Contents

Henry I of Castile

Henry I
King Henry I in the Castilian manuscript Compendium of Chronicles of Kings (c. 1312-1325).
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(1217-06-06) (aged 13) Palencia
Burial	Las Huelgas, Burgos
Spouse	Mafalda of Portugal ​ ​ (m. 1215; ann. 1216)​
House	Castilian House of Ivrea
Father	Alfonso VIII of Castile
Mother	Eleanor of England

Henry I of Castile (in Spanish, Enrique I, 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] He was the brother of Berenguela and Mafalda of Castile.^[3]

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,^[4] 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.

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 buried at Las Huelgas monastery in Burgos.^[6]

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References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henry I of Castile.

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