Dulce of Aragon, Queen Consort of Portugal 1
- Born: 1160
- Marriage (1): Sancho I, King of Portugal
- Died: 1198, Coimbra, Kingdom of Portugal at age 38
General Notes:
Dulce of Aragon[a][b][3] (or of Barcelona;[4] European Portuguese: ['du?s(?) d? ä??'g?~?w~, 'du?s(?) d(?) bä?s(?)'l?~(?)n?]; 1160 \endash 1 September 1198) was Queen consort to King Sancho I of Portugal. As the eldest daughter of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona and his wife, Queen Petronila of Aragon, she was the sister of the future King Alfonso II of Aragon.
Her bethrothal to infante Sancho, son of Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal, was celebrated when she was eleven years old and the marriage in 1174.[5][4] Not much is known about her life prior to her arrival in Portugal or of the wedding tokens she received upon her marriage.[6]
"A beautiful and excellent lady, quiet and modest, her personality coinciding with her name,"[c] Dulce was used as a commodity to seal an alliance which aimed to "strengthen Portugal and to contain the expansionism of Castile and León" and she played the role that was expected of her as a wife and as the mother of numerous children.[2][8] At the same time, the marriage compensated for the broken engagement of her husband's sister, Infanta Mafalda with her brother, the future King Alfonso II of Aragon.[2] With the death of King Afonso Henriques in 1185, her husband ascended the throne and she became Queen consort of Portugal. In his first will, executed in 1188, her husband gave her the income from Alenquer, of the lands along the banks of the Vouga River, of Santa Maria da Feira and of Oporto.[6]
Dulce did not live long after the birth of her last two daughters, Branca and Berengaria, probably twins, and died in 1198 probably succumbing to the plague and weakened by the successive childbirths. She was buried in the Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra.[9]
Dulce married Sancho I, King of Portugal, son of Alfonzo I, King of Portugal and Matilda of Savoy, Queen consort of Portugal. (Sancho I, King of Portugal was born on 11 Nov 1154 in Coimbra, Kingdom of Portugal and died on 26 Mar 1211 in Coimbra, Kingdom of Portugal.)
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