Constanza Manuel

Constanza Manuel of Villena (c. 1318 – 27 January 1349), was a Castilian noblewoman who by her two marriages was Queen consort of Castile and León and Infanta of Portugal. Early years and first marriage: Queen of Castile Born in Castillo de Garcimuñoz in 1318, Constanza was the daughter of Castilian nobleman and writer Don Juan Manuel (1282–1348), Duke of Peñafiel, "powerful and hardworking magnate of Castile" and his second wife, Infanta Constanza of Aragon, daughter of King James II of Aragon. She was the only surviving child of her parents' marriage: her two full siblings, Beatriz and Manuel, both died young; in addition, Constanza had several half-siblings from her father's third marriage and several extramarital affairs, including Juana Manuel (later wife of King Henry II of Castile). After the death of King Ferdinand IV of Castile in 1312, Don Juan Manuel was one of the tutors of his son and successor, King Alfonso XI when he was still a minor. Upon reaching the legal age of majority in 1325, the King prescinded from his tutors and began his personal rule. It was then that Don Juan Manuel, not wanting to lose his power, formed an alliance with the recently widowed Lord of Biscay, Juan de Haro, nicknamed "el Tuerto" (the One-eyed), and tried to marry his daughter Constanza -who was then about nine years old-, with him. This union never took place, because King Alfonso XI (fearful of the union of two of the most powerful vassals of his Kingdom) asked for himself the hand of Constanza in marriage, and ordered the assassination of Juan de Haro on 31 October 1326. The betrothal of Constanza and King Alfonso XI was ratified by the Courts of Valladolid on 28 November 1325, but given the bride's minority, the marriage was never consummated, although Constanza became to use the title of Queen consort of Castile and as such she wrote her letters to her grandfather King James II of Aragon. Two years later, in 1327, Constanza was repudiated, as the Castilian monarch was more interested in marrying with his double first-cousin Infanta Maria of Portugal, daughter of King Afonso IV, in order to strengthen ties with the Lusitan kingdom.