ENGLAND, Eleanor of
1162 - 1214 (52 years)
Set As Default Person 
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Name ENGLAND, Eleanor of [1, 2] Birth 13 Oct 1162 Falaise, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France 
Gender Female Royalty & Nobility Princess of England, Queen of Castile and Toledo Death 31 Oct 1214 Burgos, Burgos, Castilla-Leon, Spain Person ID I871 My Genealogy | Laviolette Ancestry, Laviolette Ancestry Last Modified 4 Feb 2024
Father HENRY, II, b. 5 Mar 1133, Le Mans, Sarthe, Pays de la Loire, France d. 6 Jul 1189, Chinon, Indre-et-Loire, Centre, France (Age 56 years) Relationship natural Mother OF AQUITAINE, Duchess of Acquitaine Eleanor, b. 6 Dec 1122, Bordeaux, Gironde, Aquitaine, France d. 1 Apr 1204, Fontevraud Abbey, Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire, France (Age 81 years) Relationship natural Marriage 18 May 1152 Bordeaux, Gironde, Aquitaine, France Family ID F178 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family CASTILE, Alfonso VIII of, b. 11 Nov 1155 d. 5 Oct 1214 (Age 58 years) Children + 1. OF CASTILE, Blanche, b. 4 Mar 1188, Palencia, Castilla-Leon, Spain d. Nov 1226, Paris, Île-de-France, France (Age 38 years) [Father: natural] [Mother: natural]+ 2. CASTILE, Berengaria of, b. 1179 d. 8 Nov 1246 (Age 67 years) [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] Family ID F8495 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 4 Feb 2024
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Event Map 
Birth - 13 Oct 1162 - Falaise, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France 
Death - 31 Oct 1214 - Burgos, Burgos, Castilla-Leon, Spain = Link to Google Earth
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Photos Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile
Documents 
Alfonso VIII of Castile - Wikipedia Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile - Wikipedia
Albums 
Royal Connections (3)
When you find a Gateway Ancestor in your family tree, it is almost impossible not to go down a rabbit hole of ancestry leading to connections with countless ancestors of the royal and noble classes. These lines have been extensively researched and documented by historians, so it is really just a matter of following the line. I've spent countless hours engrossed in the stories these royal lines have uncovered. In this album, I will link to ancestors who were members of the Royal class. Royalty refers to the ruling monarch and their immediate family. This includes kings, queens, princes, and princesses. The monarch is typically the highest authority in the land and has the power to grant titles of nobility.
Keep in mind that it is not necessarily unusual to be descended from royalty. After all, many of these connections go back to my 25th great grandparents and beyond. Theoretically, we have 67,108,864 sets of 25th great grandparents (In reality, due to a phenomenon known as pedigree collapse, where ancestors appear in the family tree multiple times in different generations due to intermarriage within a community, the actual number of unique 25th great-grandparents a person has is likely to be much lower). With this many, it might be more unusual NOT to descend from royalty. However, what makes our ancestry so unique is that we can TRACE it that far back, person to person to person. Since my fascination with our ancestry lies in my curiosity about the stories of the individual people, this is beyond compelling to me. It is like getting lost in a series of medieval novels in which I have an actual connection to the characters. It brings history to life.
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Notes - In 1170 Eleanor married King Alfonso VIII of Castile in Burgos.[1] Her parents' purpose in arranging the marriage was to secure Aquitaine's Pyrenean border, while Alfonso was seeking an ally in his struggles with Sancho VI of Navarre. In 1177, this led to Henry overseeing arbitration of the border dispute.[8]
Around the year 1200, Alfonso began to claim that the duchy of Gascony was part of Eleanor's dowry, but there is no documented foundation for that claim. It is highly unlikely that Henry II would have parted with so significant a portion of his domains. At most, Gascony may have been pledged as security for the full payment of his daughter's dowry. Her husband went so far on this claim as to invade Gascony in her name in 1205. In 1206, her brother John granted her safe passage to visit him, perhaps to try opening peace negotiations. In 1208, Alfonso yielded on the claim.[9] Decades later, their great-grandson Alfonso X of Castile would claim the duchy on the grounds that her dowry had never been fully paid.
Of all Eleanor of Aquitaine's daughters, her namesake was the only one who was enabled, by political circumstances, to wield the kind of influence her mother had exercised.[10] In her own marriage treaty, and in the first marriage treaty for her daughter Berengaria, Eleanor was given direct control of many lands, towns, and castles throughout the kingdom.[11] She was almost as powerful as Alfonso, who specified in his will in 1204 that she was to rule alongside their son in the event of his death, including taking responsibility for paying his debts and executing his will.[12] It was she who persuaded him to marry their daughter Berengaria to Alfonso IX of León. Troubadours and sages were regularly present in Alfonso VIII's court due to Eleanor's patronage.[13]
Eleanor took particular interest in supporting religious institutions. In 1179, she took responsibility to support and maintain a shrine to St. Thomas Becket in the cathedral of Toledo. She also created and supported the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, which served as a refuge and tomb for her family for generations, and its affiliated hospital.[14]
When Alfonso died, Eleanor was reportedly so devastated with grief that she was unable to preside over the burial. Their eldest daughter Berengaria instead performed these honours. Eleanor then went sick and died only twenty-six days after her husband, and was buried at Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas.[15]
- In 1170 Eleanor married King Alfonso VIII of Castile in Burgos.[1] Her parents' purpose in arranging the marriage was to secure Aquitaine's Pyrenean border, while Alfonso was seeking an ally in his struggles with Sancho VI of Navarre. In 1177, this led to Henry overseeing arbitration of the border dispute.[8]
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Sources - [S1801] Wikipedia, Record of Alfonso VIII of Castile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_VIII_of_CastileAlfonso VIII of Castile - Wikipedia - [S1801] Wikipedia, Record of Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_of_England,_Queen_of_CastileEleanor of England, Queen of Castile - Wikipedia
- [S1801] Wikipedia, Record of Alfonso VIII of Castile.