Isabella, Princess of Asturias (2 October 1470 – 23 August 1498), also known as Isabella of Aragon, was the eldest child and
heiress presumptive of King
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand II, also known as Ferdinand I, Ferdinand III, and Ferdinand V (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called Ferdinand the Catholic, was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of ...
and Queen
Isabella I of Castile. She was
Queen of Portugal
This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portugal, Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution.
Thro ...
as the wife of
King Manuel I from 30 September 1497 until her death the following year.
Early life
Isabella was the eldest child of
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand II, also known as Ferdinand I, Ferdinand III, and Ferdinand V (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called Ferdinand the Catholic, was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of ...
and
Isabella I of Castile. Born during the reign of her uncle,
Henry IV of Castile, the early years of her life were defined by the tension between him and her mother, as her uncle would not forgive her mother for marrying Ferdinand without his permission. Upon the death of Henry IV in 1474, Isabella's mother claimed the throne of Castile, and the young Isabella was swiftly sworn as the heiress presumptive to the throne.
The early years of the reign of Isabella I were spent embroiled in a war of succession, as Henry IV had not specifically named a successor. A struggle ensued between Isabella I and her niece
Joanna
Joanna is a feminine given name deriving from from . Variants in English include Joan, Joann, Joanne, and Johanna. Other forms of the name in English are Jan, Jane, Janet, Janice, Jean, and Jeanne.
The earliest recorded occurrence of th ...
, who was known as "la Beltraneja" due to the rumors that she was the illegitimate child of Henry IV's queen
Joan of Portugal and his favourite,
Beltrán de la Cueva, 1st Duke of Alburquerque.
Afonso V of Portugal, who was Henry IV's brother-in-law and young Joanna's uncle, intervened on Joanna's behalf and Ferdinand and Isabella were forced into a war with Portugal.
During the war, young Isabella witnessed some of the chaos for herself. While her parents were fighting the Portuguese, the princess was left in
Segovia
Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is located in the Meseta central, Inner Pl ...
while the city was placed under the control of Andrés de Cabrera and his wife
Beatriz de Bobadilla. The city's residents, unhappy with this new administration, rose up and seized control of the city. The then-seven-year-old princess was trapped in a tower of the Alcázar for some time until her mother returned to Segovia and took control of the situation.
The war ended in 1479 with the
Treaty of Alcáçovas. Among the terms were the provision that Princess Isabella would marry the grandson of Afonso V,
Afonso, who was five years younger than the princess. The treaty also provided that Ferdinand and Isabella would pay a large dowry for their daughter and that the princess would reside in Portugal as a guarantee that her parents would abide by the treaty terms. In 1480, Prince Afonso went to live in the town of
Moura with his maternal grandmother
Beatrice, Duchess of Viseu, and was joined in the early months of the following year by his future wife, the ten-year-old Isabella. She spent three years in Portugal before returning home.
Isabella also spent a considerable part of her youth on campaign with her parents as they conquered the remaining Muslim states in southern Spain. For example, she accompanied her mother in accepting the surrender of the city of
Baza.
Marriages
Her first marriage was to Prince Afonso, the only son and heir of King
John II of Portugal from his marriage with
Eleanor of Viseu. The wedding, by proxy, took place in the spring of 1490 in
Seville
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
. On 19 November of that year, Isabella arrived in
Badajoz
Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portugal, Portuguese Portugal–Spain border, border, on the left bank of the river ...
, where she was welcomed by Afonso's cousin Manuel, the future King
Manuel I of Portugal, whom she would eventually marry six years after her husband's death. Afonso and Isabella were reunited in
Elvas on 22 November and, on the following day, Isabella met her mother-in-law, Queen Eleanor, in the Convento do Espinheiro in
Évora, where the court had gathered to ratify the marriage that had been celebrated earlier in Seville.
Though the marriage had been arranged by the
Treaty of Alcáçovas, the marriage quickly became a love match. Isabella proved a popular figure with the Portuguese royal family due to her knowledge of their language and customs brought about by the years she spent in Portugal as a child. Isabella's happy life in Portugal came to an abrupt end in July 1491, however, when Afonso was killed in a riding accident. She was heartbroken and later became convinced that he had died because God was angry that Portugal had provided a refuge for the Jews that her parents had expelled from Spain.
She was eventually sent back to Spain at the request of her parents, and Isabella returned to them devoutly religious. She underwent efforts to starve and scourge herself, something she would do for much of the rest of her life as part of her mourning for Afonso. She also declared that she would never marry again. Her parents seem to have humored her declaration at first, but after the death of John II of Portugal in 1495, he was succeeded by Manuel I of Portugal, who immediately sought Isabella's hand. Ferdinand and Isabella, perhaps trying to respect their daughter's wishes, offered him the hand of one of their younger daughters,
Maria, but he refused. There remained a stalemate between them until Princess Isabella agreed to marry Manuel on the condition that he expel all Jews from Portugal who would not convert to Christianity. He agreed to her ultimatum and they married in September 1497.
Heir presumptive
In the same year as her second marriage, Isabella became
Princess of Asturias and
heir presumptive
An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of a person with a better claim to the position in question. This is in contrast to an heir app ...
of the
Crown of Castile following the sudden death of her only brother,
John, Prince of Asturias, in September 1497, and the stillbirth of his daughter.
Philip of Austria, the husband of Isabella's younger sister
Joanna
Joanna is a feminine given name deriving from from . Variants in English include Joan, Joann, Joanne, and Johanna. Other forms of the name in English are Jan, Jane, Janet, Janice, Jean, and Jeanne.
The earliest recorded occurrence of th ...
, claimed the crown, although Isabella had precedence as the eldest daughter. The
Catholic Monarchs, to counter the pretensions of their son-in-law Philip, held courts in the city of Toledo in 1498 a few months after the death of their son John and had Isabella and her husband Manuel sworn as the legitimate heirs presumptive. The royal family then went to
Zaragoza
Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...
to convene the courts of Aragon for the same purpose. Although female succession was permitted in Castile, Ferdinand II's kingdom of Aragon hesitated to accept a woman as their future ruler. If she were to give birth to a son, then the child could inherit everything, something much preferred to female rule.
Isabella was pregnant at that time and, while in
Zaragoza
Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...
with the royal family, she gave birth on 23 August 1498 to her only child,
Miguel da Paz, Prince of Portugal. Perhaps because of her constant fasting and self-denial, or the constant traveling at her advanced stage of pregnancy, she died within an hour of her son's birth. Her son was later recognized as heir presumptive by the courts of Portugal, Castile, and Aragon.
Isabella asked to be buried dressed as a nun and to be interred at the Convent of Santa Isabel in Toledo. Manuel's chance to become King of Castile ended with Isabella's death, and the primary hope of uniting all of the Iberian kingdoms vanished with Prince Miguel's death just before his second birthday in 1500.
When Queen Isabella of Castile died in 1504, she requested that the body of her daughter Isabella be moved to rest by her side in
Granada
Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...
, but this was never done.
Ancestry
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Isabella, Princess Of Asturias
1470 births
1498 deaths
House of Trastámara
House of Aviz
Queens consort of Portugal
Princes of Asturias
Princesses of Portugal
Aragonese infantas
Castilian infantas
Deaths in childbirth
Spanish Roman Catholics
Spanish people of Italian descent
Spanish people of Portuguese descent
Spanish people of English descent
Spanish people of French descent
15th-century Spanish people
15th-century Portuguese people
15th-century Spanish women
15th-century Portuguese women
Daughters of kings
Children of Ferdinand II of Aragon
Daughters of queens regnant
Heirs presumptive
Daughters of counts