Alfonso's Family Tree

Alfonso IX of León cared enough about his country that he summoned what can be called the first Parliament in Western Europe to hear from all strata of society, but he clearly didn't care enough about the pope's opinion to change his behavior when it came to relationships with women. Although the pope declared his second marriage to Berengaria of Castile as illegitimate (because they were cousins), after declaring his first marriage to Theresa of Portugal as illegitimate (because they were cousins), Alfonso and Berengaria stayed together for years afterward.

His devotion to his second wife, however, was not a sign of dedicated monogamy. He had several children by several mistresses over his lifetime. We know these because, like many kings, he acknowledged them and made sure they had decent careers and marriages themselves.

Between his marriages he had a relationship with Inés Íñiguez de Mendoza. Their daughter, Urraca Alfonso, married the Lord of Biscay. They had many children.

He also had a relationship with Estefanía Pérez de Faiam, the daughter of one of his nobles (who was witness to several royal charters). Alfonso gifted her with many estates. They had a son who died young.

One Spanish historian claims that the archdeacon Fernando Alfonso de León of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was Alfonso's son by a woman named Maura, from Salamanca.

A Portugese woman, Aldonza Martínez de Silva, bore three of Alfonso's children between 1214 and 1218. Rodrigo became lord of Aliger. Aldonza married a count of the kingdom of León. Teresa Alfonso de León married a noble of León, Nuño González "the Good."

A relationship that lasted longer than any of his marriages was with Teresa Gil de Soverosa, daughter of a Portugese noble. They had four children:

• Sancha, who married the Lord of Los Cameros (and later became a nun at a convent which she founded).
• Maria, who was married but later became mistress to Alfonso X of Castile (her cousin).
• Martin, who with his wife founded the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Salamanca.
• Urraca, who married twice. She was born the year her father died.

Alfonso died on 24 September 1230. His son Ferdinand (by Berengaria) was already King of Castile, and inherited León as well. Castile and León, finally united after the hostilities mentioned in the links above, now dominated the Iberian Peninsula.

At one point in the hostilities, Alfonso of León attacked Alfonso of Castile with the help of Muslims, the Almohads. Who were they, and why would they ally with a Christian king? Why would a Christian king think to recruit them? I'll explain that next time.

Alfonso's Marriage Blues

King Alfonso IX of León (1171 - 1230) may be noted for calling the Three Estates together to advise him—the first such gathering in Western Europe—but not everything could be resolved in that manner.

Every ruler desires an heir, and therefore needs a spouse. Alfonso found his in 1191 in Theresa of Portugal. Theresa was 15 at the time, daughter of the king of Portugal, Sancho I. They had three children: Sancha, Dulce, and Ferdinand. Elsewhere I have mentioned how, in 1224, Alfonso tried to marry Sancha to John of Brienne. John chose a younger daughter by a later wife of Alfonso, but it might not have been just Sancha's age that disqualified her in John's eyes (he was, after all, a good many years older).

In fact, Sancha's "status" might have been a problem for John. Theresa of Portugal was Alfonso's cousin, and Pope Celestine III condemned the marriage on the grounds of consanguinity. Celestine had his papal legate declare the marriage nullified, placing both León and Portugal under Interdict. John might have avoided the match because Sancha could be considered illegitimate and therefore not eligible to inherit León.

Only a year later, Celestine excommunicated Alfonso for "consorting with the enemy." Alfonso clashed with his cousin, Alfonso VIII of Castile. Prior wars had seen territorial boundaries shifting, and León wanted some of their land back. Alfonso invaded Castile with the aid of Muslims, which was a strong offense in Celestine's eyes. (Alfonso VIII had proven an enemy to Muslims, mentioned here.) To create peace between Castile and León, they did what many warring nations did at the time: arranged a marriage between representatives of the two. In this case, the marriage was between Alfonso IX and Berengaria of Castile in 1197.

The problem was that Berengaria was Alfonso VIII's daughter, and therefore her husband's first cousin once removed. (Her paternal grandfather and Alfonso's father were brothers.) León was placed under Interdict once again due to consanguinity. In 1198, Pope Innocent III declared this second marriage annulled, but the couple decided to stay together until 1204, when Alfonso decided he should attack Castile again. (A series of treaties ultimately resolved the borders and the hostilities.)

As for the Interdiction, the pope realized that, if the people went years without the benefits of the mass and sacraments, they would have no reason to support the church financially. He lifted the Interdict on the country, but kept it on the king.

Another strike against Alfonso (but helped make him historically memorable) was his numerous affairs and subsequent numerous illegitimate children. That family tree had many branches, which I'll lay out tomorrow.

The First European Parliament?

The word "parliament" is from the French parlement, first seen in the 11th century to mean "parley" or "conversation." By the middle of the 13th century it was being used for council meetings. It is often automatically associated with England, where the bicameral House of Lords and House of Commons met to decide matters of national importance. During the reign of Henry III, for instance, Parliament's consent was needed to approve taxation. This was an evolution of the rules laid out in Magna Carta.

Whereas the barons of England forced King John to allow them a voice in important decisions, not every king in Western Europe needed coercion. For example, take Alfonso IX of León and Galicia (a very large percentage of the Iberian Peninsula).

Born 15 August 1171, he was 17 when he succeeded his father, Ferdinand II. Wars with Castile had left León in an economic downturn, and Alfonso's first need was to raise taxes, including on the lower classes. This led to revolts in several towns. That, and the continued threat from Castile, prompted Alfonso to summon León's nobles, higher level clergy, and merchants and tradesmen as representatives of several towns, to a Cortes at the Basilica of San Isidoro.

The Cortes ("court") of León of 1188 was the first formal uniting of the Three Estates (Nobles, Clergy, Commoners) in Western Europe. The Cortes laid out rules that are familiar to modern constitutions: the right to private property, to appeal to justice, to the sanctity of the home. The Cortes also demanded oversight of royal spending. As one modern scholar* put it:

Thus, the "plain state" was incorporated into the nascent Cortes of the Kingdom. In this way, the Roman proverb applied: "what concerns everyone must be approved by everyone." Thomas Aquinas clarified that "to guarantee the common good it is necessary that rulers be elected by the people from among the people."

The Cortes of León pre-dated the Parliament of England by decades. I was careful, in the second paragraph above, to specifically refer to "Western Europe," because of course there is at least one notable example of "rule by committee" if we look northward from the Mediterranean at the witenagemot.

Alfonso is also known for a different historical precedent than the Cortes of 1188: his reign mirrored some of Henry VIII's troubles with marriage(s) and the pope. Stay tuned.

*(Thank you, Google Translate)

The Wives of John of Brienne

John of Brienne may have been intended for the monastery by his father, but circumstances turned him into a far busier player in the political affairs of the Holy Land. He married one queen and fathered another, but early deaths left him looking for another wife (and then another), even while he was joining Crusades and fighting wars.

His first wife, Maria of Montferrat, Queen of Jerusalem, died in 1212. He married Stephanie of Armenia two years later.

Stephanie was the only child of the King of Armenia, Leo I. She was born sometime after 1195, and so was perhaps a teenager when she married John in April of 1214. Stephanie's step-mother, Sibylla (her biological mother, Isabelle of Antioch, died when Stephanie was 10), was a daughter of Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem, who was the mother of Maria of Montferrat.

Stephanie gave birth to a son, John. When Stephanie's father was on his deathbed, he changed his choice of successor from his great-nephew (Raymond-Roupen) to his daughter Stephanie. Understandably, there was hostility over the succession, with John of Brienne supporting his wife's claim (which could give him title to King of Armenia). Pope Honorius ruled that Stephanie and her infant son should be the successors to Armenia. Stephanie and her son both died shortly after, and the pope ruled in favor of Raymond-Roupen.

Back to John of Brienne, who now went looking for another wife (and was not busy trying to win the kingdom of Armenia). He found her in Berengaria of León, a daughter of King Alfonso IX of León and Berengaria of Castile. John, in his travels to drum up support for the Holy Land, had visited the famous shrine at Santiago de Compostela. At the time he was still considered King of Jerusalem, and Alfonso offered John his daughter Sancha by his first wife, who would become Queen of León. John instead chose Berengaria, a daughter of Alfonso's second wife. Sancha was 33, Berengaria was 20.

Berengaria and John had children who survived. Marie of Brienne you will read about below. Alfonso went on the Seventh Crusade and became (through marriage) Count of Eu. Louis became Viscount of Beaumont when he married Agnes of Beaumont. John II of Brienne married Marie de Coucy, who was free to marry because her first husband, King Alexander II of Scotland, had died.

In 1229, the throne of the Latin Empire in the East was inherited by Baldwin II of Constantinople, who was only 12. The nobles of the empire decided John de Brienne should become a regent for Baldwin. John was made co-emperor in April 1229; Berengaria was titled Latin Empress Consort. Their daughter, Marie of Brienne, was betrothed to Baldwin; the marriage, in 1234 when she was 10 and he was 17, made Marie Latin Empress. Their child was featured in this post on royal "hostages."

John of Brienne died on 27 March 1237 in Constantinople; he was about 60 years old. Berengaria died 16 days later. She was buried in a marble coffin at Santiago de Compostela. Some records state that he became a Franciscan before he died. His tomb is unknown, but an anonymous troubadour of the 13th century says he was buried in the Hagia Sophia.

The political and genealogical twists and turns of Europeans in the Holy Land could dominate any history blog, but it's time to turn away and head west. Berengaria's father, Alfonso IX, may have held the first Parliament in Western Europe, predating the English result of Magna Carta by decades. Let's take a look at that next time.