I'm always willing to admit when I'm wrong. The Castilians saying it was Eleanor of England's dowry confused me and made me think it was Eleanor of Castile's dowry. But it still sorta fits, so I'm not changing anything.
Maid of Norway, Queen of Scotland: A Plantagenet Britain Timeline
- Thread starter pandizzy
- Start date
Ooh a different second wife for Edward, hopefully this can help counterbalance the French... Would I be correct in thinking she'd be some sort of distant relation to his first wife??
Codie said that, I assume, because they are from neighboring kingdoms.
If I remember correctly castile try to take the aquatane from Henry III so he marred his son to the king of castile sister
Who was very far down the line of succession it was away for Alfonso to get his sister married and Henry III of England
Was never a warrior King or a good king because he was never trained
You could say Edward I of England and his grandson Edward III learned how to be king from their fathers on what not to do
Edward I of England in order to be married had to have lands of significant wealth as well as dowger lands fit for Eleanor
But she never really got her lands or wealth annual income for the King of England was £15,000 per year compare to the £100,00 of the king of France
The king of England is dirt poor compared to his French counter part
Also Eleanor of castile in modern terms was a property developer and had acquired many lands and estates throughout her time as queen and princess
Partly due to Edward lack of funds and he even got money from his wife during his Wars in Wales
Edward: *starts talking about his wife over course of conversation with a friend*
friend: so how wealthy is she?
Edward: oh yeah, she's got a load of possessions, she provides for me
friend: that's nice to hear, I hope it works out well for you
weirdly yolande is more closely related to edward than she is to eleanor - her maternal grandmother, Beatrice of Savoy, is the niece of edward's own maternal grandmother, another beatrice of savoy. you have to go back to alfonso vii of castile, who lived from 1105 to 1157, to find a common ancestor for yolande and eleanor.
I would add that for hist military campaigns Edward the first to England was inspired by Eleanor's father Ferdinand the third of Leon and Castile
And used Castile building the same why the Spanish kingdoms did to subjugate the Muslims in the Spanish peninsula
He was also a history reader and studied Roman tactics and his wife got him some books as well he was not a scholar
But he was interested in war
Also he was the brightest King and on par in abilities to his two most effective ancestors Henry I and Henry ii of England
Also during the battle of Falkirk leading up to the battle he used ships to keep his army supplied with food and equipment
He did the same thing in Wale's as well
The issue with Edward like all English king since 1215 where low on cash and trying to get Parliament to provide taxation
Usually by using the wool trade to get revenue was some times called white gold
It was Philip Vi of France having a trademarko on English wool which was one of many reasons for the hundreds years war
@Tsipouras1997 has lovingly made a family tree for this story. https://www.familyecho.com/?p=START&c=cskqwivzfu22aqh4&f=433116023490275273
Say thank you!
Say thank you!
@Tsipouras1997 It would be Margaret Sverre(probably no ‘surname’ so to speak‘ and most likely something like Eriksdottir instead), not Margaret Dunkeld.
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Fixed. Chose Sverre over Eriksdottir cause when I add the surnames it is solely for dynastic reasons.
Chapter VI - A Royal Tutor
March 1292. Edinburgh Castle, Scotland.
Margaret was a girl. Which meant she had to be educated as a girl, but she was also a queen regnant. And that was nearly as good as a king, so she had to be educated accordingly. It was a strange situation to be in, most certainly. History along with needlework, politics while she held a book atop her head, to be sure that her back was as straight as a pin.
Margaret found that she enjoyed learning, and enjoyed studying the geography of her country. And all her tutors said she was so very clever too, such a determined student, writing their reports for the Guardians. She could read and write in Gaelic and Scots, though she had forgotten her Norwegian letters. Gertrud had been sent home and she had no one else to speak in her first language, so Margaret was slowly forgetting it. But she didn’t even notice how everyone changed her from Norwegian to Scottish. How they made her into one of them. She was only nine, after all.
She ran her blue eyes down the parchment of her book, the edges lovingly decorated with gold and red as the author explained the history of the English kingdom. To learn the past of her southern neighbours would be beneficial to her reign, everyone said, and if she did marry Édouard of Caernarfon, then she would have to know everything about England.
Margaret rested her head on her knuckles as the words explained the marriage of Aliénor d'Aquitaine and her ancestor, Henry of Anjou. The union infuriated the King of France, but Margaret thought it was the most romantic story she ever heard. How they fled from the evil Louis VII and married despite so much opposition.
She wanted to have a love like that. To fight against someone just to be with the right person, the person that would father her children and rule Scotland alongside her. Margaret sighed. She thought it was every young girl’s dream to have romance in their lives, but she wanted more than that. She wanted true and everlasting love.
A door opened behind her. Margaret turned and saw a face she knew all too well, a face that had greeted her when she first arrived in her kingdom.
“Sir Andrew!” she exclaimed, jumping out of her chair to the displeased grunt of her history tutor. The knight opened his arms for her and she jumped into his embrace, wrapping her skinny arms around his neck.
“Good to see you, Your Grace,” said Sir Andrew Murray. “How do you feel, in this fine morrow?”
“Well,” Margaret responded. “Did you bring me my present?” When she last saw Sir Andrew, he promised he’d bring her a present the next time they saw each other and Margaret was a little girl with the greatest memory. She never forgot things that mattered to her.
“I did, and many more gifts from the Guardians,” said Sir Andrew as he put her down. “It’s not every day a young queen turns nine.”
“My birthday is only in April,” Margaret answered, though she was still eager to see the gifts. She was, after all, a child and children are often blinded by the promise of presents and new toys to distract them. “What presents? Can I have them now?”
“By the way Master Taylor is looking at me, I’d wager it’s best to wait for your lesson’s end before we see your presents,” Sir Andrew said.
“No, no,” Master Taylor murmured. “The Queen is utterly distracted now. I shall have no hope of imparting knowledge to her in this state.”
“Incredible!” Margaret took Sir Andrew’s hand and began to tug him out of the room. “Come on. Oh, I hope I have a new doll. Lady Edith needs new friends!”
April 1292. Zaragoza, Aragon.
The infanta was a tall woman, with piercing blue eyes as she stood next to her brother, the King. Edmund bowed deeply before her, the pinched and mysterious face of Yolande de Aragon staring at him through her veil.
She was beautiful, he had to admit, as far as he could see, but didn’t seem to look like Eleanor. Her brows were dark, whereas Eleanor was blonde, and the deceased Queen always looked so humble, so prepared to serve. Edmund would be a fool to think the same of Infanta Yolande. He wondered whether his brother would be able to accept an ambitious and self-serving queen, and whether or not he’d blame him if not.
“My lady,” Edmund said with a gentle bow. “My lord.” The King of Aragon was a lean and full-bearded youth, with piercing eyes just like his sister’s. He was technically betrothed to Edmund’s niece, though with his issues with the papacy, Edward had been reluctant to hand his child over. Edmund was there to remedy that. “You shall be pleased to know that you will marry the best there is. My lord and his daughter are eager to formally unite the bonds between our two families.”
“I’m eager to meet the famed lady that is to be my wife,” said Alfonso of Aragon. “I have been waiting for her for quite a while.” It was, of course, a jab at the fact that Lady Eleanor had not been sent to Aragon, despite already being of age.
“The Lady Eleanor shall come to Aragon on the same fleet that is to take the Infanta, my lord,” Edmund said. “As is my brother’s desire.”
The King nodded, pleased. By all accounts, he was a weak king, who had divided his kingdom and given far too many powers to his lords. Edmund could only hope that his strong-willed niece would help bring the kingdom back to glory, for Aragon’s proximity to France and Gascony made them prime allies in any possible war on the future. Alongside Navarre, they held the only path that could lead to France from Iberia. It was why Edward had chosen Yolande, Edmund was sure.
“How is the King, my lord?” the Infanta asked in a high voice, her French flawless. “I’m eager to know more about the man that is to be my husband.”
“The King, my brother, is a good and honourable man,” Edmund said. “Clever, I assure you, and worthy of his name. He is fond of hunting, attends mass twice a day and is more than eager to return to the Holy Land and bring it back to Christian hands.”
Yolande smiled and shared a look with her brother. It was clear that the idea of her future husband pleased her and Edmund took a deep breath. He told Edward he’d return to England with his second wife and he would rather die than see failure.
This chapter reminds me of old Danish legends about Valdemar II and his two queens. The first, Dagmar of Bohemia, was said to be good, fair and blonde while the second, Berengaria of Portugal, was said to be dark of hair and strikingly beautiful but haughty and bitter. Dagmar only gave Valdemar one son who predeceased his father but Berengaria gave him three sons who tore Denmark apart after his death. Hopefully this won't be England's fate ttl
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