Eleanor of Castile--II
John Carmi Parsons
those children whose births or deaths have not been previously settled, or
have been the subject of confusion among authorities. (You may get this
in two postings, as we have a half-hour automatic cutoff limit for off-
campus phone-ins.)
Eleanor of Castile's children
1. Daughter, name unknown, buried in the Dominican priory church at
Bordeaux where in 1286 Queen Eleanor made offerings on 29 May, the
anniversary of the child's death. The record of those offerings in the
king's 1286 wardrobe accounts is the only trace of this child's existence
(London, Public Record Office, E 36/201, p. 93 bis). Following J. P.
Trabut-Cussac, "Itineraire d'Edouard Ier en Gascogne, 1286-1289,"
_Bulletin of the Institute for Historical Research_, 25 (1952), 178 note
54, I believe the most likely year for this otherwise-unrecorded birth and
evidently very early death is 1255, the only other year Queen Eleanor is
known to have been in Bordeaux in May. Eleanor's youth in May 1255--not
yet 14--and the fact that she had then been married only 7 months would
easily explain the girl's early death.
2. Katherine, whose date of birth is not recorded, was living 17 June
1264; d. 5 Sept. 1264, bur. Westminster Abbey. She must be the dau.
mentioned but not named in Henry III's order of 17 June 1264 that Eleanor
of Castile leave Windsor Castle with her dau. and her household (Cal. of
Patent Rolls 1258-66, p. 325). Katherine was bur. in Westminster Abbey
before 3 Oct. 1264 (Cal. of Liberate Rolls, v, pp. 142-43), and her obit
appears in the Canterbury necrology on 5 Sept. (British Library, MS
Arundel 68, fol. 40v).
3. Joan, b. Jan. 1265; but. Westminster Abbey shortly before 7 Sept. 1265.
There were preparations for Eleanor of Castile's confinement in Dec. 1264,
and she was churched in early Feb. 1265 (Cal. Liberate Rolls, v, pp. 150,
160). Henry III paid for medicines for Eleanor on 25 Jan. 1265 (G.R.
Trease, "The Spicers and Apothecaries of the Royal Households in the
Reigns of Henry III, Edward I and Edward II," _Nottingham Medieval
Studies_, 3 [1959], 40-41, though Trease has misidentified the record's
"domina Alianora" as Henry's queen, Eleanor of Provence; that lady was
actually in France in Jan. 1265, and in any case a wardrobe clerk would
have properly designated the queen "domina Regina," not merely named her
as "domina Alianora.") The child b. in Jan 1265 can only have been the
Joan who was recently dead on 7 Sept 1265, when Henry III ordered a gold
cloth for her Westminster Abbey tomb (Cal. Close Rolls 1264-68, pp.
70-71).
4. John, b. Windsor Castle on the night of 13/14 July 1266; d. Wallingford
in the custody of his granduncle Richard of Cornwall, lord of Wallingford,
3 Aug. 1271, and bur. Westminster Abbey 8 Aug. 1271. All these dates are
fully noted in published contemporary chronicles and require no comment.
5. Henry, b. shortly before 6 May 1268; d. Guildford between 14 and 17
Oct. 1274 (most probably on the 16th), and bur. Westminster Abbey on 23
Oct. 1274. Henry's name first occurs in Henry III's writ of 28 July 1268
for expenses of his grandsons, John and Henry (Cal. Liberate Rolls, vi,
no. 205). On 6 May 1268, however, the king had given 20 marks to Eleanor
of Castile's yeoman who had brought the king good news about her
childbearing (Cal. Liberate Rolls, vi,. no. 272). In all probability this
indicates the time of Henry's birth, for as late as Mar. 1268 Henry III
had been providing for the expenses of only one grandson, John (Cal.
Liberate Rolls, vi, no. 138). The date of Henry's death is from his
household accounts, ed. Hilda Johnstone, _The Wardrobe and Household of
Henry, son of Edward I," _Bulletin of the John Rylands Library_, 7 (1923),
1-37.
6. Eleanor, b. Windsor Castle ca 18 June 1269; d., it is said at Ghent, 29
Aug. 1298. Traditionally said to be bur. in Westminster Abbey. After a
long betrothal to Alphonso, heir to the throne of Aragon (d. 1291), she m.
1293 Henry III, count of Barrois (d. 1302) and left 1 son and 1 dau.
Young Eleanor has previously been identified with the unnamed dau.
mentioned in Henry III's writ of 17 June 1264 (see under no. 2 above).
This identification was proposed by M.A.E. Green, _Lives of the Princesses
of England from the Norman Conquest_, 6 vols (London, 1859-69), ii, p.
276. But Green interpreted too strictly the phrase "primogenita Regis"
given young Eleanor during the negotiations for her Aragonese marriage in
the 1280s. This designation can be used either for a *primogenitus/a
natus/a* or a *primogenitus/a existens*, a point settled after the 1502
death of Arthur, Prince of Wales, when Henry VII wished to bestow the
dukedom of Cornwall and earldom of Chester upon his new heir, the future
Henry VIII; but he was constrained at first by the lawyers' need to frame
a looser interpretation of Edward III's statute that seemed to limit those
dignities strictly to the *primogenitus natus* (See _Complete Peerage_,
s.vv. "Chester" and "Cornwall").
The _Chronicle of Bury St Edmunds_, ed. Antonia Gransden (London,
1964), p. 47, in fact has young Eleanor b. 1270 at Windsor, but Henry III
gave money on 18 June 1269 to a yeoman who brought him the news that
Eleanor of Castile had borne her daughter Eleanor (Cal. Patent Rolls
1266-72, p. 349). The Bury chronicler has muddled the calendar years
here; he associates Eleanor's birth in 1270 with Alan de la Zouche's
murder by the earl of Surrey, which really happened in 1269 (_Complete
Peerage, 12.i, p. 505). Since Eleanor of Castile in June 1270 actually
made a brief trip to France (Cal. Liberate Rolls, vi, nos. 1133, 1162),
she cannot possibly have borne a child at that time. So the correct year
for young Eleanor's birth is surely 1269, as Henry III's gift attests.
Green has 12 Oct. 1297 for young Eleanor's death, as reported in
the _Flores Historiarum_, ed. H.R. Luard (Rolls series, 95), iii, p. 103.
But the Bury chronicle, p. 150, indicates a time rather toward the end of
summer 1298. The time of year is confirmed by young Eleanor's obit on 29
Aug. in her sister Elizabeth's psalter, a source which must be accepted
as authoritative (British Library, Add. MS 24686, fol. 8v). In fact young
Eleanor was certainly alive on 1 Jan. 1298, when she gave Edward I a New
Year's gift (O. Lehmann-Brockhaus, _Lateinische Schriftquellen zur Kunst
in England, Wales und Scottland 901-1307_, 5 vols [Munich, 1955-60], no.
6257). The date 12 Oct 1297 for young Eleanor's death thus cannot be
correct, but cannot be further explained from evidence now available.
7. Daughter, name unknown, b. in Palestine shortly after Edward and
Eleanor arrived there in May 1271; d. before her parents left Palestine in
Sept. 1271. This child's existence is known only from the information
briefly given in the London chronicle, _Liber de Antiquis Legibus_, ed. T.
Stapleton (Camden Society vol. 34; London, 1846), p. 171. No evidence
exists to support L. Salzman's theory in _Edward I_ (London, 1968), that
this child's body was returned to Europe for burial and that she may be
identified with the child buried in Bordeaux (no. 1 above).
8. Joan, b. Acre in Palestine spring 1271; d. Clare (Suffolk), perhaps in
childbirth, 7 Apr. 1307, bur. in the Augustinian Priory at Clare. She m.
1st, 1290, Gilbert de Clare VII, earl of Hertford and Gloucester (1243-95),
by whom she had 1 son, 3 daus. M. 2nd, early 1297 (?), Sir Ralph de
Monthermer (d. 1325), and had at least 2 sons, 2 daus. All dates easily
established from contemporary evidence. See _Complete Peerage, v, pp.
602-12, and ix, pp. 140-43.
9. Alphonso, b. Bayonne in Gascony, night of 23/24 Nov. 1273; d. (Windsor?) 19
Aug. 1284, bur. Westminster Abbey 26 Aug. 1284. All dates easily established
from published contemporary evidence.
10. Margaret, b. Windsor Castle 15 Mar. 1275; living Mar. 1333, bur.
Ste-Gudule, Brussels. Married 1290 John II, duke of Brabant (d. 1312) and
left 1 son.
Green, _Lives of the Princesses_, ii, 363, dated Margaret's birth
11 Sept. 1275 on the basis of one MS chronicle (British Library, MS Cotton
Nero A. 6, fol. 29v), which reads: "Alianora regina Anglie peperit filiam
nomine Margaretam .iii. idus septembris . factus est terre motus per
Angliam...." Comparison with other chronicles, unpublished in Green's day
or to which she did not have access, consistently shows that it was the
earthquake, and not Margaret's birth, that fell on 15 Sept: Bury
chronicle, p. 57; Winchester annals (_Annales monastici_, ed. H.R. Luard,
Rolls series 36.1-iv), ii, p. 119; Waverley annals, ibid., ii, p. 386;
Dunstable annals, ibid., iii, p. 266; Osney chronicle and chronicle of
Thomas Wykes, ibid., iv, pp. 264-65; _Flores historiarum_, iii, p. 46.
These chronicles all note Margaret's birth as well, but much earlier in
1275--probably very early in the year since it is the first thing any of
them mention under 1275. Since all these chroniclers begin the Christian
year in Mar., we would thus expect Margaret's birth around that time, and
indeed 3 of these chroniclers--Winchester, Waverley, and Worcester--
specifically state that the queen's dau Margaret was b. 18 kal. April 1275
(*sic*--the Roman calendar really has no 18 kal. April, which should be
the ides of Mar.; but unless that date was seen as ill-omened in 13th-
century England, there seems no way to explain the chroniclers' decision
to call it 18 kal. April). Unfortunately, these chroniclers also
confusingly identify the dau. b. 15 Mar. 1275 as "Isabella," though Edward
I and Eleanor of Castile had no dau. by that name (see part III of this
posting). The 15 Mar. 1275 birth was, then, beyond much question
Margaret's. (She cannot have been b. in Sept 1275 since the next child,
Berengaria, was b. on 1 May 1276.)
Green, _Lives of the Princesses_, ii, p. 400, reported Margaret's
death in 1318, from a later Flemish chronicle that was available to Green in
print. English official records, however, leave no doubt that Margaret
was alive and in contact with English kin down to Mar. 1333 (Cal. Patent
Rolls 1317-21, pp. 427, 523; Cal. Close Rolls 1323-27, p. 652; Cal. Close
Rolls 1333-37, p. 96). Her brother Edward II addressed an unpublished
letter to her on 9 June 1324 (London, Public Record Office, S.C. 1/63/159)
and Green, mystified, remarked a published charter of Margaret's dated by
its editor to 1329 (_Lives of the Princesses_, ii, 390 note 2). The joint
tomb of Margaret and her husband is in the cathedral of Ste-Gudule,
Brussels.
11. Berengaria, b. Kempton (Middx.) 1 May 1276; living on or a little
after 6 June 1277, d. before 27 June 1278. Said to be bur. in Westminster
Abbey.
Berengaria's birth is noted in the Bury chronicle, p. 62, and the
Winchester Annals (_Annales monastici_, ii, p. 122). The place was not
Kennington, as Green thought (_Lives of the Princesses_, ii, pp. 402-03),
but Kempton, Middx (Kennington was not a royal manor in 1276, but Kempton
was, and Edward I's itinerary shows he was then at Kempton). Berengaria
was living on or about 6 June 1277 when her father gave 20 marks to her
wetnurse (Public Record Office, account of the king's gifts 5 Edward I, E
101/350/24, memb. 2). She had died by 27 June 1278, when the king gave
the like amount to her former wetnurse (cash journal of the king's wardrobe 6
Edward I, C 47/4/1 fol. 28r; Green, _Lives of the Princesses_, ii, p. 402,
gives this information from a 17th-century transcript--now inaccessible in
private hands--of the lost original roll of the king's gifts for 6 Edward
I). Since I published this article in 1984, I have found records
suggesting that one of Edward I's daus was bur. in St Paul's cathedral,
London; this could have been Berengaria, but I have not yet had a chance
to discuss the evidence in print.
12. Daughter, name unknown, d. soon after birth at Westminster, early Jan.
1278. Her existence is known only from the record of the king's payment
of the expenses for the queen's confinement on this occasion (Public
Record Office, cash journal of the king's wardrobe 6 Edward I, C 47/4/1
fols. 12v, 13r).
13. Mary, b. Woodstock 11 or 12 Mar. 1279; d. 29 May 1332, and bur. in the
Benedictine convent at Amesbury where she was dedicated 15 Aug. 1285, and
veiled a nun late in 1291.
The Worcester annals (_Annales monastici_, iv, p. 476), note the
birth of a daughter (name left blank) to the queen on 12 Mar. 1279 at
Woodstock. The Bury chronicle, p. 67, says Mary was born at Windsor on 11
Mar. 1279. A 1286 writ of Edward I, recalling provision he ordered for
chaplains on certain royal manors, settles the place as Woodstock: "Quia
a tempore quo .A. regina Anglie consors Regis mariam filiam suam apud
Wodestok' peperit, rex mandavit...." (London, Public Record Office, king's
remembrancer memoranda roll, Easter term 14 Edward I, E 159/59, memb.
24d). Mary's dedication at Amesbury is reliably reported by Green from
royal wardrobe evidence (_Lives of the Princesses_, ii, pp. 409-10). A
later inventory of Edward I's jewels shows that the gold rings he provided
for Mary and the other nuns professed with her were purchased only after
the beginning of his 20th regnal year--i.e., after 20 Nov. 1291 (Lehmann-
Brockhaus, _Lateinische Schriftquellen_, no. 6261). Certainly Mary was
veiled only at the end of 1291 (D. Douie, _Archbishop Pecham_ [Oxford,
1952], p. 323). As her 1285 dedication was on 15 Aug., feast of the
Assumption of BVM, perhaps her profession took place on 8 Dec. 1291, feast
of the Conception of BVM. Green, _Lives of the Princesses_, ii, p. 441,
correctly deduced that Mary d. in the spring of 1332, but missed the
crucial reference that gives the exact date (Cal. Close Rolls 1330-33, p.
511).
[A son, d. soon after birth, seemingly in 1280 or 1281. According to the
_Opus chronicorum_, a chronicle written within 20 years of Queen Eleanor's
death, and whose author claimed he had heard King Edward personally
discussing his children by the queen, Eleanor bore 5 sons, not the 4
usually given by recent authorities. See _Johannis de Trokelowe et
Henrici de Blaneford... Chronica et Annales_, ed. H.T. Riley [Rolls series
28.ii], p. 48 (for the date of this work, see V. Galbraith, _The St Albans
Chronicle, 1406-1420 [Oxford, 1937], pp. xxxix-xxx). There is no question
that John (1266-71, no. 4 above) was the first son born to Eleanor of
Castile, and the sequence of her children's births thereafter is fairly
well documented until the years 1280/81, which would appear to be the most
likely period for this otherwise-unknown birth. Since the matter is not,
however, beyond some question, I number the last two children twice, the
first number indicating their place in the family as though this son did
not exist, and the second as though he did.]
14 (15). Elizabeth, b. Rhuddlan Aug. 1281; d. in childbed, Quendon (Essex)
5 May 1316, bur. in the Benedictine convent at Walden, Essex. M. 1st 1297
John I, count of Holland and Zeeland (d.s.p. 1299); m. 2nd, 1302, Humphrey
de Bohun VIII, earl of Hereford and Essex (d. 1322), and had 10 children.
The Bury chronicle, p. 77, indicates Elizabeth was b. in the
summer of 1282. Bishop Godfrey Giffard of Worcester mentions the birth in
a letter dated 28 Aug. 1282: "Domina siquidem regina nova prole congaudet
quia nascitur ei filia que Elizabet' est vocata...." (Giffard's register,
Worcester County Record Office MS 713, fol. 148r). A fragmentary roll of
the queen's expenses at Rhuddlan in 1282 shows she was churched on Sunday
6 Sept. 1282 (London, Public Record Office, E 101/684/62 memb. 1).
Elizabeth is usually said to have d. shortly after she bore her 10th child
on 5 May 1316, but her obit appears on that same day in her own psalter
(London, British Library, Add. MS 24686 fol. 7r).
16 (16). Edward (II), b. Caernarvon 25 Apr. 1284; succeeded his father in
1307; abdicated January 1327, and murdered 21 Sept. 1327 at Berkeley
Castle, Glos. Buried in what was then the Benedictine Abbey of Gloucester,
now Gloucester cathedral. All dates long established from contemporary
evidence; for his birth, see Hilda Johnstone, _Edward of Carnarvon_
(Manchester, 1946).
John Parsons