Death of Two Queens

November 26th, 1252 was the date of death at age 64 of Blanche of Castile, daughter of Alfonso and Leonora, and therefore granddaughter of our Henry and Eleanor. After Richard’s death, Eleanor traveled to Castile to bring back one of her granddaughters to marry the son of the French king Philippe. She chose Blanche, then Blanca, over her elder sister, Urraca, supposedly because the latter’s name was too “foreign.” But that was definitely an excuse, a means of saving the elder girl’s pride, for it was common for a young bride to change a foreign name to one more familiar to her new subjects. Eleanor’s other granddaughter Richenza became known as Matilda after she was raised at Henry’s court. In my books, however, I kept her as Richenza, for I already had too many Matildas; what I wouldn’t have given to rename a few of the Henrys and Williams! Blanche became Queen of France and after her husband’s death, she acted as regent for her son, the future St Louis. She was clearly a woman of ability and courage and ambition, but she’s never been a favorite of mine. She was also the Mother-in-law from Hell, making life difficult for Louis and his young queen Marguerite, who was one of the four famous sisters of Provence, all of whom wed kings. But she deserves credit for all she did to secure her son’s throne. And in all honesty, Eleanor was not a warm and loving mother-in-law, either.
November 26th, 1504 was the death date for the controversial Isabella, Queen of Castile, whose reputation has been tarnished by her association with the Inquisition. She is also linked with Christopher Columbus, and she was the mother of Katherine of Aragon and Juana la Loca, neither of whom had very happy lives. C.W. Gortner has written about Isabella in The Queen’s Vow. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet because of my Ransom deadline. But I did read Christopher’s novels about Juana la Loca and another controversial queen, Catherine de Medici, and enjoyed them both very much. So The Queen’s Vow is on my TBR pile, which is looking alarmingly like the Leaning Tower of Pisa these days.