Urraca (León, 1081 – Saldaña, 8 March 1126), called the Reckless (La Temeraria), was Queen of León, Castile and Galicia from 1109 until her death. She claimed the imperial title as suo jure Empress of All Spain and Empress of All Galicia. She is considered to be the first Western European queen to reign in her own right after the Byzantine Empresses of the east.
Contents
Early years
Urraca was born to King Alfonso VI of León and Castile and his second wife, Constance of Burgundy. Constance was closely related to the French royal family and the influential Burgundian abbot Hugh of Cluny was her maternal uncle. As Constance was also related to her husband's first wife, Agnes of Aquitaine, Pope Gregory VII only confirmed their marriage after Alfonso agreed to replace the traditional Mozarabic liturgy in his realms with the Roman Rite. The place and date of Urraca's birth are unknown, but she was born likely in Sahagún or León around 1080, probably in 1081. Although she was her parents' sole child, her childhood is poorly documented. She mentioned Presbyter Pedro and Domingo Falcóniz, two otherwise unknown clergymen, as her tutors in her royal diplomas. Her relationship with her paternal aunt Elvira was obviously close, as it is demonstrated by Elvira's appointment as guardian of Urraca's daughter Sancha Raimúndez. A late source, Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, claims that the powerful aristocrat Pedro Ansúrez and his wife Elo Alfónsez raised Urraca in their household, but no contemporaneous document confirms this report.
First marriage and widowhood
Urraca was married to Raymond of Burgundy. Unlike her mother, who was a member of the ruling house of the Duchy of Burgundy, her husband descended from the rulers of the neighbouring County of Burgundy. Raymond was also the brother-in-law of Urraca's maternal cousin Duke Odo I of Burgundy and Odo's brother Henry. The Muslim Almoravids inflicted a heavy defeat on Alfonso VI at Sagrajas in 1086 and Urraca's marriage to Raymond was part of Alfonso's diplomatic strategy to attract cross-Pyrenees alliances. The first authentic document mentioning Urraca as Raymond's wife, a letter of grant to one Hermenegildo Rodríguez, was issued on 22 February 1093, but interpolated documents refer to them as husband and wife already before 1088. Historians Ángel Gordo Molina and Diego Melo Carrasco propose that Raymond wed Urraca likely before early 1090 when royal diplomas first present them as rulers of the "Land of Saint James", or Galicia.
Raymond reached the age of majority by the time of the marriage, but Alfonso VI continued to control the administration of Galicia. His representative in Galicia, Pedro Vimaraz, died around the time of the wedding and Alfonso appointed Arias Diaz as his successor. A talented young clergyman, Diego Gelmírez, was made the "chancellor and secretary" of Raymond and Urraca with Alfonso's consent. On the other hand, Raymond and Urraca became involved in the administration of other provinces as well. For instance, they witnessed charters on the occasion of the repopulation of Ávila, Segovia, Salamanca and Zamora. In 1093 Urraca's mother died and Alfonso's Moorish concubine Zaida of Seville gave birth to a son, Sancho Alfónsez. The birth of her illegitimate brother jeopardized Urraca's position as their father's sole heir. The power base of Raymond and Urraca weakened even more when Alfonso granted the "Land of Portugal" to his illegitimate daughter Theresa and her husband Henry of Burgundy around 1094.
As a woman, Urraca was under the tutelage of her husband. Raymond was mentioned at the first place in almost all documents issued during his rule as Count of Galicia. Two documents, both confirming privileges of the burghers of Santiago de Compostela, referred to her as "Queen Urraca" in 1095 and 1105. The use of the title may have expressed her resentment at her inferior position, although infantas, or royal princesses, were occasionally styled queens in this period. Sancho Alfónsez was regularly mentioned in royal diplomas from 1103, showing that Alfonso VI regarded his only son as his heir, although most clerics opposed the succession of an illegitimate child. By March 1107, Sancho was elected king on his father's initiative. Raymond made preparations for a succession crisis through an alliance with their brother-in-law Henry of Portugal. Their treaty was confirmed in the presence of a high-ranking monk from the Abbey of Cluny late in 1105 or early in 1106. They agreed on the division of their father-in-law's realms without referring to Sancho's claims and Henry promised to rule his portion as Raymond's vassal.
Reign
Second marriage
Urraca succeeded her father as the first queen regnant in European history. Her earliest extant diploma, issued in favour of the León Cathedral a day after her father's funeral, referred to her as "queen of whole Spain". Prominent Leonese, Castilian and Galician aristocrats and twelve bishops witnessed the document, showing that her realm's elite acknowledged her as lawful monarch. Two early sources—the Chronicle of Sahagún and the Historia Compostelana—attribute the proposal about Urraca's marriage to Alfonso I, King of Aragon and Navarre, to the Leonese aristocrats. They were reportedly convinced that a female monarch would be unable to rule and defend the kingdom against the Almoravids and forced Urraca to marry to "the bloodthirsty and cruel Aragonese tyrant" against her will. Bernard of Sédirac, Archbishop of Toledo, raised objections against the marriage, emphasising that Urraca and Alfonso were cousins. In contrast with the two chronicles, Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada writes that Alfonso VI started the negotiations about his heir's marriage with Alfonso I because he wanted to prevent Urraca's marriage with her lover, Gómez González. Gordo Molina and Melo Carrasc propose that both reports could be reliable, because the selection of a suitable husband for his daughter and heir was the elderly King's most important task before his death.
Alfonso I married Urraca in the castle of Monzón in October or November 1109. In December, Urraca granted her "whole land that used to be" her father's to her husband whom she mentioned as "lord and my spouse". In the same document, she stipulated that Alfonso should respect her "like a good husband his good wife" and he could not request the annulment of their marriage referring to their kinship or excommunication. The document confirmed the right of Urraca's son by her first marriage to inherit León in case the couple died without issue. The Galician aristocrats' traditional desire for independence awakened and they used the defense of Alfonso Raimúndez's right to rule Galicia and succeed his mother as a pretext for a rebellion. After their leader Pedro Fróilaz de Traba announced that Urraca had lost her claim to rule Galicia when remarrying, they proclaimed Alfonso Raimúndez king. Pedro Arias, Pedro Gudestéiz and other Galician nobles who remained loyal to Urraca formed a brotherhood against Pedro Fróilaz and his allies. They offered the leadership to Diego Gelmírez, who had been elevated to Bishop of Compostela, but Gelmírez remained neutral in the conflict. Alfonso I and Urraca invaded Galicia and seized the important castle of Monterroso, but reports of the cruelty of the Aragonese troops outraged the Leonese aristocrats. The relationship between Alfonso I and the high clergy grew tense. The bishop of Palencia was imprisoned, the archbishop of Toledo, the bishops of Burgos and León and the abbot of Sahagún were forced to flee.
Character
Urraca is characterized in the Historia Compostelana as prudent, modest, and with good sense. According to Reilly, the chronicle also attributes her failings to "the weakness and changeability of women, feminine perversity", and calls her a Jezebel for her liaisons with her leading magnates, with at least one relationship producing an illegitimate son. Her son Alfonso Raimúndez likewise decried the political turmoil caused by her extramarital affairs. Modern historians have given a more critical outlook to these observations, with Reilly noting that the queen was nevertheless in control of events, in contrast with earlier writers who had described her suitors as the real rulers.
Death and legacy
According to the twelfth-century Chronicon Compostellanum, Urraca died in adulterous childbirth on 8 March 1126 in the castle of Saldaña. As queen, she rose to the challenges presented to her, and her solutions were seen by Reilly as pragmatic ones. Her delaying the accession of her son Alfonso VII nevertheless led to a turbulent transition of power, as the new king would have to face the rebellion of her lover Pedro González upon her death, followed by an attempted invasion by the king of Aragon, and the resumption of Galician revolts.
Family
Urraca's firstborn child by Raymond, Sancha, was born before 11 November 1095. She was named for Urraca's paternal grandmother Sancha of León who transmitted the claim to rule the Kingdom of León to her children. A diploma issued in Monastery of San Xulián de Samos on 24 October 1102 refers to the "children" of Raymond and Urraca, implying that their second child, Alfonso, had been born, but two nearly contemporaneous sources—the Chronicon Compostellanum and the Historia Compostelana—dates Alfonso's birth to 1105. He was named for Urraca's father.
Urraca had two illegitimate children with her lover Pedro González de Lara: Fernando Pérez Hurtado (c.1114-1156), and Elvira Pérez de Lara (c.1112-1174), who is mentioned in the Historia Compostelana in connection with her donation of the village of Arquillinos to Diego Gelmírez. Elvira would twice wed, first to García Pérez de Traba, lord of Trastámara and son of Pedro Fróilaz de Traba, then to count Beltrán de Risnel.
