Life
Violant was born in Zaragoza, the daughter of King James I of Aragon (1213–1276) and his second wife the queen Yolande of Hungary (ca.1215-1253). Her maternal grandparents were Andrew II of Hungary and Gertrude of Meran.
On December 26, 1246 she married at Collegiate Valladolid to King Alfonso X of Castile who, before his marriage, had had a romantic relationship with Mayor Guillén de Guzmán who bore to him an illegitimate daughter Beatrice.
Due to Violant's young age, she was unable to get pregnant for several years. Alfonso came to believe that his wife was barren and came to even consider the possibility of asking the pope for an annulment of the marriage.
Legend has it that the Queen could not get pregnant and the doctor told her to rest. Alicante was recaptured by the Crown of Castile and the King and Queen rested in a farm located in the fields near the city, and there she became pregnant; the King decided to call the place "Pla del Bon Repos" ("Plain of good sleep"), a name that has been left to posterity and today is a suburb of Alicante.
In 1275, Violant's son and heir to Castile, Ferdinand de la Cerda died heir to the Castilian-Leonese throne and Alfonso at first ignored the rights of Ferdinand's children two sons and instead made their second son, Prince Sancho heir; he would later succeed as Sancho IV of Castile.
In response, the widow of Ferdinand, Blanche of France, enlisted the help of her brother, Philip III of France. At the same time, queen Violant sought support for her grandchildren from her brother, King Peter III of Aragon, who agreed to protect and guard them in the kingdom of Aragon, accommodating her grandchildren in the Castle of Xativa. During the reign of her son Sancho IV, and the latter's son, Ferdinand IV of Castile, Queen Violant lived almost permanently in Aragon and she supported the rights to the throne of Castile and León of her grandson, Alfonso de la Cerda.
In 1276, Violant founded the Convent of San Pablo in Valladolid. This was erected in honor of the Hungarian Order of St. Paul. Violant's mother brought some Hungarian influence on the Spanish culture, and also introduced the Order of St. Paul.
Queen Violant of Aragon died at Roncesvalles, in the kingdom of Navarre in 1301, on her return from Rome, where she had won the Jubilee in 1300.
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