Queen: Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile

Eleanor of Aquitaine was a formidable woman and her middle daughter, also named Eleanor, took after her in many ways.  Eleanor, or in Spanish Leonor (1161-1214) was born at Domfront Castle, in Normandy.  She was one of eight children of Henry II and ten born to Eleanor of Aquitaine through her two marriages.  In 1174, at the age of 12, she was married to Alfonso VIII of Castile in Burgos, Spain.  Alfonso was in a dispute with his own uncle over the boundaries of the Kingdom of Navarre.  Henry II believed the marriage between his daughter and Alfonso would strengthen the Pyrenees boundary between Plantagenet-held Aquitaine and Spain in return for Henry's help mediating the dispute between Castile and Navarre.

Eleanor bore at least five living children, though there were others who died young.  All four of her daughter became queens.  Berengaria, Queen of Castile and Toledo, Urraca, Queen of Portugal, Blanche, Queen of France, and Eleanor, Queen of Aragon.  Alfonso came to appreciate his wife's strength of mind and character.  In addition to her diplomatic efforts to resolve the Pyrenean boundary disputes between her family, Alfonso's family and Navarre, Eleanor exercised control over several towns and fortresses within Castile itself.  Alfonso specified that, in the event of his death before his son Henry reached majority, Eleanor was to act as regent in the boy's behalf.  Her marriage to Alfonso had almost been imploded due to her father's treatment of Thomas Becket.  Perhaps Eleanor's own statement on that issue came through her funding of a shrine to Becket in the Cathedral of Toledo.

At Alfonso's death in 1214, Eleanor was so bereaved that she was unable to preside over the funeral and had to delegate that task to Berengaria.  Within months, Eleanor herself was dead, rumor had it, over her own grief at the loss of her husband.  She was remembered after her death for her generosity toward religious institutions, and for her great beauty and dignity.