its existence. In accord with that policy which has so
often obtained in the monarchies of Europe, it was decided that a
foreign alliance with some strong ruling house would redound to
advantage; and so great was the prestige of Castile at this time, that
Alfonso found no difficulty in arranging a marriage with Conrad, Count
of Suabia, the son of the great Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. As might
have been expected, this marriage was nothing but a political
arrangement which was to benefit Castile, and in which the will of
Berenguela, the person most interested, had not been consulted in any
manner whatever. It is not on record that Eleanor was opposed to this
arrangement for her daughter, not from any lack of independent
spirit,--for she came of a self-willed race, as the erratic life of her
brother, Richard Coeur de Lion, will show,--but because such marriages
were the common lot of the royal maidens of her time and were accepted
as matters of necessity. It must be remembered that the ideals of
marriage were yet much undeveloped and that "husband" and "lover" were
rarely, if ever, synonymous terms. It appears that the emperor not only
consented to this marriage between his son and Eleanor's daughter, but
was much in favor of the project and more than anxious to see the
consummation of it all, as Eleanor had brought Gascony to her husband as
a marriage portion, and the prospective inheritance of Berenguela was a
goodly one.

Fortunately for Berenguela, the marriage was postponed until she had
attained her majority; and when that day of partial freedom came, she
boldly declared that she would not marry the German prince, that she did
not know him and did not love him, and that nothing could force her to
such a bargain of herself. Great was the consternation in her father's
court, and great was the dismay in the North when Frederick Barbarossa
was told of this haughty Spanish maiden who refused the honor of an
alliance with his imperial house. The case was well-nigh unique; the
mediaeval world was startled in its traditional routine, and Berenguela's
audacity became the talk of every court in Europe. Prayers and
entreaties were in vain, so firmly did she stand her ground in spite of
the countless specious arguments which were used to bend her will, and,
finally, the matter was dropped and considered a closed incident. "Woman
sees deep; man sees far. To the man the world is his heart; to the woman
the heart is her world;"