Cover image – © National Trust
On 26th of October 1451, Juana Enríquez found herself in Navarre due to some brawls between her husband, Juan II the Great or the Faithless, and her stepson Carlos. She hurried back to Aragon so that the baby she was expecting could be born there. That baby would turn out to be Fernando II.
That same year but only a few months earlier, in Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Isabel I was welcomed into the world by her illustrious parents; Juan II of Castile and Isabel of Portugal.
These two births were bound to change Spain’s history forever and one of their daughters, Catalina, would go on to marry England’s infamous King Henry VIII. The debacle of their marriage would affect the whole country of England.
In 1461, Carlos died, leaving his half brother Fernando as heir of the Aragonese crown. In 1468 he also became King of Sicily. Likewise, Isabel’s cousin Alfonso of Castile passed away in that year and the majority of nobles in Castile recognised her as the new heir. Her father pushed for an alliance with Aragon and Fernando and Isabel were married the next year in Valladolid, on the 19th of October of 1469.
It was kind of a shady event.
They shared a great grandfather and a great grandmother, Juan I of Castile and Leonor of Aragon, which made them distant relatives. A papal dispensation was needed but Pope Paulo II refused to give them one, so a false one was produced, supposedly signed by Pope Pius II. They couldn’t hide it for longer and Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia was sent to settle the issue.
What was the price?
Borgia demanded that the title of Duke and the city of Gandía ought to be handed to his son, Pedro Luis Borgia.
Unfortunately, in 1474, King Enrique IV died and the Second Succession War (1475-1479) took place between those who wanted his daughter, Juana of Trastamara, on the throne and those who rallied for Isabel. Portuguese King Alfonso V desired to marry Juana and unite Castile with Portugal but peace was achieved through the Treaty of Alcazobas, which declared Fernando and Isabel as King and Queen of Castile in exchange for certain concessions to the neighbouring country.
By then the couple had already welcomed two children, Isabel and Juan, and they accompanied their parents to almost every military campaign, which surely inspired future English Queen Catalina in years to come when she faced Scottish troops while Henry VIII was in France.
Now, you may know them as the Catholics, the title Pope Alexander VI doted upon them, and you may imagine their court was the most religious and they were very much in love. Well, she was in love but the truth is that Fernando cheated on Isabel both before their matrimony and after.
By 1470, a bastard son and daughter were born from him and a Catalan noble, Aldonza Ruiz de Ivorra, who received the name of Juana and Alfonso. In 1471 he had a brief encounter with a commoner named Juana Nicolás with whom he had Juana María of Aragon. Five years later he had another affair with a Basque noble, Toda de Larrea, birthing another daughter named María Esperanza.
This was followed a few years later by another liaison.
This time it was with a Portuguese noblewoman, Juana Pereira, and once again he got another daughter, María Blanca. In a matter of 13 years, four illegitimate children had appeared under Fernando’s robes. Isabel knew about most of her husband’s lovers and hated it, they argued and he excused himself saying that while she was beautiful and powerful, men needed more than one woman, which doesn’t sound really Catholic if you ask me. Fortunately, Isabel kept it cool enough to keep the power in her hands, stabilising Spanish politics after years of war and unrest.
The most notorious of his mistresses was Beatriz de Bobadilla.
Why?
She was the niece of Isabel’s best friend, the Marquise of Moya. Beatriz was known for her otherworldly beauty, catching the King’s eye almost immediately at only 20 years old. It’s believed that Isabel didn’t like this situation and thought about murdering Beatriz. Luckily for the latter, the Marquise of Moya interceded and arranged a marriage for her niece, with Hernán Peraza, Lord of La Gomera.
With Beatriz out of the map, Isabel’s court didn’t become any more faithful. Whenever she left any party, an orgy would follow and poisonous deaths were frequent.
But Beatriz wasn’t giving up just yet.
Her husband passed away and she returned, courting none other than Cristopher Columbus with whom Isabel herself had fallen in love. The Queen sent her back to La Gomera but that didn’t prevent Cristopher from seeing her at least thrice over his numerous trips. No marriage between the two happened, though, and she ended up marrying Alonso Fernández of Lugo. She’d eventually reappear at court asking for protection and one day she’d be found dead on her bed. Some people believe the Queen had finally hunted her down with poison but it’s one of those questions to which we’ll never get an answer to.
Did something happen between Queen Isabel and Cristopher Columbus, though?
Well, that’s been debated ever since one of his letters was revisited in 2012. In it, he was writing only to her, not the Royal couple, and there’s a particular line that professor Estelle Irizarry believes to be erotic: “I gave thee the keys to my will in Barcelona”. Obviously, it’d be referring to a key’s capacity to enter a hole that would make it deeply erotic to write, even more so to the Catholic Queen of Spain. It’s unknown if she ever received this missive. He also sweetly said that he was “constantly thinking about your rest.”
Whatever the case, Isabel died on 26th November 1504 after a couple of months retired from political life. The death in 1497 of her only son and heir, Juan Prince of Asturias, had debilitated her and it only worsened when her oldest daughter Isabel died in 1498. She wanted to be laid to rest by her side but that never happened. Sometimes not even Kings and Queens get to decide where to rest perpetually and who will do so alongside them.
On Fernando’s will he stated that his late wife had been “exemplary in all acts of virtue” even though he did remarry in 1505 to Germana de Foix, niece to French King Louis XII, as part of the Treaty of Blois. The couple had no surviving offspring.
Isabel and Fernando’s reign brought Spain together but it also saw the expulsion of jews and muslims during the Reconquista. America’s so-called discovery also happened during their Kingdom as well as the courthouse of the Holy Inquisition. They had a total of five children (Isabel, Juan, Juana, María and Catalina) and two miscarriages (a boy in 1475 and a baby girl, twin to Maria, in 1482).
In March 1974, Isabel received the title of "Servant of God” and a canonization process has been on the way since 1958, when the Bishop of Valladolid raised the issue. Some don’t like the idea of her being canonised or beatified because they affirm that the pious image people have of her was masterly curated by her over her lifetime.
We are here today to commemorate her marriage to Fernando, exactly 554 years ago.
A marriage that wasn’t as clean and perfect as you may have thought but a couple that changed world history nonetheless.
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