Douce I of Provence, Countess of Provence

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douce_I,_Countess_of_Provence

She was the daughter of Gilbert I of Gévaudan and Gerberga of Provence and wife of Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona. In 1112, she inherited the county of Provence through her mother. She married Ramon Berenguer at Arles on 3 February that year.

In 1113, Douce ceded her rights in Provence, Gévaudan, and the viscounty of Millau to her husband. According to a once prevailing opinion, "Provençal troubadours ... entered Catalonia at the time" and even the Catalan language was imported from Provence. It was the beginning of a great scheme to unite various lands on both sides of the Pyrenees.

In reality the marriage gave the House of Barcelona extensive interests in southern France and put it in conflict with the Counts of Toulouse, with whom a partition of Provence was signed in 1125, shortly before Douce's death. Her death inaugurated a period of instability in Provence. A branch of the House of Barcelona was set up to rule, but a disputed succession opened up wars between 1144 through 1162, which terminated in Provençal victory.

Her children with Ramon Berenguer were:

1. Almodis, married Ponce de Cervera

2. Berenguela (1116-1149), married Alfonso VII of Castile

3. Ramon Berenguer (1113-1162), Count of Barcelona

4. Berenguer Ramon (c. 1115-1144), Count of Provence

Douce married Ramon Berenguer, III of Barcelona, Count of Barcelona, Girona, and Ausona , and Count of Provence. Ramon was born 11 Nov 1082, Rodez, Toulouse, France; died 19 Aug 1131, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; was buried , Santa Maria de Ripoll, Ripoll, Provincia de Girona, Catalonia, Spain. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berengaria_of_Barcelona

Berenguela or Berengaria of Barcelona was Queen consort of Castile, León and Galicia. She was the daughter of Raimon III of Barcelona and Dulce Aldonza Milhaud. Berenguela was the sister of Ramon Berenguer IV who was the ruler of the Kingdom of Aragon.

In November 1128, she married Alfonso VII. Their children were:

1. Sancho III of Castile (1134-1158)

2. Ramon, living 1136, died in infancy

3. Ferdinand II of León (1137-1188)

4. Constance (c.1138-1160), married Louis VII of France

5. Sancha (c.1139-1179), married Sancho VI of Navarre

6. García (c.1142-1145/6)

7. Alfonso (c.1144-by 1149)

In her lifetime a new political entity was formed in the northeast Iberian Peninsula: Portugal seceded from León in the west, giving more balance to the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula. Her brother Ramon Berenguer successfully pulled Aragon out of its pledged submission to Castile, aided no doubt by the beauty and charm of his sister Berengaria, for which she was well known in her time.

Her niece Dulce of Aragon married Sancho I of Portugal, while her famous granddaughter was Queen Berengaria of England.

She died in Palencia, and was buried at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.


Buried:
Grave location, biography, photos of effigy and cathedral:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=90699229

Berenguela married Alfonso VII Raimúndez of León, King of Galicia, King of León and Castille. Alfonso (son of Raymond of Burgundy and Urraca of León, Queen of León, Castile, and Galicia) was born 01 Mar 1105, Caldas de Reis, Galicia, Spain; died 21 Aug 1157, Muradel Pass, Sierra Morena mountains, Spain ; was buried , Cathedral of Toledo, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipeida
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_II_of_Le%C3%B3n

He was was King of León and Galicia from 1157 to his death. Born in Toledo, Castile, he was the son of King Alfonso VII of León and Castile and of Berenguela, of the House of Barcelona. At his father's death, he received León and Galicia, while his brother Sancho received Castile and Toledo. Ferdinand earned the reputation of a good knight and hard fighter, but did not display political or organising faculty.

He spent most of his first year as king in a dispute with his powerful nobles and an invasion by his brother Sancho III. In 1158 the two brothers met at Sahagun, and peacefully solved the heritage matters. However, Sancho died in the same year, being succeeded by his child son Alfonso VIII, while Ferdinand occupied parts of Castile.The boundary troubles with Castile restarted in 1164: he then met at Soria with the Lara family, who represented Alfonso VIII, and a truce was established, allowing him to move against the Muslims who still held much of southern Spain, and to capture the cities of Alcántara and Alburquerque. In the same year, Ferdinand defeated King Afonso I of Portugal, who, in 1163, had occupied Salamanca in retaliation for the repopulation of the area ordered by the King of León.

In 1165 he married Urraca, daughter of Afonso of Portugal. However, strife with Portugal was not put to an end by this move. In 1168 Afonso of Portugal again felt menaced by Ferdinand II's repopulation of the area of Ciudad Rodrigo: he then attacked Galicia. As his troops were also besieging the Muslim citadel of Badajoz, Ferdinand II was able to push the Portuguese out of Galicia and rush to Badajoz. When Afonso saw the Leonese arrive he tried to flee, but he was disabled by a broken leg caused by a fall from his horse, and made prisoner at one the city's gates. Afonso was obliged to surrender as his ransom almost all the conquests he had made in Galicia in the previous year. When in the same years the Almoravids laid siege to the Portuguese city of Santarém, Ferdinand II came to help his father-in-law, and helped to free the city from the menace.

In 1175 Pope Alexander III annulled Ferdinand II and Urraca of Portugal's marriage due to consanguinuity. The King remarried to Teresa Fernández de Traba, daughter of count Fernando Pérez de Traba, and widow of count Nuño Pérez de Lara. In 1185 Ferdinand married for the third time to Urraca López de Haro (daughter of Lope Díaz, lord of Biscay, Nájera and Haro), who was his mistress since 1180. The second Urraca tried in vain to have Alfonso IX, first son of Ferdinand II, declared illegitimate, to favor her son Sancho.

Ferdinand II died in 1188 at Benavente, while returning from a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. He was buried in the cathedral of Compostela.

In 1230 Forty two years after Ferdinand II's death his namesake grandson Ferdinand III of Castile united Castile with Leon permanently.

Ferdinand married Urraca of Portugal around 1165, they had one son, King Alfonso IX.

Following her repudiation, he formed a relationship with Teresa Fernández de Traba, daughter of count Fernando Pérez de Traba, and in August 1179 he married her, having Ferdinand (1178-1187), legitimized through his parents' subsequent marriage, and a child whose birth led to the death of its mother.

He then formed a liaison with Urraca López de Haro, daughter of Lope Díaz I de Haro, whom he married in May 1187, having García (1182-1184), Alfonso, b.1184, legitimized through the subsequent marriage of his parents, died before his father, and Sancho (1186-1220), Lord of Fines.



Buried:
Grave location, historical portrait, biography, and photo of cathedral:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=57133062

Ferdinand married Urraca of Portugal, Queen of León. Urraca (daughter of Afonso Henriques I of Portugal and Matilda (Mafalda) of Savoy) was born ca 1151, Coimbra, Portugal; died 16 Oct 1188, Valladolid, Provincia de Valladolid, Castilla y León, Spain; was buried , Monastery of Santa María de Wamba, Valladolid, Provincia de Valladolid, Castilla y León, Spain. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_of_Castile

She was Queen of France as the second wife of Louis VII, who married her following the annulment of his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine.[1] She was a daughter of Alfonso VII of León and Berengaria of Barcelona, but her year of birth is not certainly known.

Constance died giving birth to her second child. Desperate for a son, her husband remarried a mere five weeks after her death.

Constance bore her husband two children:

1. Margaret, 1157-1197, who married first Henry the Young King of England, and then Béla III of Hungary

2. Alys, 1160-1220, who married William IV of Ponthieu


Buried:
Grave location, biography and effigy photo:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21065

Constance married King Louis VII of France. Louis (son of King Louis VI France and Adelaide of Maurienne, de Savoy) was born 1120, Paris, France; died 18 Sep 1180, Saint-Pont, Auvergne, France; was buried , Saint Denis Basilique, Saint-Denis, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_IX_of_Le%C3%B3n

He was was king of León and Galicia from the death of his father Ferdinand II in 1188. According to According to Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), an Arab Muslin scholar, he is said to have been called the Baboso or Slobberer because he was subject to fits of rage during which he foamed at the mouth.

He took steps towards modernizing and democratizing his dominion and founded the University of Salamanca in 1212. In 1188 he summoned the first parliament reflecting full representation of the citizenry ever seen in Western Europe, the Cortes of León.

He took a part in the work of the Reconquest, conquering the area of Extremadura (including the cities of Cáceres and Badajoz).

Alfonso was born in Zamora. He was the only son of King Ferdinand II of León and Urraca of Portugal. His father was the younger son of Alfonso VII of León and Castile, who divided his kingdoms between his sons, which set the stage for conflict in the family until the kingdoms were re-united by Alfonso IX's son, Ferdinand III of Castile.

The convening of the Cortes de León in the cloisters of the Basilica of San Isidoro would be one of the most important events of Alfonso's reign. The difficult economic situation at the beginning of his reign compelled Alfonso to raise taxes on the underprivileged classes, leading to protests and a few towns revolts. In response the king summoned the Cortes, an assembly of nobles, clergy and representatives of cities, and subsequently faced demands for compensatory spending and greater external control and oversight of royal expenditures. The Cortes' 1188 session predates the first session of the Parliament of England, which occurred in the thirteenth century.

In spite of the democratic precedent represented by the Cortes and the founding of the University of Salamanca, Alfonso is often chiefly remembered for the difficulties his successive marriages caused between him with Pope Celestine III. He was first married in 1191 to his first cousin, Theresa of Portugal, who bore him two daughters, and a son who died young. The marriage was declared null by the papal legate Cardinal Gregory for consanguinity.

After Alfonso VIII of Castile was defeated at the Battle of Alarcos, Alfonso IX invaded Castile with the aid of Muslim troops. He was summarily excommunicated by Pope Celestine III. In 1197, Alfonso IX married his first cousin once removed, Berengaria of Castile, to cement peace between León and Castile. For this second act of consanguinity, the king and the kingdom were placed under interdict by representatives of the Pope. In 1198, Pope Innocent III declared Alfonso and Berengaria's marriage invalid, but they stayed together until 1204. The annulment of this marriage by the pope drove the younger Alfonso to again attack his cousin in 1204, but treaties made in 1205, 1207, and 1209 each forced him to concede further territories and rights. The treaty in 1207 is the first existing public document in the Castilian dialect.

In 1191, he married Theresa of Portugal, daughter of King Sancho I of Portugal and Queen Dulce of Aragon. Between 1191 and 1196, the year in which their marriage was annulled, three children were born:

1. Sancha (1191-before 1243) unmarried and without children. She and her sister Dulce became nuns or retired at the Monastery of San Guillermo Villabuena (León) where she died before 1243.

2. Ferdinand(1192/1193-1214), unmarried and without children.

3. Dulce (1193/1194-1248).

On 17 November 1197 he married Infanta Berengaria of Castile, daughter of King Alfonso VIII of Castile and Leonor of England. Five children were born of this marriage:

4. Eleanor (1198/1199-11 November 1202).

5. Constance (1 May 1200-7 September 1242), became a nun at the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, Burgos, where she died.

6. Ferdinand III of Castile (1201-1252). King of Castile in 1217 after the death of Henry I of Castile and of León in 1230 after the death of his father.

7. Alfonso (1202-1272), Lord of Molina due to his first marriage to Mafalda González de Lara.

8. Berengaria of León (1204-1237), in 1224 married John of Brienne.

Alfonso also fathered many illegitimate children. After the annulment of his first marriage and before wedding Berengaria, he had a relationship which lasted about two years with Inés Íñiguez de Mendoza, daughter of Iñigo López de Mendoza and María García, with whom he had a daughter born around 1197:

9. Urraca Alfonso, the wife of Lope Díaz II de Haro, Lord of Biscay.

He had another relationship afterwards with a noblewoman from Galicia, Estefanía Pérez de Faiam. In 1211, King Alfonso gave her lands in Orense where her family, as can be inferred from her last will dated 1250, owned many estates, as well as in the north of Portugal. She was the daughter of Pedro Menéndez Faiam, who confirmed several royal charters of King Alfonso IX, and granddaughter of Menendo Faiam, who also confirmed several diplomas issued in Galicia as of 1155 by King Ferdinand II of León. After the relationship ended, Estefanía married Rodrigo Suárez with whom she had children. In her will, she asked to be buried in the Monastery of Fiães in northern Portugal.

Alfonso IX and Estefanía were the parents of:

10. Ferdinand Alfonso of León (born in 1211),[18] died young.

According to Spanish historian, Julio González, after his relationship with Estefanía, the king had a lover from Salamanca, of unknown origin, whose name was Maura and with whom he had:

11. Fernando Alfonso de León (ca. 1214/1218-Salamanca, 10 January 1278), archdeacon of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, who had issue with Aldara de Ulloa.

Of his relationship with the noblewoman from Portugal, Aldonza Martínez de Silva, daughter of Martim Gomes da Silva and his wife Urraca Rodrigues, which lasted from 1214 to 1218, three children were born:

12. Rodrigo (ca. 1214-ca. 1268), lord of Aliger and Castro del Río, and Adelantado of the March of Andalusia, he married Inés Rodríguez, daughter of Rodrigo Fernández de Valduerna, Lord of Cabrera and alférez of King Alfonso IX.

13. Aldonza (died after 1267). Married count Pedro Ponce de Cabrera, and had children. They are the ancestors of the Ponce de León family.

14. Teresa Alfonso of León.

King Alfonso's most long-lasting relationship, which began in 1218 and lasted until his death in 1230, was with Teresa Gil de Soverosa.[27] A member of the Portuguese nobility, Teresa was the daughter of Gil Vasques de Soverosa and his first wife María Aires de Fornelos. They had four children, all of them born between 1218 and 1239:

15. Sancha (d. 1270). Married Simon Ruiz, Lord of Los Cameros. She later became a nun at the convent of Santa Eufemia de Cozuelos which she had founded.

16. María (died after July 1275). Her first marriage was with Álvaro Fernández de Lara. She was then the concubine of her nephew King Alfonso X of Castile and, according to the Count of Barcelos, her second husband was Suero Arias de Valladares.

17. Martín (died 1268/1272), married to Maria Mendes de Sousa, founders of the Monastery of Sancti-Spíritus, Salamanca. There was no children from this marriage.

18. Urraca (d. after 1252). First married García Romeu, and then Pedro Núñez de Guzmán.

Alfonso IX of León died on 24 September 1230. His death was particularly significant in that his son, Ferdinand III of Castile, who was already the King of Castile also inherited the throne of León from his father. This was thanks to the negotiations of his mother, Berengaria, who convinced her stepdaughters to renounce their claim on the throne. In an effort to quickly consolidate his power over León, Ferdinand III abandoned a military campaign to capture the city of Jaén immediately upon hearing news of his father's death and traveled to León to be crowned king. This coronation united the Kingdoms of León and Castile which would go on to dominate the Iberian Peninsula.

Buried:
Grave location, historical portrait, and photo of cathedral:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GScid=2366170&GRid=101385377&

Alfonso married Berengaria of Castile, Queen of Castile and Queen of Léon. Berengaria (daughter of Alfonso VIII (El De Las Navas) of Castile, King of Castille and King of Toledo and Eleanor Plantagenet, Queen of Castille) was born ca 1179, Burgos, Provincia de Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain; died 08 Nov 1246, Las Huelgas, Provincia de Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain; was buried , Monasterio de Santa María la Real de las Huelgas, Burgos, Provincia de Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alys_of_France,_Countess_of_Vexin

She was the daughter of King Louis VII of France and his second wife, Constance of Castile. Alys was the half-sister of Marie and Alix of France, Louis's children by Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the younger sister of Margaret of France.

In January 1169, Louis and Henry II of England signed a contract for the marriage between Alys and Henry's son Richard the Lionheart. The 8-year-old Alys was then sent to England as Henry's ward. There were widespread rumors that Henry had not only made Alys his mistress, but that she had borne him a child. Henry died in 1189. King Richard married Berengaria of Navarre on 12 May 1191, while still officially engaged to Alys.

Her brother, King Philip of France, had offered Alys to Prince John, but Eleanor prevented the match. Alys married William IV Talvas, Count of Ponthieu, on 20 August 1195, and had one child Marie, Countess of Ponthieu. She was some eighteen years older than William, and Philip figured that the couple would be childless, and he would thus gain control of Ponthieu, a small but strategically important county. However, when Alys then gave birth to Marie, this child became the heiress to Ponthieu when her father died.

Alys married William (Guillaume) IV (Talvas) of Ponthieu, Count of Ponthieu. William (son of John (Jean) I of Ponthieu, Count of Ponthieu and Beatrice of Saint-Pol) was born ca 1179, Abbeville, Picardie, France; died 04 Oct 1221; was buried , Abbey of Valloires, Picardie, France. [Group Sheet]