In mid-October 1251, a large funeral procession arrived at the doors of the Ilerda convent of Vallbona de les Monges, at that time one of the most important female Cistercian monasteries in Catalonia. It was headed by the king, Jaume I, followed by the main dignitaries of the kingdom. Accompanying them were the mortal remains of what had been one of the monastery's greatest benefactors, the monarch's second wife, Violant d'Hongria, who had stated in her will her desire to rest forever within the walls of the convent.
With this, the princess who twenty years ago arrived in Catalonia from the distant Central European plains was definitively linked to what had been her kingdom.
Despite having gone down in history as Violant, a name given to her by her Catalan-Aragonese subjects, the wife of Jaume I the Conqueror was baptized Andrea. There is no record of her exact date, although most of her biographers believe that she was born around 1216 to the marriage of Andrew II of Hungary and his second wife, Violant de Courtenay.
The Magyar kingdom had its origins in the union of a series of nomadic tribes located on the periphery of the Carolingian Empire. In the 12th century it was already consolidated, and could be considered a Central European power close to the Mediterranean states, due to its strategic positions on the Dalmatian coast.
The relationship with the Crown of Aragon dates back to ancient times and had been strengthened through the link between Emeric I of Hungary and Constança d'Aragó, a union behind which – as was to happen in the case of Violant – was the papacy.
The increasing power of the Holy Roman Empire meant that powers of lesser political and territorial caliber came under the protection of the Holy See. The pope ended up becoming the arbiter of European political destinies, a control that he often put into practice through his intervention in certain dynastic links.
They all had a double objective and a single standard in common. The double objective was to stop imperial ambitions and to obtain allies with whom to combat the multiple heresies that emerged in Mediterranean Europe (Cathars) or Balkan Europe (Bogomilites), as well as the powerful Islam, both in the Iberian Peninsula and in Los Santos. Places. As for the regulations, it was aimed at controlling endogamy between the ruling families.
This was common, because, by promoting marriages between princes belonging to nearby kingdoms, the union of territories was facilitated and with it the creation of new, increasingly powerful states. To avoid this, after the IV Lateran Council, at the beginning of the 13th century, the Church authorized marriages whose parties were related only from the fourth degree of kinship, a regulation that, therefore, encouraged links between distant dynasties.
Taking advantage of this provision, Jaume I had obtained the annulment of his first marriage with Eleanor of Castile in 1230. Although a son had already been born to him (Alfons, who would have inherited ownership of the Crown of Aragon if he had survived his father), the sovereign cited reasons of kinship (both were great-grandsons of Alfonso VII of Castile) and obtained that the Holy See declared the marriage null.
The real reason was the lack of interest of the Catalan-Aragonese king in the Castilian alliance. Jaume I was at that time committed to the conquest of Mallorca, and a marriage with more European airs suited him. When Pope Gregory IX was consulted, he proposed two candidates: the daughter of the Duke of Austria and Andrea Arpad. The Magyar princess, perhaps by assimilation with her mother Violant de Courtenay, became known from then on as Violant d'Hongria.
The king did not take long to opt for her. Violant scholars describe her as a tolerant and open woman, understandable having grown up in a multicultural court like the Hungarian one. She is also cultured and very beautiful, with light skin and blonde hair, attributes highly valued in the Middle Ages. But the truth is that the candidate's personal virtues had little influence on her election.
Jaume I assures in the Libre dels feyts, his autobiographical chronicles, that his decision was due to Violant's belonging to a royal lineage, since, having already been married to the daughter of the Castilian monarch, he could not lower himself to marrying a simple duchess. He did not specify the great weight of the fact that the candidate was the half-sister of Elizabeth, the late wife of Count Louis IV of Thuringia, whose canonization process was close to completion.
It is true that Jaume I was a deeply religious man – although his private life did not fit with what this implies – and therefore he must have been enthusiastic about the possibility of having a saint in the family. But, above all, being related to the saga of Isabella of Hungary guaranteed the alliance with the papacy and, consequently, the affirmation of Aragonese power in the Mediterranean.
Especially because the shadow of the excommunication decreed against his father, Pere II the Catholic, weighed on the Aragonese dynasty, who died in Muret fighting the crusaders who sought to put an end to the Cathar heresy. By marrying Violant, half-sister of a saint recognized by the Catholic Church, Jaume I ensured for the Crown of Aragon a prestige superior to that of his main rival, Louis IX of France, who enjoyed a position of privilege before the papacy due to his growing involvement in the conquest of the Holy Places.
At that time, the Conqueridor was 27 years old, that is, about nine years older than the young Magyar princess. In the wedding contract, Jaume I promised to donate the kingdom of Mallorca and the lands that were conquered in Valencia to the possible children born of this union. A year and a half later she Violant landed in Barcelona, where she was received with enthusiasm by her subjects and with pomp and ceremony displayed by her future husband.
Contemporary chronicles affirm that love arose immediately between the two. Of course, shortly after the wedding, the monarch expanded his wife's dowry with the lordships of Cerdanya, Conflent and Vallespir and the town of Colliure, and the epithet of “carísima coniux mea” (“my carísima coniux mea”) is exceptional. “very dear wife”) that he dedicates to him in the Libre dels feyts, written by the monarch himself and totally non-existent in other royal chronicles of the time.
When years later the infatuation subsided, it gave way to friendship. She was always faithful to the Conqueridor. She remained with him even in the hardest moments of the reign, followed him to the battlefield and supported his decisions, even though it was public and notorious that the king was involved with other women. Violant fulfilled all the expectations placed on medieval sovereigns: she gave birth to numerous children to the monarch, took care of educating them, acted as arbiter of court life and founded churches and monasteries.
In the numerous entourage of the Hungarian princess there was a large group of warriors with a reputation for being fierce. Many of them joined the army of King Jaume, committed to the conquest of Valencia, and received lands and houses as a reward for their war merits.
At that time, after taking over the kingdom of Mallorca, Jaume I had begun the conquest of Valencia. After the capture of Morella in 1232, he had opened the passage to the Mediterranean. After taking Borriana and Peníscola, the Christian troops continued on their way to the last Muslim bastion, the city of Valencia, whose final conquest was completed in 1242.
The king was not alone in the campaign. Four years earlier, Violant, who had already given birth to her first daughter and was again a few months pregnant, traveled with her and settled in the Puig de Santa Maria monastery, at the gates of the city of Valencia. Since then, her role as a political advisor was considerable. The conciliatory position of Jaume I towards the Muslims residing in Valencia in order to achieve the peaceful surrender of the city is attributed to her influence.
In that recently conquered Valencia Violant gave birth to the infant Pere, the future Pere III the Great. She was his fourth child. He was preceded by Violant, future wife of Alfonso X the Wise and, as such, queen of Castile; Constança, who, after years, would marry the Castilian infant Don Juan Manuel; and a boy, who died shortly after birth. Jaume, future Jaume II of Mallorca, was going to follow him; Ferran, who died as a child; Elizabeth, queen of France; Maria and Sança, both nuns; and Sanç, who would be archbishop of Toledo.
But the queen's health, due to pregnancies and births, suffered by leaps and bounds. Possibly for this reason, guessing that her life would not be long, and given the existence of an heir to the throne (Alfons, born from the previous union of Jaume I with Eleanor of Castile), she strove to ensure the future of her children. her. She was already established in the nuptial agreements, which provided for the possible partition of the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon.
Violant d'Hongria's last political intervention took place in 1249, when the differences between Jaume I and the infant Pedro of Portugal were submitted to his opinion. They argued about the convenience of expelling the Saracens from the Segorb area and the way to repopulate those lands, which the infantry owned. The queen was forceful: the monarch had to give his opponent the not inconsiderable amount of 10,000 salaries in compensation for possible lost benefits.
Shortly afterward his health failed. In 1251, while in Huesca, he suddenly fell ill. Aware of the gravity, he called the king to his side and made a will. In it he did not forget his children, but neither did he forget his relatives nor his closest servants. In her dispositions, she also made clear her desire to be buried in Vallbona de les Monges.
He asked the king, in his memory, to clothe a thousand poor people and distribute food to thirty thousand others. Finally, he commissioned her to make donations to various convents and monasteries, and divided the Hungarian possessions among his sons Pere, Jaume and Sanç. After two days, the queen died.
In 1928, her grave in the monastery was opened due to the suspicion that she had been buried with luxurious clothing and some of her jewelry. However, only human remains were found in her sarcophagus. Violant d'Hongria had decided to leave for eternity empty-handed.
This text is part of an article published in number 496 of the magazine Historia y Vida. Do you have something to contribute? Write to us at redaccionhyv@historiayvida.com.
