Beatrice "Contesson" of Savoy (c. 1250-1290): The Mother of Juan Manuel

BEATRICE "CONTESSON" OF SAVOY (c. 1250-1290): THE MOTHER OFJUAN MANUEL Richard R Kinkade University ofArizona "Acaescio C)Ue nnsçio vn fijo a vii infante que avia noln]bte don Manuel, et lue su madie donna Beatriz, condesa de Saboya, muger del elicilo infante, [et] pusieron no[nJbre don Iohan" (Libro de los estados, 1: 232). Many references have been made to Beatrice "Contesson" of Savoy , but little of substance has ever been written about her and what meager evidence may be found concerning her life is scattered throughout the pages of history'.1 When wc consider the crucial relevance of the House ofSavoy in the course of thirteenth-century European politics , it is easy to overlook the young woman who spent the first eighteen years of her life in a Cisterican convent at Le Betton when compared with the achievements of her more illustrious aunts, uncles, cousins and older siblings. Ehe same may be said of her husband, Infante Manuel, whose personality and accomplishments have too often been overshadowed by the exploits of his older, more prominent brothers. Together, however, these two rather obscure figures produced a son whose undeniable brilliance ironically serves to illuminate both their own lives and the tenebrous nature ofthat distant relationship between the House of Savoy and the kingdom of Castilla-León, bringing to life people, places and events that would otherwise today be no more than dusty footnotes to history. Juan Manuel's frequent mention of his parents throughout his works and the unquestionable 1 The only monographic treatment of her I am aware of is Lilis Rubio García, "La Condesa Doña Beatriz de Saboya", a briefreprise ofonly the most basic facts ofher life. Li coROMCA 32.3 (Summer, 2004): 163-225 164Richard P. KinkadeLa coránica 32.3, 2004 significance he attaches to their influence are all compelling reasons to assert that until we have a fuller understanding of the several roles these individuals played in his life, our own appreciation of die most important prose writer in medieval Castilian letters can never be adequately assessed.2 1 The House of Savoy 1 189-1253 The story of Beatrice Contesson, the House of Savoy and their notable intervention in the affairs of the kingdom of Castilla-León begins in die last decade of the twelfth century with die ascension of her grandfather, Count Thomas I (born 1 1 77; ruled 1 1 89-1 233), great grandfather ofJuan Manuel. Prior to die advent ofThomas, die counts of Savoy had played a radier minor role in die politics of Europe and Thomas would be the first to realize the Savoyard dream of a unified transalpine state. At the beginning ofhis forty-four-year reign in 1 189, Count Thomas was die ruler of several feudal domains north and west of the Alps including the counties of Savoy, Maurienne and Chablais and, on the Italian side of the Alps, the county of Aosta and the marquisate of Susa. By the end of his life in 1233, however, his audiority would not be measured so much by territorial gains as by the various marriages and ecclesiastical posts he had successfully transacted for his eight surviving offspring whose influence was later to be felt diroughout the courts of Europe and with considerable consequences for die royal family of Castilla-León.3 These relationships are graphically portrayed in die genealogical table at the end of die article. Count Thomas was married c. 1 1 95 to Marguerite of Geneva (c.l 179-1257), daughter of Count William I of Geneva and ruler of the barony of Faucigny (1130-1 195),4 whose sister was Contesson of Geneva.3 The eldest son and heir of Count Thomas and Marguerite, - The present article represents, mutatis mutaridi, "The House ofSavoy ", chapter 6 of a comprehensive biography I am currently writing on Infante Manuel. 3 Eugene L. Cox, Eagles ofSavoy, 11-14. 4 See Charles W. Previté Orton, Early History ofthe House ofSavoy, 358. J Beatrice "Contesson ofSavoy was probably given the nickname "Contesson", after her father's grandaunt, Contesson ofGeneva, who was also said to have had a daughter, Beatrice Contesson of Geneva, to...