Philip of Castile (; 1231 – 28 November 1274) was an Infante of Castile and son of Ferdinand III, King of Castile and León, and his first queen, Beatrice of Swabia. He was Lord of Valdecorneja, and, according to some sources, Knight of the Order of the Temple, in one of those churches, the Church of Santa María la Blanca in Villalcázar de Sirga, he was buried in a coffin adorned with emblems of the Templars.
An archbishop-elect of Seville, he was also abbot of the Collegiate church of Santa María la Mayor in Valladolid and of the Collegiate Church of Saints Cosme and Damian in Covarrubias until 1258, when he left his ecclesiastical career with the consent of his brother, King Alfonso X, despite the latter's opposition, and married Christina of Norway, daughter of King Haakon IV of Norway.
Youth
Infante Philip of Castile was born in 1231 as the son of Ferdinand III and Beatrice of Swabia. He was named after his maternal grandfather, Philip of Swabia, King of Germany and Duke of Swabia. From childhood he was groomed by his father, King Ferdinand III, for an ecclesiastical career, along with his brother Infante Sancho, who would later become Archbishop of Toledo. During his youth, after his upbringing was entrusted by his grandmother, Queen Berengaria, to Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, who would also become Archbishop of Toledo, he was sent to Paris for his studies, receiving lessons from Albertus Magnus, the teacher of Thomas Aquinas. In 1249 Infante Philip was named Procurator of the Archdiocese of Seville by Pope Innocent IV. Two years later, in 1251, he was named archbishop-elect of Seville by the same pope. The archdiocese continued to be administered by Raimundo de Losana, Bishop of Segovia, as the infante had not yet been consecrated a bishop.
In 1258, shortly after his brother the king, in spite of his initial opposition, authorized him to leave his ecclesiastical career, Infante Philip married Christina of Norway, daughter of King Haakon IV. A legend held in the past that Christina came to Spain after Alfonso X asked Haakon to send one of his daughters to marry, due to the infertility of his wife, Queen Violant, daughter of King James I of Aragon. Nonetheless, the falsehood of the legend is demonstrated by the fact that Queen Violant had already given birth to several children by 1258. In fact, Haakon sent Christina to Castile to marry one of the king's brothers. On her way to Castile, the princess passed through France and Aragon, where she was received with full honors by James I, who ended up proposing marriage to her. On her arrival at the Castilian court, which at the time was in Valladolid, in January 1258, Christina was presented to the king's brothers, especially to Infantes Frederick and Philip, among whom she was to choose a husband. Apparently, the princess preferred Philip to Frederick, due to a scar which the latter had on his lip, disfiguring his face. However, in a later document, Alfonso X stated that it had been his decision that the Norwegian princess marry Infante Philip.
The wedding of Philip and Christina was held in April 1258 in Valladolid. Alfonso X then granted several income streams to Infante Philip, including the land tax, tolls, rents of the Jews, and the remaining royal revenue of Ávila, as well as the church taxes of the Archdiocese of Toledo and the dioceses of Ávila and Segovia, the rents paid to the king by the Muslims of the Valley of Purchena, and the estate of Valdecorneja, composed of the towns of El Barco de Ávila, Piedrahita, La Horcajada and Almirón. The vacancy left by Infante Philip in the Archdiocese of Seville was not filled until May 1259, when Pope Alexander IV named Raimundo de Losana to the post.
Infante Philip attended the Cortes of Seville of 1261, as well as the wedding of his nephew Infante Ferdinand de la Cerda, son and heir of his brother King Alfonso X, which was held on 30 November 1269.
Revolt of the nobles of 1272
In early 1272, a group of nobles, including Nuño González "the Good" de Lara, Esteban Fernández de Castro, Simón Ruiz de los Cameros, Lord of Los Cameros, and Lope Díaz III de Haro, Lord of Biscay, met in the town of Lerma with the purpose of committing to fight against King Alfonso X if he did not yield to their demands. They agreed that Infante Philip, present at the meeting and spokesman for the conspirators, should meet with the King of Navarre in order to convince him to grant them asylum if they found themselves obliged to leave the Kingdom of Castile and León. Infante Philip, widowed of his first two wives, was then married to Leonor Rodríguez de Castro, the daughter of Nuño González de Lara's sister.