Isabella of Aragon, Countess of Urgell (1376 in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
– 1424) was a daughter of
Peter IV of Aragon and his fourth wife,
Sibila of Fortia. She was infanta of
Aragon and
Countess of Urgel.
Family
Isabella of Aragon, Countess of Urgell, was the youngest of nine children, born to Peter; seven of them were half siblings to Isabella and her brother, Alfonso. Her half brothers included
John I of Aragon
John I (27 December 1350 – 19 May 1396), called by posterity the Hunter or the Lover of Elegance, but the Abandoned in his lifetime, was the King of Aragon from 1387 until his death.
Biography
John was the eldest son of Peter IV and his third ...
and
Martin of Aragon
Martin the Humane (29 July 1356 – 31 May 1410), also called the Elder and the Ecclesiastic, was King of Aragon, Valencia, Sardinia and Corsica and Count of Barcelona from 1396 and King of Sicily from 1409 (as Martin II). He failed to secure ...
. Isabella's older half sisters include,
Constance, Queen of Sicily
Constance I ( it, Costanza; 2 November 1154 – 27 November 1198) was reigning Queen of Sicily from 1194–98, jointly with her spouse from 1194 to 1197, and with her infant son Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1198, as the heiress of the ...
,
Joanna, Countess of Ampurias and
Eleanor, Queen of Castile.
Marriage
In
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...
on 29 June 1407, Isabella married
James II of Urgell
James II (in Catalan ''Jaume II d'Urgell'' or ''Jaume el Dissortat'' "James the unlucky", in Spanish ''Jayme II el desafortunado'') (1380 – 1 June 1433) was the Count of Urgell (1408–1413), Viscount of Àger, and lord of Antillón, Alcolea d ...
, soon after the marriage, James was appointed
lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...
of the
Kingdom of Aragon in 1408.
The county of Urgell was dissolved in 1413, following her husband's revolt against the new King
Ferdinand I of Aragon
Ferdinand I (Spanish: ''Fernando I''; 27 November 1380 – 2 April 1416 in Igualada, Òdena) named Ferdinand of Antequera and also the Just (or the Honest) was king of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia and (nominal) Corsica and king of Sic ...
who had been chosen to succeed to the throne of Aragon in 1412 despite James having had the stronger claim as the closest legitimate
agnate
Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...
to the Royal
House of Barcelona
The House of Barcelona was a medieval dynasty that ruled the County of Barcelona continuously from 878 and the Crown of Aragon from 1137 (as kings from 1162) until 1410. They descend from the Bellonids, the descendants of Wifred the Hairy. Th ...
. Earlier, King Ferdinand had offered James 150,000
florins
The Florentine florin was a gold coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains (3.499 grams, 0.113 troy ounce) of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a purcha ...
, the title of Duke of Montblanc, and proposed an alliance between his son Henry and their eldest daughter, Isabella, but James had refused Ferdinand's offer on the advice of his mother. In addition to the loss of his title and assets, James was later tried, condemned, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The couple had five children:
#
Isabella of Urgell, Duchess of Coimbra
Isabella of Urgell, Duchess of Coimbra (Spanish: ''Isabel'') (12 March 1409 – 17 September 1459) was a Catalan noblewoman of the Urgell branch of the House of Barcelona. She was the wife of Infante Peter, Duke of Coimbra.
Family
Isabella was bor ...
(12 March 1409- 29 August 1443). Married
Infante Peter, Duke of Coimbra
Infante D. Pedro, Duke of Coimbra KG (; en, Peter), (9 December 1392 – 20 May 1449) was a Portuguese ''infante'' (prince) of the House of Aviz, son of King John I of Portugal and his wife Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt ...
and was mother of
Isabella, Queen of Portugal
# Philip of Urgell (died 1422)
# Eleanor of Urgell ( 1414-after 1438). Married 1436 Raimondo
Orsini Orsini is a surname of Italian origin, originally derived from Latin ''ursinus'' ("bearlike") and originating as an epithet or sobriquet describing the name-bearer's purported strength. Notable people with the surname include the following:
*Angel ...
, 6th Count of
Nola
Nola is a town and a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy. It lies on the plain between Mount Vesuvius and the Apennines. It is traditionally credited as the diocese that introduced bells to Christian wor ...
.
# Joan of Urgell ( Early 1415 Convent of Sijena- 1445). Married firstly
John I, Count of Foix
John I, Count of Foix also known as Jean de Foix-Grailly (1382 – 4 May 1436) was Count of Foix from 1428 until his death in 1436. He succeeded his mother Isabella, Countess of Foix. His father was Archambaud de Grailly.
Life Early life
As ...
and secondly
Joan Ramon Folch, Count of Cardona
John Ramon III Folch de Cardona i de Prades, (9 January 1418 – 1485), was a Catalan nobleman. John Ramon's titles included Count of Prades (4th), Count of Cardona, Viscount of Vilamur, Baron of Entença, Admiral of Aragon, Captain-general of Ca ...
. She had one son by her second husband.
# Catherine of Urgell (died before 1424).
Isabella died in 1424, having outlived at least two of her children. Her husband was in prison, in Xàtiva, where he died in 1433. Their eldest surviving daughter, Isabella, became Countess of Urgell as well as Duchess consort of
Coimbra
Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of .
The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...
.
References
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isabella Of Aragon
1376 births
1424 deaths
People from Barcelona
House of Aragon
Spanish countesses
Aragonese infantas
15th-century Portuguese people
14th-century Portuguese people
15th-century Portuguese women
14th-century Portuguese women
Daughters of kings