Countess Sanchia Berenger PROVENCE

   Other names for Sanchia were Sancha and PROVENCE Countess.

   Ancestral File Number: 9FTW-1N.

   General Notes:

Countess of PROVENCE.

BOOKS
Kings and Queens of Great Britain, Genealogical Chart, Anne Taute and Romilly Squire, Taute, 1990: "Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, Mar =2 Sanchia Sister of Queen Eleanor, Died 1261."

A History of The Plantagenets, Vol II, The Magnificent Century, Thomas B Costain 1951, Doubleday & Co, p136: "The charm of Provencal princesses was on an ascending scale, each one to arrive being more highly praised than those before her. Marguerite, the first daughter, was fresh and pretty with dark hair and fine eyes. Eleanor, the second, was thought at firstto have transcended all comparison and was known as La Belle, although Sanchia, who followed her, was of such subtle charm and fascination that she was described as `of incomparable beauty.' It remained, however, for Beatrice, the fourth daughter, to set men's hearts thumping and the fingers of troubadours to fevered twanging of lyres. Two of the balladists at the Provenchal court were temporarily deprived of reason for love of the entrancing Beatrice."
p143: "The Queen, havingconceived a poor opinion of the people over whom her husband ruled, was never happy unless surrounded by her relatives and favorites from Provence. In addition to those who remained permanently there was a constant stream of visitors. It is recorded that when the four sisters were together the two elder, Marguerite and Eleanor, insisted on the two younger sitting on stools in their presence because they were not queens. This irked Sanchia and Beatrice very much, neither realizing that fate (without any assistance from the archschemer Romeo) would provide both of them with crowns ultimately and the Beatrice particularly would live a most romantic and exciting life."
p158: "Henry and Eleanor spent a pleasant winter in Bordeaux. There was much entertaining and feasting and staging of brilliant pageants at which the guisers of Provence sang their love lyrics and twanged on their lutes. The royal couple were chiefly concerned in arranging a marriage between Henry's brother Richard of Cornwall, whose wife Isabella had died recently, and Eleanor's sister Sanchia. The latter was affianced to Raimund of Toulouse, but the weak part played by the latter in the recent fighting was a good enough excuse for breaking the bond. A new marriage contract was drawn up and signed, Sanchia, occupying a stool, no doubt, during the ceremony of signature, for Richard, although the wealthiest man in England and perhaps in Europe, was still only a prince... "The first business to claim his serious attention was getting Richard and Sanchia married. As usual, he burbled with enthusiasm over the arrangements, declaring it must be made an occasion to remember. Beatrice of Provence, mother of the bride, came to England to see her third daughter wedded, but Raimund Berenger was detained by state difficulties which his wife solved by getting a loan from Henry of four thousand amrks. The cost of the wedding was chiefly defrayed by a levy imposed on the Jews of the country. It was an arbitrary proceeding, each of them receiving notice of the size of the donation required...An idea of the extravagance of the festivities may be gleaned from the fact that thirty thousand dishes were prepared for the wedding dinner alone."
p184: "While on the subject of Richard of Cornwall, it should be mentioned that he had the habit of marrying beautiful women...Sanchia of Provence, the second, was acknowledged to have a softer and morewinsome type of good looks than either Queen Marguerite of France or Queen Eleanor of England..."
p236: "The immense castle of Wallingford, in the building of which a large part of the town had been demolished, was the favorite residing place of Richard of Cornwall. He was there a great deal, at any rate; and there he was when a party of emissaries from Ottocar of Bohemia arrived to announce that he had been elected King of Germany. It was a cold day in January 1257, and the ambassadors were summoned to a long hall where, in front of a roaring fire, the brother of the English King and his beautiful wife Sanchia were dining in considerable elegance and state.
"Richard rose to hear what the men form Bohemia had tosay and at the finish he burst into tears. He would accept the crown, he said, but it was not through greed or ambition. His sole object was to assist in restoring prosperity to the German states; his honest desire was to rule justly and well. It was clear to the German delegation, and to the throng of adherents and servants who swarmed into the hall to listen, that he was happy over the fulfillment of his great wish. It must have been quite apparent also that the gentle Sanchia wasdelighted beyond measure. Now she would be a queen as well as her two older and patronizing sisters."

The Political History of England 1216-1377, Vol III, T F Tout, 1905, AMS Press, p54: "The new queen's kinsfolk quickly acquired an almost unbounded ascendency over her weak husband. With the exception of the reigning Count Amadeus of Savoy, her eight maternal uncles were somewhat scantily provided for. The prudence of the French government prevented them from obtaining any advantage for themselves at the court of their niece the Queen of France, and they gladly welcomed the opportunity of establishing themselves at the expense of their English nephew. Self-seeking and not over-scrupulous, able, energetic and with the vigour and resource of high-born soldiers of fortune, several of them play honourable parts in the history of their own land..."
p61: "...Richard was back in England early in 1242, and on November 23, 1243, his marriage with Sanchia of Provence, the younger sister of the queens of France and England, completed his conversion to the court party..."
p63: "...Henry took ship on May 9 at Portsmouth and landed on May 13 at Royan at the mouth of the Gironde. He was accompanied by Richard of Cornwall, seven earls, and 300 knights...
"...while Peter of Aigueblanche, the Savoyard Bishop of Hereford, went to Provence to negotiate the union between Earl Richard and Sanchia, and, if possible to add Raymond Berengar to thecoalition against the husband of his eldest daughter..."

ANCESTRY.COM
World Ancestral Chart No. 125360 Ancestors of Patricia Ann Kieffer.

ANCESTAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.10 9FTW-1N, 8XJ6-DQ, 8WKP-M2, 9M41-3N, and 9NQF-KN.

   Marriage Information:

Sanchia married Earl Richard England CORNWALL, son of King John ENGLAND and Queen Isabella De Taillefer ENGLAND, on 23 Nov 1243 in Abbey, Westminster, London, Middlesex, England. (Earl Richard England CORNWALL was born on 5 Jan 1209 in Winchester, Hampshire, England, died on 2 Apr 1272 in Castle, Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, England and was buried on 13 Apr 1272 in Abbey, Hailes, Gloucestershire, England.)