Alphonso, Earl of Chester

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Alphonso
(styled) Earl of Chester
House	House of Plantagenet
Father	Edward I Longshanks
Mother	Eleanor of Castile
Born	24 November 1273(1273-11-24) Bayonne, Gascony
Died	19 August 1284(1284-08-19) (aged 10) Windsor, Berkshire
Burial	Westminster Abbey, London

Alphonso (24 November 1273 – 19 August 1284) was the ninth child of Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile. During his lifetime, he was first in line to his father's throne of England and to his mother's county of Ponthieu in France.

Alphonso was born at Bayonne, in Gascony, and named after his maternal uncle, King Alfonso X of Castile, who was his godfather. At the age of ten, he was engaged to Margaret, daughter of Floris V, Count of Holland, and an opulent psalter was being prepared for the marriage when he died a few months before the wedding was to take place. The Alphonso Psalter was completed a decade later when his sister Elizabeth married Margaret's brother, John I, Count of Holland, making the pairing of arms again appropriate.^[1]

Alphonso's death at Windsor occurred shortly after the birth of his younger brother (later Edward II of England), who became the only surviving male heir of Edward I. Alphonso was interred in The Confessors Chapel at Westminster Abbey, although the exact location is unknown. His heart, however, was buried at the priory of Blackfriars, London (now destroyed).

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

Sources are contradictory as to whether or not Alphonso was actually created Earl of Chester in 1284, or whether he was simply styled as such.

Arms

As heir-apparent to the throne, he bore the arms of the kingdom, differenced by a label azure of three points^[2]

Ancestors

References

1. ^ The British Museum, The Alphonso Psalter, 2011
2. ^ Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family