Other Kingdoms

Latin Constantinople-
Baldwin II was 53 and fast losing his Empire to the Byzantines. He was losing support in Europe and the quiet Pope Alexander IV did not do much to help him. His son, Philip, was in Venice.

Sicily-
Things are about to get bad in Sicily. Manfred, the illegitimate son of Frederick II began the year in Palermo about to have a battle with the Guelph/Pope faction. He betrothed his 11 year old daughter to Pedro of Aragon. He is now married to a Byzantine wife, Helena. She just gave birth to a little baby girl, Beatrice.

Wales-
Llywelyn, Prince of Wales has invaded England taking advantage of the weakness of the kingdom.

Bohemia-
Ottakar II King of Bohemia, DUke of Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola is now 28 years old and his 56 year old wife, Margaret of Austria aren't likely to have children. Margaret will agree soon to a divorce so that her husband may get an heir.

Hungary-
Bela IV is 53. He is still rebuilding from the Mongol Invasions. His Greek wife, Maria, was also 53. He is now fighting rebels in his kingdom. His son Stephen, now Duke of Styria, is the source of many of his problems. He now is planning to attack the King of Bohemia with the help of Stephen. It will not go well and Bela is about to lose Styria to Ottakar. His granddaughter, Kunigunda, will marry Ottakar after his divorce.

Bela's eldest daughters Katharina and Margit were killed during the Mongol invasion of 1242.

The saintly Kinga is Princess of Poland. Kinga was so devout she refused to consummate her marriage to the Prince of Poland, Boleslaw V. Boleslaw was busy defending his lands from Tartar invaders anyways.

Strong Anna was Bela's favorite daughter and the wife of the Russian prince, Rostislav Mikhailovich Prince of Novgorod, Halych, Lutsk, Cherngov. He lost his lands to the Mongols and was a refugee at Bela's court when he met Anna.

Elisabeth was the Duchess of Lower Bavaria.

Constance was married to Lev of Galicia, a Ukrainian prince,son of DANIIL Romanovich Grand Prince of Kiev, King of Galich & his first wife Anna Mstislavna of Novgorod. Not much is known about Constance.

Stephen helped organize a failed attack on Bohemia. Stephen was married to a Cuman tribal leader's daughter named Elisabeth. They had four children already: Elizabeth, Catherine, Maria, and Anna.

Margaret was a nun. She refused to marry and was saintly like Kinga. "According to the legend, Margaret chastised herself from early childhood, wore an iron girdle, hair garments and shoes spiked with nails. She also performed the dirtiest works in the convent." Later both Kinga and Margaret would be venerated as saints. (for torturing themselves and refusing to have sex?)Iolenta, Bela's other daughter, was also "pious" and close to her older sister Kinga.Iolenta married the Duke of Greater Poland, Prince of Kalisch also known as "pious". They had children, so they had sex, so Iolenta was never made a saint but was called "Blessed".

Bela's sister Elizabeth also became a saint. Another sister was Queen of Aragon.

Bela's youngest son and favorite was Bela, Duke of Croatia.

1260- The Royal Family of England

King Henry III of England, Duke of Aquitaine, Lord of Ireland was 53 years old. His royal power was in trouble since the 1258 Provisions of Oxford, and now that he was away in France, his brother-in-law Simon De Montfort, husband of his sister Eleanor was threatening to hold a Parliament despite the King's orders that a Parliament should not meet while he was in France. His brother Richard, Duke of Cornwall, King of Germany left France with his wife Sanchia of Provence, to go to England to try to bring London under control with the help of Hugh Bigod while Henry and his Queen Eleanor tried to raise money for an army to take with them back to England. King Henry's son, Edward was in London allied with Simon De Montfort after a dispute with one of his father's counselors. Edward was married to Princess Leonor, the half-sister of Alfonso X of Castile. They had no children yet and Edward devoted any extra time to tournaments. Margaret was the second child of King Henry and was Queen Margaret of Scotland. After 8 or 9 years of a strained relationship with her husband's regents and counselors, the couple were finally together as a married couple and Margaret hoped to have an heir. She missed her mother greatly and after the the past horrible winters hoped that Alexander would take her to England to see her family. She wanted to bring her younger brother Edmund to Scotland, but the King and Queen were still trying to get the Kingdom of Sicily for young Edmund. It was kept quiet for a while, but in January of 1260, Henry writes to the Pope again about the crown of Sicily for Edmund. Unfortunately, he would have to fight Manfredo, not to mention, Manfredo's daughter was betrothed to the now heir to the throne of Aragon. The Barons of England refused their support and now Henry was spending all of his money to protect his own crown in England. Part of how he tried to defend his crown was by his treaty with Louis IX and the marriage of his daughter, Beatrice, to the heir of the Duchy of Brittany.

1260- The Royal Family of France

King Louis IX was the 46 year old saintly king of France. He already went on one crusade in 1250 where his brother, Robert d'Artois, was killed in battle. After an illness Louis IX devoted himself to God, peace, and justice. In 1260, he met with the Parlement of Paris and made new laws like banning trial by battle. He sought peace with his enemies. In 1259, Henry III signed the Treaty of Paris with Louis. Louis IX had an affinity with the Francisians and wore hair shirts. He would get lashed on Fridays and give to the poor everyday. He married Marguerite of Provence, sister of the Queen of England. Louis had a niece and nephew from Robert d'Artois from his wife Matilda of Brabant, Blanche d'Artois and Robert d'Artois. His brother Alphonse was Count of Toulouse and at 40 was married to Jeanne of Toulouse. They had no children but were a very devoted couple. Isabelle lived at Clarisan Abbey after taking a vow of chastity and devoting her life to the poor. Charles was 33 Marquis of Provence, Count of Forcalquier, Anjou, and Maine. He was known as Charles d'Anjou He was married to Beatrice, Countess of Provence, Marguerite and Eleanor of Provence's sister. Charles was ambitious and wanted a throne of his own. He and Beatrice had Blanche d'Anjou who was 10, Beatrice d'Anjou who was 8, Charles d'Anjou who was 6, Philippe d'Anjou was 5, Robert d'Anjou 2, and Beatrice was pregnant once more.

Louis IX and Marguerite's children:
1. Isabelle, Queen of Navarre, wife of Theobald II King of Navarre. She had been married for two years and had no children. Her husband cheats on her but she stays devout to the church.
2. Louis was going to turn 17 but he died on 11 January 1260.
3. Philippe was 15 and just became the heir to the throne. He was unprepared and suddenly had this responsibility on him. His father tried to teach him how to be a good king. He was betrothed to a princess of Aragon, Isabella, part Greek, Hungarian, and French.
4. Jean Tristan, born in the Middle East was now 10 and betrothed to Yolande de Bourgogne, Countess of Nevers.
5. Pierre was 9.
6. Blanche was 6.
7. Marguerite was 5.
8. Robert was 3
Queen Marguerite was pregnant again in 1260.

1260- The Royal Family of Navarre

1. Blanche was 35 and marred to Jean of Brittany. They were in Paris at the beginning of the year to celebrate the marriage of their son Jean to the daughter of Henry III. Her son Jean was 25 and about to be knighted in England. Pierre was 19, Seigneur de Dinan, de Léon, de Hédé, de Hennebont et de la Roche-Derrien. , Aliz was 17,Dame de Pontarcy et de Brie-Comte-Robert and was married to Jean, Count of Blois.
2. King Theobald V of Navarre, Count of Champagne and Brie was 21 years old and close to the King of France. He was married to Isabelle, daughter of Louis IX who was now 18. He didn't wait for his wife for he already had an illegitimate daughter in Navarre named Marquesa.
3. Marguerite was 20 and married to Ferry, the Duke of Lorraine. Ferry swore allegiance to Alfonso X over Richard of Cornwall. He ignored his wife at this time but had many illegitimate children.
4. Beatrice was 18 and at 16 married Hughes IV, Duke of Burgundy who was 57 and already had sons. Beatrice was already not getting along with her step-sons.
5. Henri was a chubby 16 year old watching over Navarre while his brother, the king, was in Paris. He loved to party and eat good food and was friends with Felipe of Castile.

1260- The Royal Family of Portugal

King Afonso III was 50 years old, the King of Portugal and the newly reconquered Algarve. He was a just a fair king and made new laws and organized the Portuguese Cortes. He was the cousin of Louis IX for his mother Urraca was Queen Blanche's sister. His first wife Mathilde de Dammartin, related to Joan de Dammartin, former Queen of Castile, was unable to give him a heir to the throne. Alfonso X offered him his pretty young illegitimate daughter, Beatrice. She was 11 at the time. She is now 18 and already gave birth to Branca who was one and just had a son Fernando.

1260- The Royal Family of Castile

1. Alfonso X, King of Castile, León, Galicia, Toledo, Badajoz, Cordoba, Murcia, Jaén and Sevilla. He also had the King of Granada as his vassal. He was the son of the great conqueror, Fernando III and his wife the cousin of Emperor Frederick II. He had just made a law that all official business would be done in the vernacular rather than in Latin and made his new vassals come to Seville to pay homage to his father's memory. Alfonso loved mathematics and astronomy and wrote a book of poetry. He was known as "el sabio" the wise. He was intelligent but a poor ruler and made enemies of his close family. Enrique rebelled in 1254 and after moving around from England to Aragon went to serve as a mercenary for the Emir of Tunis. In 1260, Alfonso another brother, Fadrique, who would later be executed for homosexuality. Fadrique joined Enrique in Tunis. He had many children with his wife, Violante of Aragon. Alfonso was 39, Violante was 24 and pregnant again. He had the support of his brother Sancho the intelligent Archbishop of Toledo. Felipe was happy with his Norwegian bride of two years, the now sickly Kristina of Norway. Juan Manuel was sent to Calatayud where the Aragonese family were mourning the loss of the eldest Prince Alfonso to marry King Jaime's daughter Constanza after refusing Constanza the hand of Don Enrique. His half brother Fernando was 22 and the Count of Aumale. He died that year. His half sister Leonor was married to the heir to the throne of England, Edward and was currently in France with the English royal family. He kept his youngest half brother Luis in Castile with him.

Alfonso's eldest daughter was Berenguela at the age of 7. She was betrothed to the heir to the French throne Prince Louis. He died on January 11 so Berenguela lost all hope to be the Queen of France. Now her cousin Isabella of Aragon would be queen someday. Beatriz was already betrothed to Johann of Brandenburg. Alfonso had all his hopes in his young son Fernando and wanted him to be a great king. He was already planning to give him the title Mayordomo that year. Sancho was a little troublemaker at two and loved to tease his baby sister Constanza and Fernando.

1260- The Royal Family of Aragon

These are the children of James I of Aragon and what they are doing:

1. King Jaime's eldest son, Don Alfonso, son of his first wife Leonor of Castile would be 32 this year and is now in Calatayud. Alfonso was not as loved as the children from his father's second wife, Queen Yolanda. Alfonso was promised the throne of Aragon, as was his right, but the newly conquered lands of the Balearic Islands, Valenica, Cerdana, and CAtalonia as well as the King's mother's inheritance from Montpellier-Rousillon would go to the King's eldest from his second marriage, Don Pedro. Alfonso was angry so the king tried to win him the Kingdom of Navarre after making an agreement with King Sancho VII of Navarre. Alfonso was also given as his wife the heiress of the Vicomte de Bearn and Comtesse of Bigorre, Constanza de Moncada. The throne of Navarre was lost to the French House of Champagne and King Jaime's daughter Isabella was betrothed to Louis IX's second son Philippe. Alfonso rebelled again and was supported by Alfonso X of Castile and Prince Fernando of Portugal. He set up his base at the castle in Calatayud. He brought his bride Constanza to Calatayud on March 23 and there they celebrated the spring. On March 26, Alfonso was found dead. Jaime, long since his son's enemy went alone to his chamber and cried for his son and understood the pain of King David for Absalom. "Oh my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would God I had died for thee! Oh Absalom! My son! My son!"
2. King Jaime's first child by his second wife Yolanda of Hungary, the half Byzantine princess, was Violante, sometimes called Yolanda. He was currently not speaking to her. She was married to Alfonso X in Castile. Her daughter's, Berenguela, betrothed, the Prince Louis of France had just died. They lost their connection to France.
3. Don Pedro was 21 and also had a rebellious spirit. After his elder brother, Alfonso died, Pedro fought with his father over his inheritance.He already had the Balearic Islands, Valencia, Montpellier-Rousillon, Cerdana, and Catalonia and feared that the throne would go to his younger brother Jaime, his father's favorite. His father thought to appease him, not wanted to repeat his mistakes with Alfonso, by betrothing him to the young Constanza of Sicily, daughter of Manfredo of Sicily. He promised him the throne of Aragon and giving his brother other parts of the kingdom promised Pedro the Kingdom of Sicily. Pedro wanted the throne of Aragon. He would fight for it for another two years.
4. Constanza was 20. Don Enrique of Castile, the rebellious brother of Alfonso X had fallen in love with her and had asked to marry her in 1259. Alfonso heard about this and told King Jaime that Enrique was a traitor and had Constanza instead marry a quieter brother, Don Juan Manuel of Castile. She was immediately pregnant.
5. Jaime was 17 and his father's favorite. He wished Jaime could have a kingdom but his elder son Pedro fought his father.
6. Isabella was 16, young and devout like her mother. She had just found out that her betrothed, Philippe of France was now heir to the throne of France after the death of his elder brother. She would now be a future queen!
7. Maria, 12, was being educated as a nun in the church.
8. Sancho was 10 and also being educated in the church.
9. 10. Jaime and Pedro were the king's sons from his third marriage and were 5 and 1. They were named after his elder sons from his second marriage.