The Dead Queen

7 - Constance's Marriages

Constance had already asked for a doctor as soon as she entered Lisbon. She had vomited again, was dizzy and had palpitations. The doctor gave her some herbs and a tea that promised to calm her down quickly. It didn't work out much.

She never imagined that she would need treatment, for emotional reasons, on the day of her ceremony. But it wasn't her first marriage. And the other experience wasn't a happy one. She would always keep traumas from that.

Until the age of eight, Constance could say that she'd been a happy child. The mother was very young, unprepared when she was born, but her nannies were loving. She came from a highly wealthy and noble family: Constance was the granddaughter of the King of Aragon and the daughter of the Prince of Villena, John Manuel.

But then her father decided to marry her to the King of Castile, Alfonso XI, who had just entered adolescence. Like her mother - and many noble women - Constance had been forced by her father to marry someone as a child. She was only 9 years old. Constance had adopted the title of Queen of Castile, when she barely knew what titles were.

And although those noblemen always wanted more power - even if it costs them to trade their own children as cattle - Constance was not old enough to consummate the marriage. Her body was still a child one, her thin arms, no breasts. Everyone had to wait.

Two years later, the queen girl would be repudiated: Alfonso XI would fall in love with Maria of Portugal, the daughter of King Afonso IV and sister of her future husband, Peter.

Constance wasn't old enough to understand the gravity of these events, she didn't know what it was to love a man; but she suffered. She suffered as if she had done something wrong, as if there was something wrong with her, to be despised by a great king. Constance would cry silently, but never asked or said anything to her parents. She did what was expected from her.

While she was recovering, Constance was finally promised to Peter by her father. But Alfonso XI, jealous of that, ordered the girl's arrest in the Castle of Toro. John Manuel and the kingdom of Portugal declared war on the King of Castile.

In the meantime, she would live as a nun for years, without any of the comforts and warmth she had always enjoyed.

At first, the nuns also despised her too. They condemned her profane habits, the ostentation of her clothes or places she lived with her parents, her lack of ability for monastic life. But Constance would try to adapt and obey, as she always did. So, things got better in the castle.

After many years and battles, a peace agreement between the kingdoms of Portugal and Castile would free Constance to consummate her marriage, made by proxy.

About to enter the church, she asked if Peter would now repudiate her too. Isn't what men always do? Especially she, who knew more about being a nun than a woman?

She recalled that the same King Alfonso XI who repudiated her would repudiate Maria de Portugal years later, now displaying her new lover and bastards in the court of Castile. Alfonso IV had already declare war against him, in the face of the humiliations his daughter had been suffering.

And Constance ruminated on all these sad stories at the church door. She didn't have a happy journey until that moment, she thought. But that could be the mark of a new life. Inside the cathedral, the whispers about her delay increased. Others complained about the heat. The Monsignor and the prince were already impatient.

With shaky legs, tight chest, Constance finally entered Lisbon Cathedral. The princess was afraid of fainting; such was her anxiety. Fear of not reaching the altar. But by miracle, she was walking. She had done it. They were steps towards a new life, a happy life.