Saint Ferdinand III of Castile

Male 1201 - 1252  (~ 51 years)


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  • Name Ferdinand III of Castile 
    Prefix Saint 
    Born Between 1198-1201  Monastery of Valparaíso, Peleas de Arriba, Kingdom of Leon, Spain Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 30 May 1252  Seville, Crown of Castile, Spain Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried Seville, Cathedral Seville, Andalucia, Spain Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • Wikipedia
      http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=31143832

      He was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 as well as King of Galicia from 1231. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berenguela of Castile. Ferdinand III was one of the most successful kings of Castile, securing not only the permanent union of the crowns of Castile and León, but also masterminding the most expansive campaign of the Reconquest of Spain from the Moors.

      By military and diplomatic efforts, Ferdinand greatly expanded the dominions of Castile into southern Spain, annexing many of the great old cities of al-Andalus, including the old Andalusian capitals of Córdoba and Seville, and establishing the boundaries of the Castilian state for the next two centuries.

      Ferdinand was canonized in 1671 by Pope Clement X and, in Spanish, he is known as Fernando el Santo, San Fernando or San Fernando Rey. Places such as San Fernando, Pampanga, and the San Fernando de Dilao Church in Paco, Manila in the Philippines, and in California, San Fernando City and the San Fernando Valley, were named for him.

      The exact date of Ferdinand's birth is unclear. It has been proposed to have been as early as 1199 or even 1198, although more recent researchers commonly date Ferdinand's birth in the Summer of 1201. Ferdinand was born at the Monastery of Valparaíso (Peleas de Arriba, in what is now the Province of Zamora).

      The marriage of Ferdinand's parents was annulled by order of Pope Innocent III in 1204, due to consanguinity. Berengaria then took their children, including Ferdinand, to the court of her father, King Alfonso VIII of Castile. In 1217, her younger brother, Henry I, died and she succeeded him to the Castilian throne and Ferdinand as her heir, but she quickly surrendered it to her son.

      When Ferdinand's father, Alfonso IX of León, died in 1230, his will delivered the kingdom to his older daughters Sancha and Dulce, from his first marriage to Teresa of Portugal. But Ferdinand contested the will, and claimed the inheritance for himself.

      There was a crisis in the Almohad Caliphate and the leaders decided to abandon Spain, and left with the last remnant of the Almohad forces for Morocco. Andalusia was left fragmented in the hands of local strongmen. The Christian armies romped through the south virtually unopposed in the field. Individual Andalusian cities were left to resist or negotiate their capitulation by themselves, with little or no prospect of rescue from Morocco or anywhere else. On 22 December 1248, Ferdinand III entered as a conqueror in Seville, the greatest of Andalusian cities. At the end of this twenty-year onslaught, only a small part Andalusian state, the Emirate of Granada, remained unconquered.

      On the domestic front, Ferdinand strengthened the University of Salamanca and erected the current Cathedral of Burgos. He was a patron of the newest movement in the Church, that of the mendicant [begging] Orders. Whereas the Benedictine monks, and then the Cistercians and Cluniacs, had taken a major part in the Reconquest up until then, Ferdinand founded houses for friars of the Dominican, Franciscan, Trinitarian, and Mercedarian Orders throughout Andalusia, thus determining the future religious character of that region. Ferdinand has also been credited with sustaining the convivencia in Andalusia. He himself joined the Third Order of St. Francis, and is honored in that Order.

      Ferdinand III had started out as a contested king of Castile. By the time of his death in 1252, Ferdinand III had delivered to his son and heir, Alfonso X, a massively expanded kingdom. The boundaries of the new Castilian state established by Ferdinand III would remain nearly unchanged until the late 15th century.

      Ferdinand was buried in the Cathedral of Seville by his son, Alfonso X. His tomb is inscribed in four languages: Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, and an early version of Castilian. He rests enclosed in a gold and crystal casket worthy of the king. His golden crown still encircles his head as he reclines beneath the statue of the Virgin of the Kings.

      He married 2 times, first to Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen (1203?1235), daughter of the German king Philip of Swabia and Irene Angelina. Elisabeth was called Beatriz in Spain, the mother of his heir, Alonzo X.

      His second wife was Joan, Countess of Ponthieu, and they had four sons and one daughter:

      1. Ferdinand (1239-1260), Count of Aumale

      2. Eleanor (c.1241-1290), married Edward I of England. They had sixteen children including the future Edward II of England and every English monarch after Edward I is a descendant of Ferdinand III.

      3. Louis (1243-1269)

      4. Simon (1244), died young and buried in a monastery in Toledo

      5. John (1245), died young and buried at the cathedral in Córdoba
    Person ID I36058  Master File
    Last Modified 12 Sep 2016 

    Father Alfonso IX of León,   b. 15 Aug 1171, Zamora, Castilla y León, Spain Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 23/24 September 1230, Villanueva de Sarria, Spain Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 59 years) 
    Mother Berengaria of Castile, Queen of Castile and Queen of Léon,   b. ca 1179, Burgos, Provincia de Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 08 Nov 1246, Las Huelgas, Provincia de Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 67 years) 
    Family ID F14879  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Jeanne (Joan) of Dammartin, Countess of Ponthieu,   b. ca 1220, Abbeville, Picardie, France Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 16 Mar 1279, Abbeville, Picardie, France Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 59 years) 
    Children 
     1. Eleanor of Castile,   b. 10 Jan 1240, Burgos, Provincia de Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 28 Nov 1290, Harby, Nottinghamshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 50 years)
    Last Modified 9 Sep 2016 
    Family ID F14862  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart