Sanchia of Provence

Sanchia of Provence
Sanchia of Provence
Queen of the Romans
Tenure	13 January 1257 – 9 November 1261
Coronation	27 May 1257
Born	c. 1228
Died	9 November 1261(1261-11-09) (aged c. 32–33) Berkhamsted Castle, Hertfordshire
Burial	Hailes Abbey, Gloucestershire
Spouse	Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall
Issue	Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall Richard of Cornwall
House	Barcelona
Father	Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence
Mother	Beatrice of Savoy

Sanchia of Provence (c. 1228 – 9 November 1261) was the third daughter of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and Beatrice of Savoy. Sanchia was described as "of incomparable beauty".

Sanchia's sisters Margaret, Eleanor and Beatrice were the respective wives of Louis IX of France, Henry III of England and Charles I of Sicily. Sanchia was said to have a softer and more winsome type of good looks than either her older sisters, Margaret and Eleanor.

It was Eleanor of Provence who arranged a marriage between her sister Sanchia and her brother-in-law Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, whose first wife Isabel Marshal had died recently. At the time, Sanchia was engaged to Raymond VII of Toulouse, but the weak part he played in the recent fighting was a good enough excuse for breaking the bond. Eleanor and Sanchia's uncle Peter was sent to negotiate the marriage contract in 1242. Another uncle, Philip, escorted Sanchia safely to the English court in Gascony. There, they joined Eleanor and Henry, and met their new daughter Beatrice. The wedding took place at Westminster on November 23.

Richard, although the wealthiest man in the Kingdom of England and perhaps in Europe, was only a prince, not a sovereign. Beatrice of Savoy, mother of the bride, came to England to see her third daughter wedded, but her father Ramon Berenguer IV was detained by state difficulties which his wife solved by getting a loan from Henry III of four thousand marks. The cost of the wedding was chiefly defrayed by a levy imposed on the Jews of the country. It was an arbitrary proceeding, each of them receiving notice of the size of the donation required.