Henry I of Castile

Henry I
King of Castile and Toledo
Reign	5 October 1214 – 6 June 1217
Predecessor	Alfonso VIII
Successor	Berengaria
Born	14 April 1204 Valladolid
Died	6 June 1217 (aged 13) Palencia
Burial	Las Huelgas, Burgos
Consort	Mafalda of Portugal
House	House of Burgundy
Father	Alfonso VIII of Castile
Mother	Eleanor of England
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Henry I of Castile (14 April 1204^[1] – 6 June 1217) was king of Castile. He was the son of Alfonso VIII of Castile and Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile (daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine).^[2]

In 1211 Henry became heir to the throne when his older brother Ferdinand suddenly died.

When his father died in 1214 Henry was just 10 years old so the regency was assumed by Henry's older sister Berengaria of Castile,^[3] wife of Alfonso IX of Leon.

In 1215 Henry married Mafalda of Portugal, daughter of Sancho I of Portugal. As he was very young, the marriage was not consummated, and it was dissolved in 1216 by Pope Innocent III on grounds of consanguinity. In the same year, Henry became betrothed to his second cousin Sancha, heiress of León.^[4]

Henry died in Palencia in 1217 at the age of 13, killed by a tile coming off a roof. His sister Berengaria succeeded him, before renouncing the throne in favour of her son Ferdinand III.^[5] His body was interred at Las Huelgas monastery in Burgos.^[6]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Henry I of Castile

16. Raymond of Burgundy               8. Alfonso VII of Castile                       17. Urraca of León and Castile               4. Sancho III of Castile                             18. Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona               9. Berenguela of Barcelona                       19. Douce I, Countess of Provence               2. Alfonso VIII of Castile                                   20. Ramiro Sánchez, Lord of Monzón               10. García Ramírez of Navarre                       21. Cristina Rodriguez               5. Blanca Garcés of Navarre                             22. Gilbert de l'Aigle, Seigneur de l'Aigle               11. Marguerite de l'Aigle                       23 Juliana du Perche               1. Henry I of Castile                                         24. Fulk V of Anjou               12. Geoffrey V of Anjou                       25. Ermengarde of Maine               6. Henry II of England                             26. Henry I of England               13. Empress Matilda                       27. Matilda of Scotland               3. Eleanor of England                                   28. William IX of Aquitaine               14. William X of Aquitaine                       29. Philippa of Toulouse               7. Eleanor of Aquitaine                             30. Aimery I of Châtellerault               15. Aenor de Châtellerault                       31. Dangereuse de L'Isle Bouchard

Notes

1. Anales Toledanos
2. Previté-Orton, Charles William, The shorter Cambridge Medieval History, (Cambridge University Press, 1952), 828.
3. Chronica Albrici Monachi Trium Fontium
4. Henry’s family
5. Craig Taylor, Debating the Hundred Years War, (Cambridge University Press, 2006), 87.
6. Enrique I, King of Castile, Theresa M. Vann, Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia, Ed. E. Gerli, (Routledge, 2003), 303.

References

• Charles William Previté-Orton, The shorter Cambridge Medieval History, Cambridge University Press, 1952.
• Taylor, Craig, Debating the Hundred Years War, Cambridge University Press, 2006.