Milk Kinship

The Koran is the only text of the Abrahamic religions (Islam, Christianity, Judaism) that mentions anything related to mothers and the feeding of children. It is not explicit, but mentions the relationship with:

We have enjoined man to be kind to his parents. His mother has carried him in travail, and bore him in travail, and his gestation and weaning take thirty months. [46: 15]

The mother's role clearly extended past birth to breastfeeding until the child was on to solid foods. Muslim philosophers went further: "No milk is more blessed than mother's milk for the infant." and "There is no better milk for an infant than mother's milk." are some of the statements found that expanded on the Koran's verse.

There is also:

And if you wish to have your children nursed by a substitute, there is no blame upon you as long as you give payment according to what is acceptable. [2:233]

Because of the practice of employing a wet nurse—a woman other than the baby's biological mother to breastfeed the baby—another discussion arose: if kinship is established by the action of breastfeeding, what does that mean for the future of the child?

In Western Europe, "milk siblings"—children linked by different mothers but by the same wet nurse—could be raised together, the wet nurse's child receiving some of the same benefits as the employer's child. Alexander Neckham, born on the same day as the future King Richard I of England, was raised alongside him in his early years, since Neckham's mother, Hodierna, was employed to live in the palace and nurse both babies. (It was believed that only a woman who had just given birth could lactate, so to find a wet nurse you would seek a woman who had just had her own child.)

In Islamic law, however, "milk kinship" (rida'a) presented an issue that was apparently not a concern in Europe. Because of the bond created between mother and child, children nursed by the same woman experience "milk kinship" which is a bond strong enough that marriage between them would be considered incestuous. Families must be known to each other to prevent inappropriate marriages.

This is an issue in modern times, because:

Prohibited to you [for marriage] are…your milk mothers who nursed you and your sisters through nursing…[Nisa 4:23]

There are HMBs (Human Milk Banks) for infants in hospitals. These are usually from donor mothers, and the milk is mixed. There is no way to know whence comes the milk fed to a baby that needs it. Therefore, when the baby is old enough to consider marriage, it is impossible to know whether he/she has any "milk kinship" with a potential mate.

Of course, the Koran comes from the sayings and experiences of Muhammad. What we have been talking about is no different. Muhammad had a wet nurse, and tomorrow we'll see a brief biography of Halima bint Abi Dhu'ayb.

Slavery and Wet Nursing

Yesterday I talked about philosopher Ramon Lull and his thoughts on the role of human milk in the proper raising of children. He was born in 1232 in Majorca City (now called Palma), which had been recaptured from Muslims in 1229. In his lifetime, Majorca City had a population of up to 30% Muslim slaves from the Christian reconquista.

There is plenty of evidence that women slaves were preferred to men because of their role in household tasks, and especially as wet nurses. Especially in the Iberian Peninsula as opposed to elsewhere in the Mediterranean, wet nurses were often slaves.

Because of Ramon Llull's ideas—and of course the tendency of human populations to despise those who are different—these Muslim slaves were often forced to become baptizata, "the baptized" (converts from Islam), so that they would be proper wet nurses and caregivers for the children.

This relationship could be beneficial to the wet nurse, besides the opportunity to be treated well while they had primary "control" over the newborn. In 1266, a Barcelonan patrician named Romeu Durfort left his baptizata wet nurse a legacy of 40 sous and charged his heir with maintaining her for life. In 1280, a burgess freed her baptizata, Esclarmonda, and all Esclarmonda's children in gratitude for Esclarmonda's wet nursing.

This is not to say that life was wonderful for the Muslim-born mother:

In this society elite Christian mothers were to bear legitimate children and enslaved Muslim women who bore children were urged to convert, watch their masters send their infants to be nursed by someone else, and then serve as wet nurses to the heirs of their masters and mistresses. [link, p.169]

Llull's work on raising children also shows a distrust of "immoral servant women" and warns that mothers should not leave their daughters at home with the servants when the mothers go out. Llull assumes hostility between the wife and her household servants.

For the Muslim-born population, whether they were servants are free, breastfeeding the child of another created a situation referred to as "milk siblings" or "milk kinship." We will take a closer look at the Koran's views on wet nursing tomorrow.

Raising Moral Children

Ramon Llull was a 13th century Catalan mystic and theologian whose controversial writings made him many enemies. One of his more interesting metaphors that perhaps was not so controversial was about raising moral children.

His Doctrina pueril ("Instruction for children") was a guide to moral living addressed to his son Domènec (then between eight and 12 years old). It was important for him to write it out not only as an idea to leave to posterity, but also because he had left his wife and family several years earlier (to become a Franciscan) and therefore was not raising Domènec personally.

Among his pieces of advice for raising children properly, he includes 

...not to expose their children to romances, songs or musical instruments that encourage them to be lustful. To preserve their children’s budding intellects and overall bodily health fathers should ensure that spicy food never be served, as it could overheat their humours and damage their developing brains, and nor should rich food, which would lead them into ill health, gluttony and lust later in life. [link]

Llull does not discuss breastfeeding or wet nurses, but he does emphasize the "health benefits and moral properties" of human milk in the raising of children. Solid food should not be introduced to the child's diet too early, lest the child become "mean and stingy." Llull associates the feeding of children with breast milk with charity, generosity, good upbringing, and the development of moral character. His idea that breast milk contributed to the development of morality was picked up by later philosophers, especially in the Iberian peninsula. The illustration comes from a later published copy of Llull's Doctrina and represents the tree of morality, the choices one makes as one grows that could lead to either joy or punishment.

This was not a strictly religious view in that there is no reference in the Bible to breastfeeding, nor in early Jewish writings. In fact, only the Koran among the Abrahamic religions mentioned the topic. Verse 46:15 mentions a bond between the baby and the source of breast milk that last until the child is about two years old. This was an interesting wrinkle on the subject of wet nurses, since in parts of the Iberian Peninsula, wet nurses were commonly Muslim slaves. Tomorrow, let's talk about wet nursing, slavery, and a little about "milk siblings."

Care and Feeding of Princes

Since "infant formula" was not invented until the 20th century, breastfeeding was the standard way to get nourishment into a baby. If for some reason a mother could not breastfeed (death in childbirth, illness, disinterest), a wet nurse was found: a lactating woman willing to breastfeed the newborn. There might be another reason a mother could not nurse, especially if she were a high-ranking royal: the desire not to infect the breastmilk.

If you look at family trees of kings and queens, you will see many, many members in each generation. This did not necessarily spring from a deep and abiding sexual attraction between husband and wife. The greatest need of a king/queen was to produce an heir.

The need was for several heirs, in fact. Not only was there a concern about infant mortality, or a grown son dying in battle or by accident before he had a chance to inherit the throne. There was also a political desire to marry children to nobles of your own or other countries in order to create allies through family ties.

How did this need preclude breastfeeding? According to an article from the National Library of Medicine:

There was even a belief that the milk would be contaminated by sexual intercourse, which contraindicated marital relations during the period of lactation, a situation that the queens could not afford. [link]

Since a queen was "ideally" made pregnant as soon as she was able after the birth of a child, her milk was not suitable for the newborn, and so a wet nurse was employed for that vital purpose. Choosing a wet nurse was the province of the queen herself. The wet nurse was not likely to be a woman off the street, but a member of a royal family who was lactating. The wages for a royal wet nurse were very high compared to other professions available to females in the Middle Ages.

There's a lot more medieval discussion about breast milk than one might think. The philosopher and theologian Ramon Llull had advice for raising children that focused on human milk. I'll share that next time.

The Career of the Wet Nurse

A "wet nurse" is a woman hired to breastfeed a baby when the baby's own mother is unable or unwilling to do so. The mother may have died in childbirth, or the mother may be a wealthy woman who does not want to be bothered with the act of breastfeeding. Disease could also prevent a mother from lactating sufficiently.

The illustration is from the 15th century Danse macabre des femmes ("Dance of death for women"). This shows death threatening a wet nurse that the baby she holds will die. She replies that she would like to go dancing but cannot because of the swelling she feels that must be dealt with by feeding the child and that "sudden death would be a pity."

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all agreed that breastfeeding was important and demanding work. If a Jewish mother did not want to breastfeed, it was her husband's obligation to find an appropriate substitute. Medieval Islamic law considered nursing and raising the youngest children as a job worthy of a salary if a mother had to do the work after the death of the child's father. Contracts for wet nurses could last from one to nine months.

The practice began long before the Middle Ages. In Rome a wet nurse was a nutrix, "nurturer," and wet nurse was a profession. Rome had a landmark called the Columna Lactaria ("Milk Column") where (the Roman grammarian Festus wrote) people could bring babies to be nursed. It was either a place where wet nurses could be hired, or a public charity where lactating women shared their milk, or perhaps both.

Breast milk was understood to be vital to the proper development and health of a baby, and so medieval parents would choose their wet nurse carefully, researching the health and moral standing of the candidate.  The wet nurse could be the major influence on the child for its first couple years at least—and might be employed as a nanny later, as with the mother of Alexander Neckham, Hodierna, who was wet nurse to Richard I.

After the Black Death of the mid-14th century, as prices for goods and services rose because of the scarcity of laborers, wet nurses were increasingly slaves put into the role whether they wished it or not.

The breast feeding of royal children, however, was a different case. Let's talk about the care and feeding of princes tomorrow.

Alexander Neckham and Virgil's Pet Fly

Alexander Neckham (1157 - 1217) was an abbot in Cirencester Abbey who left us several writings, including De naturis rerum ("On the nature of things") with the first reference in the West to the magnetic compass.

He wrote many other works, mostly theological. His Speculum speculationum ("Mirror of speculations") while not being very original, pulled together a range of topics borrowing from Peter Lombard's Sentences, Augustine, Platonic ideas from William of Conches, Avicenna, Aristotle and others. One of his chief aims in the Speculum was to combat heresy, specifically Catharism's dualism (that good and evil were equal powers). He wrote Fables taken from Æsop and Avianus, and a commentary on Virgil that might have started a legend.

In his commentary, he writes about a poem attributed to Virgil, Culex ("The Gnat"). There is a medieval legend that Virgil (70 - 19BCE; often spelled Vergil in the Middle Ages) had magical powers. What Neckham wrote was Vergilius fecit Culicem ("Virgil made a gnat"). What Neckham is likely to have meant was that Virgil wrote the poem "Gnat," but it was misunderstood to mean that Virgil made a gnat (or fly), and this was taken to mean Virgil had magical powers and could create things.

Shortly after Virgil's death, his home town of Naples started the story that he had founded the city, and/or that he was its governor. Naples also had a story that workmen constructing a temple were plagued by swarms of flies. Virgil's gnat/fly destroyed all the other flies, allowing the men to finish their work in peace.

Virgil's fly gave rise to another legend in the Middle Ages, that he mourned its death and built a lavish tomb for it. The illustration is from Ripley’s Wonder Book of Strange Facts (1957). The Latin inscription reads “Fly, may this urn prove light for you, and may your bones rest easily.” Historians have tried to explain this persistent Virgilian legend as a legal dodge. The government was confiscating estates of the wealthy to be able to give land to returning war heroes (true). The estate could be saved if it held a burial plot (true). Virgil's family had a large estate (true). No contemporary writer, however, mentions any such event in Virgil's life.

A lot of of stories can be spun from the desire to believe amazing things, along with a misunderstood line.

I'd like to return to a mention from yesterday: Neckham's mother was wet nurse to the future King Richard I. What was the life/career of a wet nurse like? We'll look into that tomorrow, and ask the question: is there an appropriate illustration for this topic in a G-rated blog in the United States?

The Magnetic Compass

Alexander Neckham was a theologian and writer from St. Albans whose birthday gave him a surprising status. He was born on 8 September 1157, reportedly the same day as King Henry II's son Richard. This made Alexander's mother, Hodierna, an ideal wet nurse for the baby prince. Richard and Alexander would both be nursed by Hodierna. Hodierna was housed (and Alexander therefore raised) in the king's household and treated well.* Hodierna would even become Richard's nanny and his main source of maternal affection.

Alexander received an education similar to the young Richard, and went on to become abbot of Cirencester Abbey. He also wrote books on theology and other subjects. One of these books was his De naturis rerum ("On the nature of things"). Here's a passage:

The sailors, moreover, as they sail over the sea, when in cloudy weather they can no longer profit by the light of the sun, or when the world is wrapped up in the darkness of the shades of night, and they are ignorant to what point of the compass their ship's course is directed, they touch the magnet with a needle, which (the needle) is whirled round in a circle until, when its motion ceases, its point looks direct to the north. (1863 translation)

This is the earliest (written between 1187 and 1202) reference in Europe to the use of the magnetic compass. Beckham had recently returned from France and was specifically referring to seeing the use of the compass in the English Channel.

The Chinese were using the magnetic compass over a hundred years prior to this. It is tempting to make the leap to Chinese inventions and Marco Polo's writings, but Polo (1254-1324) lived well after Neckham wrote. It is still a strong possibility that Italian traders brought back the invention of the magnetic compass.

For the Chinese, it was a magnetized needle floating in a bowl of water and called the "South Pointing Fish." Between 1295 and 1302, Giovanni "Flavio" Gioja (if he existed: there is speculation that a typo gave credit to the wrong person) balanced the magnetized needle on a post over a compass rose and enclosed the whole thing in a box, eliminating the spillable-in-rough-seas bowl of water type.

The Muslim world, often ahead of Western Europe in scientific matters, does not make reference to the magnetic bowl-of-water compass until 1242. Muslims saw value in the device not just for marine navigation but also to determine how to face Mecca for prayer when far away from that city.

The magnetic compass allowed sailors to increase the season of safe navigation beyond the times of clear skies. More trading trips could be made during months that were typically clouded and more risky.

Alexander Neckham did more than observe a compass, however, and we'll look into him more tomorrow, including how he might have inadvertently given rise to the legend of Virgil's magic fly!

*Richard later gave Hodierna a generous pension.

The Astronomer Sultan

The Rasulids were a Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled what is now Yemen and the Red Sea Coast of the Arabia peninsula from the early 13th century to 1454. Their third sultan, Al-Ashraf Umar II, was only sultan for less than two years, following a 46-year rule by his father, but he used his time as sultan-in-waiting to become highly educated. He understood medicine, mathematics, agriculture, and astronomy.

As an astronomer, he wrote a treatise about astrolabes (a device known to many in the east and the west) and sundials. In it, he describes the making of a qibla compass, designed to determine qibla properly wherever you are—that is, the direction toward Mecca for when you pray—a vitally important point in Islam. Al-Ashraf did not claim in the treatise that he invented it, but it is the earliest mention of a compass for determining qibla found in a medieval Islamic text, so his name is historically linked with its creation.

The qibla compass, of course, is a magnetic compass that points north. That is only the first step, however: once you find north, marks around the dial indicate major cities in which you might find yourself. The position of the city's name on the dial—if that's where you are when it is time to pray—show the compass direction from north that you must face.

Al-Ashraf also wrote one of the earliest known Islamic works on agriculture, a seven-chapter treatise that covers times for planting, cereal crops, seed crops, flowering plants, aromatic plants, vegetables, and even pest control. He lived in what is considered the Islamic Golden Age, and died in 1296.

The qibla compass is used extensively today; now, what about the magnetic compass itself? When was that discovered, and what did the Middle Ages do with it? Let's find out next time.

The qibla

I mentioned yesterday that Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur had an interest in building and re-building mosques. One was the Kutubiyya Mosque, the largest in Marrakesh. Started in 1147, it was rebuilt in 1158, with al-Mansur finishing the reconstruction in 1195 with the enormous 253-foot-tall minaret (pictured).

The reason for rebuilding of this mosque and others by the Almohads was that the originals, built by their rivals, the Almoravids, were considered heretical. The Almoravids were heretics in the eyes of the Almohads who built their mosques with the wrong qibla.

The qibla is the direction of prayer, the direction toward Mecca one faces when praying. More than that, it is the direction an animal is faced when slaughtered for sacrifice, the direction to avoid when spitting or relieving oneself, and the direction the deceased are aligned during burial. 

The Almoravid mosques were designed with the qibla facing too far east. From Marrakesh and the surrounding Almohad Empire in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, Mecca was more to the south. Therefore, in order to worship properly in the mosque, some mosques needed to be completely rebuilt.

What was the state of Muslim science that would allow them to determine the proper qibla from different cities? Wouldn't it be nice to have a compass that would point toward Mecca? It would, and something like that was developed by a sultan who was also an astronomer. I'll tell you about him next time.

Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur

Yaqub al-Mansur ruled the Almohad Caliphate in North Africa and part of the Iberian Peninsula from 1184 until his death on 23 January 1199. During that time he managed to hold off attempts by the Christian rulers of Iberia to reclaim lands controlled by Muslims.

It was his father, Abu Yaqub Yusuf (reigned 1163 - 1184) who originally spread the caliphate to Iberia in 1170. Not content to hold Seville and surrounding territory, he marched an army to Portugal. He was countered by Afonso I of Portugal and Ferdinand II of León. Wounded by a crossbow, he died on 29 July.

His son vowed revenge, taking several castles and handing out defeats to Christians before returning to Africa. When Alfonso VIII of Castile mounted a reconquista, al-Mansur returned and defeated the Christians again, this time taking hundreds as slaves and selling them in Africa.

Besides being a successful military commander, he was also a patron of the arts and architecture. He added a massive gate to the Kasbah, a major citadel in Morocco (seen above), and finished a mosque in Marrakesh. He also began what would have been the largest mosque in the world, but construction was discontinued after 1199, leaving only a massive minaret. One of his other accomplishments was the first hospital in Morocco.

The philosopher Averroes was a favorite of al-Mansur's and had a place at his court, even though some of his ideas got him in trouble for being too radical and anti-Muslim. al-Mansur was well-read and well-versed in Islam, and even wrote a book on the prophet Muhammad. His father had appointed a chief judge who made sure the law adhered to strict interpretation of the Koran. al-Mansur took this a step further and had that judge destroy any books of law that did not conform.

The mosque whose construction he finished was the Kutubiyya Mosque. Kutubiyya and several other mosques were redone by the Almohads. Not because they were not beautiful enough, or large enough, but because they were built "wrong." I'll explain the qibla tomorrow.

The Almohads in Iberia

The Almohads were a North African Berber group who founded an empire in the 12th century. By 1159 they had extended their power over the Maghreb (northwest Africa). By 1172, the Muslim parts of the Iberian Peninsula (south and east) were under their rule, taking over from the Almoravid dynasty.

Two of the rulers of the Almohads were Abu Yaqub Yusuf, who ruled from 1163 to 1184, and his son, Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur ("the Victorius"), who ruled from 1184 until 1199). Under their strict Muslim rule, many Christians and Jews migrated to the Christian nations of Aragon, Castile, and Portugal.

In 1195, when al-Mansur was in Africa, Alfonso VIII of Castile decided to mount a reconquista and reclaim the Muslim-controlled lands in Iberia. He united the kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, León, Portugal, and Navarre. When al-Mansur heard of their advance into his territory, he quickly returned from Africa. His major defeat of the Christian army at the Battle of Alarcos was when he took on the epithet "al-Mansur."

In 1212, Pope Innocent III initiated a Crusade against the Muslims in Iberia. Alfonso and his Castilians, Peter II of Aragon, Sancho VII of Navarre (who earlier had helped defend the continental interests of his brother-in-law, Richard Lionheart), and Franks under the vicious Archbishop Arnaud Amalric, united at the pope's request. Their final battle against the forces of the leader Muhammad al-Nasir broke the hold of the Almohad Caliphate in Iberia.

The Almohads were still strong in North Africa, but eventually they were supplanted by the growing Berber Marinid Sultanate.

Although fierce when it came to protecting his territory and religion, al-Mansur softened over time, and although the Koran was the only allowed source of law, he allowed philosophers to theorize without punishment. Averroes' radical statements made him despised by some, but al-Mansur kept him safe at court. al-Mansur was a complex individual who supported the arts and architecture and, well, let's take a closer look at him tomorrow.

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.