Urraca of Portugal (Portuguese pronunciation:[uˈʁakɐ]; 1148 – 1211) was the queen of León from 1165 until 1175 as the wife of King Ferdinand II. She was the daughter of the first Portuguese king, Afonso I, and the mother of Alfonso IX. After her marriage to Ferdinand was annulled, the former queen became a nun.
After the annulment of her marriage, Urraca became a nun, joining the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. She retired to live in the estates that her former husband had given her in the Carta de Arras (wedding tokens) in Zamora. Later, she resided in the Monastery of Santa María de Wamba, which belonged to the aforementioned order.[3]
On 25 May 1176, Queen Urraca donated land and villas to the Order of Saint John, probably coinciding with her joining the order. These properties included Castroverde de Campos and Mansilla in León, and Salas and San Andrés in Asturias.[4] She was present in 1188 at the coronation of her son Alfonso IX, who succeeded his father Ferdinand II on 22 January 1188. On 4 May in that same year, she and her son confirmed the privileges granted by Ferdinand II to the Order of Santiago.[3] Her presence is registered for the last time in medieval charters in 1211, when she donated the village of Castrotoraf, which she had received from Ferdinand in 1165 as a wedding gift, to the Cathedral of Zamora.[5][6]
Death
Queen Urraca died in Wamba, Valladolid, in 1211.[6] She was buried at the Monastery of Santa María de Wamba in what is now the province of Valladolid.[3]St Mary's, the former monastic church and the only part remaining of the ancient monastery, contains the Chapel of the Queen: a plaque that was placed there subsequently mentions that Queen Urraca had been interred in this church.[7]
Arco y Garay, Ricardo del (1954). Sepulcros de la Casa Real de Castilla. Madrid: Instituto Jerónimo Zurita. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. OCLC11366237.
Elorza, Juan C.; Vaquero, Lourdes; Castillo, Belén; Negro, Marta (1990). Junta de Castilla y León. Consejería de Cultura y Bienestar Social (ed.). El Panteón Real de las Huelgas de Burgos. Los enterramientos de los reyes de León y de Castilla. Publisher Evergráficas S.A. ISBN84-241-9999-5.
García Tato, Isidro (2004). Las encomiendas gallegas de la Orden Militar de San Juan de Jerusalén: Estudio y edición documental (in Spanish). Vol. I. Santiago de Compostela: Instituto de Estudios Gallegos "Padre Sarmiento. hdl:10261/49926. ISBN840008250-8.
Rodrigues Oliveira, Ana (2010). Rainhas medievais de Portugal. Dezassete mulheres, duas dinastias, quatro séculos de História (in Portuguese). Lisbon: A esfera dos livros. ISBN978-989-626-261-7.
* also an infanta of Spain and an archduchess of Austria,** also an imperial princess of Brazil,*** also a princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duchess in Saxony,◙ Also a princess of Braganza,ƒ title of pretense
