13th-century English prince
Alphonso
or
Alfonso
(24 November 1273 ? 19 August 1284), also called
Alphonsus
and
Alphonse
and styled
Earl of Chester
, was an
heir apparent
to the English throne who never became king.
[1]
Alphonso was the ninth child of King
Edward I of England
and his
Castilian
wife
Eleanor
. He was born in
Bayonne
,
Gascony
, a duchy claimed by his maternal uncle King
Alphonso X of Castile
until his parents' marriage in 1254. Edward and Eleanor's friendship with the King of Castile was also confirmed when they named their son in his honour, a "remarkable choice" given the name's rarity in England. Queen Eleanor even persuaded her brother to travel to Gascony and serve as
godfather
at the young prince's baptism.
[1]
Alphonso's eldest brother, John, had died in 1271; the death of another older brother,
Henry
, in 1274, made Alphonso the couple's only son up until the last months of his life.
[2]
As his parents were often required to travel, Alphonso had a household of his own. Queen Eleanor was nevertheless invested in the upbringing of her son, who even had a Spanish cook.
[1]
At the age of ten, Alphonso was engaged to Margaret, daughter of
Floris V, Count of Holland
. An opulent
psalter
was being prepared for the marriage when he fell ill
[2]
and died a few months before the wedding was to take place. The king and queen greeted the death of their son with deep sadness; at the same time, the historian
Michael Prestwich
noted that in memory of the king's nephew, Henry of Brittany, who died a month later, Edward and Eleanor ordered more masses than in memory of their son.
The
Alphonso Psalter
, now in the
British Library
, was completed a decade later when his sister
Elizabeth
married Margaret's brother,
John I, Count of Holland
, making the pairing of arms again appropriate.
[3]
Alphonso's death at
Windsor
occurred shortly after the birth of his younger brother
Edward
, who became the oldest surviving male heir of Edward I. Alphonso was interred in The Confessor's Chapel at
Westminster Abbey
, although the exact location is unknown. His heart, however, was buried at the priory of
Blackfriars, London
(now destroyed).
As heirs apparent to the throne, both Alphonso and Edward bore the arms of the kingdom,
differenced
by a
label
azure
.
[4]
Ancestry
[
edit
]
Ancestors of Alphonso, Earl of Chester
[5]
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References
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- Illegitimate:
Joan, Lady of Wales
- Richard FitzRoy
- Oliver FitzRoy
- Geoffrey FitzRoy
- John FitzRoy
- Henry FitzRoy
- Osbert Gifford
- Eudes FitzRoy
- Bartholomew FitzRoy
- Maud FitzRoy
- Isabel FitzRoy
- Philip FitzRoy
- William de Forz
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- Illegitimate: Edmund Leboorde
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