Beatrice of Castile (1242-1303)

Beatrice of Castile
Beatrice of Castile, in Antonio de Hollanda's Genealogy of the Royal Houses of Spain and Portugal (1530–1534)
Queen consort of Portugal and the Algarve
Tenure	1253 – 16 February 1279
Born	1242/44
Died	27 October 1303
Burial	Monastery of Alcobaça
Spouse	Afonso III of Portugal
Issue	See Issue
House	Ivrea
Father	Alfonso X of Castile
Mother	Mayor Guillén de Guzmán

Beatrice of Castile (1242/1244 – 27 October 1303), an illegitimate daughter of Alfonso X of Castile and his mistress Mayor Guillén de Guzmán, was the second Queen consort of Afonso III of Portugal.

She was probably born shortly before 31 December 1244 when her father, King Alfonso, "with the consent of his father" donated Elche to his daughter Beatrice and all the children that he had with Mayor Guillén de Guzmán. As part of his strategy to reach an agreement with the Kingdom of Portugal on the sovereignty of the Algarve, King Alfonso X offered his daughter Beatrice in marriage to King Afonso III of Portugal. The wedding was celebrated in 1253. Under the agreement, the king of Castile promised that we would cede all the rights he held in the Algarve to the first male offspring of Alfonso III and Beatrice when the child was seven years' old. The Portuguese nobility considered this marriage "humiliating for the King of Portugal",. Much more serious though, was the fact that when the nuptials took place, the Portuguese monarch was still married to Matilda II, Countess of Boulogne who, in 1255, accused her husband before Pope Alexander IV of bigamy. In 1258, the Roman Pontiff condemned him for adultery, demanded that he return Matilda's dowry and placed him under interdict. Matilda, however, died that year and the Pope's threats were left in suspense.

Until her husband's death, Beatrice had great influence in the Portuguese court and supported the rapprochement of the kingdoms of Portugal and Castile.

When her mother died no later than 1267, she inherited her estates in La Alcarria which included Cifuentes, Viana de Mondejar, Palazuelos, Salmerón, Valdeolivas and Alcocer. In the last-mentioned city, she took under her protection the Monastery of Santa Clara that her mother, Mayor Guillén de Guzmán, had founded.