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| Ferdinand and Isabella |
Juana was the third child of Isabella of Castile[i] and her husband Ferdinand of Aragon[ii]. Born on 5th November
1479, Juana and her siblings, Isabella[iii], Juan[iv], Maria[v] and Caterina[vi], lived a peripatetic life following
the armies of their parents. Ferdinand and Isabella, who was an ardent
Catholic, spent many years campaigning against the Moors in Spain, the final
act in the Reconquista. Ferdinand was a devious schemer as
well as a soldier with a strategic vision of whom Machiavelli wrote;
‘He has become the most
famous and glorious king in Christendom. And if his achievements are examined,
they will be found to be very remarkable, and some of them quite
extraordinary.’[vii]
Together
Ferdinand and Isabella made an unstoppable team; they married in 1469, a
marriage arranged between the two protagonists. Her brother Henry[viii] immediately disinherited his sister[ix] and replaced her as his
heir with his daughter Juana[x] whose legitimacy was in doubt[xi].
Consolidation
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| Juan II of Aragon |
While
Ferdinand and his father were fighting off an incursion from the French[xii], Isabella roused support
for her cause among the Castilian barons. Henry died on 11th
December 1474 and Isabella immediately proclaimed herself Queen of Castile.
Although Ferdinand had a claim to the throne, Isabella was sole monarch, she
told her husband;
‘Since you and I, by God’s
grace, are so much in harmony there can be no distinction between us. Whatever
has been decided, you are still, as my husband, King of Castile and in Castile
your wishes will be law.’[xiii]
In May 1475
Isabella was forced to fend off a claim for the crown from Juana who allied herself,
by marriage, with Alfonso V of Portugal. His troops poured into
Castile and a bitter civil war ensued. Isabella, despite being pregnant[xiv] rode with the troops and
rounded up support. The battle of Toro in March the following year, despite being militarily
inconclusive, led to Isabella consolidating her rule in Castile.
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| Tomas de Torquemada |
In 1478
Isabella received permission from Pope Sixtus IV to set up a Spanish version of the Holy Inquisition, free from Papal control. It started
work in Seville and its work was so uncontrolled and
harsh that the pope threatened to revoke his permission. Instead in 1483 he
appointed the Dominican Tomás de Torquemada as Grand Inquisitor of Aragon and Castile.
The war continued
until 1479 when, under the Treaty of Alcáçovas, Alfonso renounced all claims on
Castile[xv] on the part of himself
and his wife who retired to a convent at Coimbra. In January 1479 Ferdinand’s father John II died leaving the throne to his son.
Now Ferdinand and Isabella were join rulers in truth, each with their own
kingdom.
Isabella was
not content with ruling Castile and being Queen Consort of Aragon; she had her
eyes on Granada[xvi], still a Moorish stronghold. Determined
to rescue the Spanish Christians and despite Ferdinand’s lukewarm support,
Isabella planned her martial campaign. In March 1485 the royal family left for Cordoba, the plague had reached Seville. By December
Isabella and her family were staying at the palace of Royal Alcazar[xvii] and here, mid-month, Caterina was
born.
Ferdinand
and Isabella’s children were raised by the most important woman in Europe; they
followed along in their mother’s train as she organised the war against Abu-Hasan, Sultan of Granada. At Lucena Ferdinand’s troops captured Abu-Hasan’s
son, the self-styled Mohammed XXI[xviii] and in August 1483 Ferdinand wrote;
"To put Granada in division and destroy it We have decided to free
him.... He [Boabdil] has to make war on his father."[xix]
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| Death of the Infante Alfonso |
In November
1490 the Infanta Isabella was married to the Infante Alfonso of Portugal. Alfonso died in July 1491[xx] and Isabella returned
home regarded once again as a pawn in her parents’ plans. Isabella had every
intention of entering a nunnery; this, her father refused to allow[xxi]. Instead she made every effort
to starve and scourge herself, something she would do for much of the rest of
her life as part of her mourning for Alfonso.
Granada fell
on 2nd January 1492; the Moorish cause not assisted by the infighting
between Mohammed and his sons. The Moorish citizens of Granada cannot have been
consoled by Ferdinand and Isabella’s promise of freedom to follow their own religion
and way of life. They had the example of the brutal treatment in 1487 of the
Moorish citizens of Málaga, following the fall of the city, most of whom had been
sold into slavery[xxii].
Family and Education
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| Interior of the Alhambra |
Following
the fall of Granada Ferdinand and Isabella’s children were to have the Alhambra as their permanent home. The children were provided with every comfort,
including maids and wet nurses[xxiii] Juana’s wet nurse was
Maria de Santistevan. The children were richly clothed in accordance with their
royal status; even their mules were adorned with silk and brocade girths and
bridles. At the age of three Caterina was taken to watch a public bull fight,
and there is no reason to assume that the other children were not similarly entertained.
Their
parents were closely involved with their children and Ferdinand took time off
in December 1492[xxiv]
to choose dolls for his daughters; the dolls had their own clothes that the
girls could dress their presents in. Juana’s possessions included a special box
to carry letters in, an illustrated book of hours and various Latin texts
including poetry. Juan had a chess-set he kept in his bedroom. Juan had a frail
constitution and was inspected daily by doctors.
Isabella personally
supervised her children’s education. Erasmus commented of Caterina that she
was;
‘Imbued with learning, by
the care of her illustrious mother.’[xxv]
Isabella
spent much of her free time in silent prayer and her children were brought up
to improve their minds with devotional
reading. In addition to the royal library in Segovia Isabella had an extensive collection
of books and manuscripts of her own,.
When Juana was seven she was given Andres de Miranda as
her tutor; he was to teach her Latin and Catholic doctrine. The children
studied the works of the Stoics such as
Seneca and the
works of the early Christian fathers of the church, Augustine, Gregory and Jerome.
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| Diego Deza |
The girls
also learnt dancing[xxvi], baking, spinning,
weaving, lacemaking and embroidery in the Spanish style[xxvii]. There are claims that
they only spoke Spanish and Latin[xxviii] and were untrained in
the courtly arts of music[xxix], poetry and the games
of Courtly Love, surprising in girls who were meant
to be making marriages advantageous to Spain. Other sources claim they spoke
French as well as being taught music.
As heir to the throne Isabella and Ferdinand paid special
attention to educating Juan. His original tutor was the Dominican Fray Diego
Deza[xxx] who
taught Theology at the University of Salamanca. Deza tutored Juan mainly in
Theology as he was not a renaissance humanist. In the late 1480s Isabella turned
to the Italian humanist Pietro Martire d'Anghiera to
broaden the Prince's education who boasted;
‘I was the literary foster-father of almost all the princes, and of all the
princesses of Spain.’[xxxi]
Juan also had music lessons which he very much enjoyed[xxxii].
Bibliography
Sister
Queens – Julia Fox, Ballantine Books 2011
Ferdinand
and Isabella – Melveena McKendrick, Cassell 1969
Henry –
David Starkey, Harper Press 2008
Six Wives –
David Starkey, Chatto & Windus 2003
Catherine of
Aragon – Giles Tremlett, Faber & Faber 2010
The Wives of
Henry VIII – Alison Weir, Pimlico 1992
[iii]
Born in October 1470
[iv]
Born in June 1478
[v]
Born in June 1482
[vi]
Born in December 1485
[vii]
Six Wives - Starkey
[viii]
Nicknamed the Impotent
[ix]
Isabella and Henry had agreed that, as his legal heir, she would not marry
without his consent, but in turn he would never compel her to marry without her
consent. He had threatened her with imprisonment if she did not marry to create
an alliance with Portugal. Isabella considered this sufficient provocation to
break the agreement between her and Henry
[x]
Born in February 1462 and later Queen of Portugal
[xiii]
Ferdinand and Isabella - McKendrick
[xv]
Following a treaty between Castile and France in October 1478 whereby Louis XI
renounced all claims to Castile
[xvi]
A kingdom where Moors, Jews and Christians lived together in relative harmony
[xviii]
Known to the Spanish as Boabdil
[xx]
In a fall from his horse
[xxi]
In 1497 Isabella returned to Portugal to marry King Manuel I; she
died the following year giving birth to the Infante
Miguel
[xxii]
The Jews of Malaga, however, were
spared, as Castilian Jews ransomed them from slavery
[xxiii]
Isabella did not suckle her children as she believed it delayed a mother’s
ability to conceive
[xxv]
The Wives of Henry VIII - Weir
[xxvi]
In Spain women danced alone or with other women, unlike the courts in France
and England
[xxviii]
Fox claims that Juana was taught French, Starkey claims that she and Caterina
spoke only Spanish and Latin
[xxix]
Starkey claims that music was not taught to the girls of the family
[xxx]
Deza was later the Grand Inquisitor
of Spain,
[xxxi]
Six Wives - Starkey
[xxxii]
Which might imply that his sisters also received music lessons
interesting, since Torquemada is considered a byword for the harshness of the Spanish Inquisition, that he should have been appointed as a moderating influence!
ReplyDeleteThere are too many royal Juanas; hadn't the Spanish any imagination?