Isabel de Castela e Aragão, rainha consorte de Portugal

Isabel de Aragón y Castilla o Isabel de Trastámara y Trastámara (Dueñas, 2 de octubre de 1470 — Zaragoza, 28 de agosto de 1498) fue infanta de Castilla y Aragón y reina de Portugal.

Biografía  

Fue la hija mayor de Fernando II el Católico y de Isabel I la Católica. Tras la Guerra Civil Castellana, por la que su madre accedió al trono, en 1476 fue jurada como heredera de la Corona por las Cortes de Madrigal. Su nacimiento estuvo sucedido por el de su hermano Juan 8 años después, quien la desplazó en el orden de sucesión. Por ello, en 1480, Juan es jurado Príncipe de Asturias. Pero la muerte le sorprendió en 1497 y la infanta Isabel se convirtió de nuevo en la heredera, tras ser jurada como tal en 1498, poco antes de su muerte.

Fue prometida al infante príncipe Alfonso de Portugal, pero éste falleció al poco tiempo de realizarse el matrimonio y por lo tanto la joven vuelve a España como princesa viuda de Portugal, para demostrar su dolor se corta su bellísimo cabello rubio y viste una jerga, túnica arpillera, cubriéndose con un espeso velo. Se dedica a vivir silenciosamente sumida en las oraciones, adoptando el hábito de las hermanas de Clares, luego pide permiso a sus padres para convertirse en monja, pero los Reyes Católicos tenían otros planes para ella, deseaban casarla con el rey de Portugal, Manuel I, que había conocido a la princesa Isabel en su breve estadía en Portugal y se sentía atraído por ella. La princesa Isabel no deseaba esta unión, se había convertido en una gran defensora de la fe cristiana y sentía mucha intolerancia hacia los herejes, quería dedicarse a la oración y tomar los hábitos. Pero no pudo con sus insistentes padres; por ello en 1496 accede a casarse con el rey Manuel de Portugal, pero impone una condición: los judíos deben ser expulsados de Portugal. En primera instancia el rey Manuel vaciló porque admiraba a los judíos por sus conocimientos y por los servicios financieros que aportaban a la corona, pero luego accedió. Así que el 13 de septiembre de 1497, los reyes y la princesa Isabel partieron de Medina Ocampo hacia la ciudad fronteriza de Valencia de Alcántara para celebrar el día 30 una bella boda. El 6 de octubre de 1497 muere su hermano el infante Juan, entonces Isabel se convierte en la heredera del trono de Castilla. Isabel y su esposo Manuel son convocados por los reyes católicos, llegan al monasterio de Guadalupe el 7 de abril de 1498. Fueron recibidos muy afectuosamente por los reyes, pero la reina de Portugal no había cambiado su actitud, seguía tan sombría y ansiosa como siempre, se encontraba embarazada y sentía que no sobreviviría al parto. Lamentablemente así fue, el 23 de agosto da a luz un niño que se llamó Miguel, pero una hora después del nacimiento de su hijo muere en brazos de su madre. Fue la hija adorada de Isabel la católica, y su muerte sumada a la de su hermano Juan sumió a su madre en una enfermedad que acabaría con su vida.

Predecesor:

Isabel de Trastámara y Avís Princesa de Asturias

1476 - 1480 Sucesor:

Juan de Trastámara y Trastámara

Predecesor:

Juan de Trastámara y Trastámara Princesa de Asturias

1498 Sucesor:

Miguel de la Paz de Avís y Trastámara

Predecesor:

Leonor de Viseu Reina de Portugal

1497-1498 Sucesor:

María de Aragón

Early life[edit] Isabella was the eldest child of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile.[1] Born during the reign of her uncle, Henry IV of Castile, the early years of her life were defined by the tension between him and her mother, as her uncle would not forgive her mother for marrying Ferdinand without his permission. Upon the death of Henry IV in 1474, Isabella's mother claimed the throne of Castile, and the young Isabella was swiftly sworn as the heir presumptive to the throne.[2]

The early years of the reign of Isabella I were spent embroiled in a war of succession, as Henry IV had not specifically named a successor. A struggle ensued between Isabella I and her niece Joanna, who was known as "la Beltraneja" due to the rumors that she was the illegitimate child of Henry IV's queen Joan of Portugal and his favourite, Beltrán de La Cueva. Afonso V of Portugal, who was Henry IV's brother-in-law and young Joanna's uncle, intervened on Joanna's behalf and Ferdinand and Isabella were forced into a war with Portugal.[3]

During the war, young Isabella witnessed some of the chaos for herself. While her parents were fighting the Portuguese, the princess was left in Segovia while the city was placed under the control of Andrés de Cabrera and his wife Beatriz de Bobadilla. The city's residents, unhappy with this new administration, rose up and seized control of the city. The then-seven-year-old princess was trapped in a tower of the Alcázar for some time until her mother returned to Segovia and took control of the situation.[4]

The war ended in 1479 with the Treaty of Alcáçovas. Among the terms were the provision that Princess Isabella would marry the grandson of Afonso V, Afonso, who was five years younger than the princess.[1] The treaty also provided that Ferdinand and Isabella would pay a large dowry for their daughter, and that the princess would reside in Portugal as a guarantee that her parents would abide by the treaty terms. In 1480, Prince Alfonso went to live in the town of Moura with his maternal grandmother Beatrice, Duchess of Viseu, and was joined in the early months of the following year by his future wife, the ten-year old Isabella.[5] She spent three years in Portugal before returning home.[6]

Isabella also spent a considerable part of her youth on campaign with her parents as they conquered the remaining Muslim states in southern Spain. For example, she accompanied her mother in accepting the surrender of the city of Baza.[4]

Marriages[edit] Her first marriage was to Prince Afonso, the only son and heir of king John II of Portugal from his marriage with Eleanor of Viseu.[7] The wedding, by proxy, took place in the spring of 1490 in Seville.[8][9] On 19 November of that year, Isabella arrived in Badajoz, where she was welcomed by Afonso's uncle Manuel, the future King Manuel I of Portugal, whom she would eventually marry six years after her husband's death. Afonso and Isabella were reunited in Elvas on 22 November and, on the following day, Isabella met her mother-in-law, Queen Eleanor, in the Convento do Espinheiro in Évora, where the court had gathered to ratify the marriage that had been celebrated earlier in Seville.[10]

Though the marriage had been arranged by the Treaty of Alcáçovas,[1] the marriage quickly became a love match. Isabella proved a popular figure with the Portuguese royal family due to her knowledge of their language and customs brought about by the years she spent in Portugal as a child. Isabella's happy life in Portugal came to an abrupt end in July 1491, however, when Afonso was killed in a riding accident.[11][12] She was heartbroken and later became convinced that he had died because God was angry that Portugal had provided a refuge for the Jews that her parents had expelled from Spain.[13]

She was eventually sent back to Spain at the request of her parents, and Isabella returned to them devoutly religious. She underwent efforts to starve and scourge herself, something she would do for much of the rest of her life as part of her mourning for Afonso. She also declared that she would never marry again. Her parents seem to have humored her declaration at first, but after the death of John II of Portugal in 1495, he was succeeded by Manuel I of Portugal, who immediately sought Isabella's hand.[12] Ferdinand and Isabella, perhaps trying to respect their daughter's wishes, offered him the hand of one of their younger daughters, Maria, but he refused.[14] There remained a stalemate between them until Princess Isabella agreed to marry Manuel on the condition that he expel all Jews from Portugal who would not convert to Christianity. He agreed to her ultimatum[15] and they married in September 1497.[16]

Heir to the Crown of Castile and Death[edit] In the same year as her second marriage, Isabella became Princess of Asturias and heiress of the Crown of Castile following the sudden death of her only brother, John, Prince of Asturias, in September 1497, and the stillbirth of his daughter. Immediately, Philip, the husband of Isabella's younger sister Joanna of Castile, claimed the crown, although Isabella, as the eldest daughter, enjoyed greater rights. The Catholic Monarchs, to counter the pretensions of their son-in-law Philip, held courts in the city of Toledo in 1498 a few months after the death of their son John and had Isabella and her husband Manuel sworn as the legitimate heirs of the crowns of Spain.[17] The royal family then went to Zaragoza to convene the courts of Aragon for the same purpose.[18] Although female succession was permitted in Castile, Ferdinand II's kingdom of Aragon hesitated to accept a woman as their future ruler. If she were to give birth to a son, then the child could inherit everything, something much preferred to female rule.[19]

Isabella was pregnant at that time and, while in Zaragoza with the royal family, she gave birth on 23 August 1498 to her only child, Miguel da Paz. Perhaps because of her constant fasting and self-denial,[19] or the constant travelling at her advanced stage of pregnancy,[20] she died within an hour of her son's birth. Her son, the new prince, was later sworn heir by the courts of Portugal, Castile, and Aragon, as the heir to these crowns.[20]

Isabella asked to be buried dressed as a nun and to be interred at the Convent of Santa Isabel in Toledo.[19] Manuel's chance to become King of Castile ended with Isabella's death, and the primary hope of uniting all of the Iberian kingdoms vanished with Miguel's death.[20]

When Queen Isabella of Castile died in 1504, she requested that the body of her daughter Isabella be moved to rest by her side in Granada, but this was never done.[21]

Manuel later married Isabella's younger sister, Maria of Aragon, who bore him his son and heir, John III. Portugal and Spain were finally united between 1580 and 1640, after Philip II of Spain, Isabella's great-nephew via her sister, Joanna, successfully claimed the throne of Portugal as a son of Isabella of Portugal, the daughter of Maria and Manuel.

Ancestry[edit] [show]Ancestors of Isabella of Aragon References[edit] ^ Jump up to: a b c Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, pp. 527, 533. Jump up ^ Downey 2014, p. 132. Jump up ^ Downey 2014, p. 144. ^ Jump up to: a b Downey 2014, p. 304. Jump up ^ Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, pp. 528, 534. Jump up ^ Downey 2014, p. 305. Jump up ^ Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, p. 526. Jump up ^ Fernández Álvarez 2003, p. 266. Jump up ^ Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, p. 534. Jump up ^ Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, p. 535. Jump up ^ Rodrigues Oliveira 2010, p. 536. ^ Jump up to: a b Fernández Álvarez 2003, p. 366. Jump up ^ Downey 2014, pp. 314–315. Jump up ^ Downey 2014, p. 316. Jump up ^ Downey 2014, pp. 369–370. Jump up ^ Fernández Álvarez 2003, p. 382. Jump up ^ Fernández Álvarez 2003, p. 386. Jump up ^ Fernández Álvarez 2003, pp. 386–387. ^ Jump up to: a b c Downey 2014, p. 331. ^ Jump up to: a b c Fernández Álvarez 2003, p. 387. Jump up ^ Downey 2014, p. 409. Jump up ^ She was the daughter John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster to his first wife Blanche of Lancaster, making her half-sister of Catherine of Aragon's maternal great-grandmother Catherine of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster to his second wife Constance of Castile. Bibliography[edit] Downey, Kirsten (2014). Isabella: the Warrior Queen. New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday. ISBN 9780385534116. Fernández Álvarez, Manuel (2003). Isabel la Católica (in Spanish). Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, S.A. ISBN 84-670-1260-9. Rodrigues Oliveira, Ana (2010). Rainhas medievais de Portugal. Dezassete mulheres, duas dinastias, quatro séculos de História (in Portuguese). Lisbon: A esfera dos livros. ISBN 978-989-626-261-7.