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Jun 11, 2018 · Blanche of Castile was born on March 4, 1188 in Palencia, Castile, an area that is now part of central and northern Spain. She was the daughter of King Alphonso VIII of Castile and Princess Eleanor Plantagenet of England. Her grandfather was Henry II of England, her grandmother was Eleanor of Aquitane and her uncle was John I of England.
primary name:Blanche of Castile. other name:(Queen of) France. other name:Blanche de Castille. Details. individual; royal/imperial; Spanish; French; Female. Life dates. 1188-1252. Biography. Born in Valencia, daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castile and Eleanor of England; married Louis VIII of France and upon his death acted as regent for his heir ...
Blanche de Castille. French Royalty. During the winter of 1199/1200 Eleanor of Aquitaine, aged 79 years, travelled to Castile to visit her daughter and to select a wife for the French heir to the throne. During her stay in Palencia she chose her twelve-year-old granddaughter Blanche to strengthen the peace treaty between John of England...
Louis IX (detail),Dedication Page with Blanche of Castile and King Louis IX of France, Bible of Saint Louis (Moralized Bible), c. 1225–1245, ink, tempera, and gold leaf on vellum (The Morgan Library and Museum, MS M. 240, fol. 8). Louis IX, wearing an open crown atop his head, returns his mother’s glance. In his right hand he holds a ...
Even in a 455-page book there is only room for so much, and what is largely left out is a conversation with modern and contemporary scholarship. Blanche’s intimate knowledge of her sources and her confidence in interpreting them is such that the conversation is almost exclusively between Grant, Blanche of Castile, and Blanche’s contemporaries.
The miniature is, in effect, a pictorial colophon indicating that Blanche of Castile commissioned the Moralized Bible for the instruction of her son, who ascended the throne of France on 8 November 1226, aged twelve. She remained in regret until 1234.
Unsurprising but enriching to read about are Blanche’s warm and lasting relations with her Spanish relatives, whether distant cousins in France, like Berengaria of Navarre, or her sisters, Eleanor, queen of Aragón or Berengaria, queen of Castile-Léon, in Spain. Blanche comes to life as one learns that her relatives sent her pomegranates and ...
