Recently, I listened to a pod about a Byzantine princess (oops! Eastern roman princess) called Teophanu who was sent off to wed the future Holy Roman Emperor as a teenager. She would never see her home country again—a fate she had in common with many other women of royal birth, who often found themselves wed […]
I had the pleasure of visiting a magnificent renaissance palace earlier this year, the Casa de Pilatos in Sevilla. There, on a wall, I found the quartered royal arms of France and Castile. As you all know by now, I am something of a history nerd, so I immediately started casting my mind back to
Constanza Manuel was born a pawn. That’s what happens when your mother is an Aragonese princess and your father, Juan Manuel, is a scion of the House of Ivrea, the ruling dynasty in Castile. Don Juan Manuel was the nephew of Alfonso X and the much younger cousin of Sancho IV. From his father, Infante
Constanza Manuel – a pawn to her daddy’s ambitions Read More »
In 1283, little Isabel saw the light of the day. This the latest fruit of the proud House of Ivrea was the first of seven siblings. At the time of her birth, her daddy, the future Sancho IV, was at loggerheads with his daddy, Alfonso X. Why? Because Sancho wanted to become king once Alfonso
From queen to duchess – the life of a medieval princess Read More »
After a hiatus of several weeks, it is quite fun to be back writing a post. Not that today’s protagonists would label their experiences as particularly fun. Truth be told, our ladies of the day had an anything but pleasant experience—assuming what has made it down the centuries to us is true. After all, the
Remember my recent post about Fernando IV? I began by describing just how tumultuous the reign of his father was, Sancho IV being plagued by one rebellion after the other. Why? Because very many felt Sancho had usurped the throne, thereby setting aside the rights of his little nephew, Alfonso de la Cerda. I bet
The ultimate sacrifice – of a man, his honour and his son Read More »
Sometimes I find myself considering the impact of John of Gaunt on medieval Europe—as one does, right? I’m going to come clean right at the start and say I rather admire this gent, whom I perceive as educated, intelligent, brave, loyal and very ambitious. Extremely ambitious, even. But not so ambitious as to want to
Some time ago, I wrote a post about the unfortunate Danish princess Ingeborg who was sent off to France to marry Philippe Augustus and instead ended up as Philippe’s prisoner for a number of years, this after a wedding night that somehow must have been very momentous. After all, it was the morning after that