Manuel of Castile

Manuel de Castilla (Carrión de los Condes, 1234-Peñafiel, December 25, 1283) was an infant of Castile and León, son of Ferdinand III of Castile, King of Castile and León, and Queen Beatrix of Swabia.

He was the first lord of Villena, Escalona, Peñafiel, Elda, Elche, Santa Olalla, Ágreda, Roa, Cuéllar, Chinchilla, Aspe and Beas. He was lieutenant of the king (1258-1277) and mayordomo (1279-1282), during the reign of his brother Alfonso el Sabio, as well as mayor of Murcia.

Family origins

On his paternal side, he was the grandson of Alfonso IX of León and Queen Berenguela of Castile, who renounced the throne he had received on the death of his brother Enrique I of Castile, both being sons of King Alfonso VIII of Castile. On his mother's side he was the grandson of Philip of Swabia, King of the Romans and Duke of Swabia, and Irene Angelo, daughter of Isaac II Angelo, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Biography

Infante Manuel was born in the Palencia city of Carrión de los Condes in 1234, and was the youngest of the sons between Fernando and Beatriz de Suabia. In 1252 he obtained from his father, as "appanage", the Señorío de Villena. In 1259 he traveled to Italy, forming part of the embassy sent by Alfonso the Wise to Pope Alexander IV, who advised King Wise not to go personally. The purpose of the embassy was to obtain the support of the pontiff for the Fecho del Imperio. Elche, Crevillente, Aspe, and Valle de Elda, while naming him Mayor Adelantado of Murcia, which, together with the Lordship, would make him one of the greatest lords of the peninsula.

On March 12, 1266, the marriage capitulations of the infante Manuel, widower of his first wife, with Constanza de Bearne, were signed in Seville, while that of his son Alfonso Manuel was signed with Guillerma de Montcada, sister of Constanza de Bearne, and both daughters of Gaston VII de Bearne, Viscount of Bearne. However, neither of the two marriages took place. During the noble revolt of 1272-1273 against his brother Alfonso X the Wise, he helped the monarch to negotiate with the rebels, advising his brother to make a pact with them. In 1275 His eldest son, Alfonso Manuel, died in Montpellier when he was returning from a trip in which he had accompanied his uncle Alfonso el Sabio to Europe.

In 1275, the infante Fernando de la Cerda, heir to Alfonso X the Wise, died, starting a debate throughout the kingdom of Castilla y León in which some were in favor of the fact that, on the death of Alfonso X, he was to be succeeded on the throne by his eldest son, the infante Sancho, and on the other hand, those who maintained that he should be succeeded by his grandson Alfonso de la Cerda, son of the infante Fernando de la Cerda and a minor at the time. In 1276, while in Burgos, the infante Manuel supported before his brother the king the rights of the infante Sancho.

The infant Manuel was present at the Valladolid Assembly, held on April 20, 1282, in which Alfonso X was stripped of his powers and his son the infant Sancho was granted, with the infant Manuel being in charge to pronounce the sentence against his brother the king, whose main cause was the execution in 1277, by order of Alfonso X, of the infante Fadrique of Castilla, their brother.

He died in the town of Peñafiel, located in the province of Valladolid, on December 25, 1283, but not before demanding for his son Don Juan Manuel the protection of the future Sancho IV of Castilla.

Burial

Interior of the church of the Monastery of Uclés.

In 1261 the Infante Manuel and his first wife, the Infanta Constanza of Aragon, entered the Order of Santiago as relatives and decided to bury themselves in their Mother House, the monastery of Uclés, located in the province of Cuenca. Its purpose It was to found a chapel and provide it with four chaplains in the Monastery of Uclés, and receive burial there with his wife.

However, it is documented that the chapel was never built and, upon the death of the two infants, their corpses were buried, along with that of their son Alfonso Manuel, who died in 1276, in the main altar of the church of the Uclés Monastery, on the Gospel side, in a level tomb placed in a hole in the presbytery wall.

Later, it is possible that the tombs of the infants were removed from the High Altar and, according to some sources, today they are found in the crypt located below the temple, remaining there unidentified, like the remains of several notable people They were entombed in the crypt. Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is possible that the tombs were destroyed during the War of Independence, when the Monastery of Uclés was looted by French troops.

In the Monastery of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas de Burgos there is a tomb that tradition attributes to the infant Manuel de Castilla, son of Fernando III of Castilla. However, in reality that tomb contains the remains of the infant Pedro de Castilla, son of Sancho IV and Queen María de Molina, who died in 1319.

Marriages and offspring

The infant married twice. In 1260 he married Constanza de Aragón, daughter of Jaime the Conqueror, King of Aragón, in the city of Calatayud, born of this marriage:

• Constanza Manuel who died in childhood.
• Alfonso Manuel (1260-1275); future heir to his father's possessions, died when he accompanied his uncle Alfonso X the Sabio to your trip to Europe for empire fed. He was buried next to his parents in the Monastery of Uclés.
• Violante Manuel (1265-1314); II lady of Elche, Elda, Novelda and Medellín and half of Peñafiel. He married in 1287 with the Infante Alfonso, son of Alfonso III of Portugal and Beatriz de Castilla, daughter of Alfonso the Sabio. He was buried in the Monastery of Santo Domingo in Lisbon with his husband.

He contracted a second marriage in 1274, to Beatriz de Saboya, daughter of Amadeo IV of Savoy, Count of Savoy. The result of this union was born:

• Don Juan Manuel (1282-1348); II master of Villena, Escalona and Peñafiel, first Duke and prince of Villena. Heir to the father possessions, was Majordomo of Fernando IV the Emplaced and tutor of Alfonso XI of Castile during his age minority. At his death he was buried in the Convent of St. Paul of Peñafiel that he had founded.

He had several children from various extramarital affairs:

• Sancho Manuel de Castilla (1283-1345), I lord of the Infantado and Carrión de los Condes who married Inés Díaz de Toledo.
• Fernando Manuel de Castilla
• Enrique Manuel de Castilla
• Blanca Manuel de Castilla

Ancestors