Read part one here. Joanna was the third child of the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. Married to the Philip Duke of Burgundy in 1496, she was destined to live out her days in the Low Countries and bear children for the Habsburg dynasty. Joanna’s life changed suddenly [read more]
On 6 November 1479, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon welcomed a new child to their growing family, a little girl named Joanna. Joanna was healthy and beautiful, with strawberry-blonde hair and blue eyes. As the third child, Joanna was not the heir to either of her parents’ thrones and [read more]
On 14 October 1469, the formal betrothal between Isabella and Ferdinand had taken place and the marriage agreement and the papal dispensation had been read aloud by the archbishop. This papal dispensation was actually a fake – supposedly issued by an earlier pope, Pius II. The papal nuncio’s silence had been bought with Aragonese gold. [read more]
In March 1469, the future King Ferdinand II of Aragon and his father, King John II, had signed the Capitulaciones de Cervera, which stated that Ferdinand had the right to administer justice in Castile, but everything else would have to be agreed upon by Isabella. He was not even allowed to leave Castile without Isabella’s [read more]
Read part one here. Tragedy struck on 13 July 1491 when Afonso was crushed underneath his stumbling horse. Isabella and her mother-in-law Eleanor rushed to be by his side, but Afonso never regained consciousness. He died three hours after the accident. Isabella was so grief-stricken that she cut off her hair and wore a veil [read more]
The future Queen Isabella I of Castile had made a daring choice by marrying the future King Ferdinand II of Aragon against the wishes of her half-brother King Henry IV of Castile and even proudly displayed the bloodstained sheets to the waiting officials after the wedding night. Isabella and her half-brother had a volatile relationship [read more]
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