A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Blanche of Castile
BLANCHE,
Of Castile, Queen of France, was the daughter of Alphonso the Ninth, King of Castile, and of Eleanor, daughter of Henry the First of England. In 1200, she was married to Louis the Eighth of France; and became the mother of nine sons and two daughters, whom she educated with great care, and in such sentiments of piety, that two of them, Louis the Ninth, and Elizabeth, have been beatified by the church of Rome.
On the death of her husband, in 1266, he showed his esteem for her by leaving her sole regent during the minority of his son, Louis the Ninth, then only twelve years old; and Blanche justified by her conduct in the trying circumstances in which she was placed, the confidence of her husband. The princes and nobles, pretending that the regency was unjustly granted to a woman, confederated against her; but by her prudence and courage, opposing some in arms, and gaining over others with presents and condescension, Blanche finally triumphed. She made use of the romantic passion of the young Count of Champagne; to obtain information of the projects of the malcontents; but her reputation was endangered by the favour she showed him, as well as by the familiar intercourse to which she admitted the gallant Cardinal Romani.
In educating Louis, she was charged with putting him too much in the hands of the clergy; but she proved an excellent guardian of his virtue, and inspired him with a lasting respect for herself. In 1234, she married him to Margaret, daughter of the Count de Provence; and in 1285, Louis haying reached the age of twenty-one, Blanche surrendered to him the sovereign authority. But even after this she retained great ascendency over the young king, of which she sometimes made an improper use. Becoming jealous of Margaret, wife of Louis, she endeavoured to sow dissensions between them, and, failing in this, to separate them; and these disturbances caused Louis great uneasiness.
When, in 1248, Louis undertook a crusade to the Holy Land, he determined to take his queen with him, and leave his mother regent; and in this second regency she showed the same vigour and prudence as in the first. The kingdom was suffering so much from the domination of the priesthood, that vigorous measures had become necessary; and notwithstanding her strong religious feelings, she exerted her utmost power against the tyranny of the priests and in favour of the people: and as usual, Blanche was successful. The unfortunate defeat and imprisonment of her son in the East so affected her spirits, that she died, in 1252, to his great grief, and the regret of the whole kingdom. She was buried in the abbey of Maubisson. She was one of the most illustrious characters of her time, being equally distinguished for her personal and mental endowments.