Wikipedia

Eleanor of Castile: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→Queen consort of England: Edited incorrect and misunderstood info
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
 
(146 intermediate revisions by 25 users not shown)
Line 1:
{{Short description|Queen of England from 1272 to 1290}}
{{good article}}
{{Other people|Eleanor of Castile}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox royalty
| image = Eleonora by Torel.jpg
| caption = Tomb effigy of Eleanor at [[Westminster Abbey]]
| alt = Effigy of Eleanor
| succession = [[Queen consort of England]]
| reign = 20 November 1272 – 28 November 1290
| reign-type = Tenure
| coronation = 19 August 1274
| succession1 = [[Count of Ponthieu|Countess of Ponthieu]]
| regent1 = [[Edward I of England|Edward I]]
| reg-type1 = Alongside
| reign1 = 16 March 1279 – 28 November 1290
| predecessor1 = [[Joan, Countess of Ponthieu|Joan]]
| successor1 = [[Edward II of England|Edward II]]
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Edward I of England]]|1254}}
| issue = {{plainlist|
*[[Eleanor of England, Countess of Bar|Eleanor, Countess of Bar]]
*[[Joan of Acre|Joan, Countess of Hertford]]
*[[Alphonso, Earl of Chester]]
*[[Margaret of England, Duchess of Brabant|Margaret, Duchess of Brabant]]
*[[Berengaria of England]]
*[[Mary of Woodstock]]
*[[Elizabeth of Rhuddlan|Elizabeth, Countess of Hereford]]
*[[Edward II of England]]}}
| issue-link = #Issue
| issue-pipe = more...
| house = [[Castilian House of Ivrea|Ivrea]]
| father = [[Ferdinand III of Castile]]
| mother = [[Joan, Countess of Ponthieu]]
| birth_date = 1241
| birth_place = [[Burgos]], [[Castile (historical region)|Castile]]
| death_date = 28 November 1290 (aged 48–49)
| death_place = [[Harby, Nottinghamshire]], [[England]]
| burial_date = 17 December 1290
| burial_place = [[Westminster Abbey]], London, England
}}
'''Eleanor of Castile''' (1241 – 28 November 1290) was [[List of English royal consorts|Queen of England]] as the first wife of [[Edward I of England|Edward I]]. She was educated at the Castilian court. She also ruled as [[Count of Ponthieu|Countess of Ponthieu]] [[suo jure|in her own right]] ({{lang|la|suo jure}}) from 1279. After intense diplomatic manoeuvres to secure her marriage to affirm English sovereignty over [[Gascony]], she was married to Prince Edward at the monastery of [[Las Huelgas]], [[Burgos]], on 1 November 1254, at 13. She is believed to have had a child not long after.▼
 
▲'''Eleanor of Castile''' (1241 – 28 November 1290) was [[List of English royal consorts|Queen of England]] as the first wife of [[Edward I of England|Edward I]]. She was educated at the [[Castile (historical region)|Castilian]] court. Sheand also ruled as [[Count of Ponthieu|Countess of Ponthieu]] [[suo jure|in her own right]] ({{lang|la|suo jure}}) from 1279. After intense diplomatic manoeuvresefforts to secure her marriage toand affirm English sovereignty over [[Gascony]], she13-year-old Eleanor was married to Prince Edward at the monastery of [[Las Huelgas]], [[Burgos]], on 1 November 1254, at 13. She is believed to have hadbirthed a child not long after.
Eleanor's life with Edward is better recorded from the time of the [[Second Barons' War]] onwards, when she spent a time imprisoned in [[Westminster Palace]] by [[Simon de Montfort]]'s government. She took an active role in Edward's reign as he began to take control of [[Henry III of England|Henry III]]'s government after the war. The marriage was particularly close, and they travelled together extensively, including on the [[Ninth Crusade]] during which Edward was wounded at [[Acre, Israel|Acre]].{{efn|name=poison|Later storytellers embellished this incident, creating a popular story of her saving his life by sucking out the poison, but this has long been discredited. The initial account from the early 1300s gives it as a story, and it was picked up later and recounted as fact by [[William Camden]] in his ''Britannia'' in 1586.{{sfn|Parsons|2004}}}} She was capable of influencing politics but died too young to have a major impact.▼
 
▲Fuller records of Eleanor's life with Edward is better recordedstart from the time of the [[Second Barons' War]] onwards, when she[[Simon spentde aMontfort]]'s timegovernment imprisoned her in [[Westminster Palace]] by [[Simon de Montfort]]'s government. SheEleanor took an active role in Edward's reign as he began to take control of [[Henry III of England|Henry III]]'s post-war government after the war. The marriage was particularly close,; Edward and theyEleanor travelled together extensively, including on the [[Ninth Crusade]], during which Edward was wounded at [[Acre, Israel|Acre]].{{efn|name=poison|Later storytellers embellished this incident, creating a popular story of herEleanor saving hisEdward's life by sucking poison out theof poisonhis wound, but this has long been discredited. The initial account from the early 1300s gives it as a story, and itthat was picked up later and recounted as fact by [[William Camden]] in his ''Britannia'' in 1586.{{sfn|Parsons|2004}}}} SheEleanor was capable of influencing politics but died too young to have a majormuch impacteffect.
In her lifetime, she was disliked for her property dealings, as she bought up vast lands such as [[Leeds Castle]] from the middling landed classes after they had fallen behind loan repayments to Jewish moneylenders forced to sell their bonds by the Crown. These transactions associated her with the abuse of usury and the supposed exploitation of Jews, bringing her into conflict with the church. She profited from the hanging of over 300 supposed Jewish coin clippers, and after the [[Edict of Expulsion|Expulsion of the Jews]] in 1290, gifted the former Canterbury Synagogue to her tailor. When she died, at [[Harby, Leicestershire|Harby]] near [[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]] in late 1290, Edward built a [[Eleanor cross|stone cross]] at each stopping-place on the journey to London, ending at [[Charing Cross]]. The sequence appears to have included the renovated tomb of [[Little St Hugh of Lincoln|Little St Hugh]] – falsely believed to have been ritually murdered by Jews – in order to bolster her reputation as an opponent of supposed Jewish criminality.▼
 
▲In her lifetime, sheEleanor was disliked for her property dealings, as; she bought up vast lands such as [[Leeds Castle]] from the middling landed classes after they hadwent falleninto behindarrears on loan repayments to Jewish moneylenders, and the Crown forced them to sell their bonds by the Crown. These transactions associated herEleanor with the abuse of [[usury]] and the supposed exploitation of Jews, bringing her into conflict with the church. She profited from the hanging of over 300 supposed Jewish alleged [[Debasement#Methods|coin clippers,]] and after the [[Edict of Expulsion|Expulsionexpulsion of the Jews]] in 1290, she gifted the former Canterbury Synagogue to her tailor. When sheEleanor died, at [[Harby, LeicestershireNottinghamshire|Harby]] near [[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]] in late 1290; following her death, Edward built a [[Eleanor cross|stone cross]] at each stopping- place on the journey to London, ending at [[Charing Cross]], known as [[Eleanor cross]]es. TheThis sequenceseries appearsof tomonuments may have included the renovated tomb of [[Little StSaint Hugh of Lincoln|Little St Hugh]]  – who was falsely believed to have been ritually murdered by Jews  – in order to bolster her reputation as an opponent of supposed Jewish criminality.
Eleanor exerted a strong cultural influence. She was a keen patron of literature and encouraged the use of tapestries, carpets and tableware in the Spanish style, as well as innovative garden designs. She was a generous patron of the Dominican friars, founding priories in England and supporting their work at Oxford and Cambridge universities. Notwithstanding the sources of her wealth, her financial independence had a lasting impact on the institutional standing of English Queens, establishing their future independence of action. Her reputation after death was shaped by competing positive and negative fictitious accounts, portraying her as either the dedicated companion of Edward I, or a scheming Spaniard. These accounts influenced the fate of the [[Eleanor cross]]es, for which she is probably best known today. Only in recent decades has she begun to receive serious academic study.▼
 
▲Eleanor exerted a strong cultural influence. She was a keen patron of literature and encouraged the use of tapestries, carpets and tableware in the Spanish style, as well as innovative garden designs. She was a generous patron of the [[Dominican friarsfriar]]s, founding priories in England, and supporting their work at Oxford and Cambridge universities. Notwithstanding the sources of her wealth, herEleanor's financial independence had a lasting impact on the institutional standing of English Queensqueens, establishing their future independence of action. HerAfter reputation afterher death, Eleanor's reputation was shaped by competingconflicting fictitious accounts – both positive and negative fictitious accounts, – portraying her as either the dedicated companion of Edward I, or as a scheming Spaniard. These accounts influenced the fate of the [[Eleanor cross]]escrosses, for which she is probably best known today. OnlyHistorians inhave recentgenerally decadesneglected hasEleanor sheand begunher toreign receiveas seriousa academictopic of serious study, but she has received more attention since the 1980s.
==Early life==
 
===Birth= Early life ==
Eleanor was born in [[Burgos]], daughter of [[Ferdinand III of Castile]] and [[Joan, Countess of Ponthieu]].{{sfn|Hamilton|1995|p=92}}{{sfn|Powicke|1991|p=235}} She was named after her paternal great-grandmother, [[Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile|Eleanor of England]], the daughter of [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]] and [[Henry II of England]].{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=9}}▼
 
=== Birth and childhood ===
Eleanor was the second of five children born to Ferdinand and Joan. Her elder brother Ferdinand was born in 1239/40, her younger brother Louis in 1242/43; two sons born after Louis died young.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=9}}{{efn|For the ceremonies in 1291 marking the first anniversary of Eleanor's death, 49 candlebearers were paid to walk in the public procession to commemorate each year of her life. As the tradition was to have one candle for each year of the deceased's life, 49 candles would date Eleanor's birth to 1240 or 1241.{{sfn|Parsons|1984|pp=246, 248}}}} As her parents were apart from each other for 13 months while King Ferdinand was on a military campaign in [[Andalusia]], from which he returned to the north of Spain only in February 1241, Eleanor was probably born towards the end of that year.{{sfn|Parsons|1984|pp=246, 248}} The courts of her father and her half-brother [[Alfonso X of Castile]] were known for their literary atmosphere. Both kings also encouraged extensive education of the royal children, and it is therefore likely that Eleanor was educated to a standard higher than the norm, a likelihood which is reinforced by her later literary activities as queen.<ref name=":0">{{harvnb|Cockerill|2014|p=80}}</ref> She was at her father's deathbed in [[Seville]] in 1252.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=9}}▼
▲Eleanor was born in [[Burgos]], daughter ofto [[Ferdinand III of Castile]] and [[Joan, Countess of Ponthieu]].{{sfn|Hamilton|1995|p=92}}{{sfn|Powicke|1991|p=235}} She was named after her paternal great-grandmother, [[Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile|Eleanor of England]], the daughter of [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]] and [[Henry II of England]].{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=9}}
 
▲Eleanor was the second of five children; born to Ferdinand and Joan. Herher elder brother Ferdinand was born in 1239/40, her younger brother Louis in 1242/43;, and two sonsbrothers who were born after Louis's dieddeath in youngchildhood.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=9}}{{efn|For the ceremonies in 1291 marking the first anniversary of Eleanor's death, 49 candlebearerscandle-bearers were paid to walk in thea public procession to commemorate each year of her life. As theThe tradition was to have one candle for each year of the deceased's life, so 49 candles would date Eleanor's birth to 1240 or 1241.{{sfn|Parsons|1984|pp=246, 248}}}} AsBecause her parents were apart from each otherseparated for 13 months while King Ferdinand was on a military campaign in [[Andalusia]],&nbsp;– from which he returned to the north of Spain only in February 1241,&nbsp;– Eleanor was probably born towards the end of that year.{{sfn|Parsons|1984|pp=246, 248}} The courts of her father and her half-brother [[Alfonso X of Castile]] were known for their literary atmosphere. Both kings also encouraged extensive education of the royal children, andso it is therefore likely that Eleanor was educated to a standard higher than the norm, a likelihood whichthat is reinforced by her later literary activities as queen.<ref name=":0">{{harvnb|Cockerill|2014|p=80}}</ref> SheEleanor was at her father's deathbed in [[Seville]] in 1252.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=9}}
 
===Prospective bride to Theobald II of Navarre===
Eleanor's marriage in 1254 to the future [[Edward I of England]] was not the only marriage her family planned for her.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=78, 79}} The kings of Castile had long made a tenuous claim to be paramount lords of the [[Kingdom of Navarre]] due to sworn homage from [[García Ramírez of Navarre|Garcia VI of Navarre]] in 1134. In 1253, Ferdinand III's heir, Eleanor's half-brother [[Alfonso X of Castile]],&nbsp;– Eleanor's half-brother&nbsp;– appears to have stalled negotiations with England in the hope that she would marry [[Theobald II of Navarre]]. The marriage would have afforded several advantages. First,: the [[Pyrenees]] kingdom also afforded passage from Castile to Gascony.; Secondly,and Theobald II was not yet of age, thusso thean opportunity existed to rule or potentially annex Navarre into Castile existed. To avoid Castilian control, in August 1253, [[Margaret of Bourbon, (1211–1256)Queen of Navarre|Margaret of Bourbon]]&nbsp;– (mother and regent to Theobald II) in August 1253&nbsp;– allied with [[James I of Aragon]] instead, and as part of that treaty, solemnly promised that Theobald would never marry Eleanor.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=12-14}}
 
===Marriage===
In 1252, Alfonso X resurrected anotheran ancestral claim, this time to the [[duchyDuchy of Gascony]] in the south of [[Aquitaine]]&nbsp;– (the last possession of the [[Kings of England]] in France),&nbsp;– which he claimed had formed part of the dowry of [[Eleanor of England]]. [[Henry III of England]] swiftly countered Alfonso's claims with both diplomatic and military moves. Early in 1253, the two kings began to negotiate; after haggling over the financial provision for Eleanor, Henry and Alfonso agreed she would marry Henry's son Edward, (bywho now held the titulartitle duke)of Duke of Gascony, and Alfonso would transfer his Gascon claims to Edward. Henry was so anxious for the marriage to take place that; he willingly abandoned the already-made, elaborate preparations already made for Edward'sthe knighting of Edward in England and agreed that Alfonso would knight Edward on or before the next [[Feast of Assumption]].<ref name=":0" />
 
TheEleanor youngand coupleEdward were married at the monastery of [[Las Huelgas]], [[Burgos]], on 1 November 1254. Edward and Eleanor were second cousins once removed, asbecause Edward's grandfather [[John, King of England|King John of England]] and Eleanor's great-grandmother Eleanor of England were the son and daughter of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Following the marriage, they spent nearly a year in Gascony, withand Edward rulingruled as lord of Aquitaine. During this time Eleanor, aged thirteen and a half, almost certainly gave birth to her first child, a short-lived daughter.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=90}} SheEleanor journeyedtravelled to England alone in latemid summer1255 of 1255.and Edward followed her a few months later.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=87–88}}
 
Henry III resolved the Gascon crisis, but herEleanor's position in England would have been difficult. A; fewsome of her relatives did cometravelled to England soon after her marriage.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=18, 21}} Most particularly, herEleanor's brother [[Henry of Castile the Senator|Henry of Castile]], stayed in England for three years, hoping that Henry III would help him reconcile with his father Alphonso.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=18–20}} While Eleanor was still young and childless, the prospect of a new Castilian family faction at court would have been troubling for those surrounding Henry, making herEleanor's position quite precarious.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=20–21}}
 
===Second Barons' War===
{{further|Second Barons' War}}
[[File:Eleanor of Castile - geograph.org.uk - 43729.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.8|A statue of Eleanor, at the church at Harby, where she died in 1290.]]
There is little record of Eleanor's life in England until the 1260s, when the Second Barons' War, between Henry III and his barons, divided the kingdom.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=23, 32}} During this time, Eleanor actively supported Edward's interests, importing archers from her mother's county of [[Ponthieu]] in, France.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=23}} SheEleanor was in England during the strugglewar, and held [[Windsor Castle]] and baronial prisoners for Edward. Rumours that sheEleanor was seeking fresh troops from Castile led the baronial leader, [[Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester|Simon de Montfort]], to order her removal from Windsor Castle in June 1264 after the royalistdefeat armyof hadthe beenroyalist defeatedarmy at the [[Battle of Lewes]].{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=24}}
 
Edward was captured at Lewes and imprisoned, and Eleanor was confined at [[Westminster Palace]]. After Edward's and Henry's army defeated the baronial army at the [[Battle of Evesham]] in 1265, Edward took a major role in reforming the government, and Eleanor rose to prominence at his side. Her position was greatly improved inIn July 1266 when, after she had bornebirthed three short-lived daughters, sheEleanor gave birth to a son, John, towho bewas followed in early 1268 by a second boy, named Henry, in the spring of 1268, and in June 1269 by a healthy daughter, named Eleanor.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=24-5}}
 
===Crusade===
{{further|Lord Edward's crusade|Edward I of England#Crusade and accession}}
Eleanor came from a family heavily involved in the [[Crusades]]. She appears to have been very committed to the church's call to arms, and took a vow to participate. Unlike men, women were not obliged to travel to fulfil their vow, and were discouraged from doing so, if not actually barred. Although other women members of her family had travelled on crusade, it was still an unusual thing to do.{{sfn|Hamilton|1995|pp=94-95}}▼
 
▲Eleanor of Castile came from a family who were heavily involved in the [[Crusades]].; SheEleanor appears to have been very committed to the church's call to arms, and took a vow to participate. Unlike men, womenWomen were not obliged to travel to fulfil their vow, and wereif discouragednot prohibited from doing so, ifwere not actually barreddiscouraged. Although other womenfemale members of her family had travelled on crusade, it was still an unusual thing to do.{{sfn|Hamilton|1995|pp=94-95}}
By 1270, England was at peace and Edward and Eleanor left to join his uncle [[Louis IX of France]] on the [[Eighth Crusade]]. Louis died at [[Carthage]] before they arrived, and after they spent the winter in [[Sicily]], the couple went on to [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] in the [[Holy Land]], where they arrived in May 1271. Eleanor gave birth to a daughter, known as "Joan of Acre" for her birthplace.{{sfn|Hamilton|1995|pp=93-100}}▼
 
▲By 1270, England was at peace, and Edward and Eleanor left to join hisEdward's uncle [[Louis IX of France]] on the [[Eighth Crusade]]. Louis died at [[Carthage]] before they arrived,; andthe after theycouple spent the winter in [[Sicily]], thethen couple went onproceeded to [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] in the [[Holy Land]], where they arrived in May 1271. Eleanor gave birth to a daughter, who is known as "[[Joan of Acre"]] for her birthplace.{{sfn|Hamilton|1995|pp=93-100}}
The crusade was militarily unsuccessful, but [[Baibars]] of the [[Bahri dynasty]] was worried enough by Edward's presence at Acre that an assassination attempt was made on the English heir in June 1272.{{sfn|Hamilton|1995|p=100}} He was wounded in the arm by a dagger that was thought to be poisoned. The wound soon became seriously inflamed, and a surgeon saved him by cutting away the diseased flesh, but only after Eleanor was led from his bed, "weeping and wailing".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough|pages=208–210}}</ref>{{efn|name=poison}}▼
 
[[File:Queen Eleanor sucking the poison from King Edward I's arm. L Wellcome V0015275.jpg|thumb|Queen Eleanor sucking the poison from King Edward's arm (19th century engraving by [[Joseph Brown (engraver)|Brown]] after [[William Marshall Craig|W.M. Craig]])]]
They left Acre in September 1272, and in Sicily that December, they learned of Henry III's death (on 16 November 1272).{{sfn|Hamilton|1995|p=101}} Following a trip to Gascony, where their next child, Alphonso (named for Eleanor's half-brother Alfonso X), was born, Edward and Eleanor returned to England and were crowned together on 19 August 1274.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=31}}{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=186-188}}▼
▲The crusade was a militarily unsuccessful,failure but [[Baibars]] of the [[Bahri dynasty]] was worried enough by Edward's presence at Acre thatand in June 1272, an assassination attempt was made on the English heir in June 1272Edward.{{sfn|Hamilton|1995|p=100}} HeEdward was wounded in the arm by a dagger that wasis thought to behave been poisoned. The wound soonquickly became seriously inflamed, and a surgeon saved himEdward by cutting awayexcising the diseased flesh, but only after Eleanor was led away from his bed, "weeping and wailing".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough|pages=208–210}}</ref>{{efn|name=poison}}
 
▲TheyEleanor and Edward left Acre in September 1272,. and inIn Sicily that December, they learnedlearnt of Henry III's death (on 16 November 1272).{{sfn|Hamilton|1995|p=101}} Following a trip to Gascony, where their next child, Alphonso&nbsp;– (named for Eleanor's half-brother Alfonso X),&nbsp;– was born, Edward and Eleanor returned to England and were crowned together on 19 August 1274.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=31}}{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=186-188}}
 
==Queen consort of England==
Available evidence indicates that Eleanor and Edward were devoted to each other, and it appears that Edward was faithful to her in the marriage.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=50}}{{sfn|Hamilton|2010|p=62}} The couple were rarely apart; sheEleanor accompanied himEdward on military campaigns in [[Wales]],{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=294}} giving birth to their son Edward on 25 April 1284 at [[Caernarfon Castle]], inon a25 temporaryApril shelter1284.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=33}}{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|p=243}} Their household records witnessnarrate incidents that imply a comfortable, even humorous, relationship. Each year on [[Easter Monday]], Edward letallowed Eleanor's ladies to trap him in his bed and paid them a token ransom so he could go to her bedroom on the first day after [[Lent]]; sothis importantcustom was thisso customimportant to himEdward that in 1291, on the first Easter Monday after Eleanor's death, he gave her ladies the money he would have given them hadif she had been alive.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=50}} Edward disliked ceremonies and in 1290 refused to attend the marriage of [[Earl Marshal]] [[Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk]]; Eleanor paid [[minstrel]]s to play for him while he sat alone during the wedding.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=338}}{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|p=254}}
 
Edward was greatly affected by Eleanor's death, shown for instance in his January 1291 letter to the [[Abbey of Cluny|abbot of Cluny]] in France, in which he sought prayers for the soul of the wife "whom living we dearly cherished, and whom dead we cannot cease to love".{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|p=254}} Edward ordered the construction of twelve elaborate stone crosses between 1291 and 1294, marking the route of her funeral procession between Lincoln and London.{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|pp=253-4}}{{efn| Three of the crosses survive, though none of them is intact.}} Only one of Eleanor's four sons survived childhood, and even before she died, Edward worried over the succession: if that son died, their daughters' husbands might cause a succession war. Edward therefore married again, in 1299 to [[Marguerite of France (born 1282)|Margaret of France]]. He delighted in the sons his new wife bore,{{sfn|Parsons|1998|pp=297-8}} but attended memorial services for Eleanor to the end of his life.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=358}}▼
 
===Land acquisition and unpopularity===
{{further|History of the Jews in England (1066–1290)#Edward I and the Expulsion}}
Eleanor's acquisition of lands was unprecedented for an English queen:{{sfn|Parsons|2004}} between 1274 and 1290, she acquired estates worth about £26002,600 yearly.{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=468}} This wentprovided a longmajority way towards potentially financingof her expenditure, which amounted to £80008,000 a year at the time of her death, while income from her dower lands was worth £45004,500, to which she would be entitled to in the event of her husbandEdward's death.{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|p=246}} In fact, it was Edward himself who initiated this process.,{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=468}} Heas he wanted the queen to hold lands sufficient for her financial needs without drawing on funds needed for government, and to be independent if she was widowed.<ref>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2004|p=468}}, {{harvnb|Armstrong|2023|p=246}}</ref> The process began as early as the aftermath ofafter the [[Battle of Evesham]], aswhen Eleanor received the grant of lands formerly held by rebels.{{sfn|Parsons|2004}}
 
[[File:1 castle leeds panorama 2017.jpg|thumb|Leeds Castle, Kent, was acquired at vast discount by Eleanor through the forced sale of debt bonds from Jews.{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=13}}]]
 
[[File:1 castle leeds panorama 2017.jpg|thumb|[[Leeds Castle]], in [[Kent]] acquired at vast discount by Eleanor through the forced sale of debt bonds from Jews{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=13}}]] Between 1270 and 1281, a significant method for Eleanor to acquire land was the cheap purchase of the debts thatowed by Christian landlords owedto Jewish moneylenders.{{sfn|Parsons|2004}} In exchange for cancelling the debts, she received the lands pledged against the debts. Since the early 1200s, the Jewish community had been taxed well beyond its means, leading to a reduction in the capital the small number of rich Jewish moneylenders had to support their lending. Jews were also disallowed from holding land assets. ToBonds recoupfor againstlands acould defaultedbe debt,sold theto bondsrecoup foragainst thea landsdefaulted coulddebt bebut sold. Thesethese could only be bought and soldtraded by Royalroyal permission, meaning that Eleanor and a select group of very wealthy courtiers were the exclusive beneficiaries of these sales. The periodic excessive taxes of the Jews called "tallages" would force them to sell their bonds very cheaply to release their capital, and these would be bought by courtiers.<ref>{{harvnb|Stacey|1997|pp=93-9493–94}}, {{harvnb|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|pp=360-65360–65}}, {{harvnb|Carpenter|2004|p=490}}, {{harvnb|Parsons|2004}}</ref> Access to these cut-price land bonds can be viewed as a form of royal patronage.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=123}} ▼
 
{{Quote box|Popular poem, quoted by Walter of Guisborough: {{poemquote|The king would like to get our gold,▼
▲[[File:1 castle leeds panorama 2017.jpg|thumb|[[Leeds Castle]], in [[Kent]] acquired at vast discount by Eleanor through the forced sale of debt bonds from Jews{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=13}}]] Between 1270 and 1281, a significant method for Eleanor to acquire land was the cheap purchase of the debts that Christian landlords owed Jewish moneylenders.{{sfn|Parsons|2004}} In exchange for cancelling the debts, she received the lands pledged against the debts. Since the early 1200s, the Jewish community had been taxed well beyond its means, leading to a reduction in the capital the small number of rich Jewish moneylenders had to support their lending. Jews were also disallowed from holding land assets. To recoup against a defaulted debt, the bonds for the lands could be sold. These could only be bought and sold by Royal permission, meaning that Eleanor and a select group of very wealthy courtiers were the exclusive beneficiaries of these sales. The periodic excessive taxes of the Jews called "tallages" would force them to sell their bonds very cheaply to release their capital, and would be bought by courtiers.<ref>{{harvnb|Stacey|1997|pp=93-94}}, {{harvnb|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|pp=360-65}}, {{harvnb|Carpenter|2004|p=490}}, {{harvnb|Parsons|2004}}</ref> Access to these cut-price land bonds can be viewed as a form of royal patronage.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=123}}
the queen, our manors fair, to hold&nbsp;...{{sfn|Morris|2009|p=225}}}}|align=left}} By the 1270s, this situation had led the Jewish community into a desperate position, while Edward, Eleanor and a few others gained vast new estates.{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=13}} ContemporariesAccording to contemporaries, however, saw the problem as resultingresulted from Jewish "[[usury]]", which contributed to a rise in anti-Semitic beliefs. HerEleanor's participation in "Jewish usury" and dispossession of middling landowners caused Eleanorher to be criticised, both by members of the landed classes and by the church. A spectacularAn example of an estate picked upa cheaply-purchased canestate be seen inis the release of [[Leeds Castle]] to Edward and Eleanor by [[William de Leybourne]],; whichit became a favourite residence.{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=13}} Through these acquisitions, Eleanor acquiredgained an "unsavoury reputation".{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=13}} Records of her unpopularity are common.: Forfor instance, [[Walter of Guisborough]] highlighted her reputation and preservespreserved a contemporarycontemporaneous poem reflecting her acquisitiveness.{{sfn|Morris|2009|p=225}} The annalist of [[Dunstable Priory]] noted in a contemporary notice of her death: "a Spaniard by birth, she acquired many fine manors".{{sfn|Morris|2009|p=229}} [[John Peckham]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], warned Eleanor's servants about her activities in the land market and her association with the highly unpopular moneylenders:▼
The annalist of Dunstable Priory echoed him in a contemporary notice of her death: "a Spaniard by birth, she acquired many fine manors".{{sfn|Morris|2009|p=229}} [[John Peckham]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] warned Eleanor's servants about her activities in the land market and her association with the highly unpopular moneylenders: "<blockquote>A rumour is waxing strong throughout the kingdom and has generated much scandal. It is said that the illustrious lady queen, whom you serve, is occupying many manors, lands, and other possessions of nobles, and has made them her own property &nbsp;– lands which the Jews have extorted with usury from Christians under the protection of the royal court."{{sfn|Morris|2009|p=225}} Peckham also warned Eleanor of complaints against her officials' demands upon her tenants.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=120-21}} </blockquote>▼
 
Peckham also warned Eleanor of complaints against her officials' demands upon her tenants.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=120-21}}
▲By the 1270s, this had led the Jewish community into a desperate position, while Edward, Eleanor and a few others gained vast new estates.{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=13}} Contemporaries, however, saw the problem as resulting from Jewish "usury" which contributed to a rise in anti-Semitic beliefs. Her participation in "Jewish usury" and dispossession of middling landowners caused Eleanor to be criticised both by members of the landed classes and by the church. A spectacular example of an estate picked up cheaply can be seen in the release of [[Leeds Castle]] to Edward and Eleanor by [[William de Leybourne]], which became a favourite residence.{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=13}} Through these acquisitions, Eleanor acquired an "unsavoury reputation".{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=13}} Records of her unpopularity are common. For instance, [[Walter of Guisborough]] highlighted her reputation and preserves a contemporary poem:
▲{{poemquote|The king would like to get our gold,
the queen, our manors fair, to hold&nbsp; …{{sfn|Morris|2009|p=225}}}}
▲The annalist of Dunstable Priory echoed him in a contemporary notice of her death: "a Spaniard by birth, she acquired many fine manors".{{sfn|Morris|2009|p=229}} [[John Peckham]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] warned Eleanor's servants about her activities in the land market and her association with the highly unpopular moneylenders: "A rumour is waxing strong throughout the kingdom and has generated much scandal. It is said that the illustrious lady queen, whom you serve, is occupying many manors, lands, and other possessions of nobles, and has made them her own property – lands which the Jews have extorted with usury from Christians under the protection of the royal court."{{sfn|Morris|2009|p=225}} Peckham also warned Eleanor of complaints against her officials' demands upon her tenants.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=120-21}}
 
Not all or even theThe majority of the lands Eleanor acquired were not acquired through the cheap acquisition of Jewish bonds.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=143}} This method declined after 1275, and especially after 1281, asbecause the wealth of the Jewish communityCrown had largely been removed bythe wealth of the CrownJewish community. By the late 1280s, herEleanor's income from the lands she had acquired was sufficient to drivefund future purchases.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=142}} Eleanor's selection of lands was judicious, and aimed at consolidation of her estates. Neighbouring rather than isolated lands were chosen, and the price of the potential acquisitions was less important than whether it would make sense for her estate's management.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=132, 138}} SheEleanor was able to seek out lands because of the intelligence gathered by her advisors, and had tremendous advantages as well asand wealth in being able to choose such strategies.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=132-4, 136, 138}} She was also able to reach a degree of compromise with those whose lands were being purchased, whether in return for debt relief or otherwise.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=135-6}} It was not necessarily important to her strategy whether lands were immediately handed to her, or for the lowest possible price, for instance, which distinguished her from other courtiers, whose acquisitions tended to be more straightforwardly immediately profitable.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=125-6}} Nevertheless, thereThere is evidence that herEleanor's managers could beimpose very strict in the terms they imposed, and that she would have had knowledgeknown of their actions.;{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=132-3}} Sheand certainlyshe paid close attention to her property dealings.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=145-6}} Eleanor acquired debts that had to be cleared on her succession to Ponthieu in 1279, and went on to acquire 24 properties in the region in the following years, partly financed from her English income.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=285-7}}
 
HerEleanor's executors' financial accounts record the payments of reparations to many of those who brought actions before the judicial proceedings in 1291, done on Eleanor's request shortly before her death in an attempt to provide redress for wrongdoings in her property dealings. She is likely to have been aware of the heavy -handed tactics of her administrators, asbecause she was regularly notified of activities regarding her estates.{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|p=250}} Notwithstanding the manner by which she acquired her estates and income, Eleanor of Castile's queenship is significant in English history for the evolution of a stable financial system for the king's wife, and for the honing this process gave the queen-consort's prerogatives.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=74-5, 123}}
 
===Other income===
As queen, Eleanor had income other kindsthan ofthat incomefrom asher Queenestates. [[Queen's Gold, for instance,gold]] was paid as an additional sum of ten percent on taxes.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=77-8}} She also benefited from revenues from vacant estates, and could be granted income from trials and seizures, but whatthe income she received from these sources was at the king's discretion of the King, rather than being a matter of right.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=78-79}}
 
SheEleanor was granted significant income from anything hidden or unclaimed assets resulting from trials. For instance, during the late 1270s, Jews were targeted for [[coin clipping|coin-clipping]] offences. Although the evidence was largely fictional, around 10%ten percent of the Jewish population was sentenced to death, representing&nbsp;– over 300 individuals.&nbsp;– Aswas asentenced result,to death; their assets were seized and forfeit to the Crown;, together with fines for those who escaped hanging,. overOver £16,500 was collected, from which Eleanor received a significant portion.{{sfn|Rokéah|1988|pp=91-92}} Other income from Jews came from seizures of their property at death, particularly if sheEleanor had close financial relationsrelationships with them.{{sfn|Stokes|1915|pp=166-7}} Following the 1290 [[Edict of Expulsion]], wherewith which the whole Jewish population ofwas expelled from England, their houses, debts and other property was forfeit to the Crown. Around £2,000 was raised for the Crown from sales, but much was given away in about 85 grants to courtiers, friends and family,; includingEleanor gave the Synagoguesynagogue at [[Canterbury, which Eleanor gave]] to her tailor.{{sfn|Huscroft|2006|pp=157-9}}
 
===Political influence===
Eleanor was given little overt political role, and; even in diplomatic matters her role was minor. Edward did however heedheeded her advice on the age at which their daughters could marry foreign rulers, preventing her 12-year-old daughter Eleanor from leaving England in 1282, at 12 years old.{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|p=243}} SheEleanor of Castile was in part educated by Edward's mother, Eleanor of Provence, in diplomatic practices,&nbsp;– such as giving gifts to visiting princes orand envoys, as a means to win influence, and in the art of interceding to reduce friction from disputes&nbsp;– by Edward's mother [[Eleanor of Provence]].{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|p=244-5}} While Edward honoured his obligations to Eleanor's father Alfonso X, his support may be seen as relatively limited. When Alfonso's need was desperate in the early 1280s, Edward did not send English knights to Castile, but sent knights from [[Gascony]], which was closer to Castile.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=297-98}}
 
Eleanor did played a role in Edward's counsels, althoughbut she did not overtly exercise power overtly except on occasions wherewhen she was appointed to mediate disputes of a between nobles in England and Gascony. Eleanor directed Edward's attention to [[Vegetius]] when she commissioned an [[Old French]] translation of ''[[De Re Militari]]'' while on Crusade in Acre in 1272.<ref>{{harvnb|Hamilton|1995|p=101}}, {{harvnb|Parsons|1995|p=27}}</ref> She also intervened in disputes, for instance to limit the consequences of the Baronial rebellions{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|p=245}} and to defend the [[Earl of Cornwall]] in 1287 against charges of incompetence, arguing they were unjustified.{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=468}} SheEleanor was a "clever operator" at court, with "unique influence" givendue the love thatto Edward's hadlove for her.{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=468}} She appears to have limited her role to avoid widerthe wide criticism that her mother -in -law had experienced, and perhaps givendue to her immediate concerns with pregnancies and building her landholdings.{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|pp=245-6}}
 
Edward was clearly prepared to resist herEleanor's demands, or to stop her, if he felt she was going too farexcessive in any of her activities, and that he expected his ministers to restrain her if her actions threatened to inconvenience important people in his realm, as happened; on one occasion, whenthe [[Lord Chancellor]] [[Robert Burnell]], the Lord Chancellor, assured the [[Bishop of Winchester]], from whom the queen was demanding athe sumrepayment of moneya debt the bishop owed her, that he would speak with the queen and that afterwards the business would end happily for the bishop.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=43-4}} Nevertheless, asAs queen, herEleanor's major opportunity for power and influence would have beencome later in her life, when her sons grew older, throughby promoting their political and military careers.{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=468}}
 
====Promotion of her relatives====
[[File:Arms of Eleanor of Castile, Queen of England (Attributed).svg|thumb|upright=.8|Coat of arms of Eleanor of Castile as Queen of England]]
[[File:Arms of Eleanor of Castile, Queen of England (Attributed).svg|thumb|upright=.8|Coat of arms of Eleanor of Castile as Queen of England]] She patronised many relatives, though given foreigners' unpopularity in England and the criticism of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence's generosity to them, she was cautious as queen to choose which cousins to support. Rather than marry her male cousins to English heiresses, which would put English wealth in foreign hands, she arranged marriages for her female cousins to English barons.{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|pp=243-44}} Edward strongly supported her in these endeavours, which provided him and his family — alongside Eleanor herself, in her potential widowhood — with an expanded network of potential supporters.{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|pp=243-4}}▼
 
▲[[File:Arms of Eleanor ofpatronised Castile, Queenmany of Englandher (Attributed).svg|thumb|upright=.8|Coatrelatives, ofthough armsas ofqueen, Eleanorgiven ofthe Castile as Queenunpopularity of England]] She patronised many relatives, though given foreigners' unpopularity in England, and the criticism of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence's generosity to them, sheEleanor of Castile was cautious as queen to choose which cousins to support. Rather than marry her male cousins to English heiresses, which would put English wealth in foreign hands, sheEleanor arranged marriages to English barons for her female cousins to English barons.{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|pp=243-44}} Edward strongly supported herEleanor in these endeavours, which provided him and his family —&nbsp;– alongside Eleanor herself, in her potential widowhood —&nbsp;– with an expanded network of potential supporters.{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|pp=243-4}}
In a few cases, her marriage projects for her lady cousins provided Edward, as well as her father-in-law Henry III, with opportunities to sustain healthy relations with other realms. The marriage of her kinswoman Marguerite de {{not a typo|Guînes}} to the earl of Ulster, one of the more influential English noblemen in Ireland, not only gave Edward a new family connection in that island but also with Scotland, since Marguerite's cousin [[Marie de Coucy]] was the mother of Edward's brother-in-law Alexander III. The earliest of Eleanor's recorded marriage projects linked one of her [[Châtellerault]] cousins with a member of the [[Lusignan]] family, Henry III's highly favoured maternal relatives, not only strengthening the king's ties with that family but also creating a new tie between the English king and a powerful family in Poitou, on Gascony's northern flank.<ref>{{harvnb|Cockerill|2014|p=124}}, {{harvnb|Parsons|1995|pp=22, 46}}</ref>▼
 
▲In a few cases, herEleanor's marriage projects for her ladyfemale cousins provided Edward, as well as her father-in-law Henry III, with opportunities to sustain healthy relations with other realms. The marriage of herEleanor's kinswoman Marguerite de {{not a typo|Guînes}} to the earl[[Earl of Ulster]], one of the more most-influential English noblemen in Ireland, not only gave Edward a new family connection in thatIreland island butand also with Scotland, sincebecause Marguerite's cousin [[Marie de Coucy]] was the mother of Edward's brother-in-law [[Alexander III of Scotland|Alexander III]]. The earliest of Eleanor's recorded marriage projects linked one of her [[Châtellerault]] cousins with a member of the [[Lusignan]] family, Henry III's highly favoured maternal relatives, not only strengthening the king's ties with that family but alsoand creating a new tie between the English king and a powerful family in Poitou, onnorthern Gascony's northern flank.<ref>{{harvnb|Cockerill|2014|p=124}}, {{harvnb|Parsons|1995|pp=22, 46}}</ref>
 
===Cultural and other interests===
IfAlthough she was allowed no overt political role, Eleanor found other satisfying outlets for her energies. She was an active patronesspatron of literature, maintaining the only royal [[scriptorium]] known to have existed at the time in Northern Europe, with scribes and at least one [[Limner|illuminator]] to copy books for her. Some of the works produced were apparently vernacular romances and saints' lives, but Eleanor's tastes ranged far morewere widelywider than that and were not limited to the products of her own writing office. The number and variety of new works written for her show that her interests were broad and sophisticated.<ref>{{harvnb|Hilton|2008|pp=230-32230–32}}, {{harvnb|Cockerill|2014|pp=237-42237–42}}</ref>
 
[[File:BL Alphonso Psalter.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|left|The [[Alphonso [[Psalter]], or book of [[psalms]], believed to have been commissioned by Eleanor{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=236, 239}}]]▼
 
After sheEleanor succeeded her mother as countess[[Count of Ponthieu|Countess of Ponthieu]] in 1279, a romance was written for her about the life of a supposed 9thfictional, ninth-century count of Ponthieu was written for her. SheEleanor commissioned an Arthurian romance with a Northumbrian theme, possibly for the marriage of the Northumbrian lord [[John de Vescy]], who married a close friend and relation of hers. In the 1280s, Archbishop Peckham wrote a theological work for herEleanor to explain what [[angel]]s were and what theytheir didroles.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=238}} She almost certainly commissioned the [[Alphonso Psalter]], which is now in the [[British Library]], and is also suspectedthought to be the commissioner of the [[Bird Psalter]], which also bears the arms of Alphonso and his prospective wife.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=236, 239}} HerEleanor's accounts reveal her corresponding in 1290 corresponding with an Oxford master about one of her books.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=238}} There is also evidence suggesting that sheEleanor exchanged books with her brother Alfonso X.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=240-41}} ItEleanor is reasonableassumed to assumehave that Eleanor spokespoken French, which was her mother's language and the dominant language of the English court, as it was her mother's main language.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=17}} All of the extant literary works created for herEleanor are in French.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=56}}<!--check on evidence re absence of English-->▼
 
[[File:Fountain Court - geograph.org.uk - 1007789.jpg|upright=.7|thumb|Water feature in the Fountain Court at Leeds Castle]]
▲[[File:BL Alphonso Psalter.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|left|The [[Alphonso Psalter]], believed to have been commissioned by Eleanor{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=236, 239}}]]
▲After she succeeded her mother as countess of Ponthieu in 1279, a romance was written for her about the life of a supposed 9th century count of Ponthieu. She commissioned an Arthurian romance with a Northumbrian theme, possibly for the marriage of the Northumbrian lord John de Vescy, who married a close friend and relation of hers. In the 1280s, Archbishop Peckham wrote a theological work for her to explain what [[angel]]s were and what they did.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=238}} She almost certainly commissioned the Alphonso Psalter, now in the British Library, and is also suspected to be the commissioner of the Bird Psalter which also bears the arms of Alphonso and his prospective wife.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=236, 239}} Her accounts reveal her in 1290 corresponding with an Oxford master about one of her books.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=238}} There is also evidence suggesting that she exchanged books with her brother Alfonso X.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=240-41}} It is reasonable to assume that Eleanor spoke French, the dominant language of the English court, as it was her mother's main language.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=17}} All the extant literary works created for her are in French.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=56}}
 
[[File:Fountain Court - geograph.org.uk - 1007789.jpg|upright=.7|thumb|Water feature in the Fountain Court at Leeds Castle]] In the [[Separate spheres|domestic sphere]], sheEleanor emphasised comfort and made changes to residences to reflect her taste. She commissioned piped bath works at Leeds Caste, and tiled bathrooms elsewhere, echoing the bathroom culture of Castile.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=230}} SheEleanor popularised the use of tapestries and carpets;{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=230}} – the use of hangings and especially floor coverings was noted as a Spanish extravagance on her arrival in London, but by the time of her death, wasit plainlywas much in vogue amongstamong richerrich magnates.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=51}} SheEleanor also promoted the use of fine tableware, elegantly decorated knives, and even forks, though it remainsis uncertain whether the latterforks were used as personal eating utensils or as serving pieces from the common bowls or platters.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=232}} She also had considerable influence on the development of garden design in the royal estates. Extensive spending on gardens is evidenced at her properties and in most places she stayed, including the use of water features (such as fountains)&nbsp;– acommonly commonfound in Castilian garden designdesigns&nbsp;– feature,is whichin wasevidence owedat toher Islamicproperties and Romanin influencesmost inplaces Spainshe stayed.{{sfn|Hilton|2008|p=229}} The picturesque [[Gloriette]] (or elevated garden building) at [[Leeds Castle]] was developed during herEleanor's ownership; of the castle. Sheshe also introduced fishponds, aviaries with song birds, and Spanish flora to her gardens and grounds.<ref>{{harvnb|Cockerill|2014|pp=233-4233–4, 236}}, {{harvnb|Hilton|2008|p=229}}</ref> Her household food supplies appear to have reflected her Spanish upbringing,; includingthey supplies ofinclude olive oil, French cheese and fresh fruit.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=54}} She also kept a connection with Acre and her time in the Crusades, ordering foodstuffs and other items from the cityAcre throughout her time in England.{{sfn|Hamilton|1995|p=103}}
 
Eleanor had a keen interest in hunting, particularly with dogs.{{sfn|Hilton|2008|p=229}} The Royalroyal family appears to have stayed each February at [[Quenington]] in the Cotswalds[[Cotswolds]] for hunting every February. She was a keen horse rider and employed Spanish horse-breeders.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=235-7}} SheEleanor enthusiastically played chess enthusiasticallyand [[backgammon]], passingand passed this interest to her children, as well as backgammon.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=237}}
 
===Religious views and patronage===
ContemporaryContemporaneous monastic chroniclers are noticeably silent on Eleanor's piety, which would have beenwas considered an important quality of anya queen. PossibleThe reasonslack forof thismaterial includemay herbe due to Eleanor's distance from the English Bishops, representingwho therepresented traditional hierarchy, and her preference for the [[Dominican Order]] of Friars, to whom she was a devoted patron, founding several priories in England and supporting their work at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge Universities.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|1995|p=57}}, {{harvnb|Carpenter|2004|p=468}}</ref> Eleanor's piety therefore was of an intellectual stamp, and appears to have reinforced the idea that the higher powers were onin herEleanor's sidefavour. Apart from her religious foundations, sheEleanor was not given to direct good works, and; she left it to her chaplains to distribute alms for her. HerEleanor levelgave of charitablesignificant givingfunds to charitable foundations was considerable.<ref>{{harvnb|Hilton|2008|p=232}}, {{harvnb|Cockerill|2014|pp=241-45241–45}}, {{harvnb|Parsons|1995|p=58}}</ref>
 
===Eleanor as a mother===
[[File:Edward I & II Prince of Wales 1301.jpg|thumb|left|Edward I &and IIhis son, the Prince of Wales and future [[Edward II of England|Edward II]], portrayed in 1301, some eleven years after Eleanor's death]]
The primary duty of any medieval queen was to provide children. In this, Eleanor fulfilled her role, giving birth to between 14 and 17 children. Only six survived beyond to adulthood. Most were born at Windsor, although Eleanor gave birth to three while on travels.{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|pp=240-42}} It has been suggested that Eleanor and Edward were more devoted to each other than to their children.{{sfn|Hilton|2008|pp=227-8}} As king and queen, it was impossible for them to spend much time in one place, and when the children were very young, they could not tolerate the rigours of constant travel with their parents.{{sfn|Parsons|1998|p=293}} The children had a household staffed with attendants carefully chosen for competence and loyalty, with whom the parents corresponded regularly. The children lived in this comfortable establishment until they were about seven years old; then they began to accompany their parents, if at first only on important occasions.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|1995|pp=38-9, 41}}, {{harvnb|Parsons|1998|pp=293-6, 310}}</ref> By their teens the children were with the king and queen much of the time. In 1290, Eleanor sent one of her scribes to join her children's household, presumably to help with their education.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=41}}▼
 
▲The primary duty of any medieval queen was to provide children. In this, Eleanor fulfilled her role, giving birth tobirthed between 14 and 17 children., Onlyonly six of whom survived beyond tointo adulthood. Most of Eleanor's children were born at Windsor, although Eleanorshe gave birth to three while on travels.{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|pp=240-42}} It has been suggested that Eleanor and Edward were more devoted to each other than to their children.{{sfn|Hilton|2008|pp=227-8}} As king and queen, it was impossible for them to spend much time in one place, and; when the children were very young, they could not tolerate the rigours of constant travel with their parents.{{sfn|Parsons|1998|p=293}} The children had a household that was staffed with attendants who were carefully chosen for competence and loyalty, and with whom the parents corresponded regularly corresponded. The children lived in this comfortable establishment until they were about seven years old;, after thenwhich they began to accompany their parents, if at first only on important occasions.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|1995|pp=38-938–9, 41}}, {{harvnb|Parsons|1998|pp=293-6293–6, 310}}</ref> By their teens the childrentime they were with13, the kingchildren and queenspent much of thetheir time with their parents. In 1290, Eleanor sent one of her scribes to join her children's household, presumablyprobably to help with their education.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=41}}
Medieval royal child-rearing meant that children were frequently cared for by relatives and other trusted families, but this does not imply a lack of care.{{sfn|Parsons|1998|pp=310-12}} When their six-year-old son Henry lay dying at Guildford in 1274, neither parent made the short journey from London to see him; but Henry was tended by Edward's mother [[Eleanor of Provence]]. The boy had lived with his grandmother while his parents were absent on crusade, and since he was barely two years old when they left England in 1270, he could not have had many substantial memories of them at the time they returned to England in August 1274, only weeks before his last illness and death. In other words, the dowager queen was a more familiar and comforting presence to her grandson than his parents would have been at that time, and it was in all respects better that she tended him then.{{sfn|Parsons|1998|pp=313-14}} Similarly, Edward and Eleanor allowed her mother, [[Joan, Countess of Ponthieu]], to raise their daughter [[Joan of Acre]] in Ponthieu (1274–1278). This implies no parental lack of interest in the girl; the practice of fostering noble children in other households of sufficient dignity was common. Her household was safe and dignified, but it does appear that Edward and Eleanor had cause to regret their generosity in letting Joan of Ponthieu foster young Joan. When the girl reached England in 1278, aged six, it turned out that she was badly spoiled. She was spirited and at times defiant in childhood.{{sfn|Parsons|1998|p=314}}▼
 
▲Medieval royal child-rearing meant thatEleanor's children were frequently cared for by relatives and other trusted families, but this does not imply a lack of care.{{sfn|Parsons|1998|pp=310-12}} In When1274, when their six-year-old son Henry lay dying at [[Guildford in 1274,]] neither parent made the short journey from London to see him; but Henry was tended by Edward's mother [[Eleanor of Provence]]. Thetended boyto Henry. Henry had lived with his grandmother while his parents were absent on crusade, and sincebecause he was barelyjust two years old when they left England in 1270, he could not have had many substantial memories of them at the timewhen they returned to England in August 1274, only weeks before his last illness and death. In other words, theThe [[dowager]] queen was a more familiar and comforting presence to her grandson than his parents would have been at that time, and it was in all respects better that she tended him then.{{sfn|Parsons|1998|pp=313-14}} Similarly, Edward and Eleanor allowed her mother, [[Joan, Countess of Ponthieu]], to raise their daughter [[Joan of Acre]] in Ponthieu (1274–1278). This implies no parental lack of interest in the girlPonthieu; the practice of fostering noble children in other dignified households of sufficient dignity was common. Her household was safe and dignified, but it does appear that Edward and Eleanor had cause to regret their generosity inregretted lettingallowing Joan of Ponthieu to foster young Joan.; Whenwhen thesix-year-old girlJoan reachedtravelled to England in 1278, agedthey six,found itshe turnedhad outbeen thatspoilt; she was badly spoiled. She wasa spirited child and at times defiant in childhood.{{sfn|Parsons|1998|p=314}}
 
===Character===
Eleanor's character and personal relations seem to have been quite different regarding her inner circle compared to those less associated with her. To her immediate friends and family, sheEleanor appears to have been kind, loyal and considerate, and although not overtly charming,; she appears to have had a sense of humour, employing two [[Jester|fool]]s, for example. Some practicality in her personality is implied by herHer taste in everyday clothes and emphasis on repairing rather than replacing where possible, both of which contrastcontrasting with her predecessors and successors, suggests some practicality in her nature. BeyondWith those outside her inner circle, sheEleanor was frequently harsh and manipulative, and oftenis known to losehave herfrequently temper. Traces oflost her temper can probably also be detected in evidence from her personal relations.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=225-9}}
 
Two letters from [[Peckham]] show that some people thought sheEleanor urged Edward to rule harshly, and that she could be a severe woman who did not take it lightly if anyone crossed her, whichcontravening contravened contemporarycontemporaneous expectations that queens should intercede with their husbands on behalf of the needy, the oppressed, orand the condemned.{{sfn|Morris|2009|pp=229–230}} HeEdward warned a convent of nuns that: "if they knew what was good for them", they would accede to the queen's wishes and accept into their house a woman the convent had refused, but whose vocation Eleanor had decided to sponsor.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=225}} Record evidenceRecords from the king's administrations shows that [[Hugh Despenser the Elder]], who agreed to allow the queenEleanor to hold one of his manors for a term of years in order to clear his debt to her, thought it well to demand official assurances from the King's Exchequer that the manor would be restored to him as soon as the queen had recovered the exact amount of the debt.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=44, 163 at 29a}} It is only with aA chronicle written at [[St Albans]] in 1307–081307–1308 thatincludes athe first positive assessment of herEleanor's character is found, and it is hard to avoidthough the impressionchronicler thatmay thehave chronicler wasbeen writing to flatter her son, Edward II, who had succeeded his father in 1307.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=216-7}}
 
== Death of Eleanor ==<!-- This section is linked from [[Lincoln Cathedral]] -->
{{Further|Eleanor cross}}
Eleanor was presumably a healthy woman for most of herCastile life;had that she survivedbirthed at least sixteen16 pregnancieschildren, suggests thatsuggesting she was not frail.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=58}} Shortly after the birth of her last child, financial accounts from Edward's household and her own begin to recordshow frequent payments for medicines tofor the queen's use.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|1995|p=58}}, {{harvnb|Cockerill|2014|ppp=317, 23}}</ref> As theThe nature of the medicines is not specified in these documents, itso isthe impossiblenature toof knowEleanor's whatillness ailmentscannot werebe troubling herdeduced until, later inlate 1287, whilewhen sheEleanor wasis inrecorded Gasconyas with Edward, the queen hadhaving a double [[quartan fever]]., Thiswhile fevershe patternwas suggestsin thatGascony with Edward. This suggests she was suffering from a strain of [[malaria]].{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=58}} The diseaseMalaria is not directly fatal of itself, but leavesweakens its victims weakand andmakes them vulnerable to opportunistic infections. Among other complications, the liver and spleen become enlarged, brittle, and highly susceptible to injury, which may cause death from [[internal bleeding]].{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=58}} It is also possible that hereditary heart conditions caused herEleanor's death.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=343}}
 
FromEleanor thereturned timefrom ofGascony thein returnAugust from1289, Gasconyand there are signs from early 1290 that Eleanor wasmay have been aware thatof her deathimpending was not far offdeath.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=334, 336}} Arrangements were made for the marriage of two of her daughters, Margaret and Joan, and negotiations for the marriage of young [[Edward of Caernarfon]] to [[Margaret, of Scotland (Maid of Norway)|Margaret, the Maid of Norway]], heiress of Scotland, were hurried on.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=336-7}} In summermid 1290, a tour north through Eleanor's properties began, but proceeded at a much slowermore paceslowly than usual, and the autumn Parliament was convened in [[Clipstone,]] rather than in London.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=340-41}} Eleanor's children were summoned to visit her in Clipstone, despite warnings that travel might endanger their health. Following the conclusion of the parliamentParliament, Eleanor and Edward set out on the short distance from Clipstone to [[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]]. By this stagetime, Eleanor was travelling fewer than {{convert|8|mi|abbr=onout|spell=in}} per day.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=342}}▼
 
HerEleanor's final stop was at the village of [[Harby, Nottinghamshire]], less than {{convert|7|mi|km|abbr=out|spell=in}} from [[Lincoln, Lincolnshire|Lincoln]].{{sfn|Stevenson|1888|pp=315–318}} The journey was abandoned, and the queen was lodged in the house of [[Richard de Weston]], the foundations of which can still be seen near Harby's parish church. After piously receiving the Church's last rites, sheEleanor died there on the evening of 28 November 1290, aged 49 and after 36 years of marriage. Edward was at herEleanor's bedside to hear her final requests.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=342-43}}▼
▲From the time of the return from Gascony there are signs that Eleanor was aware that her death was not far off. Arrangements were made for the marriage of two of her daughters, Margaret and Joan, and negotiations for the marriage of young Edward of Caernarfon to [[Margaret of Scotland (Maid of Norway)|Margaret, the Maid of Norway]], heiress of Scotland, were hurried on. In summer 1290, a tour north through Eleanor's properties began, but proceeded at a much slower pace than usual, and the autumn Parliament was convened in Clipstone, rather than in London.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=340-41}} Eleanor's children were summoned to visit her in Clipstone, despite warnings that travel might endanger their health. Following the conclusion of the parliament Eleanor and Edward set out the short distance from Clipstone to Lincoln. By this stage Eleanor was travelling fewer than {{convert|8|mi|abbr=on}} per day.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=342}}
 
▲Edward was greatly affected by Eleanor's death, shown for instance in his January 1291 letter to the [[Abbey of Cluny|abbot of Cluny]] in France, in which he sought prayers for the soul of the wife "whom living we dearly cherished, and whom dead we cannot cease to love".{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|p=254}} Edward ordered the construction of twelve elaborate stone crosses between 1291 and 1294, marking the route of her funeral procession between Lincoln and London.{{sfn|Armstrong|2023|pp=253-4}}{{efn| Three of the crosses survive, though none of them is intact.}} Only one of Eleanor's four sons survived childhood, and even before she died, Edward worried over the succession: if that son died, their daughters' husbands might cause a succession war. Edward therefore married again, in 1299 to [[Marguerite of France (born 1282)|Margaret of France]]. He delighted in the sons his new wife bore,{{sfn|Parsons|1998|pp=297-8}} but attended memorial services for Eleanor to the end of his life.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=358}}
▲Her final stop was at the village of [[Harby, Nottinghamshire]], less than {{convert|7|mi|km}} from [[Lincoln, Lincolnshire|Lincoln]].{{sfn|Stevenson|1888|pp=315–318}} The journey was abandoned, and the queen was lodged in the house of Richard de Weston, the foundations of which can still be seen near Harby's parish church. After piously receiving the Church's last rites, she died there on the evening of 28 November 1290, aged 49 and after 36 years of marriage. Edward was at her bedside to hear her final requests.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|pp=342-43}}
 
===Procession, burial and monuments===
{{Further|Eleanor cross}}
[[Image:QueenEleanorCross.JPG|thumb|right|upright|The Northampton Cross]]
Eleanor's embalmed body was borne in great state from Lincoln to [[Westminster Abbey]], through the heartland of Eleanor's properties and accompanied for most of the way by Edward, and a substantial cortege of mourners.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=59-60}} Edward gave orders that memorial crosses be erected at the site of each overnight stop between Lincoln and Westminster.{{sfn|Morris|2009|pp=230–231}} Based on crosses in France marking Louis IX's funeral procession, these artistically significant monuments enhanced the image of Edward's kingship as well as witnessing his grief.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=351}} The "[[Eleanor cross]]es" stood at [[Lincoln, Lincolnshire|Lincoln]], [[Grantham]], [[Stamford, Lincolnshire|Stamford]], [[Geddington]], [[Hardingstone]] near [[Northampton]], [[Stony Stratford]], [[Woburn, Bedfordshire|Woburn]], [[Dunstable]], [[St Albans]], [[Waltham Cross|Waltham]], [[Westcheap]], and [[Charing Cross|Charing]] – only three survive, none in its entirety. The best preserved is that at Geddington.{{sfn|Powrie|1990|pp=105–6}} All three have lost the crosses "of immense height" that originally surmounted them; only the lower stages remain. The Waltham cross has been heavily restored and to prevent further deterioration, its original statues of the queen are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.{{sfn|Alexander|Binski|1987|p=363}}▼
 
▲Eleanor's embalmed body was borne in great state from Lincoln to [[Westminster Abbey]], through the heartland of Eleanor's properties, and accompanied for most of the way by Edward, and a substantial cortege of mourners.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=59-60}} Edward gaveordered ordersthe thaterection of memorial crosses be erected at the site of each overnight stop between Lincoln and Westminster.{{sfn|Morris|2009|pp=230–231}} BasedThese artistically significant monuments, which were based on crosses in France marking [[Louis IX]]'s funeral procession, these artistically significant monuments enhanced the image of Edward's kingship asand wellbear aswitness witnessingto his grief.{{sfn|Cockerill|2014|p=351}} The "[[Eleanor cross]]es"crosses stood at [[Lincoln, Lincolnshire|Lincoln]], [[Grantham]], [[Stamford, Lincolnshire|Stamford]], [[Geddington]], [[Hardingstone]] near [[Northampton]], [[Stony Stratford]], [[Woburn, Bedfordshire|Woburn]], [[Dunstable]], [[St Albans]], [[Waltham Cross|Waltham]], [[Westcheap]], and [[Charing Cross|Charing]]. – onlyOnly three surviveof these monuments have survived, none in itstheir entirety. The bestcross preservedat Geddington is thatthe atbest-preserved Geddingtonexample.{{sfn|Powrie|1990|pp=105–6}} All three monuments have lost thetheir crosses "of immense height" that originally surmounted them; only the lower stages remain. The Waltham cross has been heavily restored and to prevent further deterioration, its original statues of the queenEleanor are now in the [[Victoria and Albert Museum in]], London.{{sfn|Alexander|Binski|1987|p=363}}
The monument now known as "[[Charing Cross]]" in London, in front of the [[Charing Cross railway station|railway station of that name]], was built in 1865 to publicise the railway hotel at Charing station. The original Charing cross was at the top of [[Whitehall]], on the south side of [[Trafalgar Square]], but was destroyed in 1647 by Puritans and later replaced by a statue of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]].{{sfn|Powrie|1990|pp=177–79}}▼
 
▲The monument now known as "[[Charing Cross]]" in London, in front of the [[Charing Cross railway station|railway station of that name]], was built in 1865 to publicise the railway hotel at Charing station. The original Charing cross was at the top of [[Whitehall]], on the south side of [[Trafalgar Square]],; butit was destroyed in 1647 by [[Puritans]] and later replaced bywith a statue of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]].{{sfn|Powrie|1990|pp=177–79}}
In the thirteenth century, embalming involving evisceration and separate burial of heart and body was not unusual. Eleanor was afforded the more unusual "triple" burial – separate burial of viscera, heart and body. Eleanor's [[viscera]] were buried in [[Lincoln Cathedral]], where Edward placed a duplicate of the Westminster tomb. The Lincoln tomb's original stone chest survives; its effigy was destroyed in the 17th century and has been replaced with a 19th-century copy.{{efn|On the outside of [[Lincoln Cathedral]] are two statues often identified as Edward and Eleanor, but these images were heavily restored and given new heads in the 19th century.<ref>{{harvnb|Cocke|1986|pp=153-4}}</ref>}}{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=208}}▼
 
▲In the thirteenth13th century, embalming involving evisceration and separate burial of heart and body was not unusual. Eleanor was afforded the morean unusual "triple" burial; – separate burial ofher viscera, heart and body were separately buried. Eleanor's [[viscera]] were buried in [[Lincoln Cathedral]], where Edward placed a duplicate of the Westminster tomb. The Lincoln tomb's original stone chest survives; its effigy was destroyed in the 17th century and has beenwas replaced with a 19th-century copy.{{efn|On the outside of [[Lincoln Cathedral]] are two statues often identified as Edward and Eleanor, but; these images were heavily restored and given new heads in the 19th century.<ref>{{harvnb|Cocke|1986|pp=153-4153–4}}</ref>}}{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=208}}
Also built in the same style with the Eleanor crosses and Eleanor's tomb at Lincoln was the renovated shrine of ''[[Little Saint Hugh]]'',{{sfn|Stocker|1986}} a cult based on a [[blood libel|false ritual murder allegation]] made against Jews. It is likely that the association with Eleanor was made in order to help improve her posthumous reputation, as she had been closely associated with the abuse of Jewish loans.<ref>{{harvnb|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=658}}, {{harvnb|Stacey|2001|p=174}}</ref> The crosses and tomb amounted to a "propaganda coup" according to historians Caroline and Joe Hillaby, rehabilitating Eleanor's image and portraying her as the protector of Christians against the supposed criminality of Jews, in the wake of the [[Edict of Expulsion|Expulsion of the Jewry]].{{sfn|Hillaby|1994|pp=94-98}}▼
 
▲Also built in the same style withas the Eleanor crosses and Eleanor's tomb at Lincoln was the renovated shrine of ''[[Little Saint Hugh]]'',{{sfn|Stocker|1986}} a cult that was based on a [[blood libel|false ritual murder allegation]] made against Jews. It is likely that the association with Eleanor was made in order to help improve her posthumous reputation, asbecause she had been closely associated with the abuse of Jewish loans.<ref>{{harvnb|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=658}}, {{harvnb|Stacey|2001|p=174}}</ref> TheAccording to historians Caroline and Joe Hillaby, the crosses and tomb amounted to a "propaganda coup" according to historians Caroline and Joe Hillaby, rehabilitating Eleanor's image and portraying her as the protector of Christians against the supposed criminality of Jews, in the wake offollowing the [[Edict of Expulsion|Expulsionexpulsion of the Jewry]].{{sfn|Hillaby|1994|pp=94-98}}
The queen's heart was buried in the Dominican priory at [[Blackfriars, London|Blackfriars]] in London, along with that of her son Alphonso. The accounts of her executors show that the monument constructed there to commemorate her heart burial was richly elaborate, including wall paintings as well as an angelic statue in metal that apparently stood under a carved stone canopy. It was destroyed in the 16th century during the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]].{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=208}}▼
 
▲The queenEleanor's heart was buried in the Dominican priory at [[Blackfriars, London|Blackfriars]] in London, along with that of her son Alphonso. The accounts of her executors show that the monument constructed thereat the priory to commemorate her heart burial was richly elaborate, includingand included wall paintings asand wella as anmetallic angelic statue in metal that apparently stood under a carved stone canopy. It was destroyed in the 16th century during the [[Dissolutiondissolution of the Monasteriesmonasteries]].{{sfn|Parsons|1995|p=208}}
[[File:EleanorCast.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|Eleanor's tomb effigy in Westminster Abbey]]
 
Eleanor's funeral took place in [[Westminster Abbey]] on 17 December 1290. <!--Her body was placed in a grave near the high altar that had originally contained the coffin of [[Edward the Confessor]] and, more recently, that of King Henry III until his remains were removed to his new tomb in 1290. Eleanor's body remained in this grave until the completion of her own tomb.{{cn|date=February 2024}}--> SheEleanor's tomb, which she had probably ordered that tomb before her death. It, consists of a marble chest with carved mouldings and shields&nbsp;– (originally painted)&nbsp;– of the arms of England, Castile, and Ponthieu. The chest is surmounted by [[William Torel]]'s superb gilt-bronze effigy, showingof Eleanor in the same pose as the image on her great seal.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|1995|p=208}}, {{harvnb|Cockerill|2014|pp=347-49347–49}}</ref> [[File:EleanorCast.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|Drawing of Eleanor's tomb effigy in Westminster Abbey]]
 
==Historical reputation==
Despite her negative reputation in her own daylifetime, the St Albans Chronicle and the Eleanor Crosses assured Eleanor of Castile a romantic and flattering, if slightly obscure, standing overin the next two centuries. Asfollowing lateher death. asIn 1586, the antiquarian [[William Camden]] first published in England the tale thatof Eleanor savedsaving Edward's life at Acre by sucking his wound. Camden then wentascribed on to ascribethe construction of the Eleanor crosses to Edward's grief at the loss of ana heroic wife, who had selflessly risked her own life to save his.{{efn|See {{harvnb|Griffin|2009|p=52}} Camden's discussion of the crosses reflected the religious history of his time. The crosses were in fact meantintended to induce passers-by to pray for Eleanor's soul, but the [[Protestant Reformation]] in England had officially ended the practice of praying for the souls of the dead, so Camden ascribed Edward's commemoration of his wife to her allegedsupposed heroism in saving Edward's life at the risk of her own.}} A year later inIn 1587, [[Raphael Holinshed]]'s ''[[Holinshed's Chronicles|Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland]]'' described Eleanor as "the jewel [Edward I] most esteemed&nbsp;... a godly and modest princess, full of pity, and one that showed much favour to the English nation, ready to relieve every man's grief that sustained wrong and to make them friends that were at discord, so far as in her lay."<ref>Holinshed, Raphael, ''Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland''; quoted in {{harvnb|Griffin|2009|p=52}}</ref>▼
[[File:Pictures_of_English_History_Plate_XXVI_-_Prince_Edward_and_His_Wife.jpg|thumbnail|left|Eleanor of Castile sucks the poison out of Edward I of England in a [[Victorian era]] depiction.]]
▲Despite her negative reputation in her own day, the St Albans Chronicle and the Eleanor Crosses assured Eleanor a romantic and flattering, if slightly obscure, standing over the next two centuries. As late as 1586, the antiquarian [[William Camden]] first published in England the tale that Eleanor saved Edward's life at Acre by sucking his wound. Camden then went on to ascribe construction of the Eleanor crosses to Edward's grief at the loss of an heroic wife who had selflessly risked her own life to save his.{{efn|See {{harvnb|Griffin|2009|p=52}} Camden's discussion of the crosses reflected the religious history of his time. The crosses were in fact meant to induce passers-by to pray for Eleanor's soul, but the Protestant Reformation in England had officially ended the practice of praying for the souls of the dead, so Camden ascribed Edward's commemoration of his wife to her alleged heroism in saving Edward's life at the risk of her own.}} A year later in 1587, [[Raphael Holinshed]]'s ''[[Holinshed's Chronicles|Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland]]'' described Eleanor as "the jewel [Edward I] most esteemed&nbsp;... a godly and modest princess, full of pity, and one that showed much favour to the English nation, ready to relieve every man's grief that sustained wrong and to make them friends that were at discord, so far as in her lay."<ref>Holinshed, Raphael, ''Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland''; quoted in {{harvnb|Griffin|2009|p=52}}</ref>
 
But aA counter-narrative, that was driven by rising anti-Spanish feeling in England from the Reformation onwards, may already have begun to emerge. ''The Lamentable Fall of Queene Elenor'', a popular ballad sung to the popular tune "Gentle and Courteous", is thought to date from as early as the 1550s, and to be an indirect attack on the half-Spanish queen [[Mary I of England|Mary Tudor]] and her husband the Spanish [[Philip II of Spain]].<ref name="ReferenceA">{{harvnb|Cockerill|2014}}</ref>{{efn|The first printing of this ballad is from 1600, ten years after George Peele's Edward I was first performed; but the ballad in oral form is considered likely to date to the reign of Mary. {{harvnb|Griffin|2009|p=56}}; {{harvnb|Cockerill|2014}}}} ItThe song depicts Eleanor as vain and violent: she demands of the king "that ev'ry man / That ware long lockes of hair, / Might then be cut and polled all"; she orders "That ev'ry womankind should have / Their right breast cut away"; she imprisons and tortures the Lady Mayoress of London, eventually murdering the Mayoress with poisonous snakes; she blasphemes against God on the common ground at Charing, causing the ground to swallow her up; and finally, miraculously spat up by the ground at Queen's Hithe, and now on her death-bed, she confesses not only to murder of the Mayoress but alsoand to committing infidelity with a friar, by whom she has borne a child.{{sfn|Griffin|2009|p=56}}
 
This was followed in the 1590s by George Peele's ''[[The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First]]''. The first version of this, written in the early 1590s, is thought to have presented a positive depiction of the relationship between Eleanor and Edward. If so, it sankdisappeared with little trace. The surviving revised version, aswhich was printed in 1593, depicts a haughty Eleanor as "a haughty "villainess capable of unspeakable treachery, cruelty, and depravity"; she is also depicted as intransigent and hubristic, "concerned primarily with enhancing the reputation of her native nation, and evidently accustomed to a tyrannous and quite un-English exercise of royal prerogative"; delaying her coronation for twenty weeks so she can have Spanish dresses made, and proclaiming she shall keep the English under a "Spanish yoke". The misdeeds attributed to her in ''The Lamentable Fall of Queene Elenor'' are repeated and expanded upon:; Eleanor is now also shown to box her husband's ears;. and she nowEleanor confesses to adultery with her own brother-in-law [[Edmund Crouchback]] and to conceiving all of her children, barexcept Edward I's heir [[Edward II]], in adultery; – whichthis revelation prompts her unfortunate daughter Joan of Acre, who is fathered by a French friar, to drop dead of shame. This is a portrait of Eleanor that owes little to historicity, and much to the then-current war with Spain, and English fears of a repeatanother attempt at invasion, and is one of a number of anti-Spanish polemicpolemics of the period.<ref>{{harvnb|FuchsGriffin|Weissbourd2015|2015p=204}}, {{harvnb|Cockerill|2014}}, {{harvnb|Griffin|2009|pp=53–57}}</ref> [[File:William Blake, Visionary Head of Queen Eleanor, wife of Edward I, 1820 195 x 155 mm.jpg|thumb|Illustration of Eleanor by [[William Blake]], 1820]]
It would appear likely Peele's play, and the ballad associated with it, had a significant effect on the survival of the Eleanor Crosses in the 17th century. Performances of the play and reprints of ''The Lamentable Fall'' (it was reprinted in 1628, 1629, 1658, and 1664, testifying to its continuing popularity) meant that by the time of the Civil War this entirely hostile portrait of Eleanor was probably more widely known than the positive depictions by Camden and Hollingshed. The loss of most of the crosses can be documented or inferred to have been lost in the years 1643–1646: for example Parliament's Committee for the Demolition of Monuments of Superstition and Idolatry ordered the Charing Cross torn down in 1643. Eleanor's reputation began to change for the positive once again at this time, following the 1643 publication of Sir Richard Baker's ''A History of the Kings of England'', which retold the myth of Eleanor saving her husband at Acre. Thereafter, Eleanor's reputation was largely positive and derived ultimately from Camden, who was uncritically repeated wholesale by historians. In the 19th century the self-styled historian [[Agnes Strickland]] used Camden to paint the rosiest of all pictures of Eleanor. None of these writers used contemporary chronicles or records to provide accurate information about Eleanor's life.<ref>{{harvnb|Fuchs|Weissbourd|2015}}, {{harvnb|Cockerill|2014}}</ref>▼
 
[[File:William Blake, Visionary Head of Queen Eleanor, wife of Edward I, 1820 195 x 155 mm.jpg|thumb|[[Visionary Heads|Visionary Head]] of Eleanor by [[William Blake]], 1820]]
Such documents began to become widely available in the late 19th century, but even when historians began to cite them to suggest Eleanor was not the perfect queen Strickland praised, many rejected the correction, often expressing indignant disbelief that anything negative was said about Eleanor.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=247-8}} Only in recent decades have historians studied queenship in its own right and regarded medieval queens as worthy of attention.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=1-3}} If Eleanor of Castile can no longer be seen as Peele's transgressive monstrosity, nor as Strickland's paradigm of queenly virtues, her career can now be examined as the achievement of an intelligent and determined woman who was able to meet the challenges of an exceptionally demanding life, albeit that her qualities often emerged in unpleasant ways.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=251-3}}▼
 
▲It would appearis likely Peele's play, and the ballad associated with it, had a significant effect on the survival of the Eleanor Crosses in the 17th century. Performances of the play and reprints of ''The Lamentable Fall''&nbsp;– (itwhich was reprinted in 1628, 1629, 1658, and 1664, testifying to its continuing popularity)&nbsp;– meant that by the time of the Civil War, this entirely hostile portrait of Eleanor was probably more -widely known than the positive depictions by Camden and Hollingshed. The loss of most of the crosses can be documented or inferred to have beenoccurred lostbetween in1643 theand 1646, [[English Civil War|Civil War]] years 1643–1646:during which religious monuments that reflected elements of Catholic practices were targeted for destruction; for example, Parliament's Committee for the Demolition of Monuments of Superstition and Idolatry ordered the removal of the Charing Cross torn down in 1643. Eleanor's reputation began to changebecome for themore positive once again at this time, following the 1643 publication of Sir Richard Baker's ''A History of the Kings of England'', which retold the myth of Eleanor saving her husband at Acre. Thereafter, Eleanor's reputation was largely positive and derived ultimately derived from Camden, whowhose work was uncritically repeated wholesale by historians. In the 19th century the self-styled historian [[Agnes Strickland]] used Camden to paintwrite the rosiest of allmost-positive picturesaccount of Eleanor. None of these writers used contemporarycontemporaneous chronicles or records to provide accurate information about Eleanor's life.<ref>{{harvnb|Fuchs|WeissbourdGriffin|2015|p=204}}, {{harvnb|Cockerill|2014}}</ref>
 
▲Such documents began to become widely available in the late 19th century, but even when historians began to cite them to suggest Eleanor was not the perfect queen Strickland praiseddepicted, many rejected the correction, oftenand expressingfrequently expressed indignant disbelief that anything negative was said about Eleanor.{{sfn|Parsons|1995|pp=247-8}} Although Onlyhistorians innow recentmore decades have historianscommonly studiedstudy queenship in its own right and regardedregard medieval queens as worthy of attention., the study of consorts remains uneven;<ref>{{sfnharvnb|Parsons|1995|pp=1-3}}, If{{harvnb|Norrie|2023|pp=xxii-xxiii}}</ref> however, Eleanor of Castile can no longer be seen as Peele's transgressive monstrosity, nor as Strickland's paradigm of queenly virtues, her career can nowtoday be examined as the achievement of an intelligent and determined woman who was able to meet the challenges of an exceptionallya demanding life, albeit thatthough her qualities were often emergedexpressed in unpleasant or controversial ways.<ref>{{sfnharvnb|Parsons|1995|pp=251-3}}, {{harvnb|Armstrong|2023|pp=254-5}}</ref>
 
==Issue==
#Stillborn girldaughter (July29 May 1255)
#Katherine (c. 1264 – 5 September 1264),{{sfn|Prestwich|1988|p=573}} buried in [[Westminster Abbey]].
#Joanna (January 1265 – before 7 September 1265),{{sfn|Prestwich|1988|p=573}} buried in [[Westminster Abbey]].
#John (13 July 1266 – 3 August 1271),{{sfn|Prestwich|1988|p=573}} died at [[Wallingford, Oxfordshire|Wallingford]], in the custody of his granduncle, [[Richard, Earl of Cornwall]]. Buried in [[Westminster Abbey]].
#[[Henry (son of Edward I)|Henry]] (before 6 May 1268 – 16 October 1274),{{sfn|Prestwich|1988|p=573}} buried in [[Westminster Abbey]].
#[[Eleanor of England, Countess of Bar|Eleanor]] (18 June 1269 – 29 August 1298). She was long betrothed to [[Alfonso III of Aragon]], who died in 1291 before the marriage could take place, and in 1293, she married Count [[Henry III of Bar]],{{sfn|Prestwich|1988|p=573}} by whom she had one son and twothree daughterschildren.
#Daughter (1271 [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]]). Some sources call her Juliana, but there is no contemporary evidence for her name.
#[[Joan of Acre|Joan]] (April 1272 – 7 April 1307). She married (1) in 1290 [[Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford]], who died in 1295, and (2) in 1297 [[Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron Monthermer]].{{sfn|Prestwich|1988|p=573}} She had four children by each marriage.
#[[Alphonso, Earl of Chester|Alphonso]] (24 November 1273 – 19 August 1284),{{sfn|Prestwich|1988|p=573}} Earl of Chester.
#[[Margaret of England, Duchess of Brabant|Margaret]] (15 March 1275 – after 1333). In 1290, she married [[John II of Brabant]], who died in 1318.{{sfn|Prestwich|1988|p=573}} They had one son.
#Berengaria (1 May 1276 – before 27 June 1278),{{sfn|Prestwich|1988|p=573}} buried in [[Westminster Abbey]].
#Daughter (December 1277/January 1278 – January 1278), buried in [[Westminster Abbey]]. There is no contemporary evidence for her name.
#[[Mary of Woodstock|Mary]] (11 March 1279 – 29 May 1332),{{sfn|Prestwich|1988|p=573}} a [[Benedictine]] [[nun]] in [[Amesbury]].
#Son, born in 1280 or 1281 who died very shortly after birth. There is no contemporary evidence for his name.
#[[Elizabeth of Rhuddlan|Elizabeth]] (7 August 1282 – 5 May 1316). She married (1) in 1297 [[John I, Count of Holland]], (2) in 1302 [[Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford]]{{sfn|Prestwich|1988|p=573}} and 3rd [[Earl of Essex]]. The first marriage was childless; by Bohun, Elizabeth had ten children.
#[[Edward II of England]], also known as ''Edward of [[Caernarfon|Caernarvon]]'' (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327).{{sfn|Prestwich|1988|p=573}} In 1308, he married [[Isabella of France]]. They had twofour sons and two daughterschildren.
 
==See also==
* ''[[Infante]]''
 
==Notes==
Line 210 ⟶ 223:
* {{cite book |first=Thomas |last=Cocke |title=Medieval Art and Architecture at Lincoln Cathedral |date=1986 |isbn=9780907307143 |pages=148–155 |chapter=The Architectural History at Lincoln Cathedral from the Dissolution to the Twentieth Century|publisher=British Archaeological Association |editor1-last=Heslop |editor1-first=T.A. |editor2-last=Sekules |editor2-first=V.A. |ol= OL2443113M}}
*{{cite book |last=Cockerill |first=Sara |title=Eleanor of Castile: the shadow queen |date=2014 |publisher=Amberley |location=Stroud |isbn=9781445635897 |ol= OL28551635M }}
*{{cite book |title= Visions and ruins |chapter=Queen Eleanor and her crosses: Trauma and memory, medieval and modern |doi=10.7765/9781526125941.00007|author-first=Joshua |author-last=Davies |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester |date=2018 |isbn=9781526125934 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Hilton |first=Lisa |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/359673870 |title=Queens consort : the autobiography |chapter=Eleanor of Castile |date=2008 |publisher=Phoenix |isbn=978-0-7538-2611-9 |location=London |oclc=359673870}}
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Fuchs |editor1-first=Barbara |editor2-first=Emily |editor2-last=Weissbourd |title=Representing Imperial Rivalry in the Early Modern Mediterranean |publisher=University of Toronto Press |chapter=Copying "the Anti-Spaniard": Post-Armada Hispanophobia and English Renaissance Drama |date=2015 |first=Eric |last=Griffin |jstor=10.3138/j.ctt14bth82 |isbn=9781442649026 |ol= OL29255494M }}
*{{cite book |last=Griffin |first=Eric J. |title=English Renaissance Drama and the Specter of Spain: Ethnopoetics and Empire |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |date=2009 |jstor=j.ctt3fh8z6 |isbn=9780812241709 |ol= OL23081992M }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Hamilton |first1=B. |title=Eleanor of Castile and the Crusading Movement |journal=Mediterranean Historical Review |date=1995 |volume=10 |issue=1–2 |pages=92–103|doi=10.1080/09518969508569686}}
Line 219 ⟶ 233:
* {{cite book |last=Huscroft |first=Richard |year=2006 |title=Expulsion: England's Jewish solution |publisher=Tempus |location=Stroud |ol=7982808M |isbn=9780752437293 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Morris |first=Marc |author-link=Marc Morris (historian)|title=A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain |publisher=Windmill Books |date=2009 |isbn=9780099481751 |location=London |ol= OL22563815M}}
*{{cite book |last=Norrie |first=A. |date=2023 |chapter=Preface |editor1-last=Norrie |editor1-first=A. |editor2-last=Harris |editor2-first=C. |editor3-last=Laynesmith |editor3-first=J. |editor4-last=Messer |editor4-first=D.R. |editor5-last=Woodacre |editor5-first=E |title=Norman to Early Plantagenet Consorts. Queenship and Power |pages=xxi-xxiii |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Cham |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-21068-6_13 |isbn=9783031210679 |ol= OL40320999M}}
*{{cite journal |last=Parsons |first=John Carmi |title=The Year of Eleanor of Castile's Birth and Her Children by Edward I | journal=Mediaeval Studies |volume=46 | date=1984 |pages=245–265|doi=10.1484/J.MS.2.306316 }} esp. 246 n. 3.
*:{{cite book |last=Parsons |first=John Carmi |title=Eleanor of Castile: Queen and Society in Thirteenth Century England |date=1995|publisher=St. Martin's Press |ol=OL3502870W|isbn=0312086490 |author-mask=2}}
Line 225 ⟶ 240:
*{{cite book |title=The Thirteenth Century, 1216–1307 |first=Frederick Maurice |last=Powicke |author-link=F. M. Powicke|publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1991 |ol= OL1533879M |isbn=0192852493 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Powrie |first1=Jean |title=Eleanor of Castile |location=Studley |publisher=Brewin Books |date=1990 |ol= OL1307649M |isbn= 0947731792}}
*{{cite book |last=Prestwich |first=Michael |title=Edward I |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1988 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Reynolds |first1=Gordon |title=Proxy over Pilgrimage: Queen Eleanor of Castile and the Celebration of Crusade upon her Funerary Monument(s) |journal=Peregrinations |date=2023 |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=117–39|url=https://www.academia.edu/112913207}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Rokéah |first1=Zefira Entin |title=Money and the hangman in late thirteenth century England: Jews, Christians and coinage offences alleged and real (Part I) |journal=Jewish Historical Studies |date=1988 |volume=31 |pages=83–109 |jstor=29779864}}
Line 288 ⟶ 304:
[[Category:Edward I of England]]
[[Category:Women in medieval European warfare]]
[[Category:High Sheriffssheriffs of Somerset]]
[[Category:13th-century Spanish women]]
[[Category:13th-century English women]]
[[Category:Daughters of kings]]
[[Category:Women who experienced pregnancy loss]]
[[Category:Counts of Ponthieu]]
[[Category:English prisoners and detainees]]
Line 300 ⟶ 315:
[[Category:13th-century countesses regnant]]
[[Category:13th-century duchesses consort]]
[[Category:Mothers of English monarchs]]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_of_Castile"