With the beginning of the year would come conflict. Said conflict, was fortunately not that of war(at least in Europe proper), Europe had enjoyed a rather unprecedented period of peace following the conclusion of The Third Italian War. This conflict was to be in personalities, at the Alcázar of de los Reyes Cristianos, between the Princess of Asturias, Eleanor of Portugal and the Queen of Spain, Philiberta of Savoy. Apparently, over the previous fall, Juan, Prince of Asturias had taken a mistress, a member of a wealthy merchant family, one Elena Martinez(age 20), and had spent much more time with her than with his wife. While the two had enjoyed a good relationship and grown to love each other, this did greatly annoy the Infanta Eleanor who generally stood silent about it in public. One of Queen Philiberta’s ladies, Rosa de Bivero(a niece of Teresa de Bivero, lady of Maria of Aragon) recounts the clash between the Princess of Asturias and Queen, she writes,”The Princess Eleanor entered the Queen’s chambers, and asked how she is to deal with the Prince’s unfaithfulness. The Queen laughed and haughtily informed her that she should not run complaining about a problem that she, through not being an attentive wife has caused. The princess then glared at her and called her a fat old cow, who only became Queen through the death of a better woman, her late aunt Mary. As the Princess stormed out of the room, Queen Philiberta called her a Portuguese filly, who like her grandmother Isabella of Aragon, does not know her place.”
Naturally, neither woman was pleased by the other and petiotioned the King to reprimand the other. King Ferdinand VI for his part was partially amused, yet also aggravated, for he did not wish to offend either woman. As a result of this, the King simply refused to chastise either woman, and later remarked that he had more important things to attend to. Indeed, this was not the King’s usual pompous attitude to the,”Nonsense of women.” Which is what he called the argument, he had plans of his own. Plans of war. Those plans were attacking the final notable base that the Barbary corsairs under Ottoman suzerainty held, that of Tunis. Other than his own war that saw Morocco lose its entire coastline, King Ferdinand’s grandmother, Isabella of Castile had, towards end of her reign, succesfully ordered the conquest of much of Algeria. Still, in spite of this, the Balearic islands, as well as portions of Sicily had suffered the occasional raid from the Barbary pirates, thus, the King sought to put an end to their raids once and for all, by cutting off the head of the serpent: The infamous Hayreddin Barbarossa, who had overthrown the local ruler who had previously paid tribute to the King of Spain: Mulay Hassan, in the year before. The task at hand was a demanding one, for though Barbarossa’s forces would likely be outnumbered by those of the King of Spain, the man was a formidable warrior, and an excellent commander. Thus, King Ferdinand would leave nothing to chance in this campaign, bringing an estimated forty thousand men, five thousand of which were Portuguese troops lent to him by his cousin Miguel, King of Portugal. Another form of foreign support lent to this expedition was twenty galleys from Spain’s allies in Naples and Genoa, with the Neapolitans providing eight, and the Genoese providing a dozen ships, for both had suffered at the hands of the Barbary pirates.. Overall he naval complement of his forces would consist of roughly three hundred ships, including five galleons, to ensure total victory. Thus, in late April the campaign had begun, with the King of Spain bring his youngest brother the Infante Jaime, Duke of Urgell, as well as his brother-in-law Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba as his foremost generals. King Ferdinand would also bring his eldest son, Juan, Prince of Asturias on campaign, to prove himself on the field of battle. In regards to who would govern the Kingdoms of Spain in his absence, he choose his mother, Margaret of Austria as regent. His younger siblings who had previously served in the role, the Infante Juan Carlos, Duke of Cadiz, and the Infanta Urraca, Duchess of Alba could not serve as coregents, because the former was suffering from a case of dysentery while the latter was in the final months of her fifth pregnancy. On the topic of pregnancies in Spain, it would turn out that before he departed for North Africa with his father and uncles, Juan, Prince of Asturias managed to get his wife pregnant, though it would not be known until a couple of months after his departure. Finally, after months of preparation, the Spanish army and fleet would make arrive at Tunis, where ferocious fighting would occur between the Spaniards and the forces under Barbarossa’s command. The Barbary fleet heavily outnumbered and outgunned, was rather easily crushed, and the Portuguese Galleon: the Portuguese galleon Botafogo would break the chains protecting the harbor with her ram. Eventually, the port of Tunis, La Golleta would fall, after heavy bombardment and an amphibious assault by the Spanish infantry, in which Juan, Prince of Asturias would prove his worth as a warrior by striking down two Ottoman soldiers. By the end of the day, thirty thousand of the city’s inhabitants were massacred by the Spaniards, as well as the entirety of the garrison and Barbary fleet, and wholesale looting and devastation of the city would occur as well. Hayreddin Barbarossa for his part was captured: branded with hot irons, and after sustaining many beatings and lacerations was uncertainly beheaded by the King of Spain. King Ferdinand VI was said to have remarked to his men,”We shall treat this cesspool as our Roman forebearers treated Carthage, though we, in our infinite mercy shall stop short of salting the fields.” Tunis’s fate, would be ghastly indeed, though most of the residential buildings would be spared to make room for immigrants from Spain, most of whom would be Christians from the poorer area around La Mancha, while some Jews and Muslims from Granada would be granted permission to settle there as well, for they too had been victims of Barbary piracy, and were unlikely to aid the Ottomans in the future, while some would also provide low interest loans to the rest of the immigrants.. Regarding defenses, a garrison of four thousand men would be left in the city, most of whom would be sheltered in a Kasbah near La Gouletta. Upon their return to Spain in July, at Seville, Juan, Prince of Asturias received the unfortunate news that his wife had miscarried their unborn child just weeks ago, though his father tried to reassure him, that given time, they may have many children. It was also shortly after this return to one of the many Alcázar’s in which court was held, that King Ferdinand managed to impregnate Queen Philiberta for the third time, with her child due in June of the next year. In September meanwhile, Sancho de Trastámara, nephew of the King of Spain, and heir to his father, the Duke of Cadiz(who fortunately survived his brush with dysentery) was wed to his betrothed Catherine de Medici, at the royal court in Seville. One chronicler, Roberto Yanez wrote,”Young Sancho is a rather boisterous young man, let us hope that his bride will have a moderating effect.”
Of course, Catherine for her part, having been raised by her grandmother-in-law, in Spain for much of childhood knew much of the local customs, and seemed rather enamored with her royal husband. Indeed, Sancho must have found her attractive enough, for the fifteen-year-old eagerly consummated his marriage. However, had she known this was a sign of Sancho’s temperament and later infidelities, perhaps Catherine de Medici would have wished he was more hesitant.
To the west, at the edge of Europe, Portugal would continue to prosper from her colonies in Brazil, and the conquest of Morocco’s western coast, though the latter required sizeable garrisons as the Moroccan’s chafed under Portuguese rule, for they were much more restrictive on matters of religion than the Spanish. In Lisbon, on May 28th, Portugal’s Queen, Catherine of England, gave birth to her seventh child, a boy named Diogo, named after King Miguel’s uncle: Diogo, Duke of Viseu, who had been executed by King João II on rather dubious charges in 1484.
To the northeast, in the Duchy of Savoy, its Duchess, Maria of Aragon, the second youngest child of the Catholic Monarchs, lay dying. The fifty-one year old seemed to have contracted Typhus, as for three weeks, the Duchess suffered a series of horrifying symptoms: High fever, red spots all over the body and deliruim. The latter of the symptoms would cause her to hallucinate and believe that her grandson, Ferdinand of Savoy, was actually her youngest son Emmanuel, who had died four years ago. Finally, her suffering mercifully ended on March 7th as her fifth son John, the Archbishop of Turin, was performing a mass for his mother’s soul, and she drew her last breath. Two months later, on May 26th, her son Phillip of Savoy and his wife Susanna of Bavaria would have their tenth and final child: a son, named Robert. This would not be the only notable birth in the Ducal family, for on October 7th, exactly seven months after the Duchess’s death, her grandson, Philibert of Savoy and his wife Elizabeth of England, had their second child. Following a long, yet successful labor, the Princess gave birth to a girl, named Maria, for the child’s great-grandmother who had so recently passed.
In England, there was to be a flurry of activity, for Anne of Cleves, Princess of Wales was pregnant for the third time, while her younger sister, Amalia of Cleves, Duchess of York was also with child. As such both women would take additional ladies into their household during this delicate period. The Princess of Wales for her part would take a pair of young cousins as ladies. The two newest ladies were Eleanor Percy, and Elizabeth Boleyn the former was fourteen years old, and was the eldest child of Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, and Anne Boleyn, Countess of Northumberland, while the latter was the thirteen year old only daughter of George Boleyn and Maud Percy. Eleanor and Elizabeth seem to have been close friends throughout their lives, with the two acting more like sisters than cousins, perhaps due to the fact that Elizabeth had only brothers while Eleanor’s sisters were so much younger than her that while she doted on them, she did not necessarily view them as peers. The newest addition to the Duchess of York’s household was Dorothy Seymour, age fifteen, the daughter of John Seymour, Duke of Exeter, who had been granted the title as a reward for his competent service as an administrator throughout the realm. Dorothy’s elder sister Jane was the second wife to Henry Radclyffe, the heir to the Earldom of Sussex, married in 1527, two years after the death of his first wife Elizabeth Howard, who had died giving birth to a stillborn son. On February 10th, Anne of Cleves would birth her second child, a girl, named Margaret, after her husband’s aunt, the Dowager Queen of Scotland. Unfortunately, the baby girl would die a little over two months after her birth, on June 13th, causing grief, as well as worry over the succession, for the Prince of Wales had only one surviving child, his daughter Catherine. Some however, including the Prince of Wales himself, held faith that his wife would one day give birth to a son, or that his daughter would be a competent Queen, should the burden of leadership be thrust upon her. Amalia of Cleves' pregnancy would have a much better outcome than her sister’s, for on August 4th, she would give birth to a healthy son named Henry, after both the king and the Duke of York. Just two days later, Prince Edward, Duke of Richmond and his wife Mary Howard, who were both deeply in love with one another, had their first child on August 6th. This child was a boy, named Thomas, for both his paternal uncle and maternal grandfather, was born a little less than a year after his parents’ marriage.
Boleyn Family Tree
George Boleyn(b.1503, d.1565) m.Maud Percy(b.1503, d.1560) had issue
1)Thomas Boleyn(b.1521)
2)Elizabeth Boleyn(b.1522)
3)William Boleyn(b.1524, d.1524)
4)Henry Boleyn(b.1527)
5)John Boleyn(b.1529)
6) Stillborn son(1532)
7)Geoffrey Boleyn(b.1534)
Percy Family Tree
Henry Percy(b.1502, d.1557) m.Anne Boleyn(b.1501, d.1560) had issue
1)Eleanor Percy(b.1522)
2)Miscarriage(1524)
3)Henry Percy(b.1526)
4)George Percy(b.1528)
5)William Percy(b.1529)
6)Catherine Percy(b.1532)
7)Joan Percy(b.1534)
8)Margaret Percy(b.1537)
Radclyffe Family tree
Henry Radclyffe(b.1507, d.1557) m. Elizabeth Howard(b.1505, d.1525) second marriage to Jane Seymour(b.1508, d.1562) had issue by both
1a)Stillborn son(1525)
1b)Robert Radclyffe(b.1528, d.1528)
2b)Elizabeth Radclyffe(b.1530)
3b)Margaret Radclyffe(b.1532)
4b)John Radclyffe(b.1535, d.1535)
5b)Henry Radclyffe(b.1539)
6b)Edward Radclyffe(b.1541)
To the south, in France, there was to be two notable births amongst the French arsitocracy. The First, being that on June 17th, Duke Peter III of Bourbon, and his wife, Eleanor de Foix, had a son named Jean, named after Eleanor’s older brother. The other noteworthy birth was that of a stillborn son on December 5th, to Jean de Foix and Charlotte de Bourbon, and while the stillbirth was tragic, there was little pressure on the two, for they were still very young, barely eighteen years old.
In Lorraine, Francis of Lorraine and Mary of England would have their first child that would come to term, a son named Charles, who was born on November 11th.
Prosperous Italy would also witness the expansion of several ducal families. The first of which was Florence, where Duke Alessandro had his first illegitimate child by his wife’s half-sister on March 18th , a son who he named Alessandro, after himself. Four months later, on August 26th, The Duke’s wife, Louise of Savoy would bear him another child, a son, named Simonetto, named after Duke’s mother, as it was the male version of the Duke’s mother’s name.
In Milan meanwhile, on July 27th, Ercole d’Este and Catherine of Austria would have their fourth child, a daughter named Bona, who shared a birthday with Bona’s late uncle, Duke Ludovico of Milan. To the north in Milan, on July December 21st, Ludovico Sforza and Renee of France would have their fourth child, and third daughter, a girl named Anna, after Renee’s mother the late Duchess of Brittany and Queen of France. This happiness would soon be marred by sadness for two days later, on December 23rd, Beatrice d’Este, the Dowager Duchess of Milan would die of natural causes at the age of sixty.
In Poland, Beatrice d’Este’s grandaughter, Bianca Maria Sforza, the Crown Princess of Poland would become a mother, with the birth of her daughter, Anna Jagellion, on November 1st, though she would later be distressed to hear that her husband had taken a mistress, Barbara Radziwiłł.
To the north in Denmark, in the month of May, Princess Edith of England arrived to wed Crown Prince John of Denmark in a lavish ceremony at Copenhagen. A member of the Danish lower nobility, and historian, Svend Haraldson Ankner wrote,”The Princess is very beautiful, with a round face, small lips, while she has her father’s reddish hair and dark eyes. Princess Edith is like Queen Catherine in temperament, kind, humble, and pious while she received an excellent education under her mother’s direction. It would seem that we have received a lady who will one day be an excellent queen.” Prince John for his part was described as a bit overweight, though he made up for this with a good sense of humor, charm, and substantial intelligence. The two would go on to fall passionately in love, and there would no hint or record of infidelity.
In Sweden, much to the joy of King Gustav, Hedwig of Poland would give birth to her fourth child , a son named John, on April 2nd.
Catherine de Medici
Sancho de Trastámara
Mary Howard, Duchess of Richmond
Prince Edward, Duke of Richmond
Edith of England, Crown Princess of Denmark
John, Crown Prince of Denmark