This biography, written by Gabby Storey, is shared with permission from Team Queens, an educational history blog run by a collective of historical scholars. All rights reserved; this material may not be republished without the author’s consent.
Born: circa 1165 to 1170, Spain
Died: 23 December 1230
Country most active: International
Also known as: Berengela, Berenguela, Bérengère
Born c.1165-1170 to King Sancho VI and Sancha of Navarre, Berengaria spent her early years at the Navarrese court. Little is known of her upbringing, and aside from the grant to her of the fief of Monreal, we have little documentary evidence prior to her marriage.
The origins of the Anglo-Navarrese marital alliance which would see Berengaria marry Richard I, also known as Richard the Lionheart, are contested: it is plausible that either Richard or Eleanor initiated the alliance.
Richard’s decision to use Navarre to protect his southern borders whilst on crusade saw him break his engagement with Alys, sister of Philip Augustus, king of France, to wed Berengaria. Berengaria travelled with her mother-in-law Eleanor across Western Europe to meet Richard.
They were married at Limassol, Cyprus, on 12 May 1191. Berengaria was crowned queen of England the same day as her marriage. She continued her travels on crusade with Richard and her sister-in-law, Joanna of Sicily, with whom she returned to the Angevin heartlands in 1193.
The main documentary evidence that survives for Berengaria’s tenure is her witness of a loan in Rome in 1193. Otherwise, her time as consort is difficult to detail, as even her queenly residence is debated.
Upon Richard’s death in 1199, Berengaria travelled to Fontevraud and met her mother-in-law, though it is not clear if she attended the funeral. She spent the next few years, and indeed most of her life, petitioning King John for revenues and income.
In 1204, Berengaria arranged with Philip Augustus to surrender her rights to her Norman dower lands in exchange for lordship of Le Mans. It is here we can see her exercise of power, and her abilities as a female lord.
Berengaria was involved with several local religious institutions, however her foundation of the Abbaye de l’Épau, later her burial site, is one for which she is most well known. Despite popular misconception, Berengaria visited England in 1220 for Thomas Becket’s translation.
Although she never remarried and never bore children, her dowager period proves a striking contrast and interest to her time as consort.
Recommended Reading
Ann Trindade, Berengaria, In Search of Richard the Lionheart’s Queen (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1999)
Elizabeth Hallam, “Bérengère de Navarre,” La Province du Maine 93 (1991): 225-237
Gabrielle Storey, “Berengaria of Navarre and Joanna of Sicily as Crusading Queens, Manipulation, reputation, and agency,” in Forgotten Queens in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Political Agency, Myth-making, and Patronage, eds. Valerie Schutte and Estelle Paranque, 41-59 (Abingdon: Routledge, 2018)
Gabrielle Storey, Berengaria of Navarre, Queen Consort and Lady of Le Mans (Routledge, 2024)
Ghislain Baury and Vincent Corriol, Bérengère de Navarre (v. 1160-1230): Histoire et mémoire d’une reine d’Angleterre (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2022).
The following is excerpted from A Cyclopædia of Female Biography, published 1857 by Groomsbridge and Sons and edited by Henry Gardiner Adams.
BERENGARIA, Of Navarre, was daughter of Sancho the Wise, King of Naples, and married Richard Cœur de Lion, soon after he ascended the throne of England. Richard had been betrothed when only seven years of age, to Alice, daughter of Louis the Seventh, who was three years old. Alice was sent to the English court, when a girl of thirteen, for her education. The father of Cœur de Lion, Henry the Second, fell in love with this betrothed of his son; and had prevented the marriage from being solemnized. But Richard, after he ascended the throne, was still trammelled by this engagement to Alice, while he was deeply in love with Berengaria. At length these obstacles were overcome. “It was the joyous month of May, 1191,” to quote an old writer, “in the flourishing and spacious isle of Cyprus, celebrated as the very abode of the goddess of love, did king Richard solemnly take to wife his beloved lady Berengaria.”
This fair queen accompanied her husband on his warlike expedition to the Holy Land. In the autumn of the same year Richard concluded his peace with Saladin, and set out on his return to England. But he sent Berengaria by sea, while he, disguised as a Templar, intended to go by land. He was taken prisoner, and kept in durance, by Leopold of Austria, nearly five years. Richard’s profligate companions seem to have estranged his thoughts from his gentle, loving wife, and for nearly two years after his return from captivity, he gave himself up to the indulgence of his baser passions; but finally his conscience was awakened, he sought his ever-faithful wife, and she, woman-like, forgave him. From that time they were never parted, till his death, which occurred in 1199. She survived him many years, founded an abbey at Espan, and devoted herself to works of piety and mercy. “From her early youth to her grave, Berengaria manifested devoted love to Richard: uncomplaining when deserted by him, forgiving when he returned, and faithful to his memory unto death,” says her accomplished biographer, Miss Strickland.
The following is excerpted from Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Designed and Arranged by William C. King. Published in 1900 by The King-Richardson Co. Copyright 1903 The King-Richardson Co.
Berengaria of Navarre, Wife of Richard the Lion Hearted, Twelfth Century A.D.
Berengaria of Navarre was a daughter of Sancho the Wise, king of Naples, and married Richard Coeur de Lion soon after he ascended the throne of England. Richard had been betrothed, when only seven years of age, to Alice, daughter of Louis VII, who was three years old. Alice was sent to the English court for her education.
The father of Richard Coeur de Lion, Henry II, fell in love with the betrothed of his son, and prevented the marriage from being solemnized. But Richard, after he ascended the throne, was still trammeled by this engagement to Alice, while he was deeply in love with Berengaria. At length those obstacles were overcome. “It was in the joyous month of May, 1191,” to quote an old writer, “in the flourishing and spacious isle of Cyprus, celebrated the very abode of teh goddess of love, did King Richard solemnly take to wife his beloved lady, Berengaria”
The fair queen accompanied her husband on his warlike expedition to the Holy Land. In the autumn of the same year Richard concluded his peace with Saladin and set out on his return to England. But he sent Berengaria by sea, while he, disguised as a Templar, intended to go by land. He was taken prisoner and kept in durance by Leopold of Austria nearly five years.
Richard’s profligate companions seem to have estranged his thoughts from his gentle, loving wife, for nearly two years after his return from captivity, he gave himself up to the indulgence of his baser passions; but finally, his conscience was awakened, he sought his ever faithful wife, and she forgave him. From that time they were never parted till his death, which occurred in 1199.
She survived him many years, founded an abbey at Espan, and devoted herself to works of piety and mercy.
The following is excerpted from the Dictionary of National Biography, originally published between 1885 and 1900, by Smith, Elder & Co. It was written by William Hunt.
BERENGARIA (d. after 1230), queen of Richard I, was the daughter of Sancho VI of Navarre, and his queen Blanche of Castile. Remarkable for wisdom, beautiful in person, and of elegant manners, she had won the heart of Richard when he was count of Poitou (Itin. Ricardi, 176; Will. Newb. c. 19). Soon after he came to the throne he sent his mother, Eleanor, to bring her to him at Messina, whither he had gone on his way to the crusade, that he might make her his wife. Eleanor and Berengaria crossed into Italy by the Great St. Bernard, and in February 1191 came down to Naples, where they found ships sent by Richard to meet them. A large escort accompanied the ladies, and the servants of Tancred of Sicily forbade them to enter Messina (Benedict, ii. 157). They accordingly went on to Brindisi. While they were there, Richard had a dispute with Philip of France about the intended marriage, for he had long been under a contract to marry the French king’s sister Alice. Philip demanded that Richard should sail with him at once, and then he said he might marry Berengaria at Acre; if not, then he should marry his sister. Richard said that he would not do either the one or the other (Rigord, 32). The story that he declared that Berengaria was already his wife (Guil. Armor. iv. 182) is manifestly untrue. After the dispute had been arranged, Richard went to Reggio, and brought his mother and Berengaria to Messina on 30 March, the very day Philip left. When Richard set sail from Messina on 10 April, he sent Berengaria and his sister Joanna, the widowed queen of Sicily, in advance of the fleet in a strongly built vessel called a dromond, or buss, under the charge of Robert of Tornham. A violent storm scattered the fleet. The king landed at Crete, and then at Rhodes, while the ship in which the ladies were came to anchor off Limasol on 1 May. Isaac, the emperor of Cyprus, tried to entice the ladies ashore, but they seem to have known the cruelty with which the Cypriots had treated the crews of the ships that had been wrecked, and refused to listen to his invitation. At last, on 6 May, they promised to disembark the next day. Scarcely had they made this promise, when Richard’s ship came in sight. The next day the defeat of the Cypriots enabled Berengaria to enter Limasol. On 12 May she was married to Richard by his chaplain Nicolas, afterwards bishop of Le Mans, and on the same day was crowned queen by the Archbishop of Bordeaux and the Bishops of Evreux and Bayonne. When Richard completed the conquest of Cyprus, and forced the emperor to surrender on 31 May, he committed Isaac’s daughter to the queen’s care, that she might bring her up. On 1 June Berengaria, Joanna, and their suite sailed from Cyprus for Acre, and the king, who set out a few days later, joined them there on 8 June, When the city surrendered, it was parted between Richard and Philip, and as the palace happened to be in the share that fell to Richard, he lodged his queen, his sister, and Isaac’s daughter there. When on 21 Aug. Richard marched southwards, Berengaria was left at Acre under the care of Stephen of Longchamp and Bertram of Verdun. She and the other ladies remained in Palestine until the return of Richard to Acre in September 1192. They then embarked on Michaelmas day, and, more fortunate than the king, arrived safely at Sicily (Diceto, 668; Will. Newb. c. 31). Thence they went to Rome, where they were honourably received by Celestine III. At Rome they stayed for six months, for they were glad of the pope’s protection against the emperor. When they left, Celestine gave them in charge to a cardinal, who conducted them by Pisa and Genoa to Marseilles There they were met by Alfonso II of Aragon, who took them as far as the borders of his kingdom, Raymond of St. Gilles, count of Toulouse, next took charge of them, and conducted them to Poitou (Hoveden, iii. 228). Richard did not join his wife for some time after his release. He seems to have fallen into an uncleanly life, for in 1195 he was sharply reproved by a hermit, who warned him ‘Esto memor subversionis Sodomæ, &c.’ (Hoveden, iii. 288). After a severe illness he declared that he would take Berengaria back to him again, for he had not lived with her for some years, not probably since they parted at Acre. They doubtless met at Poitiers at Christmas 1195. It is possible that she may have been with the king when he received his death-wound (Hemingburgh, i. 228, implies that this was so, but his account of Richard’s death is late and inaccurate). After Richard’s death she lived much at Le Mans, for she had received that city and the county of Bigorre as her dower. John cheated her of her jointure. In 1201 she went to Chinon to meet him, and he there promised her Bayeux,two castles in Anjou, and 1,000 marks a year (Hoveden, iv. 173; Rymer, i. 40). He did not keep his word, and in January 1204 Innocent III wrote to him saying that her poverty forced her to live like a beggar with her sister Blanche, countess of Champagne (Recueil, xix. 447). Another urgent letter was written by the pope on the same subject in 1207 (Rymer, i. 143); and another demand was made in 1213 (Ann. Wav. 278), when John made his submission. Finally in 1215 a composition was made of which the pope approved {Recueil xix. 607). The king’s death prevented the payment of the arrears. Early in the reign of Henry III she claimed 4,040l. The Templars became her agents, and secured her from further loss. She lived at Le Mans as countess, for on 23 Aug. 1216 she presided over a trial by combat (L’Art de Vérifier, xiii. 102). In 1226 she inherited a share in the estate of her distant kinsman William, bishop of Chalons (Alberic Trium Fontium, Recueil, xviii. 796). She founded the Cistercian monastery called ‘Pietas Dei’ at Espan in Maine in 1230. She died soon after, and was buried in the church she had built.