Eleanor of Castile

Eleanor of Castile (c.1242-1290), queen of Edward I of England, was the daughter of Ferdinand III of Castile. She married Edward in 1254 when she was about 12 years old, and Edward 15. Her dowry was Gascony.

The match became one of love, to the point where she accompanied him on crusades. She bore him 14 children, including the future Edward II. She died at Lincoln whilst accompanying Edward and his army towards Scotland. Edward commissioned a set of 12 stone crosses - the "Eleanor Crosses", one for each nightly resting place on the journey of her cortege back to London. Her effigy on her tomb in Westminster Abbey is one of the most detailed and beautiful of such works.