Berengaria had yielded young King Henry I…

Berengaria had yielded young King Henry I to a Castilian count under specific terms when a faction of Castilian nobles plotted to take control of her brother and his throne.

The count, however, had ignored his compact, and his autocratic manner has brought Castile to the brink of ruination and revolution.

At Henry’s accidental death in 1217, however, Berengaria, as royal heiress, becomes queen.

A few months later, she accedes to the wishes of her subjects and yields her rights of succession to her eighteen-year-old son by King Alfonso IX of León, who is unaware of these actions.

Berengaria’s son is declared King Ferdinand III of Castile on August 31, 1217.