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]
Maria Manuela of Portugal was born on 15 October 1527 as the daughter of King John III of Portugal and his wife, Catherine of Austria. She was their second child but the first surviving one. Seven more siblings would follow, but just one brother would live long enough to father an heir. The archbishop of [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]
While the future Queen Isabella I of Castile was the first-born daughter of the marriage between King John II of Castile and Isabella of Portugal, she had three short-lived half-sisters from her father’s first marriage to Maria of Aragon. She also had one full brother, the future King Henry IV of Castile, and one half-brother, [read more]
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