A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Blanche de Bourbon

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BLANCHE DE BOURBON,

Second daughter of Pierre de Bourbon, a nobleman of France, married Pedro, King of Castile, in 1352. She was cruelly treated by her husband, who was attached to Maria Padilla, and was at last imprisoned and murdered, in 1361, aged eighteen. Her misfortunes were avenged by Du Guesclin, at the head of the French army. Her beauty and virtues made her a great favourite, not only with the mother of Pedro, but the whole Spanish nation.