Chapter 8 – Castile, Aragon, and Navarre from 1479 to 1486
The end of the War of the Castilian Succession came in 1479 with the Treaty of Alcacovas settling the terms for peace. The treaty obliged the oldest daughter of the Spanish monarchs to marry the heir to Portugal, in this case, Prince Alfonso, the only son of crown prince John. The dowry that Isabella would bring would represent the war compensation to Portugal as well. The groom was almost five at that time, his future wife the same age. Isabella would leave for Portugal in 1480 at the age of five and to live with Alfonso in Portugal, in Beja at the town of Moura. It was there that Isabella meet the dowager duchess of Viseu, Beatriz and her youngest child, Infanta Beatriz born in 1469.
For Isabel and Ferdinand, a second blessing arrived in January of 1482 in Cordoba. A second son, Infante Ferdinand. The little boy was strong and healthy, and his baptism was celebrated with great vigor. To his parents, his birth was the second greatest gift in the world. With two sons, the succession was even more secured. Little Ferdinand remained in Cordoba for his first three years, while his parents and older siblings traveled in their kingdom. Their last child came in 1485 on the 16th of December in The Archiepiscopal Palace of Alcalá de Henares. The Infanta was named Catalina for her Lancastrian ancestor Catherine of Lancaster, the English noblewoman who had married Henry III of Castile in 1388. The sixteen years old Prince of Asturias and Girona carried his little sister to the baptism to be christened by the bishop of Palencia, her little form wrapped in a gown of white brocade lined with green velvet and trimmed with gold lace.
The prince was quivering with joy, both for the baby girl and the secret his wife had just told him.
Juan had grown up into a tall and strong young man, much to his parents’ pride. Isabella had been an attentive mother and Juan, being her heir and firstborn had been called “my angel” even at times when he was being reprimanded. Juan’s educations had been given special attention by his parents. Dominican brother Diego Deza was one of his tutors and later became Grand Inquisitor of Spain. He mainly taught him and Isabella theology and the Italian humanist Peter Martyr d’Anghiera arrived in the end of the 1470s to broaden his education. The prince and his friends also jousted, rode, and became good at hawking and hunting. They played chess and other card games, learned poetry, and read about roman emperors and former kings of history and of their deeds. Juan became a gifted musician, learning to play the flute, violin, and clavichord easily. He also sang well, much to the courts delight when his companions and siblings joined in.
To avoid a scenario where the prince would fall under the influence of one singular grandee, he had been brought up in a circle of noble boys his own age and a somewhat older group of noblemen so emulate a ideal for them to grow up as. These companions were amongst others, Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres, the future governor of the Indies, and Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, the future historian of the Indies. Pedro López de Padilla also frequently visited the court and his son Juan born in 1490 would become lifelong friends with the future Prince of Asturias too.
The question of Juan’s marriage had occupied his parents mind since infancy. His first proposal had been Isabella of Burgundy, the eldest daughter of Charles the Bold. Both toddlers were three years old at that time, and a loose betrothal had been worked out by both parties. The death of Charles in 1477 had ended it and Isabella became dauphine of France three years later. Another possible bride from 1479 were Juana la Beltraneja, the clairmant of Castile. But nothing came of that match, as Isabel and Ferdinand settled on another bride in 1480.
Catherine of Navarre, Princess of Asturias
The small Kingdom of Navarre had been contested by Ferdinand II of Aragon, as his father John II had been king of Navarre in union with Queen Blanche I. While Blanche had died in 1441, John continued to use the title even as their oldest son, Charles had been named Charles IV of the kingdom. The prince had died in 1461, perhaps poisoned. His sister Blanche II had been imprisoned by her father and later died in 1464. The remaining daughter, Eleanor had been regent of Navarre and her father’s supporter, thus being regent of Navarre.
Eleanor had married Gaston IV, Count of Foix and their eldest son Gaston, Prince of Viana married Magdalena of Valois, a French princess. They had two children together, Francis Phoebus and Catherine of Navarre born in 1467 and 1468. Eleanor died in 1483 and her grandson Francis Phoebus became king upon her death.
John II of Aragon died in 1479 and Ferdinand became king of Aragon in his own right. During his coronation he took Juan to be sworn in as Prince of Girona in front of the Aragonese courtes. Ferdinand and Isabel sent a delegation to Navarre for the hand of Catherine to Juan. The proposal gathered the sympathy of the Beaumont party who pressed hard for the match, while the Aragmont party were a bit more hesitant. The marriage was agreed upon in 1480 by Eleanor and Catherine was sent to the courts of her future parents in laws to be educated as the future Princess of Asturias and Girona. While Catherine was twelve years old and thus at the age to marry, Juan was only ten and would have to wait another four years.
In the meantime, Catherine came to be a cherished part of the courts of Ferdinand and Isabella, with many remarking that the Infanta was
“bright and dignified with a regal demeanour” Catherine became friendly with Juan, even if the boy blushed like mad whenever they meet for the next two years. She even managed to cheer up the little Infanta Juana, the second daughter of Ferdinand and Isabel. Juana had been a fretful baby, who at the age of two had become a sullen and timid girl, preferring to be alone. Catherine became like an older sister to her and after a few weeks, she had started to smile more, to the surprise of her nurses and governesses. Catherine enjoyed a splendid education as the princess in waiting, being taught by the famous Italian humanists Antonio and Alessandro Gerardino and learned latin from Beatriz Galindo, the famous
La Latina.
Beatriz Galindo, La Latina
Despite Beatriz was only three years older than Catherine, she had already started educating Queen Isabel when she arrived in court in 1480 and she became a close friend to the two infantas and later little Catalina after 1485. Catherine got a education of canon and civil laws, the important heraldry for a princess to learn as well as the subjects of history, languages, mathematics and philosophy popular at this time for both princes and princesses to learn.
The classical literature included both christian poetry of Juvencus and Prudentius, the church father Saint Augustine, Saint Gregory, and Saint Jerome. Isabel ensured that both Catherine and her own daughters learned proper court etiquette and equestrian skills. The female skills of dancing, drawing and all manners of embroidery, needlework and sewing were also considered for proper princesses.
Isabel made sure that Catherine meets the standards of her fastidious court. The scandalous behaviour from Joana of Portugal, wife to Henry IV of Castile were the opposite what Isabel had been learned to be and the deep cleavages and exposed tights painted white shown when dismounting horses had been banished since long. The women slept apart and ate apart and no royal women or, lady in waiting for that matter, admitted men into their chambers until they were up and dressed. Joana’s daughter had been tainted by her marital infidelity, proving fatal to her claim to the throne. Isabel on the other hand had proven a paragon of decorum, leaving her son with no stain of illegitimacy. Her future daughter in law would learn to protect her reputation as well.
But it was not all stiffness for Catherine. Tales of chivalry were sung after dinners, old battles of the wars in Granada in the pasts played out in glorious manners. The dancing at the fiestas could last until the small hours in the mornings and Catherine benefited from the Portuguese dancing teachers. She often danced with Juan too, who at the age of thirteen had gotten over his blushes.
The birth of Infante Ferdinand in 1482 have given Ferdinand and Isabel the boost they needed to embark on their next enterprise: The final conquest of the Emirate of Granada. The Reconquista began in February and it took a whole decade to complete, but January of 1492 the last emirate was no more. For Catherine, the next decade would change not only her life, but Castile, Aragon and Navarre forever.
The surrender of Granada in 1492
In 1484 Prince Juan came of age and the marriage between him and Catherine was celebrated in splendour in the city of Cordoba in December. Cordoba had been chosen as it was the city had been taken by Ferdinand III of Castile in 1236 in the old Reconquista. The Saint King had been hailed as historians as one of the best kings of Castile and Leon, securing the union of Castile and Leon as well as expanding the royal territories of the kingdom. Such an example and legacy were now given to not only Isabel and Ferdinand, but also to their heirs, Juan and Catherine, Prince and Princess of Asturias and Girona.
Despite Juan being fourteen, the marriage was consummated properly that night and the sheets from the marriage bed, stained with virgin blood, ended up displayed for the whole court to witness.
Catherine announced her pregnancy exactly one year after the marriage in December of 1485, shortly after Catalina’s christening. The news was greeted with ferocious joy by all in Castile and Aragon, and Ferdinand and Isabel praised God for their luck. Their resolve in winning the war grew increased more as they wanted to deliver the city of Alhambra for their potential grandson.
The whole family reunited in the first week of August of 1486 in Seville. The Royal Alcazar of Seville served as the place where Catherine had her lying in from the beginning of July. The upper floors of the Alcazar had been extended and refurbished into royal residences for the family before that, something much needed as Isabel, Ferdinand, Juana, Infante Ferdinand, and little Catalina all resided there from in the period of late summer. Infanta Isabella also arrived from Portugal after six years of education in Beja, much to her parents’ delight. The Infanta was now eleven years old and would spend another five years with her family before leaving Castile for Portugal and her grown up Prince Alfonso for good. Isabella was somewhat morose as her constant companion of the past years; Infanta Beatriz had left for her own marriage over a year before that and her son would be born six months before Catherine’s son. Because a son it turned out to be on the seventh of August.
While the family waited the four infantas visited the
Courtyard of the Maidens, where it was rumored that a hundred christian maidens had been offered to the moors in older times, splashing their feet in the reflecting pools. The gardens held orchards stocked with fruits and fragrant flowers of all kinds, delighting little Catalina who often toddled around the place and her sisters and Catherine enjoyed quince jelly and
azúcar rosado, a syrupy drink made from rose-water and sugar. Isabella was enthralled to see her little sisters again, especially Catalina, who she had never meet.
After eighteen grueling hours of labour, baby Juan entered the world just after dawn rose in Andalusia. The Prince and Princess had a strong and healthy son.
He would not be the only Prince being born in span of the twelve months of December of 1485 to December of 1486.
But for now, Castile and Aragon rejoiced in the birth of Isabel and Ferdinand’s first grandchild.
In Navarre, Catherine’s brother Francis Phoebus died the following month after his nephew’s birth under suspicious circumstances. Tragically the young king had just reached an agreement to marry the Juana La Beltraneja before his death. The succession of the kingdom would now instead go to the Princess of Asturias and her son.
Francis Phoebus, the last king of a independent Navarre
Author's Note: Some major butterflies flapping here. Eleanor of Navarre lives for another four years, thus the marriage for Catherine and Juan goes smoothly. Infanta Maria is a Infante here, giving Ferdinand and Isabel extra security in the succession. Manuel, Duke of Beja was born Infanta Beatriz of Viseu in 1469 instead as well. Isabella of Aragon is born in 1475 instead and is the same age as Prince Alfonso. Infanta Juana gets a friend and thus a more happy childhood and Infanta Catalina is my precious cupcake as always. Ferdinand and Isabel also have a grandson born now so they are just popping whatever the renaissance equivalent of the worlds most expensive champagne is at this point.
Also Francis Phoebus just died a month after his nephew had been born. What a shame that he never got to marry a La Beltraneja and have heirs of his own to inherit Navarre. I'm sure Ferdinand II is ABSOLUTELY heartbroken over that very RANDOM coincidence.
