Urraca López de Haro

Urraca López de Haro (c. 1160 – c. 1230), daughter of Count Lope Díaz de Haro, Lord of Biscay and his wife countess Aldonza, founders of the monastery of Cañas was Queen consort of León (1185/1187–1188) following her marriage to King Ferdinand II (1137–1188). She founded the Monastery of Santa María la Real in Vileña where she retired and received burial.

Urraca was first married with her mother's kinsman the Galician magnate Nuño Meléndez (c. 1180) son of Melendo Núñez and María Fróilaz. Around 1182, she became the mistress of king Fernando after the death of his second wife, Teresa Fernández de Traba. They were married a few years later in May 1187 and the king gave her several properties in Aguilar and Monteagudo. Aware that her husband was nearing the end of his life, she attempted to have their only surviving son, Sancho, declared heir to the throne against the interests of Alfonso, later crowned as Alfonso IX of León, son of King Fernando and his first wife Urraca of Portugal. She argued that infante Alfonso was illegitimate since his parent's marriage had been annulled due to their consanguinity. King Fernando apparently banished his son Sancho from the court, considered a triumph for Urraca.

King Fernando died in Benavente on 22 January 1188 and was succeeded by his first-born, Alfonso IX of León after which, Urraca had to seek refuge in the Castile ruled by her former husband's nephew, Alfonso VIII, entrusting the protection of her holdings in León to her brother Diego López II de Haro. Nevertheless, Alfonso IX of León, concerned about the power of the Haro family, reached an agreement with King Alfonso VIII of Castile and attacked the fortresses owned by Urraca in the Kingdom of León.

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