#medieval castile

[victoriaofhannover]

Today in History- 1451. Queen Isabella I Of Castile is born.

Isabella was daughter of the king of Castile, John II, and of the second woman of this one, the Portuguese princess Isabella de Aviz. In this marriage also Juan II would inflict the infante Alfonso, called the Innocent. But in regard to the succession to the throne, both brothers, Isabella and Alfonso, had the first son of John II, had in the first marriage of the monarch with Mary of Aragon: the future Henry IV of Castile, who then held the title of Prince of Asturias like successor of John II. For this reason, the first feature to highlight in the biography of Isabella the Catholic is that she was not destined to reign because she was not a firstborn, but rather that her future was destined to be given to an advantageous marriage with a member of high birth, as it used to be custom among the families of medieval royalty. Therefore, if Isabella managed to reign was, first, by a cluster of various circumstances, but also, no doubt, by his determined action to govern when that range of events put on a platter the possibility of being queen of Castile and Leon.

http://www.mcnbiografias.com/app-bio/do/show?key=isabel-i-reina-de-castilla-y-leon

[reginanobilis]

Fernando of Castile, The Perfect Prince 

Described by contemporary chroniclers as the “expectation of the people” and “the flower of young men”, Fernando of Castile was the beloved heir apparent of Alfonso VIII of Castile and Leonor of England from his birth. Previously described as rejoicing in horses and hounds, as he grew to manhood, Fernando took on a prominent place in his father’s reign. He was said to burn “with a desire for war with the Saracens” and Alfonso VIII was said to praise God “who had given him such a son, who could now be his helper in the government of the kingdom”. The young prince died suddenly at the age of 22, falling prey to a fever whilst returning from battle against the Muslims. His death caused widespread grief throughout the kingdom, with his father and mother left broken-hearted. One chronicler described “[t]he most noble queen Leonor”, who upon “hearing of her son’s death, wanted to die with him and got into the bed on which her son lay; placing her mouth to his mouth and clasping his hand in her hand she tried either to revive him or to die with him”. He would be buried at his family foundation of Las Huelgas de Burgos, at the funeral, his eldest sister, Berenguela taking on the role of chief mourner “with lamentations and sorrow”.

Sources-De Rebus Hispanie and the Chronica latina regum Castellae

[leonorplantagenet]

Grand hotel modern AU | Leonor Plantagenet + Alfonso VIII of Castile

After the premature death of his parents Sancho and Blanca, young Alfonso becomes the only legitimate heir of his namesake grandfather, the successful hotelier Alfonso Raimúndez Ivrea, founder of the Imperial Grand Hotel of Soria, hence affectionately nicknamed el Emperador. Eager to live up to his family’s expectations – especially the ones of his formidable great-aunt and share-holder of the hotel, Doña Sancha Raimúndez, and his beloved guardian and legal consultant, Nuño Pérez de Lara – and to restore the Imperial to its former splendour, Alfonso decides to challenge the business choices of his uncle Ferdinand, the current managing director of the Grand Hotel.  

Determined to refuel the Imperial with new energy and ideas and attract new customers from all around the world, Alfonso looks for new investors, finding one in British hotel entrepreneur Henry Plantagenet, known as Harry Curtmantle for his shrewd business policy, which privileges short, impromptu on-site negotiations instead of long stipulations. After a visit in Castile with his fierce, French-born wife Aliénor, Henry begins to conceive a great liking for the young hotel owner and decides to invest in the Imperial. Meanwhile, Aliénor, after living several years in a passionate, but unhappy marriage, makes up her mind about getting a divorce, but on her own terms. She then encourages secretly her children – Young Henry, Richard and Geoffrey – and convinces the investors of Henry’s company to overthrow him. But her main concern remains her three daughters, Maud, Eleanor and Joanna. Wanting to spare them the humiliation of a family scandal, Aliénor is willing to settle them as soon as possible, beginning with her elder daughter Maud. Marrying her to Alfonso, the dashing and bright heir of her unknowing husband’s last business venture, seems the right plan to follow to secure both her daughter’s future and the Castilian investment – code name la dot gasconne.

But when the Plantagenets reach the Imperial Grand Hotel for an apparently relaxing vacation prior to the celebration of the recently-drawn up agreement and the engagement, hidden tensions and conflicts start to surface. While Maud pretends to be on board with her mother’s plan, she’s secretly planning to elope with a German engineer she’s met few months before, Heinrich Welf. At the same time, Ferdinand tries to convince Aliénor to become his ally and remove from the game both her husband and her presumptive son-in-law to-be, offering to marry Maud himself. Sancha and Nuño learn from the  Plantagenets’ faithful lawyer William Hauteville – who is helplessly in love with Henry’s youngest daughter, the good-natured but frivolous aspiring actress Joanna – that Henry’s sons are planning to overthrow him. They then try to talk Alfonso out of his business agreement without compromising Henry’s investment.

In the meantime, Alfonso starts to fall for Henry’s middle daughter Eleanor. Even though her parents want her to become an accomplished socialite, creative Eleanor dreams to own a flower and stastionery shop one day. After Alfonso suggests that she should give herself a chance to pursue her own ambitions, despite the social frame and constrains Henry and Aliénor have settled for her, Eleanor suddenly realises that both share the same experience of living a life that is already arranged for them by someone else. She senses that she has found a kindred spirit in Alfonso, with whom she shares also a common love for literature and poetry.

When Alfonso offers her the chance to order and arrange the floral decoration and the stationery at the Imperial in occasion to his wedding to Maud, Eleanor accepts, though she is torn in two over having to decide if what she really wants is to confess to Alfonso her strong feelings for him or protect her relationship with Maud. Unbeknownst to her, Alfonso dwells upon the same doubts, but doesn’t want to let down Sancha and Nuño and put at risk his whole business venture, on which the whole future of the Imperial Grand Hotel depends. Sensing the danger, Aliénor invites to the wedding Eleanor’s former boyfriend Frederick Hohenstaufen.

Drama ensues.

Aaand... I'M BACK! As you know, guys, I’m a sucker for these two. I just came back from Castile, and well, I had to keep the Castilian flow going. And something very strange came out of my mind: a crossover between a telenovela and a period drama. Creepy.

(P.S. Some feedback would make me überhappy, as usual!)

Fancast:

Peter Vives as Alfonso Ivrea (Alfonso VIII of Castile) Ece Çeşmioğlu as Eleanor Plantagenet

[victoriaofhannover]

[victoriaofhannover]

Palace of Poitiers.

The Palace of Justice in Poitiers (French: le Palais de justice de Poitiers) began its life as the seat of the Counts of Poitou and Dukes of Aquitaine in the tenth through twelfth centuries.

The former Merovingian kingdom of Aquitaine was re-established by Charlemagne for his son Louis the Pious; in the 9th century, a palace was constructed or reconstructed for him, one among many, above a Roman wall datable to the late 3rd century, at the highest spot of the town. Louis stayed there many times as a king and then returned to the palace after becoming, in 839 and 840. The palatium was specifically called a palace in the reign of Charles the Bald. After the disintegration of the Carolingian realm, the palace became the seat of the Counts of Poitiers. The first palace of Poitiers was completely destroyed by a fire in 1018.

The palace was completely rebuilt, straddling the wall, by the Count-Dukes of Aquitaine, then at the pinnacle of their power. In 1104, Count William IX added a donjon on the town side. It is known as the tour Maubergeon, after his mistress Amauberge ("the Dangerous"), wife of Vicomte Aimery de Châtellerault and grandmother of Eleanor of Aquitaine. The rectangular keep is reinforced with four smaller square towers projecting from each corner; it was greatly damaged when the southern portion of the palace was set ablaze by Henry of Grosmont in 1346.

Between 1191 and 1204, Eleanor  fitted up a dining hall, the Salle des Pas Perdus, the "hall of lost footsteps", where a footfall was silenced by the vastness of its space 50 metres in length, 17 metres in width, perhaps the largest in contemporary Europe. The hall has not retained its original beamed ceiling; it has been covered by chestnut woodwork, constructed in 1862 by a team of marine carpenters from La Rochelle. The walls of the hall are daubed and painted so as to imitate stone facing. Their monotony is relieved by cusped arches resting on slender columns. A stone bench rings the walls of the hall.