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| Baths of Maria Padilla under the Palace of Alcazar at Seville; Wiki commons license; photo © José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro |
1352 saw conflict in the royal house of Castile. It was in this year that King Pedro reportedly met and became besotted with the young noblewoman Maria de Padilla on his way to do battle in the Asturias with his unhappy half-brother, Henry of Trastamere, whose mother had been executed by Pedro and his mother, Maria of Portugal.
By 1354, Pedro's mother Maria, finally fed up with life in Castile, participated in a rebellion against her own son, Pedro, and left Castile for good. Pedro dug in his heals against his mother, his noblemen, his half-brothers, and was well settled on his path to leaving Blanche of Bourbon to die possibly from an assassin's hands, well guarded against release in increasingly more remote, inaccessible locations, and utterly abandoned while Pedro whined about the French not paying the rest of Blanche's dowery (who can blame them, honestly?). There was also a story bandied about that Blanche had had a clandestine red hot improbable affair with Pedro's illegitimate half-brother en route to marrying Pedro in person. Blanche would die thus, at the age of ~25 years, alone, in the same year as her rival Maria de Padilla would die from the Plague. And Pedro would never again feel secure upon his throne.
Who was this beckoning siren who convinced Pedro to ignore his own country falling apart in front of him? Maria de Padilla was described by a contemporary:
She seems to have been quite the diminutive beauty and intelligent to cap it off. If she were truly small of body frame, it would seem that her daughter, Constance, inherited but little of it: she likely gained her tall height from her father, Pedro, who was also tall of build with fair skin and eyes. This is important to consider given Anya Seton's fictional treatment of Constance, who she portrays as a short, dark, unhygienic, nearly unhinged woman. It bears pointing out that she and her family were Northern Freaking European Nobility. They were not "moorish looking."
During Constance's formative years, she and her siblings were exposed to the exquisite artistic tastes of their mother, who seemingly left her mark in a good many foundations with her arms and connections. She also apparently had a deep appreciation for the bright tiled fountains and wall decore, some of which was called the "mujeden" style, drawing upon Islamic and Jewish styles of ornamentation.
By 1354, Pedro's mother Maria, finally fed up with life in Castile, participated in a rebellion against her own son, Pedro, and left Castile for good. Pedro dug in his heals against his mother, his noblemen, his half-brothers, and was well settled on his path to leaving Blanche of Bourbon to die possibly from an assassin's hands, well guarded against release in increasingly more remote, inaccessible locations, and utterly abandoned while Pedro whined about the French not paying the rest of Blanche's dowery (who can blame them, honestly?). There was also a story bandied about that Blanche had had a clandestine red hot improbable affair with Pedro's illegitimate half-brother en route to marrying Pedro in person. Blanche would die thus, at the age of ~25 years, alone, in the same year as her rival Maria de Padilla would die from the Plague. And Pedro would never again feel secure upon his throne.
Who was this beckoning siren who convinced Pedro to ignore his own country falling apart in front of him? Maria de Padilla was described by a contemporary:
…muy fermosa, e de buen entendimiento e pequeña de cuerpo [very beautiful, intelligent, and small of body...]
During Constance's formative years, she and her siblings were exposed to the exquisite artistic tastes of their mother, who seemingly left her mark in a good many foundations with her arms and connections. She also apparently had a deep appreciation for the bright tiled fountains and wall decore, some of which was called the "mujeden" style, drawing upon Islamic and Jewish styles of ornamentation.
There appears to be no effigy or other life representation of Maria de Padilla who, after Blanche of Bourbon's death, seems to have lived triumphantly with Pedro in the Palace at Seville for but a short space. Still, she is the focus of a wonderful narrative of 'the lovely Padilla,' almost a farcical figure in her own life, a figure concerned with pools and baths and pretty lights. A figure who died, tragically, young, like all great hist-fict heroines. Unlike what is claimed by the new women's historians of her daughter Constance, Maria de Padilla seems to have indeed avidly courted her own destiny and history with palaces and convents, her arms with their funny-looking frying pans, for all their lack of respectable decorum, existing to this day in choir stalls in California (USA) having been purchased from a Castilian convent by a wealthy U.S. Catholic family who had them installed at the San Diego (CA) Mission of San Diego de Alcala, where she is claimed to be the queen of Pedro that she never was. She is ever thus -- the romantic heroine who perseveres despite the truly obnoxious fate of her rival and who bore Pedro his living, but of of questionable legitimacy, heirs and who died, tragically, young.
Except that she didn't. Pedro had married another woman in her place in addition to Blanche of Bourbon. The woman's name was Juana de Castro and it was she and no other who took her claim of being Queen of Castile quite literally to her grave which depicts her thus. And not for nothing: Despite Pedro's abandoning Juana as well as Blanche of Bourbon after mere days of marriage, it was she who bore his supposedly sole surviving legitimate male heir, Juan, who didn't die until 1405 leaving offspring.
Except that she didn't. Pedro had married another woman in her place in addition to Blanche of Bourbon. The woman's name was Juana de Castro and it was she and no other who took her claim of being Queen of Castile quite literally to her grave which depicts her thus. And not for nothing: Despite Pedro's abandoning Juana as well as Blanche of Bourbon after mere days of marriage, it was she who bore his supposedly sole surviving legitimate male heir, Juan, who didn't die until 1405 leaving offspring.
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