter of Duke Philip of Swabia and granddaughter of two emperors: Frederick Barbarossa and Isaac II Angelos of Byzantium. This union with such an important family improved the lineage of the Castilian monarchy and opened the way for Ferdinand to participate actively in European affairs. The wedding took place on 30 November 1219.

Another instance in which Berengaria's mediation stood out developed in 1218 when the scheming Lara family, still headed by former regent Álvaro Núñez de Lara, conspired to have Alfonso IX, King of León and King Ferdinand's father, invade Castile to seize his son's throne. However, the death of Count Lara facilitated the intervention of Berengaria, who got father and son to sign the Pact of Toro on 26 August 1218, putting an end to confrontations between Castile and León.

In 1222, Berengaria intervened anew in favor of her son, achieving the ratification of the Convention of Zafra, thereby making peace with the Laras by arranging the marriage of Mafalda, daughter and heiress of the Lord of Molina, Gonzalo Pérez de Lara, to her own son and King Ferdinand's brother, Alfonso.

In 1224 she arranged the marriage of her daughter Berengaria to John of Brienne, a maneuver which brought Ferdinand III closer to the throne of León, since John was the candidate Alfonso IX had in mind to marry his eldest daughter Sancha. By proceeding more quickly, Berengaria prevented the daughters of her former husband from marrying a man who could claim the throne of León.

But perhaps her most decisive intervention on Ferdinand's behalf took place in 1230, when Alfonso IX died and designated as heirs to the throne his daughters Sancha and Dulce from his first marriage to Theresa of Portugal, superseding the rights of Ferdinand III. Berengaria met with the princesses’ mother and succeeded in the ratification of the Treaty of las Tercerías, by which they renounced the throne in favor of their half-brother in exchange for a substantial sum of money and other benefits. Thus were the thrones of León and Castile united in the person of Ferdinand III.

She intervened again in the second marriage of Ferdinand after the death of Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen, although they had had plenty of children, but with the aim that the king's virtue not be diminished with illicit relations. This time, she chose a French noblewoman, Joan of Dammartin, a candidate put forth by the king's aunt and Berengaria's sister Blanche, widow of King Louis VIII of France.

Berengaria behaved like an actual queen while her son Ferdinand was in the south, on his long campaigns of the Reconquista. She governed Castile and León with the skill that always characterized her, assuring him that she had his back well covered. She met with her son a final time in Pozuelo de Calatrava in 1245, afterwards returning to Castile, where she died the next year.

She is portrayed as a virtuous woman by the chroniclers of the time. She was a protectress of monasteries and personally supervised the work on both Burgos and Toledo Cathedrals. Moreover, she was also concerned with literature, charging Lucas de Tuy to compose a chronicle on the Kings of Castile and León, and she herself being mentioned in the works of Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada.