A NOTICE OF THE

LIFE OF BERENGARIA,

CONSORT OF RICHARD THE FIRST.

BY F. MANSEL REYNOLDS, ESQ.

BERENGARIA was a princess of Navarre; and a descendant of that Sancho the Third, styled the Great, who, about the year 980, was King of Navarre and Arragon. He married Nugna, the heiress of Castile, and by this accession of territory, became so powerful that he pretended to be denominated the Emperor of Spain. But, upon his death, his dominions were divided among four of his children; and his transitory acquisition, which, if it could have been bequeathed in its integrity to a resolute successor, might have been beneficial, was productive of no permanent results.

Sancho the Sixth, surnamed the Wise, was the parent of Berengaria. Her brother succeeded him on the throne of Navarre, by the title of Sancho the Seventh, the Strong. He was deposed, and died childless, in prison; consequently, the sovereignty of Navarre passed to the house of Champagne; Thibaud the Fifth, count of that province, having married Blanche, the second and younger sister of the dethroned prince. This luckless sovereign was an intrepid warrior, and at the famous battle of Toloza, in which was determined the fate of Spain, distinguished himself pre-eminently. The deed by which he achieved so signal a renown that it is perpetuated in the armorial bearings of Navarre, is too chivalrously characteristic of the clumsy warfare of those ages, to be omitted from a memoir of his crusading sister.

When Mahomet el Nagir, whom the Spaniards call Le Vert, from the colour of his turban, invaded Spain, at the head of an army of, it is stated, six hundred thousand men, all the princes of that affrighted land thought that their destruction was at hand. From every quarter they besought assistance; and the pope, Innocent the Third, preached a crusade against the infidels. The results of these united efforts were, that more than sixty thousand men from Italy and France united themselves to the Spaniards.

Alphonso of Castile, Peter of Arragon, and Sancho of Navarre, were the chiefs of the allied army; and, on the 16th of July, 1212, they came into conflict with their invaders, who were commanded by the caliph. This prince had stationed himself on the top of a hill, which he had protected by triple chains; and whence he could see all the incidents of the fight, and be himself in view to all the combatants. Thus, in a seemingly impregnable circle of iron, with his sabre in one hand, and the Koran in the other, and surrounded by his bravest horsemen, he trusted he should be enabled to encourage his troops, yet incur no personal danger.

Florian, in his Précis Historique sur les Maures, makes the error of calling the hero of this fight, Sancho the Eighth; but his description of it is sufficiently animated to incite a quotation from the concluding part.

"The Castilians directed their efforts against this eminence. At first, they forced the Moors to retreat; but afterwards, repulsed in their turn, they retired in disorder, and began to fly. Alphonso, running here and there, to rally them, said to the Archbishop of Toledo, who accompanied him everywhere, preceded by his great cross- Archbishop, it is here that we must die. No, sire,' answered the resolute prelate, it is here that we must live, and conquer.' At this moment, the brave canon who carried the cross threw himself with it into the midst of

the Mussulmans; the archbishop and the king follow him; the Castilians rush to save their prince and standard. The kings of Arragon and Navarre, already conquerors of the wings opposed to them, unite to assault the hill. The Moors are everywhere attacked; they resist, the Christians still press onward. The Navarese, the Arragonese, the Castilian, each tries to surpass the other in prowess. The brave King of Navarre, armed with his huge battle-axe, breaks through every obstacle; arrives at the palisade, strikes, and sunders the massive chains with which the Moorish prince is environed. Mahomet then escapes; his warriors, seeing him no longer, lose their courage and their hope. All yield, all fly, before the Christians; tens of thousands of Mussulmans fall beneath their blows; and the Archbishop of Toledo, with the other prelates, surrounding the royal victors, sing the Te Deum on the field of battle."

Thus was lost and won the famous struggle at Toloza; and thus was gained for the arms of Navarre those chains of gold which they exhibit on a field gules.

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This Sancho appears to have been precisely the sort of character to have attracted the partiality of Richard Cœur de Lion; and accordingly we are not surprised to find it stated that a close friendship existed between them. In addition to his bravery, which in itself was a tie for the English prince, Sancho possessed also a strong predilection for the provençal poetry of which Richard was an enthusiastic admirer. Duke of Guienne, Richard was a near neighbour of the court of Navarre, and had ample opportunities of cementing his friendship for the brother, and of originating an affection for the sister. Probably, during the familiar intercourse arising from some sojourn at the castle of her father, Richard contracted his passion for Berengaria; and, it is affirmed, that, fierce, ungovernable, licentious, and wayward as he was, for a time he really passionately loved her. Whether this love was