Leonor of England and Eleanor of Castile: Anglo-Iberian Marriage and Cultural Exchange in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

Abstract

This essay will examine two examples of cross-cultural exchange between England and Castile during the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The first is the marriage of Leonor, daughter of Henry II of England and of Eleanor of Aquitaine, to Alfonso VIII of Castile in 1170, which lasted until they both died, only a few weeks apart, in 1214. The second is the more famous marriage, in 1254, of Eleanor of Castile, daugh­ter of Fernando III of León and Castile and his second queen, Jeanne of Ponthieu, to Edward, son of Henry III, who was to succeed him as Edward I of England in 1272. This marriage lasted until Eleanor’s death in 1290.

This essay examines the evidence for Anglo-Iberian cultural exchange within two royal marriages in the high Middle Ages through a consideration of manuscripts and memory.