CASTILE, Countess Urraca Alfonsez de

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• Name	CASTILE, Urraca Alfonsez de
  Prefix	Countess
  Birth	24 Jun 1081	León, Castilla y León, Spain
  Gender	Female
  _TAG	Reviewed on FS
  Death	8 Mar 1126	Saldaña, Palencia, Castilla y León, Spain
  Burial	8 Mar 1126	Saldaña, Palencia, Castilla y León, Spain
  Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
  Person ID	I29611	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
  Last Modified	19 Aug 2021

  
  

  Family	NAVARRE, King Garcias Ramirez V ,   b. 9 Sep 1099, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain Pamplona, Navarra, Spaind. 21 Nov 1150, Lorca, Navarre, Spain (Age 51 years)
  Marriage	24 Jun 1144	Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
  Family ID	F16156	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2022

  
  

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  Urraca was Queen of León, Castile, and Galicia, and claimed the imperial title as suo jure Empress of All the Spains from 1109 until her death in childbirth, as well as Empress of All Galicia. aparece un matrimonio en francia 1079 BIO: Queen of Castile & Leon, 1109-1126. ** from http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/CASTILE.htm#AlfonsoVIIdied1157A, as of 11/12/2014 Infanta doña URRACA de Castilla y León, daughter of ALFONSO VI King of Castile and León & his second wife Constance de Bourgogne [Capet] (late 1080[605]-Saldaña 8 Mar 1126, bur León, Monastery of San Isidro). The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines names "Waracta filia imperatoris Fernandi"[606]. "…Urraca regis filia et Reimundi comiti uxor…" subscribed the charter dated 23 Mar 1103 under which "Adefonsus totius Ispanie imperator" donated property to the monastery of San Salvador de Oña with the consent of "uxoris mee Helisabet regine"[607]. "Infanta dna Urraca Adefonsi imperatoris filia et totius Gallecie domina" the monastery of San Andrés de Trobo to Santiago de Compostela by charter dated 18 Dec 1107[608]. Her father declared her heiress to Castile in 1108 after the death of her half-brother Infante don Sancho. She succeeded her father in 1109 as URRACA I Queen of Castile and León. The Almoravides captured Toledo Aug 1109. The country experienced a period of anarchy during her reign due to her constant disputes with her second husband. She was also faced with the attacks by her half-sister Teresa of Portugal, ambitious to replace her as Queen of Castile. "Urraca totius Yspanie regina" confirmed the donation of the monastery of San Andrés de Trobo to Santiago de Compostela by charter dated 14 May 1112[609]. By 1116, Queen Urraca had succeeded in re-establishing control over most of Castile. "Urracha…Ispanie regina, regis Aldefonsi regineque Constantie filia" donated property to the abbey of Silos by charter dated 26 Mar 1119, confirmed by "Adefonsus rex, filius…regine, Infantissa domna Sancia, regine germana, Infantissa domna Sancia regine filia, Xemeno Lopez dapifer regine, Garsia Inniguez, Xemeno Inniguez, Petrus Gonsalvi comes, Rodericus Gonsalvi, Fernandus Garsie maior, Fernandus Garsie minor…"[610]. "Urraka…Ispanie regina, regis Adefonis regineque Constancie filia" donated "ecclesiam Sancti Nicholai…in Villa Franca" to Cluny by charter dated 21 Aug 1120[611]. "Urraca totius Ispanie regina et Aldefonsi imperatoris filia" donated property to the abbey of Silos by charter dated 13 Apr 1121, confirmed by "Gomez Castelanus comes, Rodericus Asturianus comes, Fernandus Garcies, Petrus Alvares…"[612]. The Chronica Adefonsi Imperatoris records the death of Queen Urraca in 1126 after reigning for sixteen years, eight months and seven days, and her burial in León in the royal pantheon[613]. The Chronicon Burgense records the death in 1126 of “Urraca Regina”[614]. The Chronicon Compostellani records the death “apud Saldaña VI Id Mar” in 1126 of “Urraca…in partu adulterini filii”[615]. Orderic Vitalis also reports that Urraca died "in a difficult childbirth"[616], although this seems unlikely considering her age. m firstly (betrothed [Summer 1087], Toledo [1 May 1092/Jan 1093]) RAIMOND de Bourgogne Comte d’Amous, son of GUILLAUME I Comte de Bourgogne & his wife Etiennette --- ([1070]-Grajal [13/20] Sep 1107, bur Santiago de Compostela, Cathedral Santiago el Mayor). The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines names "Raymundem in Hispania comitem" as brother of "Hugo…Bisuntinensis archiepiscopus", when recording the latter's appointment as archbishop[617], although in a later passage the same source records "comitis Raymundi" as "fratris comitis Pontii de Tolosa"[618] which is inconsistent with other sources. "Wilelmus comes Burgundie" names "Rainaldi et Raimundi filiorum meorum" in his donation to Cluny dated [1086][619]. "Raymundus…Burgundie comes filius Willermi…comitis" donated property to Saint-Bénigne de Dijon by charter dated to [1087/92] subscribed by "Hugonis archiepiscopi Bisuntini fratris mei, Stephani comitis fratris mei"[620]. Comte d'Amous. He joined the expedition of the Eudes I Duke of Burgundy to Spain in 1086/87, following a call from the abbey of Cluny to fight "the infidel"[621]. Reilly suggests that he was betrothed after the failure to capture Tudela in Summer 1087, when he speculates that the Burgundians would have visited the court of Castile[622]. Raymond remained in Castile following his betrothal to Infanta Urraca. "Adefonsus rex Legionis et totius Hispanie imperator atque Fredenandi filius regis" granted privileges to Santiago de Compostela, with the advice of "generis mei comitis domini Raimundi", by charter dated 28 Jan 1090[623]. "Raymondus gener regis" confirmed the donation by "Adefonsus…Hispaniarum rex…cum coniuge mea Constantia regina" of property to the monastery of San Salvador de Oña by charter dated 1 May 1092[624]. Conde de Galicia y Coimbra [before 1093], his father-in-law transferred the newly acquired cities of Lisbon, Santarém and Cintra to him in May 1093. Governor of the city of Toledo. He made a mutual pact [Dec 1094/Jul 1095] with Henri de Bourgogne, Conde de Portugal, pledging to grant him Toledo (or in default, Galicia) in return for his support in securing Castile and León for Raimond[625]. Conde in Coria and Zamora: the dating clause of a charter dated 9 Oct 1096, under which "Pelayo Xemeniz" donated land “en Ville Ceide...” to the monastery of San Salvador, records “Sanxus comes in Toro et alius comes domino Ancricco in Auctario de Selles, comes Remundus tenente in Coria et in Zamora”[626]. Conde in Galicia and Zamora: the dating clause of a charter dated 19 Jan 1097, under which "Brabolio Gutierrez" sold land “en territorio de León las villas Cubillas” to “Ordoño Sarraciniz y a su mujer Fronilde Ovéquiz”, records “comes Raimundus in Galicia et in Zamora, comes domno Enrriz in Otero de Sellas, comite Petro Ansurez in Saldania”[627]. Conde de Grajal Jan 1098[628]. "Raimundus comes frater comitis Stephani" donated property to Cluny by charter dated [1100][629]. He established his principal stronghold in the castle of Grajal in 1102[630]. By this time, Raymond had acquired a commanding position in Castile as husband of the heir presumptive to the throne. A funeral elegy of "domnus Raymundus comes Hispanie qui de stirpe comitum Burgundie ortus" is recorded in the cartulary of Saint-Bénigne-de-Dijon in a charter dated 20 Sep 1107 which names "Hugo frater suus Bisuntinus archiepiscopus"[631]. ** from The Making of Medieval Spain (Gabriel Jackson) pp 72+ Raymond of Burgundy had died before his father-in-law, and in a last-minute effort to unite the realms of Castile and Aragon, Alfonso VI of Castile and Leon had married his widowed daughter Urraca to Alfonso I, 'the Battler,' king of Aragon (1102-34). Their marriage in 1109, followed shortly by the death of the old king, coincided with a widespread revolt among the peasants and the bourgeois of Aragon. The former demanded a lightening of services due to their landlords... In both Castile and Leon, the forces of the nobility and the clergy coalesced around Urraca, and the peasants and bourgeois looked to Alfonso. The nobles obtained a pontifical annulment of the marriage (Urraca and Alfonso were second cousins) and in the years 1116 and 1117 several papal bulls required the bourgeois to restore all lands and goods which they had confiscated from the monasteries during the previous five years. ** from The Empress Matilda (Marjorie Chibnall), p 1 Urraca, a young widow with a two-year-old son, actually exercised full authority immediately after her father's death. Although occasionally at the beginning of her short-lived second marriage to King Alfonso 'the Battler' of Aragon he was associated with her in some acts of government, and within three years she had prudently added her young son's name formally to her own, she was undoubtedly for a time crowned ruler in her own right. ** from Wikipedia listing for Urraca of León and Castile, as of 11/12/2014 Urraca (April 1079 – 8 March 1126) was Queen of León, Castile, and Galicia, and claimed the imperial title as suo jure Empress of All the Spains[1] from 1109 until her death in childbirth, as well as Empress of All Galicia.[2] Childhood Urraca was the eldest surviving child of Alfonso VI of León with his second wife Constance of Burgundy, and as eldest legitimate child of her father was heiress presumptive from her birth until 1107, when Alfonso recognized his illegitimate son Sancho as his heir. Urraca became heiress presumptive again after Sancho’s death the following year, when he was killed after the Battle of Uclés. First marriage and widowhood Urraca’s place in the line of succession made her the focus of dynastic politics, and she became a child bride at age eight to Raymond of Burgundy, a mercenary adventurer.[3] Author Bernard F. Reilly suggests that, rather than a betrothal, the eight-year-old Urraca was fully wedded to Raymond of Burgundy, as he almost immediately appears in protocol documents as Alfonso VI's son-in-law, a distinction that would not have been made without the marriage. Reilly doubts that the marriage was consummated until Urraca was 13, as she was placed under the protective guardianship of a trusted magnate. Her pregnancy and stillbirth at age 14 suggest that the marriage was indeed consummated when she was 13 or 14 years old. Urraca's marriage to Raymond was part of Alfonso VI's diplomatic strategy to attract cross-Pyrenees alliances, and in 1105 she gave birth to a son, who would become Alfonso VII. However, after Raymond died in 1107, Urraca’s father contracted with Alfonso I of Aragon, known as the Battler, for a dynastic marriage with Urraca, opening the opportunity for uniting León-Castile with Aragon. Reign Marriage negotiations were still underway when Alfonso VI died and Urraca became queen. Many of Alfonso VI’s advisers and leading magnates in the kingdom formed a “quiet opposition” to the marriage of the Queen to the King of Aragon. According to Bernard F. Reilly, these magnates feared the influence the King of Aragon might attempt to wield over Urraca and over Leonese politics. Urraca protested against the marriage but honoured her late father’s wishes (and the Royal Council's advice) and continued with the marriage negotiations, though she and her father’s closest advisers were growing weary of Alfonso I's demands. Despite the advisers' initial opposition, the prospect of Count Henry of Portugal filling any power vacuum led them to go ahead with the marriage. As events would unfold, these advisers underestimated Urraca's political prowess, and later advised her to end the marriage. Second marriage The marriage of Urraca and Alfonso I almost immediately sparked rebellions in Galicia[4] and scheming by her illegitimate half-sister Theresa and brother-in-law Henry, the Countess and Count of Portugal. As their relationship soured, Urraca accused Alfonso of physical abuse, and by May 1110 Urraca separated from Alfonso. In addition to her objections to Alfonso's handling of rebels, the couple had a falling-out over his execution of one of the rebels who had surrendered to the queen, to whom the queen was inclined to be merciful. Additionally, as Urraca was married to someone many in the kingdom objected to, the queen's son and heir became a rallying point for opponents to the marriage. Estrangement between husband and wife escalated from discrete and simmering hostilities into open armed warfare between the Leonese-Castilians and the Aragonese. An alliance between Alfonso of Aragon and Henry of Portugal culminated in the 1111 Battle of Candespina in which Urraca's lover and chief supporter Gómez González was killed. He was soon replaced in both roles by another count, Pedro González de Lara, who took up the fight and would father two of Urraca's children. By the fall of 1112 a truce was brokered between Urraca and Alfonso with their marriage annulled. Though Urraca recovered Asturias, Leon, and Galicia, Alfonso occupied a significant portion of Castile (where Urraca enjoyed large support), while her half-sister Theresa and her husband Count Henry of Portugal occupied Zamora and Extremadura. Recovering these regions and expanding into Muslim lands would occupy much of Urraca's foreign policy. According to author Bernard F. Reilly, the measure of success for Urraca’s rule was her ability to restore and protect the integrity of her inheritance – that is, the kingdom of her father – and transmit that inheritance in full to her own heir. Policies and events pursued by Alfonso VI – namely legitimizing her brother and thereby providing an opportunity for her illegitimate half-sister to claim a portion of the patrimony, as well as the forced marriage with Alfonso I of Aragon – contributed in large part to the challenges Urraca faced upon her succession. Additionally, the circumstance of Urraca’s gender added a distinctive role-reversal dimension to diplomacy and politics, which Urraca used to her advantage. Character Urraca is characterized in the Historia Compostelana as prudent, modest, and with good sense. According to Reilly, the Historia Compostelana also attributes her "failings" to her gender, "the weakness and changeability of women, feminine perversity, and calls her a Jezebel" for her liaisons with her leading magnates, with at least one relationship producing an illegitimate son. These observations were hardly neutral or dispassionate, according to Reilly, who wrote: "[T]here is no question that the queen is in control, perhaps all too much in control, of events." Urraca's use of sex in politics should be viewed more as a strategy that provided the queen with allies but without any masters. Death and legacy As queen, Urraca rose to the challenges presented to her and her solutions were pragmatic ones, according to Reilly, and laid the foundation for the reign of her son Alfonso VII, who in spite of the opposition of Urraca's lover Pedro González de Lara succeeded to the throne of a kingdom whole and at peace at Urraca’s death in 1126. Notes The actual title in the text is Queen of Spain (Ispanie regina), a title analogous to that of Imperator totius Hispaniae, according to Bernard F. Reilly La Reina Urraca (Spanish) Klapisch-Zuber, Christine; A History of Women: Book II Silences of the Middle Ages, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England. 1992, 2000 (5th printing). Chapter 6, "Women in the Fifth to the Tenth Century" by Suzanne Fonay Wemple, pg 74. Spanish law allowed women to inherit land and title. According to Wemple, Visigothic women of Spain and Aquitaine could inherit land and title and manage it independently of their husbands, and dispose of it as they saw fit if they had no heirs, and represent themselves in court, appear as witnesses (over the age of 14), and arrange their own marriages over the age of twenty. Galician nobles feared their influence in the kingdom of Leon would be significantly lessened in favor of Alfonso I and his Aragonese nobles. Already many Galician nobles jockeyed for influence with Castillians for influence at the Leonese court. The Galacian faction feared the center of power would shift still further eastward if Urraca's marriage was honored. References Reilly, Bernard F. (1982). The Kingdom of Leon-Castilla under Queen Urraca. New York: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05344-8. External links Reilly, Bernard F. "The Kingdom of León-Castilla under Queen Urraca, 1109–1126" Reilly, Bernard F. The Medieval Spains, 1993. Urraque Ire, née en 1081 et morte le 8 mars 1126) est reine de León et Castille de 1109 à sa mort. Biographie Fille du roi Alphonse VI et de Constance de Bourgogne, Urraque devint l'héritière de son père en 1108 après la mort de son frère Sanche. Avec son premier mari Raymond de Bourgogne (mort en 1107), elle eut un fils : Alphonse Ramires, le futur Alphonse VII. Lors de son second mariage, Alphonse Ier d'Aragon et elle-même, par contrat, devenaient co-souverains de toutes leurs propriétés. Alphonse en profita pour installer des garnisons aragonaises dans les villes de Castille et de León, ce qui provoqua une guerre civile. Un conflit entre les époux empira les choses et pour des raisons de consanguinité, le pape Pascal II déclara leur mariage nul. Après leur séparation, la guerre civile continua et ne se termina qu'en 1126 avec la mort de Urraque. Mariages en 1090 avec Raymond de Bourgogne (v.1059-1107), comte de Galice. en 1109 avec Alphonse Ier (v.1073-1134), roi d'Aragon et de Navarre, union annulée en 1114.