King Edward’s great matter

[isabella]

.After being forced to sign the Treaty of Arras and consigning to France his daughter Margaret and a consistent part of his late wife‘s inheritance Maximilian decided to remarry to Elizabeth of York (niece of his stepmother-in-law, older sister of his son‘s fiancée and rejected bride of the Dauphin), signing an anti-French alliance with Edward IV. Elizabeth arrived in Burgundy from England at the beginning of February and married Maximilian a couple of months before her father’s death in April.
Then Edward V became formally King of England under the regency of his uncle the Duke of Gloucester, who captured him during the journey from the Wales to London (his half-brother Richard Grey and his uncle Anthony Rivers also were captured and killed on Gloucester’s order). Edward was taken to the Tower of London and Gloucester was able to persuade Queen Dowager Elizabeth to consign him also her younger son, Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York and Norfolk who was escorted in the Tower together with his brother, while waiting for Edward’s coronation.
Then bishop Stillington confessed to Gloucester who he had married the late King Edward to the long dead lady Eleanor Talbot much before his secret wedding to the Dowager Queen Elizabeth and the hell exploded. Richard of Gloucester do not lose time in revealing that secret marriage, invalidating the wedding of Edward to Elizabeth Woodville and declaring their kids as illegitimate. As Edward, Earl of Warwick was excluded by the succession for his father’s attainder Richard proclame himself as legitimate King taking the name of Richard III and was crowned together with his wife Anne Neville, while their son Edward of Middleham was named Prince of Wales

 

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Vienna, around 15/20 June 1483 (just a little special, the rest of the story will follow the format of the first post)



After the death of his mother and specially after he married his first wife, taking the government of her lands Archduke Maximilian pretty much hated being in company of his father, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III but for once the reasons for which that journey to Vienna, for presenting him his new bride, the English princess Elizabeth, was totally ruined were not related to his father or their strained relationship and different vision of the things... No, the reasons for his fury, incredulity and rage, totally mirrored by his father, were the last bad news just arrived from London, who had also reduced in tears the poor Elisabeth and Max was unable to blame the girl: between the journeys of the last six months - they had married just days before her seventeenth birthday - her state, as Elizabeth was already pregnant, and the succession of bad news from home that reaction was fully understandable. Edward IV’s death was a disgrace but he was unable to find adequate words for describing the action of his brother after that: first he had captured his nephew, the new King, together with his maternal uncle and half-brother, then had the latter two executed (so Elisabeth was crying for the deaths of her father, maternal uncle and half-brother and full of terror for the sort of her brothers, mother and sisters), then had incarcerated the young King in the Tower and persuaded - only God knew how - the Dowager Queen to consign him her other son who was sent in the Tower together with his brother, and after that had that damned bishop of his declaring who King Edward had taken another wife before the mother of his children! The confused Englishmen had believed their words and now the bastard had declared Archduchess Elisabeth and her siblings as illegitimate AND crowned himself as King. Margaret would have to listen him about her beloved brother once he would be back in the Netherlans - soon and likely without Elisabeth who would be safer in Vienna at this point. Luckily his father was angry at least as him and if he knew him well was already planning something and for once he was impatient to hear that: pushing his wedding to Mary of Burgundy was the only good thing his father had done for him, until now (at least in his mind).
-That Usurper and his bishop friend had done badly their maths if they think we will accept their declaration without doing nothing.- proclaimed the Emperor - I will send a message to His Holiness in Rome and we will see what the Holy See, who is the only one to have competence in that matter, will say about the validity of King Edward’s wedding and the legitimacy of his children. Someone will have soon a very bad surprise- finished the Emperor before calling his secretary and then a messenger for sending a very urgent and important letter in Rome.
Letter who would make the King Edward’s Great Matter an international case and change a lot of thing in Europe...

 

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In Rome Pope Sixtus IV was not happy at all to receive the letter of the Emperor (who, in truth was more an order to investigate the matter of King Edward’s wedding than a request to doing it) and was seriously tempted to do nothing about it (presents heard him cursing ”that damned bishop Stillington“ but also the Holy Roman Emperor, Richard III and the late Edward IV more than once) he had enough troubles in Italy without any need to placate the Emperor. Only the intervention of the powerful Vice Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church persuaded the Pope who not investigating the matter would be a very bad idea as the Papal States right now had more than enough enemies (that without adding who most of that enemies were rulers angered by the Pope himself but with a remind who a cardinalate to a certain bishop would likely help in Italy). Thus the Pope resigned himself to what needed to be done and quickly prepared an embassy for England with full power to investigate the matter putting the English Cardinal Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury as head of the commission but with the obligation to send all the documents and finding to Rome before the verdict as he reserved the final judgement for himself....
Leaving Rome in July they would arrive late in that year in England, where King Richard was not happy to see them but still had other, bigger, troubles and was already taking some countermeasures to the actions of the Emperor, while bishop Stillington was clearly irate for that unnecessary Papal interference.
Cardinal Bourchier (who was a relative of the royal family and had crowned Richard) while not exactly happy for that Papal investigation would do his part (and burn the letter with instructions of the Vice Chancellor just after reading it, not who that letter contained anything different from that he was already thinking to do of his own on that matter)...
The year 1483 would end amid rumors who something happened to Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury, with Queen Dowager Elizabeth Woodville and her daughters still in sanctuary, Richard III and Anne Neville celebrating Christmas as King and Queen but worried for the bad turn taken by the health of the Prince of Wales, their only child, and the news who Archduke Maximilian, returned in Burgundy a couple of months earlier and waiting for something still mysterious, and Archduchess Elisabeth now had a son, Archduke Edward, born in Vienna and who apparently mother and son were in very good health (and Richard had received that news so quickly only thanks to a letter of his sister Margaret... and remained at the obscure of the fact who the same messenger who brought him that urgent letter had already delivered some other messages, that ones from Archduke Maximilian, in England)....
Meanwhile Anne de Beaujeu, regent of France was waiting to see what would be happen but pretty intentioned to stay out of that... the death of her father had galvanized all the vassals who disliked taking orders from Paris, the Duke d’Orleans was surely conspiring something, other than supporting so vocally his own brother-in-law to make her impossible sending any help to her aunt Madeleine and cousin Catherine, the rightful Queen of Navarre, for defending her Crown from her uncle and only God knew what the Duke of Brittany was planning and cursed Maximilian had not yet consigned to them his daughter Margaret, her brother Charles’ fiancé, promising to send the girl in the next spring ...

 

[isabella]

London, May 1484

And now also Anne was dead, just days after their son!!! Richard asked to the sky why God had consented to the Woodville witch‘s curse to fall upon his family and for what reason nothing in the last year had gone fine, well, at least after being able to persuade the Woodville witch to give him also her younger son, but that thing also, was likely to play against him now!!!! Stanley sweared who he had no idea of what his step-son was doing in Brittany together with his uncle and who his wife was not involved in any of that but he found that unlikely to believe, considering who the boy had strange ideas about claiming the Crown of England as heir of the Lancasters and marrying Cecily... The heir of two lines of bastards and a bastard girl on the throne of England, sure... At least the crown was where legitimately belonged, to him, the greatest of all Plantagenets, and Tudor was a poor exile without much following...
Still if the Woodville witch continued to stay in the sanctuary with her girls he would be unable to marry them as they truly deserved, a pity because Howard, now Duke of Norfolk had already asked Anne for his grandson (and that was already a much higher match than she deserved...)
Still who Edward was able to marry off his eldest bastard daughter so quickly after her French disappointment and so well was a thorn in his side and pity who the girl had not died with her child...
Elizabeth and her son, another disgrace that, now were in Burgundy with her husband and stepchildren (and thanks to Margaret for that continue informations) but at least Maximilian looked busy with other things and likely waiting the results of that damned investigation asked by his father, who would have done better to order his son to discard the bastard who was given them as princess instead of involving Rome in that matter... In any case after Stillington has declared to have married Edward to another woman before the witch, England accepted that and Bourchier crowned him why that damned Spanish Vice Chancellor had the impudence of interfere in a matter who was not by his competence? Damned Rodrigo Borja and his family and why the hell Bourchier had not yet validated Stillington words? Well, at least that pretended King and his brother were dead (and what luck he had ordered their deaths or likely the boys would be escaped as the men who he had sent for that job arrived during a tentate escape)... Well hopefully his trusted Buckingham would discover quickly who was behind that foiled plot and take care of the children of his dear George and poor Isabel, as that unlucky kids would need to be kept under strict surveillance...
Well he had promised to Anne who their nephew would follow him on the throne, after the death of their son so the boy would be an unofficial heir until he remarried and had another son

 

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Flanders, late May 1484

Henry Tudor was impatiently waiting for the ship to dock at the harbor, something who had caused his uncle and worse also Oxford to mock saying who he was waiting impatiently his bride... that was hardly true, specially as both the possible brides who his mother and uncle had asked for him to Archduke Maximilian were still young, Margaret of Clarence not yet 12 years old and Anne St. Leger only 8 years old, well excluding the fact who if finally luck was on their side, both girls would be on that ship, together with Margaret’s brother Edward of Warwick and Dorset with his wife and children...
If everything had done well, unlike the failed plot to free the King Edward V and his brother from the Tower... well that had been unfortunate but at least the boys’ eldest sister Elizabeth, now heiress of the Yorkist claim, had married a man of indisputable Lancastrian ascendency, uniting their claims and giving a strong leader to follow to all the enemies of Richard III and the hope to a victorious return at home to the exiled Lancastrians...
If everything had gone in the right way, then that was the first step to going back at home and being able to see again his beloved mother... and that was the true reason of his impatience and the reason for which he accepted to play the part who the Archduke, soon to be King of England, had given to him: he was not interested in the Crown of England or marrying princess Cecily, but he wanted return at home with his uncle, recover his father title and a semi-royal Yorkist wife (hopefully either of the girls on that ship, at the worst one of their Suffolk cousins) was only a well valued extra...
The Archduchess Elisabeth herself, stepmother to the ruling Duke of Burgundy was there and also looked impatient and worried and more stunning than ever (well he was not interested at all in her sister but maybe in another world in which Elizabeth of York had not married Archduke Maximilian he would have gladly married her and ruled England together with her...)...
Leaving that fantasies, Henry noted who the ship had finally docked and the passengers were disembarking and the Archduchess was embracing a smiling man, likely her brother Dorset, who was not worried at all. Was possible who this time everything had gone as planned and now Archduke MaximilIan’s invasion for freeing England from the tyranny of the false King Richard would start in the best way possible?
Yes, things looked like that... well looked like his uncle was saying something to Dorset and the Archduchess and he had a suspicion to know about what they were talking and who he would not like that at all, at least judging from the Archduchess‘ laughter and now Oxford and the Archduke, who also had arrived for receive his guests, together with Dowager Duchess Margaret were calling him... Resigning himself to his fate he reached the group and was introduced to the newcomers... well at least both Margaret aNd Anne were pretty enough and the first looked to be a smart and determined young girl and likely his bride to be... Well he would gladly marry her, if that was his destiny he had no complain... unless he was mistaken Margaret of Clarence would make a great Countess of Richmond...
Now hopefully the last provisions would go fine and they would seal soon for England and destroy the Usurper...

 

[isabella]

Mechelen, late July 1484

Elizabeth was reading the latest letter from her husband, alternating the reading with some worried glances in direction of her aunt, as she often had done in the last days, after she was informed of the death of her last brother, as she feared the effect who that news would have on Margaret’s health. Her aunt was strong but the last years had been very hard for all of them, as they had all lost many loved people and Margaret more than anyone else and she feared to leave her almost alone, as would happen soon now: Maximilian had asked her to depart as soon was possible and reach him in London, where she would be crowned as Queen of England, as the council had accepted her a Queen and while Bishop Stillington has refuted to change his version he was unable to give to Cardinal Bourchier and his investigators any proof of his allegations about the Talbot wedding, of which existed no trace outside the words of the Bishop. Cardinal Bourchier had told to the council Rome would need to declare the verdict, but he was unable to find any reason for which the wedding of the late King Edward and Dowager Queen Elizabeth would be invalid AND he would be glad to crown Elizabeth and Maximilian as her consort.
Responding with a smile to an interrogative glance from her aunt, who had caught her, Elizabeth deposed the letter and told her aunt who they had much work to do.
Margaret’s answer surprised her as her aunt told her who sure they had much work to do and to stop to worry for her: she had Burgundy to rule for little Philip and they would be fine and while Richard’s death saddened her, like George he was the author of his own misfortunes and falling in battle was the best end her brother could have at this point. Elizabeth thought who then in the end Tudor’s killing blow had been a mercy, and strange who that came from Meg’s husband-to-be... Well sometimes Fortune liked to play with the lives on the men but had always favored Maximilian in the end. She had once loved uncle Richard but only hate for him remained in her heart after hearing the death of her beloved brothers, at the point who she had been unable to feel sorry for the death of Anne Neville and Edward of Middleham and was only glad for Richard’... Well she sweared to herself once more Meg and Ned would never pay for the crimes of their closest relative and would be ALWAYS member of her close family...
Now she had work to do and she would not use her state, as she was almost sure of being again pregnant, as excuse for not doing her part: was time to send her stepdaughter, little Marguerite, in France so the baggage of the little girls needed to be done and she needed to control who they were adequate to the girl’s rank as France’s Queen-to-be while she and her followings (who included her own son, her sister-in-law, Cecily with her children, plus her cousins Meg, Ned and Annie) needed to sail shortly after Marguerite‘s departure, as she had tried to explain to Philip... her stepson‘s reaction had almost made laugh, both her and her aunt, specially when the boy relaxed once hearing “grandmother Margaret”‘s promise who she would never leave him...
Time to get ready for returning in England and being reunited with Maximilian and her mother and sisters, but for now she had also to work on her German and Latin as she hoped who Maximilian would not be disappointed by her progress...

 

[isabella]

Just days after the coronation of Elizabeth as Queen of England and Maximilian as King of England jure-uxoris and the official announce of the second pregnancy of the young Queen more good news arrived in September. Pope Sixtus IV had died in the middle of August and the election of his successor at the end of that month, during one of the shortest and most packed papal conclaves, in the middle of the worst civil unrest Rome had ever seen during the sede vacante, signed by the open conflict between the Orsini and the Colonna families, more-or-less aligned with the two factions of Cardinals leaded by Cardinal Rodrigo Borja, Vice Chancellor of the Holy See (who wanted preserve peace in Italy) and Cardinal nephew Giuliano della Rovere, Dean of the College of Cardinals (who wanted instead affirm the papal power over the preservation of the peace) plus the danger of the election of the Venetian Cardinal Marco Barbo (Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals) in a moment in which the majority of the Cardinals was favorable to continue the isolation of Venice. Thanks to the decisive intervention of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza - uncle of the reigning Duke of Milan, who had become Cardinal only at the beginning of the year and received the formal investiture at his arrive in a Rome less than a month earlier - and Cardinal Giovanni Battista Cybo, who both pointed on the good relationship who the cardinal had in half-Europe, Vice Chancellor Rodrigo Borja was in the end elected as Pope, taking the name of Alexander VI. Comments on the corruption of that conclave were made and quickly forget as that was ordinary administration for the papal election and for that reason nobody was surprised in seeing Cardinal Cybo replacing the new Pope as Vice Chancellor or Cardinal Sforza becoming quickly one of the principal advisors of the new Pope...
Still in England, together with the news of his election arrived the information who Pope Alexander VI had read the files send by Cardinal Bourchier’s investigators and officially confirmed the validity of Edward IV’s wedding to Elizabeth Woodville and the full legitimacy of their children, together with the recognition of their eldest daughter Elizabeth as only legitimate sovereign of England.
Another well gradite news was the success of young Archduchess Marguerite at the French court: her fiancé King Charles VIII had taken a great liking of her and also the regent Anne de Beaujeu at least apparently was quickly becoming fond of her ward and future sister-in-law.

 

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Edward IV, King of England (1442-1483) married Elizabeth Woodville (1440-?) in 1464

1. Elizabeth of York, Queen of England (1466-?) married Maximilian I of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor(1459-?) in 1483
   1. see under Maximilian
2. Mary of York (1467-1482)
3. Cecily of York (1469-?) married James IV, King of Scotland (b.1473) in 1488
   1. see under James
4. Edward V, King of England (1470 -1483), one of the Princes in the Tower
5. Margaret of York (1472)
6. Richard, Duke of York and Norfolk (1473-1483), one of the Princes in the Tower married Anne de Mowbray, Countess of Norfolk (1472-1481)
7. Anne of York (1475-?) married Philip of Austria, Duke of Burgundy (1478-1500) in 1493
   1. see under Philip
8. George, Duke of Bedford (1477-1479)
9. Catherine of York (1479-?) married John, Prince of Asturias and of Girona (1478-1497) in 1495
   1. see under John
10. Bridget of York (1480-?), nun

Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and Pembroke (b. 1457) married Margaret of Clarence (b. 1473) in 1489

1. Jasper Tudor, Earl of Richmond and Pembroke (b. 1490) married Anne Howard (b. 1493)
2. Margaret Tudor (b. 1492) married George Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon (b. 1488)
3. Edmund, Earl of Salisbury (b. 1496) married Margaret Percy (b. 1500)
4. Isabella Tudor (b. 1498) married Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham (b. 1501)
5. Henry Tudor, Earl of Warwick (b. 1500) married Elizabeth Talbot (b. 1506)
6. Thomas Tudor, Cardinal (b. 1502)

Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick* (b. 1475) married Anne, Duchess of Brittany (b. 1477) in 1489

1. John, King of Navarre (b. 1493) married Madeleine, Queen of Navarre (b. 1494)
2. Francis III, Duke of Brittany (b. 1496) married Margaret of Scotland (b. 1495)
3. Anne of Brittany (1499-1500)
4. Isabelle of Brittany (b. 1502) married Francis I, King of France (b. 1504)
5. Margaret of Brittany (1503-1510)

*Edward renounced to that title in 1497

 

[isabella]

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b.1459) married a) Mary, Duchess of Burgundy (1457-1482) in 1477 b) Elizabeth of York, Queen of England (b.1466) in 1483

1a) Philip IV, Duke of Burgundy (1478-1502) married Anne of York (b.1475) in 1493

1) Charles I, King of Lotharingia (b.1495) married Isabelle II, Duchess of Lorraine and Guelders (b.1494)​

2) Margaret of Burgundy (1497-1498)​

3) stillborn son (1498)​

4) miscarriage (1499)​

5) Mary of Burgundy (1500-1501)​

6) stillborn daughter (1501)​

2a) Margaret of Burgundy (b.1480) married Charles VIII, King of France (1470-1498) in 1492

1) stillborn son (1496)​

2) miscarriage (1497)​

3) stillborn daughter (1498)​

3a) Francis (1481)
4b) Edward VI, King of England (b.1483) married Maria of Aragon (b.1482) in 1498
5b) Eleanor (b.1485) married Casimir V, King of Poland (b. 1484)*
6b) Ernest I, Holy Roman Emperor (b.1487) married Sophie of Bohemia** (b. 1489)
7b) Frederick (1489-1492)
8b) Elizabeth (b.1490) married Sigismund II, King of Bohemia**(b. 1487)
9b) Anne (1491-1498)
10b) Katherine (b.1495) married Maximilian I, Duke of Milan (b.1493)
11b) Maximilian, King of Hungary (b.1497) married Katherine of Hungary (b.1502)

*posthumous son and only child of St. Casimir and Kunigunde of Austria
** ATL children by Vladislaus II of Bohemia and an ATL wife.

 

[isabella]

Lorenzo de‘ Medici (1449-1492) married Clarice Orsini (1450-1488) in 1469

1. Lucrezia Maria Romola de' Medici (b. 1470) married Jacopo Salviati (b. 1461) in 1486
2. Twins who died after birth (March 1471)
3. Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici (1472–1494), ruler of Florence married Alfonsina Orsini (b. 1472)
   1. Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici (1492-1493)
   2. Clarice de‘ Medici (1493-1508) married Lorenzo Borgia (b. 1491) in 1505
4. Maria Maddalena Romola de' Medici (b. 1473) married Cesare Borgia, Duke of Urbino (b. 1475) in 1489
   1. Maddalena (b.1490) married Alfonso d’Este, Duke of Ferrara (b. 1476) in 1505
   2. Lorenzo, Duke of Florence (b. 1491) married a) Clarice de’ Medici (1493-1509) in 1505 b) Beatrice Sforza (b. 1497) in 1512
   3. Alessandro, Duke of Urbino (b. 1493) married Eleonora d’Este (b. 1497)
   4. Lucrezia (b. 1496) married Ferdinand of Aragon, Prince of Taranto and Duke of Andria (b. 1488)
   5. Rodrigo (1498-1500)
5. Contessina Beatrice de' Medici (1474)
6. Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici (b. 1475) ascended to the papacy as Leo X in 1513
7. Luisa de' Medici (1477–1488) engaged to Giovanni de' Medici il Popolano (1467-1498)
8. Contessina Antonia Romola de' Medici (1478–1515) married Piero Ridolfi (1467–1525) in 1494
9. Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici (1479–1496)

 

[isabella]

Ferdinand I of Aragon, King of Naples (1423-1494) married a) Isabella of Clermont, Princess of Taranto (1424-1465) in 1444 b) Joanna of Aragon (b. 1454) in 1476
1a) Alfonso II, King of Naples (1448-1495) married a) Ippolita Maria Sforza (1446-1484) in 1465, had children by mistress b) Trogia Gazzella

1a) Ferdinando II, King of Naples (b.1469) married a) Bianca Maria Sforza (1472-1496) in 1491 b) Giovanna of Naples (b. 1478) in 1497​

1a) miscarriage (1492)​

2a) stillborn son (1493)​

3a) Alfonso, Duke of Calabria (1494-1502)​

4a) Bianca Maria (b. 1496) married Francesco Sforza, Duke of Bari (b. 1495)​

5b) Ferdinand III, King of Naples (b. 1498) married Eleonora Sforza (b.1498)​

6b) Giovanna (b. 1500)​

7b) Giovanni, Prince of Rossano (1502-1506)​

2a) Isabella (1470-1510) married a) Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan (1469-1494) in 1489 (annulled in 1491 as non consummated) b) John Corvinus, King of Hungary (1473-1510) in 1492​

1b) Matthias II, King of Hungary (1494-1518) married Eleonora Gonzaga (b. 1493)​

2b) Beatrice of Hungary (1495-1502)​

3b) Elizabeth of Hungary (1497-1500)​

4b) John of Hungary (1498-1508)​

5b) miscarriage (1500)​

6b) Katherine of Hungary (b.1502) married Maximilian of Austria, King of Hungary (b. 1497)​

3a) Piero (1472-1491), Prince of Rossano​

4b) Sancha of Aragon (b. 1478)​

5b) Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Bisceglie and Prince of Salerno (b. 1481) married Lucrezia Borgia (b. 1480) in 1495​

1) Rodrigo (1497-1510)​

2) Alfonso (1499-1505)​

3) Alessandro, Duke of Bisceglie and Prince of Salerno (b. 1500) married Isabella of Aragon (b. 1500)​

4) Lucrezia (b. 1503) married Ercole II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara (b. 1500)​

2a) Eleonora (1450-1493) married Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara (1431-1505) in 1473

1) Isabella d’Este (b. 1474) married Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua (1466-1519) in 1490​

1) Eleonora (b. 1493) married Matthias II Corvinus, King of Hungary (1494-1518)​

2) Federico II, Marquess of Mantua (b. 1500) married Bianca Sforza (b. 1500)​

3) Ippolita (b. 1503)​

4) Ercole (b. 1505), Cardinal​

5) Ferrante (b. 1507)​

6) Livia (Paola) (b. 1508) nun​

2) Beatrice d’Este (b.1475) married Ludovico I Sforza, Duke of Milan and Bari (b. 1452) in 1491​

1) (Ercole) Massimiliano I, Duke of Milan (b. 1493) married Katherine of Austria and England (b. 1495)​

2) Francesco, Duke of Bari (b. 1495) married Bianca Maria of Naples (b. 1496)​

3) Beatrice (b. 1497) married Lorenzo Borgia, Duke of Florence (b. 1491)​

4) Eleonora (b. 1498) married Ferdinand III, King of Naples (b. 1498)​

5) Bianca (b. 1500) married Federico II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua (b. 1500)​

6) Ludovico (b. 1501) married Maria Paleologa, Marchioness of Montferrat (b. 1503)​

7) Isabella (b. 1503) married Charles III, Duke of Savoy (b. 1504)​

3) Alfonso I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara (b. 1476) married a) Anna Maria Sforza (1476-1497) in 1491 b) Charlotte of Naples (1480-1503) in 1498 c) Maddalena Borgia (b. 1490) in 1505​

1a) Eleonora (b. 1497) married Alessandro Borgia, Duke of Urbino (b. 1493)​

2b) Ercole II, Duke of Ferrara (b.1500) married Lucrezia d’Aragona (b. 1503)​

3b) Anna (b. 1502)​

4b) stillborn son (1503)​

5c) Beatrice (b. 1506)​

6c) Ippolito (1508-1515)​

7c) Isabella (1510)​

4) Ferrante d’Este (1477-?)​

5) Ippolito d’Este (b. 1479), Cardinal​

6) Sigismondo d’Este (1480-1524)​

3a) Federico, Prince of Taranto (b. 1452) married a) Anne of Savoy (1455-1480) in 1478 b) Isabella del Balzo, Duchess of Andria (b. 1463) in 1487

1a) Charlotte (1480-1502) married Alfonso I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara (b. 1476) in 1498​

2b) Ferdinando, Prince of Taranto and Duke of Andria (b. 1488) married Lucrezia Borgia (b. 1495)​

3b) Giulia d’Aragona (1492-1505)​

4b) Alfonso (1499-1507)​

5b) Isabella (b. 1500) married Alessandro d’Aragona, Prince of Salerno and Duke of Bisceglie (b. 1500)​

4a) Giovanni (1456-1485) Cardinal
5a) Beatrice (1475-1508) married Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary (1443-1490) in 1476
6a) Francesco, Duke of Sant Angelo (1461-1486)
7b) Giovanna (b. 1478) married Ferdinand II of Aragon, King of Naples (b. 1469) in 1497
8b) Carlo (1480–1486)

 

[isabella]

Being granddaughter of both Lorenzo “the Magnificent” de’Medici and Pope Alexander VI, both considered by many as new men and being married (as third wife) to the heir of one of the oldest Italian dynasties was not easy...
Still Maddalena knew everything about how rule and organize splendid courts (her parents’ Urbino and Florence, ruled by her brother were a testimony of the greatness reached by the heirs of the union between the Borgias and the Medicis) and that made her at least accepted in Ferrara without too much troubles. Well that and the fact who her father was one the most powerful and surely the most dangerous of the Italian rulers so Duke Ercole decided who a triple alliance with the Borgias was the best way to secure his domains and married his son, widowed for the second time, to the eldest daughter of Cesare, offering his own granddaughter for the younger brother of her new step-mother (heir of his father’s Urbino) and marrying his grandson (heir of Ferrara) to Cesare‘s niece (ignoring the illegitimacy of both parents of the girl, as Ercole was keen to do, she was a good match being the great-niece of his late wife and an Aragon of Naples). Maddalena had never any illusion about her wedding so she was not disappointed at all and Alfonso, while initially reluctant was positively impressed by his new wife, who was a well know beauty (like all the Borgia women as her younger sister, her paternal aunt and the daughter of the latter, all called Lucrezia, also were renowned beauties), well educated, smart and determinate so they were an happy couple and she had not made regret her long late mother-in-law as Duchess of Ferrara. Her greatest regret was not being able to give a second living son to her husband (but at least her cousin/stepdaughter-in-law Lucrezia secured the line with three sons) and who her only child to become adult was a third daughter for Alfonso... Maddalena in the end was a popular Duchess and a patron of the arts who contributed to the splendor of Ferrara and of the house of Este, who well deserved to be counted among the great ladies of the Italian Renaissance (and she was related to many of them for either birth or marriage)

 

[isabella]

Lucrezia Borgia, only daughter and likely the most beloved child, of Pope Alexander VI by his mistress Vannozza Cattanei (who is not the infamous “Lady of Rome” or “Bride of Christ” of Alexander VI’s papacy. That was Giulia Farnese, sister of the future Pope Paul III, who became Alexander’s mistress in 1488 when she was only 14 years old) was married at 15 years old to the 14 years old Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Bisceglie and Prince of Salerno, who was the illegimate son of Alfonso II of Naples, sealing the friendship and alliance between their fathers. Lucrezia had the luck of being married to a powerful lord in a beautiful court who remained stable and almost unchallenged, so she was able to spend a peaceful life and both her surviving children made very good weddings as her son Alessandro married a legitimate member of the royal family of Naples (Isabella of Taranto, the youngest daughter of Federico, Duke of Taranto and Andria, second son of King Ferrante I) while her daughter, another Lucrezia, was the third princess of Naples (and the second Borgia, after her cousin Maddalena, third wife of Alfonso I) to marry in Ferrara (the other two were Eleonora of Naples, elder daughter of King Ferrante I and only wife of Duke Ercole I, then Charlotte of Taranto, only child of Federico by his first wife, who was the second wife of Alfonso I and mother of his heir, who in turn married Lucrezia of Bisceglie). This Lucrezia Borgia was remembered for her beauty and culture but specially for her piety and the great love between her and her husband, and also as sometime hostess for her father, as Lucrezia and Alfonso were used to divide their times between the courts of Rome and Naples and their own lands.
Sometimes she is called Lucrezia Borgia ”the Elder” for better distinguishing her from her namesake niece Lucrezia Borgia “the Younger”, who was the youngest daughter of Cesare and Maddalena Borgia and likewise married in the extended royal family of Naples as her husband was Ferrante of Aragon, Prince of Taranto and Duke of Andria (brother of Alessandro of Bisceglie‘s wife Isabella).




*as the alliance with Rome and Milan prevented the French Kings Charles VIII and Louis XII from effectively trying to claim the crown of Naples and while Ferdinand II of Aragon once tried to invade Naples (in the short timeframe in which neither his sister or her daughter were Queen Consorts in Naples), killing King Alfonso II in battle, his invasion in the end was unsuccessful and the later wedding between his niece Giovanna to the new King Ferdinand II, after Queen Bianca Maria‘s death, put the end on that once for all.

 

[isabella]

Ferdinand II, King of Aragon (1452-1518) married a) Isabella I, Queen of Castile (1451-1504) in 1469

1. Isabella (b. 1470) married Alfonso, Prince of Portugal (1475-1491) in 1490 without issues
2. miscarried son (1475)
3. John, Prince of Asturias and Girona (1478-1497) married Catherine of York(b.1479) in 1495
   1. Isabella II, Queen of Spain (b.1497) married John III, King of Spain (b.1497)
   2. Joanna (1498)
4. Joanna (b.1479) married Manuel I, King of Portugal (b.1469) in 1496
   1. John III, King of Spain (b.1497) married Isabella II, Queen of Spain (b.1497)
   2. Isabella (b. 1499)
   3. Beatrice (b. 1501)
   4. Edward (1503-1505)
   5. Henry (b. 1506)
   6. Joanna (b. 1508)
5. Maria (b.1482) married Edward VI, King of England (b.1485) in 1498
   1. see under Edward​
6. Anna (1482) twin of Maria
7. Catherine (b.1485)

 

[isabella]

James IV, King of Scotland (b. 1473) married Cecily of York (b. 1469) in 1488

1. James V, King of Scotland (b. 1490) married Germaine of Foix (b. 1488)
2. Cecily (1493-1495)
3. Margaret of Scotland (b. 1495) married Francis III, Duke of Brittany (b. 1496)
4. Robert (1497)
5. Alexander, Duke of Ross (b. 1499) married Madeleine de la Tour d’Auvergne (b. 1498)
6. David (1502)
7. John (1504-1507)

Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany (1454-1485) married Anne de la Tour d’Auvergne (?) in 1480

1. Maud (1481)
2. John, Duke of Albany (b. 1484) married Anne de la Tour d’Auvergne (b. 1496) in 1505

 

[isabella]

Louis XII, King of France (b. 1462) married a) Jeanne of France (1464-1497) in 1476 b) Louise of Savoy (b. 1476) in 1497

1. Charles, Dauphin of France (1499-1505)
2. Mary of France (b. 1502)
3. Francis I, King of France (b. 1504) married Isabelle of Brittany (b. 1502)
4. Anne of France (1506-15068)

Charles, Count of Angouleme (1459-1496) married Louise of Savoy (b. 1476) in 1490

1. Marguerite (b. 1492) married Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours (b. 1489)
2. Charlotte (1494-1498)

John of Foix, Viscount of Narbonne (1450-1500) married Marie d’Orleans (1457-1493) in 1476

1. Germaine (b. 1488) married James V, King of Scotland (b. 1490)
2. Gaston, Duke of Nemours (b. 1489) married Marguerite d’Angouleme (b. 1492)