Sanchia of Provence

Sanchia of Provence (c. 1228 – 9 November, 1261), was the third daughter of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and Beatrice of Savoy. Sanchia was described as `of incomparable beauty.'

She was a sister of Marguerite of Provence, Eleanor of Provence and Beatrice of Provence. Her sisters were the respective Queen consorts of Louis IX of France, Henry III of England and Charles I of Sicily.

When all four sisters were together, 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 would provide both of them with crowns ultimately and that Beatrice in particular would live a most romantic and exciting life.

It was Eleanor of Provence who arranged a marriage between her brother-in-law Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, whose first wife Isabel Marshal had died recently, and her sister Sanchia. The latter was engaged to Raymond VII of Toulouse, but the weak part he played 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 the Kingdom of England and perhaps in Europe, was still only a prince. Beatrice of Savoy, mother of the bride, came to England to see her third daughter wedded, but her father Ramon Berenguer IV was detained by state difficulties which his wife solved by getting a loan from Henry III of four thousand marks. 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.

Sanchia of Provence, was acknowledged to have a softer and more winsome type of good looks than either her older sisters Marguerite or Eleanor. In January 1257, the ambassadors were summoned to a long hall where, in front of a roaring fire, Richard and his beautiful wife Sanchia were dining in considerable elegance and state, "Richard rose to hear what the men from Bohemia had to say 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 Sanchia was delighted beyond measure. Now she would be a queen as well as her two older and patronizing sisters."

She was crowned Queen of the Romans and Queen of Germany with her husband on 27 May, 1257 at Aachen Cathedral in Germany.

The couple had 3 sons:

* Richard of Cornwall (July 1246-15 August 1246)
* Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall (1249-1300), married Margaret de Clare (d. 1312). Childless.
* Richard of Cornwall (1252-March 1296), married Joan Saint Owen (b. 1260). Had issue.

Sanchia died in 9 November 1261 at Berkhamsted Castle and was buried in Hailes Abbey.

ources

Nancy Goldstone. Four Queens; The Provençal Sisters who ruled Europe. Pinguin Books, London, 2008