Teresa Gil de Vidaure (died on 15 July 1285) was the common law wife of King

James I of Aragon James I the Conqueror ( Catalan/Valencian: ''Jaume I or Jaume el Conqueridor''; Aragonese: ''Chaime I'' ''o Conqueridor''; ; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was King of Aragon, Count of Barcelona, and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1 ...

, but never a queen. Claiming that she was a

leper Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria '' Mycobacterium leprae'' or '' Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve da ...

, James left her in order to pursue an incestuous relationship with Berenguela Alfonso. Teresa Gil died in seclusion in a monastery she had founded.

Royal mistress

Teresa Gil de Vidaure was born in Navarre to the nobleman Juan de Vidaure. She was said to be a woman of exceptional beauty, and King James I became attracted to her. She requested him to promise her that he would marry her. He made the promise, but broke it by marrying

Violant of Hungary Violant of Hungary (; ; c. 1215 – c. 1251) was the queen of Aragon from 1235 until 1251 as the second wife of King James I of Aragon. A member of the Hungarian House of Árpád, Queen Violant was a valuable and influential advisor of her husb ...

in December 1235. The king and Teresa Gil, who eventually married Sancho Pérez de Lodosa, carried on with their relationship throughout his marriage to Queen Violant.

Openly secret marriage

Teresa Gil was already widowed when the queen died in 1251, leaving the couple free to pursue their relationship openly and to enter a common law marriage not consecrated by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. In 1255, the king issued a charter granting Teresa Gil the tax-exempt castle of

Jérica Jérica () is a town in the Castellón (province), Castellón province of Valencia (autonomous community), Valencian Community, Spain. It is in the comarca (region) of Alto Palancia. Its population was 1,703 at the end of 2009. The town's name i ...

, to be inherited by their descendants, male or female, after her death. Two years later, he granted her the villages

Bejís Bejís () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Alto Palancia, province of Castellón, Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Au ...

, Liria, Andilla and Altura. The charters do not mention Teresa Gil as the king's wife; in fact, their form is the one used for concubinage contracts. Thus, historians have sometimes referred to her as the king's concubine, but James's letter to

Pope Clement IV Pope Clement IV (; 23 November 1190 – 29 November 1268), born Gui Foucois (; or ') and also known as Guy le Gros ( French for "Guy the Fat"; ), was bishop of Le Puy (1257–1260), archbishop of Narbonne (1259–1261), cardinal of Sabina ( ...

in 1265 confirms that they were married. Nevertheless, she was never queen. The couple had their first son,

James James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...

, around 1255, and their second,

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

, in c. 1259.

The king's great matter

In 1265, the marriage began breaking apart. James took another mistress, his cousin Berenguela Alfonso. The pope admonished him severely for this incestuous relationship. The king wished to end the marriage and repudiated Teresa Gil on the pretext that she had contracted

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...

. Both wrote to Clement IV regarding the

annulment Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning alm ...

of the union; the king to request it and his wife to prevent it. The pope ruled that, although it was not sanctioned by the Church, the marriage was consummated and thus indissoluble. He sharply chastised the king for even requesting the annulment. Clement IV died in 1268, and Andrés Albalat, bishop of Valencia, declared the marriage null and void. Clement IV's successor,

Pope Gregory X Pope Gregory X (; – 10 January 1276), born Teobaldo Visconti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 September 1271 to his death and was a member of the Third Order of St. Francis. He was elected at the ...

, allowed the case to be treated in Rome and confirmed his predecessor's decision. James attempted procuring an annulment again in 1275, this time claiming that he had had sexual relations with Teresa Gil's cousin before their marriage (which would have rendered the marriage invalid), but the argument was no more successful than the previous one.

Seclusion

Teresa Gil was forced to spend the remainder of her life in the Cistercian monastery of Zaidia de Valencia, which she had founded. She died on 15 July 1285 and was buried in the monastery. The tomb no longer survives, though the epitaph does.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gil De Vidaure, Teresa 1285 deaths Morganatic spouses People from Navarre 13th-century Spanish women Year of birth unknown