Christina , princess of Norway and Infanta of Castile

Kristina Håkonsdatter , Prinsesse Kristina
Kristina , princesa de Noruega e Infanta de Castilla
Christina , princess of Norway and Infanta of Castile

Born: 1234 Bergen (Norway)

Died: 1262 Sevilla (Spain)
At the age of 28

The flower of the north,the golden gift.

 

Covarrubias,province of Burgos, Spain.
In 1953 a sarcophagus believed to be empty was mistakenly opened to reveal a woman.
She had long blonde hair .
A scroll written in Old Norse was found with the body and revealed that it was in fact La Infanta Kristina (Prinsesse Kristina)

Kristina Haakonsdatter, Princess of Norway (born in 1234 in Bergen , Norway – 1262 Sevilla , Spain), was a daughter of King Håkon IV of Norway and his wife, Margrete Skuledotter. As part of an alliance she was betrothed to the Castilian infante, Philip, brother of King Alfonso X of Castile.

An ambassador of Alfonso X,the wise, who conveyed a proposal for a friendship and collaboration treaty between the two kingdoms, and the desire to seal it with a marriage, asking for Princess Christina's hand for one of Afronso's brothers. The king Haakon IV of Norway (1217-1261) must have pondered this greatly, but the recent support of the Pisans for Alfonso must have sufficiently convinced him of the advantages such a marriage could bring, beause he gave his consent a mere month later.

Haakon said yes to the Spanish envoys, but on one condition: Kristina should herself choose which of King Alfonso's brothers she preferred.This was in itself as good as unheard of at this time – that a woman's will should decide whom she should marry, and even more so in the case of a royal marriage.

Princess Kristina left Tønsberg (Norway) the summer of 1257 and after going through Yarmouth, (England) , she arrived in Normandy (France), where Louis IX of France awaited her. From there, she went to Barcelona (Spain), where she was generously welcomed by Jaime I of Aragón, who, according to an Icelandic saga was charmed by her beauty and expressed his desire to marry her.

Front Catalonia, the princess went to Castile. She was welcomed in Soria on December 22 by the bishop of the city, don Pedro Fernandez de Astorga and by the prince don Luis.

By Christmas Eve she had reached Burgos, where she stayed in the beautiful monastery of Las Huelgas, where the abbess was King Alfonso's sister Doña Berenguela and both celebrated Christmas at the Monastery of Las Huelgas.

Alfonso X, who was already in Valladolid celebrating the new Cortes, went to meet her at Palencia and on January 4, 1258 accompanied her to Valladolid, where she was warmly welcomed by all the towns-people, the nobility, and the clergy who were gathered there for the Cortes. During her stay in the city, great celebrations were held. The Cortes were customarily attended by the royal family (wife,children and siblings of the king), so Alfonso had the opportunity to introduce all of fhis brothers to the Nordic princess

Fadrique, a brave warrior and fine hunter
Sancho, the archbishop-elect of Toledo
Felipe, also archbishop-elect of Seville (with no religious vocation)
Enrique was in self-imposed exiled on account of his failed rebellion against his brother,the king Alfonso).


Christina chose don Felipe as her husband.

Infante Felipe was the fifth child of the king Fernando III,the saint, born at the end of 1231 in Toledo. He had been steered into a Church career under the influence of his paternal grandmother doña Berenguela. His education was entrusted first to don Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada, archbishop of Toledo, and later to don Juan, Fishop of Osma and chancelIor of Castille

From his child-hood, he received numerous benefices, canonships, and abbotships.

In 1246 he was elected bishop by the chapter of Osma, but the pope did not approve the election because he was underage—he was merely 15. In 1248 he was named abbot of Covarrubias, and in February 1249, procurador or guardian of the Church of Seville because he was not old enough to be archbishop.

In 1244 Infante Don Felipe went to study at the University of Paris, where for a short time he was the student of Saint Albertus Magnus and a classmate of Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Bonwenture.

Despite being groomed for an ecclesiastical career, following the death of his father, he relinquished his benefices and returned to a secular state. much to his brother Alfonso's chagrin.

Faced with the marriage proposal to a beautiful Nordic princess, he had no problems accepting the hand of Christina of Norway.

The engagement was celebrated February 6, 1258, Ash Wednesday, and the marriage was on March 31,1258 ,the Sunday following Easter in the church of Santa María la mayor ,Valladolid (Spain). As far as we know, it was a happy marriage.

Christina died childless four years later in (1262) Seville, according to some, out to nostalgia for her beloved Noway or from homesickness.Some say due to the unfamiliar warm , sunny climate of Sevilla,and others say from ear infection-illness or from meningitis.Some experts believe that the princess may have died from meningitis, which can give rise to considerable ear pain. In her sarcophagus ,a parchment which was lying by her ear, describes natural remedies against ear infection.

She was buried in a sarcophagus flanked by flags of Castile,Spain and Norway in the cloister of the Ex-Colegiata (Collegiate church) of Covarrubias, province of Burgos , where her husband , Infante don Felipe had been thief abbot during his time in the Church and where she is still venerated by Nornegian faithful. She was taken here with a large funeral party from Seville, where she had died suddenly in 1262

Legend says her wish for a wedding gift was the erection of a chapel to St. Olav of Norway in Spain. 750 years later is being done. The Fundación Princesa Kristina de Noruega, which promotes cultural activities to better Spanish-Norwegian relations, is building St. Olav's Chapel and Bell Tower in a valley near Covarrubias. It will be a modern building suitable both for religious services and concerts, and the tower will provide a scenic view of the valley. In honour of the 750th anniversary of her leaving Norway , a chapel honouring Saint Olaf of Norway, designed by the architect Pablo López Aguado, is about to be built. The chapel will be finished this next spring (2011)

The Princess Christina foundation has been established to further the work to preserve and advance the cultural and historical ties.

http://www.fundacionprincesakristina.com/

To see the project : Click on La Capilla de San Olav
To see the progress of work: Click on Evolución construcción Capilla


In 1978 a statue of Princess Kristina made by Brit Sørensen was unveiled in Covarrubias in front of the Collegiate church of Saint Cosme and Saint Damián. A copy was later erected in Tønsberg (Norway).
Prinsesse Kristina
Location: On the way to the Slottsfjellet.
Number 17 :
http://www-bib.hive.no/tekster/tunsberg/skulptur/liste.html

Statue of Kristina , Tønsberg (Norway)
Tønsberg - Oppgang til Slottsfjellet. Brit Sørensen 1974

Source: http://www.sinleb.com/kristina.php