Blanche de Castille
Queen · 1223-1226 · born on 4 March 1188, died on 27 November 1252
Daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castile and the English princess Eleanor, Blanche was chosen in 1200 by her grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, to marry the future Louis VIII. Queen of France in 1223, she was the mother of Louis IX, the future Saint Louis.
On Louis VIII’s death in 1226, Blanche of Castile acted as regent during the minority of her twelve-year-old son. She had to face the coalitions of the great feudal lords, whom she neutralized with skilful diplomacy and unyielding authority, and negotiated the Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade.
The religious education she gave to the future Saint Louis deeply marked her son’s reign. Regent again during Louis IX’s crusade (1248), she died in 1252. An admired then disputed queen mother, she remains one of the most powerful women in Capetian history.
In the tree of power
- Spouse: Louis VIII le Lion (1223-1226)