Family Card - Person Sheet
Family Card - Person Sheet
NameEleanor of Castile 
1963
1963Birth1241, Burgos, Spain
Death28 Nov 1290, Harby, England
FatherKing of Castile Firdinando III (-1290)
MotherJoan
Misc. Notes
Eleanor of Castile1963
The death of Edward's beloved first wife, Eleanor of Castile, at the age of 49 in 1290, left him reeling in grief.
Eleanor of Castile (1241 – 28 November 1290) was the first queen consort of Edward I of England, whom she married as part of a political deal to affirm English sovereignty over Gascony.
The marriage was known to be particularly close, and Eleanor travelled extensively with her husband. She was with him on the Eighth Crusade, when he was wounded at Acre, but the popular story of her saving his life by sucking out the poison has long been discredited. When she died, near Lincoln, her husband famously ordered a stone cross to be erected at each stopping-place on the journey to London, ending at Charing Cross.
Eleanor was better-educated than most medieval queens, and exerted a strong cultural influence on the nation. 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 also a successful businesswoman, endowed with her own fortune as Countess of Ponthieu.
Prospective bride to Theobald II of Navarre
Eleanor's marriage in 1254 to the future Edward I of England was not the first marriage her family planned for her. The kings of Castile had long made a tenuous claim to be paramount lords of the Kingdom of Navarre in the Pyrenees, and from 1252 Ferdinand III's heir, Eleanor's half-brother Alfonso X of Castile, hoped she would marry Theobald II of Navarre. To avoid Castilian control, Margaret of Bourbon (mother and regent to Theobald II) in August 1253 allied with James I of Aragon instead, and as part of that treaty solemnly promised that Theobald would never marry Eleanor.
The death of Edward's beloved first wife, Eleanor of Castile, at the age of 49 in 1290, left him reeling in grief.
Eleanor of Castile (1241 – 28 November 1290) was the first queen consort of Edward I of England, whom she married as part of a political deal to affirm English sovereignty over Gascony.
The marriage was known to be particularly close, and Eleanor travelled extensively with her husband. She was with him on the Eighth Crusade, when he was wounded at Acre, but the popular story of her saving his life by sucking out the poison has long been discredited. When she died, near Lincoln, her husband famously ordered a stone cross to be erected at each stopping-place on the journey to London, ending at Charing Cross.
Eleanor was better-educated than most medieval queens, and exerted a strong cultural influence on the nation. 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 also a successful businesswoman, endowed with her own fortune as Countess of Ponthieu.
Prospective bride to Theobald II of Navarre
Eleanor's marriage in 1254 to the future Edward I of England was not the first marriage her family planned for her. The kings of Castile had long made a tenuous claim to be paramount lords of the Kingdom of Navarre in the Pyrenees, and from 1252 Ferdinand III's heir, Eleanor's half-brother Alfonso X of Castile, hoped she would marry Theobald II of Navarre. To avoid Castilian control, Margaret of Bourbon (mother and regent to Theobald II) in August 1253 allied with James I of Aragon instead, and as part of that treaty solemnly promised that Theobald would never marry Eleanor.
Spouses
Birth17 Jun 1239
Death7 Jul 1307
FatherKing Henry III (1207-1272)
MotherEleanor of Provence (ca1223-1291)
Marriage1 Nov 1254, Las Huelgas, Burgos