Berengaria of Portugal

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Berengaria of Portugal
Queen consort of Denmark
Tenure 1214–1221
Spouse Valdemar II of Denmark
Issue
Eric IV of Denmark
Abel of Denmark
Christopher I of Denmark
Sophia of Denmark
House House of Burgundy
House of Estridsen
Father Sancho I of Portugal
Mother Dulce of Aragon
Born c. 1195
Died c. 1221 (aged 26–31)
Denmark
Burial Ringstead, Denmark

Berengaria of Portugal (Portuguese pronunciation: [bɨɾẽˈɡaɾiɐ]) was a Portuguese infanta, later Queen consort of Denmark. She was the fifth daughter of Portuguese King Sancho I and Dulce of Aragon. She married Danish King Valdemar II and was the mother of Danish kings Eric IV, Abel and Christopher I.

Contents

[edit] Family

Berengaria was the tenth of eleven children born to her parents. Her siblings included: Theresa, Queen of Castile, Sancha, Lady of Alenquer, Constance, Afonso II of Portugal, Peter I of Urgell, Ferdinand of Flanders, Blanche, Lady of Guadalajara and Matilda, Queen of Castile.

By the age of seventeen in 1212, Berengaria was an orphan, her father died in 1212 and her mother had died in 1198.

Her maternal grandparents were Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, and his wife Petronila of Aragon. Her paternal grandparents were Afonso I of Portugal and Maud of Savoy.[1]

Berengaria was first cousin to the English queen Berengaria of Navarre, wife of Richard the Lion-hearted. Both of the Princess Berengarias were named after their grandfather Count Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona.[2]

[edit] Marriage

Old folk ballads says that on her deathbed, Dagmar of Bohemia (Valdemar's first wife) begged the king to marry Kirsten, the daughter of Karl von Rise and not the "beautiful flower" Berengária. In other words she predicted Berengaria's sons' fight over the throne would bring trouble to Denmark.

Berengaria was introduced to King Valdemar through his sister, Inegborg, the wife of King Philip II of France, another of her cousins. Berengaria was the youngest daughter of King Sancho I of Portugal.

Within seven years of marriage, the couple had four surviving children:

[edit] Unpopularity

Valdemar’s first wife, Dagmar of Bohemia, had been immensely popular, blonde and with Nordic looks. Queen Berengaria was the opposite, dark-eyed, raven haired, yet a beauty in her own right. She was, however hard-hearted so that she was generally hated by Danes until her early death in 1221.

The Danes made up folk songs about the beautiful new queen and blamed her for the high taxes Valdemar levied, although the taxes went to his war efforts, not just to his Queen. The Danes still grieved over the kind-hearted Queen Dagmar, so that it wasn't easy for the new queen from Portugal to win the good-will of her husband's Danish subjects.

[edit] Death and Legacy

Queen Berengaria, after giving birth to three future kings, died in childbirth in 1221, in her 31st year. Queen Berengaria is buried in St. Bendt's Church in Ringsted, Denmark, on one side of Valdemar II, with Queen Dagmar buried on the other side of the King.

Valdemar's two queens play a prominent role in Danish ballads and myths - Dagmar as the soft, pious and popular ideal wife and Berengaria (Bengjerd) as the beautiful and haughty woman.[3]

[edit] Ancestors

[edit] References

  1. ^ Family Tree
  2. ^ Portugal, Medieval Lands
  3. ^ Valdemar in 1911 Encyclopedia
Berengaria of Portugal
Born: 1191 Died: 1221
Danish royalty
Preceded by
Margarethe of Bohemia		 Queen consort of Denmark
1214–1221		 Succeeded by
Jutta of Saxony
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berengaria_of_Portugal"