Blanche of Bourbon

Blanche of Bourbon
Blanche of Bourbon
Queen consort of Castile and León
Tenure	1353–1361
Born	1339
Died	1361; Medina Sidonia
Spouse	Pedro of Castile
House	House of Bourbon
Father	Peter I, Duke of Bourbon
Mother	Isabella of Valois
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Blanche of Bourbon (1339–1361) was a queen consort of Castile. She was one of the daughters of Peter I, Duke of Bourbon and Isabella of Valois.

On 3 June 1353, aged 14, she married in person at Valladolid, Spain, King Peter I of Castile. Previously, she had been married by proxy at Abbaye de Preuilly on 9 July 1352. They married because Peter wanted an alliance with France.

Marriage

It is believed^{[by whom?]} that King Peter had married his lover, the Castilian noble Maria de Padilla before his marriage to Blanche, though he did deny this. There were many difficulties in getting the money promised as a dowry for Blanche.

Three days after their marriage, Peter abandoned Blanche for Maria de Padilla, with whom he later had four children, including Isabella of Castile, Duchess of York, and Constance of Castile.

Eventually Blanche was imprisoned in the castle of Arevalo. Blanche's cousin, John II of France, appealed to Pope Innocent VI to have Peter excommunicated for keeping Blanche imprisoned, but the Pope overruled this. Blanche and Peter had no children.

Death

In 1361, Blanche was transferred to the town of Medina Sidonia, where she was kept distant from possible rescue by the forces from Aragon and France battling King Peter. The pope advocated for her release.

In 1361, after Pedro had made peace with the King of Aragón, he returned to Seville and hoped to eliminate the last bastions of resistance to his rule. According to Pero López de Ayala, he then instructed Iñigo Ortiz de Estuñiga, who was charged with keeping his wife imprisoned in Medina Sidonia, to kill her. Ayala, who had later joined with winning faction led by Henry II, states that to Peter's anger, Estuñiga declined because the act was treasonous and likely to cause further disorder in the country. The King demanded that she be handed over to Juan Pérez de Rebolledo of Jeréz, a crossbowman of the king, who carried out the execution. ^[1] However, like much of our history of Pedro, partisans over the years were to write divergent stories about these events, depending on whether you looked upon him as "the cruel" (el Cruel) or "the purveyor of justice" (el Justiciero). ^[2] During the 19th century, while Spain was ruled by the Bourbon monarchy, her tomb was provided with the following inscription in Latin:

CHRISTO OPTIMO MAXIMO SACRUM. DIVA BLANCA HISPANIARUM REGINA, PATRE BORBONEO , EX INCLITA FRANCORUM REGUM PROSAPIA, MORIBUS ET CORPORE VENUSTISSIMA FUIT; SED PRAEVALENTE PELLICE OCCUBVIT IUSSU PETRI MARITI CRUDELIS ANNO SALUTIS MCCCLXI. AETATIS VERO SUAE XXV

Christ most supreme and Holy. Blessed Blanche, Queen of Spain, of Bourbon Father, and from renowned royal French lineage, died with a graceful body; Common knowledge judges her fallen by her husband Peter the Cruel in the year 1361 at the age of 25.

However, whether Peter did have her assassinated is a controversial claim. Zuñiga who amended Ayala's chronicles notes that partisans of the king called it a natural death. Others question such events, since she did not die in Jeréz, but in Medina Sidonia as per contemporary accounts. Also different versions of Ayala's chronicles make a different statement that she was poisoned by herbs (le fuero dadas yerbas) This latter statement also repeated by Juan de Mariana in his history^[3]

It is not surprising that the history of Pedro was rewritten in later years. Male descendants of King Henry I, the bastard half-brother of king Peter, and his slayer, would end up marrying female descendants of Peter. Henry III, who was grandson of Henry II, would marry Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, and Constance of Castile, daughter of Peter. Thus subsequent descendents of the joined lines would try to ameliorate the iniquity of Pedro chronicled by the faction of Henry I. Bourbon rulers had a stake in sanctifying the image of Blanche, a distant member of their ancestral lineage. ^[4] Ultimately, like many events in the Dark Ages of medieval Europe, certainty regarding facts will likely forever remain elusive.

Ancestry

Family of Blanche of Bourbon

16. Louis IX of France

8. Robert, Count of Clermont

17. Marguerite of Provence

4. Louis I, Duke of Bourbon

18. John of Burgundy

9. Beatrix of Bourbon

19. Agnes of Dampierre

2. Peter I, Duke of Bourbon

20. John I of Avesnes

10. John II, Count of Holland

21. Adelaide of Holland

5. Mary of Avesnes

22. Henry V of Luxembourg

11. Philippa of Luxembourg

23. Marguerite of Bar

1. Blanche of Bourbon

24. Louis IX of France (= 16)

12. Philip III of France

25. Marguerite of Provence (= 17)

6. Charles of Valois

26. James I of Aragon

13. Isabella of Aragon

27. Violant of Hungary

3. Isabella of Valois

28. Guy III, Count of Saint-Pol

14. Guy IV, Count of Saint-Pol

29. Matilda of Brabant

7. Mahaut of Châtillon

30. John II, Duke of Brittany

15. Marie of Brittany

31. Beatrice of England

References

^ *Ayala, Pedro López de (1779). Edition 1526, amended by Geronimo Zurita (1577), with corrections by Don Eugenio de Llaguno Amirola. (ed.). Cronicas de los Reyes de Castilla, Tomo I. Don Pedro.. Imprenta de Don Antonio de Sancha. p. 328-329.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: editors list (link)
^ *A review of prior histiorography is found in this monograph: Datos históricos relativos á la inscripcion que en el año de 1859, se colocó en una Torre de Medina Sidonia, donde estuvo presa y murió la Reina Doña Blanca de Borbon, esposa de Don Pedro de Castilla.. Imprenta de la Revista Medica de Cadiz. 1859.
^ Quoted in Pozo, Josef Ledo del (1780). Apologia del rey Don Pedro de Castilla, conforme a la cronica verdadera de Don Pedro Lopez de Ayala. Imprenta de Hernandez, Madrid. p. pages 355-356. {{cite book}}: |page= has extra text (help)
^ Espasa-Calpe SA, ed. (1920). Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana. Tomo 42. Rios Rosas. numero 26, Madrid. p. pages 1332-1333. {{cite book}}: |page= has extra text (help)

Hale, Edward Everett, and Susan Hale. The Story of Spain. Story of the nations. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1886. googlebooks.com Accessed November 16, 2007
Jones, William H. Blanche de Bourbon, and other poems. London: Hookham and Sons, 1855. googlebooks.com Accessed November 16, 2007

Royal titles
Vacant Title last held by Maria of Portugal	Queen consort of Castile 1353–1361	Vacant Title next held by Juana Manuel of Castile
	Queen consort of León 1353–1361
	Queen consort of Galicia 1353–1361
	Queen consort of Toledo 1353–1361

Template:Persondata

[1] *Ayala, Pedro López de (1779). Edition 1526, amended by Geronimo Zurita (1577), with corrections by Don Eugenio de Llaguno Amirola. (ed.). Cronicas de los Reyes de Castilla, Tomo I. Don Pedro.. Imprenta de Don Antonio de Sancha. p. 328-329.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: editors list (link)

[2] *A review of prior histiorography is found in this monograph: Datos históricos relativos á la inscripcion que en el año de 1859, se colocó en una Torre de Medina Sidonia, donde estuvo presa y murió la Reina Doña Blanca de Borbon, esposa de Don Pedro de Castilla.. Imprenta de la Revista Medica de Cadiz. 1859.

[3] Quoted in Pozo, Josef Ledo del (1780). Apologia del rey Don Pedro de Castilla, conforme a la cronica verdadera de Don Pedro Lopez de Ayala. Imprenta de Hernandez, Madrid. p. pages 355-356. {{cite book}}: |page= has extra text (help)

[4] Espasa-Calpe SA, ed. (1920). Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana. Tomo 42. Rios Rosas. numero 26, Madrid. p. pages 1332-1333. {{cite book}}: |page= has extra text (help)

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