Lorraine! Jeez, get a hint lol. Isabel of Castiles mother was from Lorraine after all.
The Grand Duchy of the West - A Valois-Burgundian TL
- Thread starter BlueFlowwer
- Start date
Chapter 52 - Spain from 1527 to 1528
Chapter 52 – Spain from 1527 to 1528
The defeat of the Ottoman army at Belgrade had spread like wildfire across Christendom after the early summer of 1526 and bonfires had been lit in celebration in all kingdoms from Norway to Naples as the dreaded figure of the sultan had fallen at last. The news reached Spain three weeks later as the Ban of Croatia seemed determined to let all kingdoms near the Mediterranean Sea know of it. Sailors from the dalmatian coast all but hollered it from their ships to passing boats, to the coastal cities and to the clear skies. Suleiman is dead! Let all faithful Christians rejoice, for the sultan is dead! For Juan III of Spain, this was the greatest blessing the lord could have provided. The Şehzade Mustafa was only ten years old and even if he was the next sultan, there would be infighting and instability for years to come in Istanbul. No doubt Ibrahim Pasha would make attempts to hold the regency, but it would not be easy and as they lost a huge number of men in Belgrade, they would need to focus on defence rather than expansion for several years. And as the Muslim world would be reeling from the shock, this caused the Barbary pirates to lose a protector as well. The Spaniards attacked once more during the summer, striking while the iron was hot and the faith and fervour high. As the court moved to Cartagena to oversee the naval battles, the king and the prince gathered in the fortified Despeñaperros castle that functioned as headquarter and base for the wars in the seas. Prince Juan wished to bring his son to Cartagena, as he would need the military experience and how to rally men that would fight and die for the crown. King Juan was more hesitant, as the infante was the only son the prince had so far, even if Princess Blanche had sent word that she was expecting again. The marriage to Elizabeth of York had so far yielded nothing, so the court prayed that the princess would soon provide the longed-for spare. But the prince preserved in his argument, reminding his father that he himself had partaken in military matters when he was younger than the infante during the Granada Wars. The government of Castile was still in the steady hands of Queen Catherine, who resided in the city of Toledo. Infante Juan thus left for Cartagena, along with his wife. The couple arrived in the city to great cheers, and Elizabeth immediately took to visiting the field hospitals that had been set up in the area. Similarly to his own mother, Juan III ensure the outmost loyalty of his troops by providing them with the finest medical care available and Elizabeth, raised by a pious mother who herself had grown up touring the hospitals in her childhood, would set an impeccable example in caring for the sick and injured.
St Elizabeth of Hungary washing a sick man
As she was still childless at the age of twenty-two, Elizabeth, now often called by her Spanish name, Infanta Isabel de Inglaterra, had taken to many charitable endeavours since her marriage. In all fairness, she did not have many options at this time. She had no children of her own to mind, the regency was handled by the queen and other court matters was handled by the brisk princess of Asturias. The other two leading ladies in the royal family were in two different positions altogether. Maria de Mendoza, Duchess of Granada and wife of Infante Ferdinand the Younger lived in the palace complex at the royal monastery of Saint Mary of Guadalupe since a few years back due to her ill health, while the duchess of Cádiz was a warm-hearted, plump and kind woman who had returned to maintain the estates of her husband during his time in war. Charlotte d’Albret, or Carlota as she had gone by since 1497 had been married to Ferdinand the Elder for thirty years at this time, and since her eldest son, Infante Santiago was also fighting in the war and his wife resided in the court. Elvira Fernández de Córdoba had given birth to two sons and three daughters since her marriage in 1518, and they were raised in their grandmother’s care while Elvira spent much time in court. No doubt they would later enter court as the king’s great-nephews and nieces when they got older, but as their ages ranged from eight to a baby less than one year old, this would come later. Of Carlota’s three children, only Infante Alano remained unmarried, but as the brother of the Princess of Asturias, he would certainly make a good marriage as well and Chalota and Ferdinand eyed one of the Mendoza sisters for his bride. Mencia and Maria was co-heiresses of their late father and thus an excellent choice for Alano. Ferdinand the Younger also intended for one of them to become the wife of his own son, something that had caused great tension between uncle and nephew. Carlota had birthed her youngest child mere months after his Albret grandfather had been beheaded at Blois in 1510 and named him for Alain in a personal defiance of the king’s act. Alano was his mother’s favourite son, while Santiago enjoyed his father’s affection more. Blanche of course got the love of them both as the only daughter. Now Alano accompanied the Juan and Elizabeth to Cartagena, as usual inseparable from his cousin, and the prince would welcome them near the city. Much to the disappointment of Juan, his grandfather would not allow him to join the warfare on the waters or send him to the Barbary cities alongside the fighting land troops, but he included him in the planning, the logistics and the meetings with the war captains, along with Alano, who had a clear gift for warfare that the king had picked up long before 1527. Elizabeth threw herself into caring for the soldiers and other acts of charity with fervour, as she finally had gotten an outlet for her restlessness. Her husband was surprised by the change that had come upon his wife, but seemed pleased by her virtuous endeavours. But while the infanta did good christian deeds for months, her primary duty went unheeded. Elizabeth’s womb remained as empty as ever as they year passed into 1528, but the affection for her remained high. It would be her step-mother-in-law that secured the succession once more in the November of 1527, as she gave birth to her first son. Infante Federico, named for the late emperor Frederick IV who had vanquished the Sultan himself, was christened in Toledo with great splendour.
The warfare on the waters continued with great success as the Spanish retook fortress of Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera in late winter, and several other cities along the coastline. King Ferdinand III of Naples would win a great victory at the straight of Messina in March, sinking over 7 ships and taking 11 for himself. He also seized many guns and valuables on the ships, adding to the navy of the kingdom. In the summer of 1528, the Infanta Ana of Spain departed from her grandfather’s court for Naples as well, as it was time for her to marry her betrothed Prince Alfonso of Naples. While the couple was both merely fourteen years old in that summer, the alliance with Naples had to take precedent. Prince Juan spent several days with his daughter in Cartagena when she arrived, as the final preparations for her ships were completed. To him this was a melancholic moment, as Ana was the youngest child of his first wife, Yolande of Lorraine, and the one that most resembled her in face and manners.
The courtyard was bustling with activity that morning in late July. The soldiers practised sword fighting with each other’s, archers fired of arrows into straw targets and the Infantes tilted against each other, sending sand and gravel flying into the dry air as their horses galloped around. Prince Juan leaned against the wooden railing, dressed in a linen shirt and simple jerkin, still damp from the morning exercises. He watched his son without saying a word, lost in thought at the moment. Ana had left a fortnight ago, and he was waiting anxiously for the news that she had arrived safely to Naples with the fleet that had left. A familiar presence joined him at the fence; Gaston of Foix. The viscount of Narbonne had been his closest friend and companion for decades now, and where the prince went, the Thunderbolt of Spain usually followed.
“They are like you and me a long time ago. Wishing for nothing more than to prove themselves to the world.”
“I dare say that my boy has more sense in his head than either one of us did at that age. He had more of his grandfather in him than I do my royal father.”
“Do you fear the crown already, Juan? His grace seems determined to outlive us all. I think you shall have to wait far longer for the throne.”
“And you, Gaston? When I become king, where will you be then?”
“Besides you. As I have always been since I learned to toddle after you decades ago. To the bitter end if you need it.”
Their quiet time was interrupted by a servant running towards the courtyard in full panic. “Your graces! My prince! You must come at once, the infanta had collapsed!”
Elizabeth of York died on the 5th of August, much to the deep sorrow of the royal family and the court. Her death was most likely caused by a combination of the summer heat and exhaustion from caring constantly for the injured at the hospitals, perhaps she had also contracted an illness from them at well. The infanta was buried in the Cathedral of Santa María la Vieja in Cartagena days later in a grand ceremony attended by the three royal Juans, Alano, her household and an assembled gathering of nobility and clergy. Her widowed husband did not weep during the ceremony, but the tears ran down the king’s face, as his niece was laid to rest. Infante Juan was overwhelmed by her sudden demise; as her initial collapse had been believed to be mere cause of fatigue, but days later she had been engulfed in heavy fevers and chills. In the last moments she had been unaware about his presence, so delirious that she could not even speak coherently. Her funeral procession from the castle to the cathedral was packed full of people who had come to say farewell to their beloved infanta who had come to be revered as close to a saint already by the commoners. Flowers and herbs were thrown on the carriage the casket rested upon as it went by, and black velvets had been hung from the walls of the houses in mourning.
Elizabeth of England, Infanta of Spain
“She died as virtuous as she had lived and I have no fear that she shall not be placed in our Lord’s holy glory in heavens for he has judged her worthy of the outmost grace”
Lionel of York upon hearing of his niece’s passing
Dona Infanta Isabel de Inglaterra or Elizabeth of Cartagena as she would be known to history would be the most famous person buried in the city for centuries and for several generations the royal payments for the upkeep of her tomb would make it a place for pilgrims as a sacred shrine. Petition for sainthood would take place a century after her death, but none came to completion. In the 1680’s, she was given the title of The Venerable due to her selfless acts to the injured and poor of Spain. Her death meant another crisis for the king, as his grandson now found himself without a wife and an heir of his own. The Infante Federico meant that the succession was now far safer, but as he was less than a year old in a time of high infant mortality, the lineage would need to be secured once more and that meant that the search for another bride would have to begin.
Elizabeth was not the only infanta that died that year either. The duchess of Granada declined even further and her husband attended her on the final days in Guadeloupe in October. But while Elizabeth had been too sick to speak her last words to Juan, Maria de Mendoza was not. Her illness had begun sometime after the marriage of Prince Juan and Blanche, perhaps brought on by the king passing over her eldest daughter, Infanta Catalina, for the widowed Prince after Yolande’s death in 1520. This marriage had infuriated both her and Ferdinand the Younger, especially as their uncle’s daughter had been selected instead and they had pushed for a wedding between the Infante Juan and either Catalina or her younger sister Maria rather than an english match, but that too had been rejected. And now it seemed like their only son might not get the whole inheritance of the Mendoza sisters with the marriage to Mencia, as Alano was considered for her sister Maria and it would probably divide the Marquisate of Cenete to add to further insult. Ferdinand the Elder would no doubt plead with his brother the king for that very purpose, much to his nephew’s increasing fury. Maria had come to loath the Duke of Cádiz all the same as her husband over the time and years of illness had left what remained of the duchess seething in twisted anger in the end. Perhaps it was the wraith of Maria’s late grandfather, the villainous Marquis de Villena whom had plagued the reign of Henry IV and that of Isabel the Catholic’s younger years that now surfaced in his daughter’s daughter at the time of her death. The death of Elizabeth opened the door for the still unmarried Maria of Granada to become the wife of Infante Juan and the future queen of all Spain, one of the promises her mother now extorted from Ferdinand on her deathbed. Black-eyed, bone pale; no doubt churning with rage in her final moments, Maria tasked him with making the marriage happen and for Infante Inigo to get the whole inheritance, regardless of Ferdinand the Elder’s meddling.
“I am entrusting the future of our children to you and I ask nothing more from you than to make sure that our daughter will sit on the throne one day regardless of what resistance you will have to crush for that to happen. The Duke must be stopped in his ambitions. You are the king’s son, make him listen to you instead. He must not leave our son’s future in halves in favour for that brat of a nephew. Speak to the grandees and our kind that favour you, this must come to pass. Seek out the Braganza family that still lives in exile in Castile and add them to you cause as well. Their will understand your plight. After all, their rightful place in Portugal has been usurped since so long. The thrones of Spain must not belong to the children of some foreign woman once more.”
Author's Note: I am back with this story! Sorry about the long delay, a combination of writer's block and going back to full time work had been causing troubles. But here we have Spain, going from glory to impending crisis! I found out that Maria de Mendoza was the maternal granddaughter of Juan Pancheco recently after rewatching the serie Isabel and then I went ! So here is the result of that!
The defeat of the Ottoman army at Belgrade had spread like wildfire across Christendom after the early summer of 1526 and bonfires had been lit in celebration in all kingdoms from Norway to Naples as the dreaded figure of the sultan had fallen at last. The news reached Spain three weeks later as the Ban of Croatia seemed determined to let all kingdoms near the Mediterranean Sea know of it. Sailors from the dalmatian coast all but hollered it from their ships to passing boats, to the coastal cities and to the clear skies. Suleiman is dead! Let all faithful Christians rejoice, for the sultan is dead! For Juan III of Spain, this was the greatest blessing the lord could have provided. The Şehzade Mustafa was only ten years old and even if he was the next sultan, there would be infighting and instability for years to come in Istanbul. No doubt Ibrahim Pasha would make attempts to hold the regency, but it would not be easy and as they lost a huge number of men in Belgrade, they would need to focus on defence rather than expansion for several years. And as the Muslim world would be reeling from the shock, this caused the Barbary pirates to lose a protector as well. The Spaniards attacked once more during the summer, striking while the iron was hot and the faith and fervour high. As the court moved to Cartagena to oversee the naval battles, the king and the prince gathered in the fortified Despeñaperros castle that functioned as headquarter and base for the wars in the seas. Prince Juan wished to bring his son to Cartagena, as he would need the military experience and how to rally men that would fight and die for the crown. King Juan was more hesitant, as the infante was the only son the prince had so far, even if Princess Blanche had sent word that she was expecting again. The marriage to Elizabeth of York had so far yielded nothing, so the court prayed that the princess would soon provide the longed-for spare. But the prince preserved in his argument, reminding his father that he himself had partaken in military matters when he was younger than the infante during the Granada Wars. The government of Castile was still in the steady hands of Queen Catherine, who resided in the city of Toledo. Infante Juan thus left for Cartagena, along with his wife. The couple arrived in the city to great cheers, and Elizabeth immediately took to visiting the field hospitals that had been set up in the area. Similarly to his own mother, Juan III ensure the outmost loyalty of his troops by providing them with the finest medical care available and Elizabeth, raised by a pious mother who herself had grown up touring the hospitals in her childhood, would set an impeccable example in caring for the sick and injured.
St Elizabeth of Hungary washing a sick man
As she was still childless at the age of twenty-two, Elizabeth, now often called by her Spanish name, Infanta Isabel de Inglaterra, had taken to many charitable endeavours since her marriage. In all fairness, she did not have many options at this time. She had no children of her own to mind, the regency was handled by the queen and other court matters was handled by the brisk princess of Asturias. The other two leading ladies in the royal family were in two different positions altogether. Maria de Mendoza, Duchess of Granada and wife of Infante Ferdinand the Younger lived in the palace complex at the royal monastery of Saint Mary of Guadalupe since a few years back due to her ill health, while the duchess of Cádiz was a warm-hearted, plump and kind woman who had returned to maintain the estates of her husband during his time in war. Charlotte d’Albret, or Carlota as she had gone by since 1497 had been married to Ferdinand the Elder for thirty years at this time, and since her eldest son, Infante Santiago was also fighting in the war and his wife resided in the court. Elvira Fernández de Córdoba had given birth to two sons and three daughters since her marriage in 1518, and they were raised in their grandmother’s care while Elvira spent much time in court. No doubt they would later enter court as the king’s great-nephews and nieces when they got older, but as their ages ranged from eight to a baby less than one year old, this would come later. Of Carlota’s three children, only Infante Alano remained unmarried, but as the brother of the Princess of Asturias, he would certainly make a good marriage as well and Chalota and Ferdinand eyed one of the Mendoza sisters for his bride. Mencia and Maria was co-heiresses of their late father and thus an excellent choice for Alano. Ferdinand the Younger also intended for one of them to become the wife of his own son, something that had caused great tension between uncle and nephew. Carlota had birthed her youngest child mere months after his Albret grandfather had been beheaded at Blois in 1510 and named him for Alain in a personal defiance of the king’s act. Alano was his mother’s favourite son, while Santiago enjoyed his father’s affection more. Blanche of course got the love of them both as the only daughter. Now Alano accompanied the Juan and Elizabeth to Cartagena, as usual inseparable from his cousin, and the prince would welcome them near the city. Much to the disappointment of Juan, his grandfather would not allow him to join the warfare on the waters or send him to the Barbary cities alongside the fighting land troops, but he included him in the planning, the logistics and the meetings with the war captains, along with Alano, who had a clear gift for warfare that the king had picked up long before 1527. Elizabeth threw herself into caring for the soldiers and other acts of charity with fervour, as she finally had gotten an outlet for her restlessness. Her husband was surprised by the change that had come upon his wife, but seemed pleased by her virtuous endeavours. But while the infanta did good christian deeds for months, her primary duty went unheeded. Elizabeth’s womb remained as empty as ever as they year passed into 1528, but the affection for her remained high. It would be her step-mother-in-law that secured the succession once more in the November of 1527, as she gave birth to her first son. Infante Federico, named for the late emperor Frederick IV who had vanquished the Sultan himself, was christened in Toledo with great splendour.
The warfare on the waters continued with great success as the Spanish retook fortress of Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera in late winter, and several other cities along the coastline. King Ferdinand III of Naples would win a great victory at the straight of Messina in March, sinking over 7 ships and taking 11 for himself. He also seized many guns and valuables on the ships, adding to the navy of the kingdom. In the summer of 1528, the Infanta Ana of Spain departed from her grandfather’s court for Naples as well, as it was time for her to marry her betrothed Prince Alfonso of Naples. While the couple was both merely fourteen years old in that summer, the alliance with Naples had to take precedent. Prince Juan spent several days with his daughter in Cartagena when she arrived, as the final preparations for her ships were completed. To him this was a melancholic moment, as Ana was the youngest child of his first wife, Yolande of Lorraine, and the one that most resembled her in face and manners.
The courtyard was bustling with activity that morning in late July. The soldiers practised sword fighting with each other’s, archers fired of arrows into straw targets and the Infantes tilted against each other, sending sand and gravel flying into the dry air as their horses galloped around. Prince Juan leaned against the wooden railing, dressed in a linen shirt and simple jerkin, still damp from the morning exercises. He watched his son without saying a word, lost in thought at the moment. Ana had left a fortnight ago, and he was waiting anxiously for the news that she had arrived safely to Naples with the fleet that had left. A familiar presence joined him at the fence; Gaston of Foix. The viscount of Narbonne had been his closest friend and companion for decades now, and where the prince went, the Thunderbolt of Spain usually followed.
“They are like you and me a long time ago. Wishing for nothing more than to prove themselves to the world.”
“I dare say that my boy has more sense in his head than either one of us did at that age. He had more of his grandfather in him than I do my royal father.”
“Do you fear the crown already, Juan? His grace seems determined to outlive us all. I think you shall have to wait far longer for the throne.”
“And you, Gaston? When I become king, where will you be then?”
“Besides you. As I have always been since I learned to toddle after you decades ago. To the bitter end if you need it.”
Their quiet time was interrupted by a servant running towards the courtyard in full panic. “Your graces! My prince! You must come at once, the infanta had collapsed!”
Elizabeth of York died on the 5th of August, much to the deep sorrow of the royal family and the court. Her death was most likely caused by a combination of the summer heat and exhaustion from caring constantly for the injured at the hospitals, perhaps she had also contracted an illness from them at well. The infanta was buried in the Cathedral of Santa María la Vieja in Cartagena days later in a grand ceremony attended by the three royal Juans, Alano, her household and an assembled gathering of nobility and clergy. Her widowed husband did not weep during the ceremony, but the tears ran down the king’s face, as his niece was laid to rest. Infante Juan was overwhelmed by her sudden demise; as her initial collapse had been believed to be mere cause of fatigue, but days later she had been engulfed in heavy fevers and chills. In the last moments she had been unaware about his presence, so delirious that she could not even speak coherently. Her funeral procession from the castle to the cathedral was packed full of people who had come to say farewell to their beloved infanta who had come to be revered as close to a saint already by the commoners. Flowers and herbs were thrown on the carriage the casket rested upon as it went by, and black velvets had been hung from the walls of the houses in mourning.
Elizabeth of England, Infanta of Spain
“She died as virtuous as she had lived and I have no fear that she shall not be placed in our Lord’s holy glory in heavens for he has judged her worthy of the outmost grace”
Lionel of York upon hearing of his niece’s passing
Dona Infanta Isabel de Inglaterra or Elizabeth of Cartagena as she would be known to history would be the most famous person buried in the city for centuries and for several generations the royal payments for the upkeep of her tomb would make it a place for pilgrims as a sacred shrine. Petition for sainthood would take place a century after her death, but none came to completion. In the 1680’s, she was given the title of The Venerable due to her selfless acts to the injured and poor of Spain. Her death meant another crisis for the king, as his grandson now found himself without a wife and an heir of his own. The Infante Federico meant that the succession was now far safer, but as he was less than a year old in a time of high infant mortality, the lineage would need to be secured once more and that meant that the search for another bride would have to begin.
Elizabeth was not the only infanta that died that year either. The duchess of Granada declined even further and her husband attended her on the final days in Guadeloupe in October. But while Elizabeth had been too sick to speak her last words to Juan, Maria de Mendoza was not. Her illness had begun sometime after the marriage of Prince Juan and Blanche, perhaps brought on by the king passing over her eldest daughter, Infanta Catalina, for the widowed Prince after Yolande’s death in 1520. This marriage had infuriated both her and Ferdinand the Younger, especially as their uncle’s daughter had been selected instead and they had pushed for a wedding between the Infante Juan and either Catalina or her younger sister Maria rather than an english match, but that too had been rejected. And now it seemed like their only son might not get the whole inheritance of the Mendoza sisters with the marriage to Mencia, as Alano was considered for her sister Maria and it would probably divide the Marquisate of Cenete to add to further insult. Ferdinand the Elder would no doubt plead with his brother the king for that very purpose, much to his nephew’s increasing fury. Maria had come to loath the Duke of Cádiz all the same as her husband over the time and years of illness had left what remained of the duchess seething in twisted anger in the end. Perhaps it was the wraith of Maria’s late grandfather, the villainous Marquis de Villena whom had plagued the reign of Henry IV and that of Isabel the Catholic’s younger years that now surfaced in his daughter’s daughter at the time of her death. The death of Elizabeth opened the door for the still unmarried Maria of Granada to become the wife of Infante Juan and the future queen of all Spain, one of the promises her mother now extorted from Ferdinand on her deathbed. Black-eyed, bone pale; no doubt churning with rage in her final moments, Maria tasked him with making the marriage happen and for Infante Inigo to get the whole inheritance, regardless of Ferdinand the Elder’s meddling.
“I am entrusting the future of our children to you and I ask nothing more from you than to make sure that our daughter will sit on the throne one day regardless of what resistance you will have to crush for that to happen. The Duke must be stopped in his ambitions. You are the king’s son, make him listen to you instead. He must not leave our son’s future in halves in favour for that brat of a nephew. Speak to the grandees and our kind that favour you, this must come to pass. Seek out the Braganza family that still lives in exile in Castile and add them to you cause as well. Their will understand your plight. After all, their rightful place in Portugal has been usurped since so long. The thrones of Spain must not belong to the children of some foreign woman once more.”
Author's Note: I am back with this story! Sorry about the long delay, a combination of writer's block and going back to full time work had been causing troubles. But here we have Spain, going from glory to impending crisis! I found out that Maria de Mendoza was the maternal granddaughter of Juan Pancheco recently after rewatching the serie Isabel and then I went ! So here is the result of that!
@BlueFlowwer Amazing work. RIP Elizabeth and boy Ferdinand the younger is gonna cause a MESS.
Thank you! And yes, farewell to Elizabeth indeed. And oh man, Ferdinand is a timebomb just as I said earlier. But other factors are gonna contribute to it as well.
It's not gonna help with the new Pope being a spectacular jackass either. Anyone wants to guess who I got in mind for that particular part? 😉
No, not that to be honest. But what marriage are you referring to?
Whichever The newly widowed Juan will have that is not Ferdinand the younger's daughter
Ohoho okay. Well that could be a interesting option. But who knows what wife will be Juan's next one? He has several options, Naples, Italy or Beatrice of Brabant at this time.
Yep, and ferdinand the younger will throw a hissy fit to whomever he choses that is not his daughter
Ohoho he will. Or perhaps his daughter gets the match and he decide that he wants more.
Yep, and it can be good in the correct ammounts but with him just DISASTER waiting to happen
True that! And other parties are gonna inflame the situation as well.