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| Posthumous illustration in manuscript (c. 1300s) |
Birth name: Leonor de Borgoña
Born: 1241, Burgos, Castile, Kingdom of Castile and León
Father: King Ferdinand III of Castile 'The Saint'
Mother: Joan, Countess of Ponthieu
House: Ivrea
Nationality: Castilian
Religion: Catholicism
Consort of: Edward I
Reign: 20 November 1272 - 28 November 1290 (18 years)
Coronation: 19 August 1274
Predecessor: Eleanor of Provence
Successor: Margaret of France
Died: 28 November 1290 (aged 49), Harby, Nottinghamshire, Kingdom of England
Cause: Malaria
Burial: Westminster Abbey
Motto: N/A
Spouse(s):
- King Edward I of England 'Longshanks' (m. 1254 - 1290)
Children:
- With King Edward I of England
- *Unnamed Princess* (1255 - 1255)
- Princess Katherine (c. 1261 - 1264)
- Princess Joanna (1265 - 1265)
- Prince John (1266 - 1271)
- Prince Henry (1268 - 1274)
- Princess Eleanor, Countess of Bar (1269 - 1298)
- *Unnamed Princess* (c. 1271 - c. 1271)
- Princess Joan, Countess of Hertford (1272 - 1307)
- Prince Alphonso, Earl of Chester (1273 - 1284)
- Princess Margaret, Duchess of Brabant (1275 - 1333)
- Princess Berengaria (1276 - 1278)
- *Unnamed Prince/Princess* (1278 - 1278)
- Princess Mary (1278 - 1332)
- *Unnamed Prince* (c. 1280 - c. 1280)
- Princess Elizabeth, Countess of Hereford and Essex (1282 - 1316)
- King Edward II of England (1284 - 1327)
She was described as having dark hair and beautiful eyes.
Character:
Eleanor was noted by those close to her to be kind, caring, intelligent, and loyal.
She was deeply in love with her husband, and the two of them were rarely apart, enjoying a happy marriage. She also dearly loved her children, and as soon as they were old enough, she would always have them accompany her on progress, though it was often argued that Eleanor and Edward were more interested in each other than their children.
Eleanor was also very fun-loving, often playing games and practical jokes with her husband, and enjoyed the entertainment of fools. She was a skilled chess and backgammon player, and also enjoyed hunting.
She favoured comfort and practicality, retaining her Castilian culture and brought much of it to England.
However, she tended to be very unpopular with English courtiers who viewed her as manipulative and ill-tempered. She displayed a great deal of nepotism and may have been a greedy landowner, extorting the Jewish population in the process.
Biography:
Eleanor was born on an unknown date in 1241 in Burgos, in the Kingdom of Castile and León. She was the second of five children born to King Ferdinand III of Castile and his second wife, Joan, Countess of Ponthieu. She also had ten older half-siblings from her father's first marriage.
Her family placed great value in literacy, so Eleanor received a very excellent education, likely making her one of the most educated women within Europe at the time. Unfortunately, her father would die when she was just 12 years old, and she would be present at his deathbed.
From a young age, Eleanor was considered as a possible wife for Prince Edward of England, the heir to the English throne. However, tensions between Castile and Navarre made her brother, the new King Alfonso X of Castile and León, consider a possible match between Eleanor and King Theobald II of Navarre. Due to the fear of Castile annexing Navarre, Theobald II's regent allied them with the Kingdom of Aragon instead, and he swore that he would never marry Eleanor.
Then, in 1253, it was officially decided that Eleanor would marry Prince Edward of England, and in exchange, England would maintain its claim on the Duchy of Gascony, which Alfonso X also had a claim to. Prince Edward would then journey to Castile, where the two of them would marry in 1254, when Eleanor was aged 13 years old, and Edward was 15.
Eleanor and Edward would spend the first year of their marriage in Gascony, and the two of them fell deeply in love with each other, despite the marriage being a political arrangement. Eleanor quickly became pregnant, and gave birth to their first child, a daughter, who unfortunately did not live very long.
After this, Eleanor journeyed to England for the first time, and would immediately become unpopular due to the fear of too much Castilian influence within the English court. She would be present for the Second Barons' War, and supported her husband during the conflict, bringing in soldiers from Ponthieu. Both she and Edward would also be captured briefly during this war, but it came to an end around 1265 when Edward began to take a more active role in reforming his father, King Henry III's, government.
During this time, Eleanor would give birth to five more children, though four of them would unfortunately not survive infancy.
In 1270, Eleanor followed through with her vow to take part in the crusades, and was one of the few women at the time to actively participate in the travels to the Holy Land. She would join her husband on the Eighth Crusade, and during this time, Eleanor would give birth to another child while on campaign in Acre, Princess Joan.
While staying in Acre, a Syrian assassin attempted to murder her husband with a poisoned dagger, and before surgery was performed to save his life, Eleanor had to be dragged away from his side as she screamed for him. Luckily, the surgery was a success and Edward survived, but the crusade was declared as a failure.
Eleanor continued to travel with her husband to the Kingdom of Sicily, where news reached them that Henry III had died, and that Edward was now King Edward I of England, and that Eleanor was now Queen.
While travelling back to England, Eleanor gave birth to another son, Prince Alfonso, before they officially made it back to the kingdom. Eleanor was crowned alongside her husband in a joint ceremony in 1274.
During her husband's reign, Eleanor would continue to be rarely separated from her husband, and joined him on many of his military campaigns. However, she would remain largely unpopular in England, especially due to her large land acquisitions, and exploitation of the Jewish population.
As well as being close with her husband, she was also close with her children, and ensured they were properly educated, promoted, and allowed them to travel with her and her husband once they were old enough. In total, both she and Edward would have sixteen children, though only six of them would survive into adulthood. However, it was Eleanor's mother-in-law, the Dowager Queen Eleanor of Provence, that would play a more active role in raising them, and some of their children were fostered into other noble households as was typical of the time.
By 1284, there is evidence that Eleanor was more frequently using medicine, suggesting the possible development of a chronic illness. This is speculated to most likely be malaria, and Eleanor would begin becoming more frequently ill over the next few years as she suffered attacks.
In 1290, Eleanor became convinced that she did not have long left to live, and she began getting her affairs in order. Her progress within England in 1290 became much slower, and she was forced to stop and rest in Nottinghamshire.
It was here that Eleanor would finally pass away, likely due to complications relating to malaria.
Rule:
Overall, Eleanor was very unpopular as a consort. She acquired a lot of land, often through debt collection, and would extort the Jewish population of England.
However, she played only a minor role in diplomacy, and would occasionally intercede on behalf of those in trouble with the crown, as was one of the main responsibilities of a consort.
Her favouritism towards her relatives and Castilian supporters was also unpopular, though much of this may have been greatly exaggerated.
She was a patron of literature and popularised many domestic decorations such as tapestries, tiles, carpets, fish-ponds, elaborate gardens, and Castilian style bathhouses.
On religious matters, she favoured friars over bishops and supported their work in universities.
She also donated frequently to charity.
Trivia:
- There is a romantic legend surrounding her time on crusade with her husband. When he was poisoned, legend states that she sucked the poison from his wound and saved his life. However, this is highly likely to be false.
- She was named in honour of her great-grandmother, Princess Eleanor of England, the daughter of Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, and King Henry II of England.
- Her husband would greatly mourn her death for the rest of his life, despite re-marrying. He would attend memorial services dedicated to her, and statues were erected in her honour where her body travelled through in its journey back to London.
Quotes:
N/A
Sources & Further Reading:
Brain, J. (n.d.). Eleanor of Castile. Historic UK. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Eleanor-Of-Castile/
Edward I and Eleanor.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. (2009). Wikimedia.org. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_I_and_Eleanor.jpg
Edward I and Eleanor of Castile. (n.d.). Westminster Abbey. https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/edward-i-and-eleanor-of-castile
Eleanor of Castile. (2026). Historic Royal Palaces. https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/eleanor-of-castile/
Eleanor of Castile | Lincoln Cathedral. (2024). Lincoln Cathedral. https://lincolncathedral.com/eleanor-of-castile/
Eleanor Of Castile | Queen of England. (2019). In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eleanor-of-Castile
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