This lady was the wife of Richard I of England,
also known as the Lionheart, and held the title of Queen consort.
She was the daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre, after marrying Richard in 1191;
although seemingly in love the couple never resided together.
She accompanied Richard on the Third Crusade but returned
to Europe before him and reportedly never saw him again.
Although she is not known to have played
a significant political role during her husband’s reign but is remembered
as the only queen consort of England to have never set foot in the country.
So join me now as we look into the intriguing life
of Berengaria of Navarre.
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After marrying Richard I of England, Berengaria of Navarre
became queen of England.
She was born to King Sancho VI of Navarre and Queen
Sancha of Castile and was their first child.
Little is known of her life, as with many of the mediaeval English queens.
Although she is often referred to as “the only English queen never to step foot
in the kingdom,” she may have travelled to England following Richard’s death
despite never having done so during their barren marriage.
Even then she had trouble getting the pension she was owed
from Richard’s brother and successor, John.
Her main residence was primarily in his French possessions, a place
she loved, a patron of the church in which she would always give generously.
In 1185, Berengaria’s father
bestowed on her the fief of Monreal, an estate of land.
It was Eleanor of Aquitaine who pushed for Richard the Lionheart’s
engagement to Berengaria because she was a fan of the princess.
Richard’s sister Eleanor, queen of neighbouring Castile,
benefited from the alliance with Navarre since it ensured the safety of her
duchy of Aquitaine’s southern boundaries and improved relations with Castile.
Moreover, Berengaria’s name was untainted, and the culture of the troubadours
from Aquitaine had been absorbed into Navarre.
Some writers have speculated that Berengaria
and Richard met once, many years before they wed,
and that they had an instant attraction to one another.
Eleanor met King Sancho VI in Pamplona in 1190,
and the king afterwards held a dinner for her at the Royal Palace of Olite.
Unfortunately, Richard’s long-standing engagement
to Alys, the half-sister of King Philip II of France,
meant that the couple couldn’t openly celebrate their engagement.
In 1190, while in Messina, Richard broke off his engagement.
A marriage between Richard and Alys would have been problematic
given the rumours that Alys had an illegitimate child
with Richard’s father, King Henry II of England,
and it would have been legally and religiously forbidden.
Richard’s mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, arranged for Richard to meet Berengaria.
Since Richard had already embarked on the Third Crusade immediately
upon his coronation, the two women faced a lengthy
and challenging voyage to catch up to him.
In 1191, Richard and his sister Joan, the widowed
queen of Sicily, travelled to Messina during Lent.
Joan was entrusted with the care of Berengaria.
When there ship ran aground off the coast of Cyprus,
they were threatened by the island’s king, on their way to the Holy Land.
It was then that Richard swooped in to save the day,
seize the island, and depose the king.
On 12 May 1191, Berengaria was given her crown
by the archbishop of Bordeaux and the bishops of Évreux and Bayonne.
On the same day, she tied the knot with Richard the Lionheart in the Chapel of St.
George at Limassol in Cyprus.
Conjecture abounds as to whether or not the marriage was ever completed.
Without a doubt, Richard brought his new bride
along during the opening stages of the Third Crusade.
It was highly exceptional although Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard’s
mother and Berengaria’s predecessor, had accompanied her husband
on the Second Crusade while she was the queen of France.
Richard was caught and imprisoned upon his return
to Europe long after Berengaria’s return from the Holy Land.
Continuing her efforts to secure funds for his release,
Berengaria remained in Europe, establishing a base at Beaufort-en-Vallée.
Once he was free, Richard returned to England, but his wife did not follow.
Richard then began regaining the French territory
lost by his brother John and later by King Philip II.
Instead of worrying about his queen,
he was now far more preoccupied with the affairs of his realm.
Pope Celestine III commanded him to return to Queen Berengaria
and to be faithful to her in the future.
Now based in France, Richard at last respected her wishes
and took his queen to church weekly.
But in 1199 wen Richard died, Berengaria was left distraught,
and she may have felt even worse about the fact
that she had been overlooked as queen of England and Cyprus.
Historians are still divided on whether Richard truly loved Berengaria;
some say he did, while others argue that the marriage was purely political
and the couple had little to no romantic interludes.
Richard the Lionheart spent less than six months of their marriage
in England, and Berengaria never set foot there during his reign.
Additionally, after Richard the Lionheart’s death,
it has been suggested Berengaria may have visited England
as she is recorded as having attended the translation of St.
Thomas Becket’s remains at Canterbury in 1220.
As Berengaria never visited England during her time as Richard’s consort,
Several times she dispatched envoys to England, primarily
to pursue the dowager’s pension she was owed as Richard’s widow
and as a result of King John’s failure to pay it.
Despite Queen Eleanor’s intervention and Pope Innocent III’s threat of prohibition,
King John left more than £4000 in arrears to Berengaria before his death.
However, she was paid during his son Henry III of England’s tenure.
One of Berengaria’s dower properties was the city
of Le Mans, where she ultimately made her home.
After her husband’s death, Berengaria took the religious life and entered L’Épau
Abbey in Le Mans, France, where she lived the remainder of her days as a nun.
She was known for her charitable acts and lived a praiseworthy life of purity
and devotion to prayer and good works.
She passed away in Le Mans.
but even in death she would never rest at the side of her husband
whose family refused her burial with him in as he lay
in Fontevraud Abbey.
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