Monday 28 February 2005

Reinas: Monks, Madness, Catholicism and Civil War - Part I

The Queen Regnants Who Shaped Spain

In the long and rich history of the lands we now know as Spain, it comes as some surprise that only four women have ever reigned as queen regnant. Unlike in France, which boasted a long history of keeping women off the throne by vehemently enforcing Salic Law, Spain had no such official prejudice until the early 18^th century when - you guessed it - a French prince became king of Spain. But for all the dearth of women rulers in modern and historical Spain, the impact of those who did reign in their own right is still felt in the country today. At the highest level, three of them helped to unite disparate kingdoms and create the modern country, while the fourth helped to tear it apart. In a more personal way, each one is remembered today not so much for being a woman, but for leaving her unique footprint on Spain's history - whether because she was the legitimate child of a holy man, a religious zealot bent on converting "heathens" at any cost, a mad woman, or an alleged nymphomaniac.

Daughter of a Monk

It's disappointing that one of the most popularly overlooked queen regnants in Spain's history is also the one with the most unique and fascinating story. While it seems somewhat obvious to say that the large majority of monarchs in history were born and bred to reign, Petronila of Aragon (in Spanish: Petronila I de Arag�n) was something totally unique in that spectrum - the legitimate child of a bishop, conceived within the bounds of both matrimony and the church for the sole purpose of assuming the throne of Aragon. The fact that this child was born with the unfortunate disadvantage of being female proved only a mere hiccup in the plans of her father and, ultimately, proved a uniting force on the Iberian Peninsula some 300 years before her more famous counterpart, Isabella I of Castile.

In 1035, Sancho III of Navarre (Navarra), self-styled Rex Hispaniarum (King of the Spains), distributed his Iberian possessions among his sons, most notably - Castile to Ferdinand I, Navarre to Garc�a III, and Aragon to Ramiro I. This seemingly simple division would lie at the heart of political, dynastic and territorial disputes and skirmishes, spurred on by the desire to conquer and/or defend land, for centuries to come. Early on, however, it seemed that the lands might again be united since, by 1076, Aragon and Navarre were ruled jointly once more under Ramiro I's son, Sancho, who became king of Aragon in 1063 and king of Navarre in 1076. By 1134, two of Sancho's sons had successively acceded to both thrones and died without heirs, leaving only one son left - Ramiro, Bishop of Barbastro-Roda. It was just the opportunity the Navarrese needed to dispense with a union they disliked and, before Ramiro could act definitively, the kingdom's barons appointed a monarch of their choice. The loss of Navarre and the specter of both its new king and the king of Castile eyeing Aragon for themselves meant that the continuance and defense of his family's rule in Aragon rested solely on Ramiro - a monk for 40 years - to take definitive action. 

So, at around 59 years of age, Ramiro duly left the monastery and became Ramiro II of Aragon (Ramiro II de Arag�n). As it turned out, the monk was a fierce adversary to those interested in wresting his throne from him. In addition to successfully fighting off King Garc�a IV of Navarre and King Alfonso VIII of Castile and Le�n, Ramiro also appears to have successfully - and brutally - suppressed an uprising of his own nobles. It seems that Ramiro, frustrated with some of his more troublesome Aragonese noblemen, called 15 of them together at the palace of the kings of Aragon in Huesca under the pretext that he wanted their help to finance a bell that could be heard throughout the entire kingdom. When the nobles arrived at the appointed room in the palace, they were detained by Ramiro's men and promptly decapitated. After that day, the kingdom of Aragon may not have heard the sound of a bell, but they undoubtedly heard loud and clear what happened to rebels under the rule of "The Monk." The story of "La Campana de Huesca" (or "The Bell of Huesca") is perhaps apocryphal, but the mere fact that it is attributed to a king who first and foremost considered himself a monk is no less revealing.

For all his apparent ferocity, it seems that Ramiro wanted only to return to his monastic life in the least amount of time. In 1135, he secured a special dispensation from the Pope to marry Agnes Maud of Poitiers (Aquitaine), the daughter of William IX of Aquitaine and aunt of Eleanor of Aquitaine. The couple quickly had a child, Petronila, who was just as quickly betrothed in 1137 to Ram�n Berenguer IV "The Saint", Count of Barcelona. Since Petronila was barely three and her husband about 22, it wasn't until 1150 that they were officially married at the Cathedral of L�rida in Catalonia.

In 1137, Ramiro abdicated in Petronila's favor and returned to the monastery of San Pedro el Viejo in Huesca, where he died in 1154. But the child queen was - and always would be - queen regnant of Aragon in name only, with Ram�n governing Aragon in her name as "Prince of Aragon." When her husband died on August 7, 1161, his will dictated that the couple's eldest son should inherit the large majority of his and his wife's lands, including Aragon and Barcelona, with his wife inheriting only the villages of Besal� and Ribas in Catalonia. In 1162, Petronila called up the general courts and affirmed this disposition of lands, although she appears to have shown a bit of spirit by making herself her 11-year-old son's regent in Aragon. It was a move that had been initially approved of by the Aragonese barons, but which quickly proved unpopular and ended with Petronila abdicating in her son's favor on June 18^th, 1164. She died quietly in Barcelona in 1172.

It's perhaps interesting at this point to reflect on Petronila's image as queen, especially as two distinct images - presumably relatively modern depictions - of her exist today. The first (http://es.msnusers.com/RetratosdelaHistoria/espaa.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=6916) depicts a delicate but determined young woman with lips puckered almost in a kiss and attired in a thoroughly feminine manner - in short, much the way one might imagine a young queen who is aware of her important position, but trained to do pretty much as she's told by the powerful men around her. On the other hand, the second image (http://es.msnusers.com/RetratosdelaHistoria/espaa.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=6921) portrays a far more masculine and severe Petronila dressed in what appears to be, at least in part, armor, who rules her country with a firm hand. Chance are good that neither portrait very accurately depicts this woman about whom so much has been lost to the passage of time, but they do very effectively encapsulate overly simplistic modern clich�s about a medieval queen regnant being either a compliant vessel through which some men were forced to rule or a powerful and slightly androgynous warrior queen.

Interpretations of imagery aside, while Petronila's sex and obvious docility precluded her from being overtly political, her reign did benefit early Spain in a far more significant and enduring way. Since the County of Barcelona was effectively the seat of power in Catalonia, her betrothal to Ram�n combined the powers of Catalonia and Aragon - a union that was solidified when her son, Alfonso II "The Chaste," became the first ruler (in his own right) of both Aragon and Catalonia. This combined force on Iberia's eastern coast created a new power base in Spain that would help to shape the Peninsula in the centuries to come. The culmination of Aragon's power coincided with the reign of the next Spanish queen regnant when it was joined - again through marriage - to Iberia's other leading Spanish monarchy, Castile, in the 15^th century.

The Catholic Queen

It's safe to say that Isabella I "The Catholic" of Castile and Le�n (Isabel I "La Cat�lica" de Castilla y Le�n) was not only early modern Europe's first queen regnant, but also one of history's best known. Although the highlights of her reign require little reminding, they include the critical first stages of the unification of Aragon and Castile, the discovery and colonization of the New World, the conquest of Granada, and those hallmarks of Isabella's Catholic zealotry - the Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion of the Jews. As significant and eventful as her reign was, however, her claim to the throne had initially been quite shaky, and she appears to have been haunted by guilt throughout her life for some of the means by which she secured her throne.  

Isabella was the daughter of John II of Castile and Le�n (Juan II de Castilla y Le�n), who died in 1454 when Isabella was three, and half-sister of Henry IV of Castile and Le�n (Enrique IV de Castilla y Le�n), who was known by the unenviable nickname "The Impotent." During the first years of her brother's reign, Isabella and her younger brother Alfonso, who was considered Henry's heir presumptive, lived with their mother away from Court. It was an especially good decision considering that Henry's reign was plagued by rebellions, violence and court intrigues, not to mention his own incompetence as king. Further, Henry's apparent impotency - neither his so-called mistresses nor his first wife ever became pregnant - cast a pall over the question of the succession and put Isabella and her brother in the dangerous position of potential political rivals to their brother's throne. It was for this reason that Henry eventually brought the two children to his Court to be "educated" or, more correctly, carefully watched over and jealously guarded in case Henry's opponents decided to use the children to their advantage.

As it turned out, it was not paranoid thinking on Henry's part. Despite his best efforts, rebellious nobles did attempt to overthrow Henry and replace him with Alfonso, but Henry managed to crush the insurrection, which ended with Alfonso's mysterious death - most likely by poison - in July 1468. With Alfonso gone, the nobles bent against Henry now turned to Isabella as their preferred alternative and directly confronted her with the idea of placing her on Henry's throne. The 17-year-old princess proved her political and diplomatic acumen when she said that she would never be queen while her brother Henry was alive. In return for his sister's role in temporarily suppressing further civil uprisings, Henry officially recognized Isabella as his heir. It was an interesting move - and one that would come back to haunt him - considering that Henry technically already had an heir.  

Ironically, Isabella's chief rival for the throne of Castile was another female - Joan (Juana) of Castile. Despite his moniker of "the Impotent," Henry's second wife managed to give birth in 1462 to Princess Joan, although she was widely suspected to be the daughter of Henry's Court favorite and the queen's lover, Beltr�n de la Cueva, Duke of Albuquerque. It was for her suspected parentage that Joan became known as "La Beltraneja" and was viewed by many as a false pretender to the throne. The fact that Henry chose Isabella as his heiress over Joan could easily be perceived as proof of Joan's illegitimacy, although it's also been suggested that he had little choice in the matter - either face a continued civil war with his daughter as heir or peace with his half-sister as his official choice.

In any case, Isabella's position as heir to the throne didn't make life much easier for her, particularly as Henry was bent on using her for a politically expedient marriage alliance. But for all her youth and inexperience, Isabella proved her mettle when she emphatically refused any of the proposed matches. Angry at Isabella's stubborn refusals to do his will, but afraid to do anything that would inflame her supporters, Henry made her promise that she would not marry without his explicit approval, and then left her in peace. For her part, it seems that Isabella never had any intention of keeping her promise, as she had already set her sights on Ferdinand of Aragon (Fernando de Arag�n), King of Sicily and heir to the kingdom of Aragon. Ferdinand was only too happy to oblige and the couple was married - without the consent or knowledge of Henry - in October 1469. Naturally, Henry was furious and revoked Isabella's position as heir, replacing her with his daughter Joan.

Although she was no longer the "official" heiress, the marriage was an incredibly shrewd political move that actually greatly improved Isabella's chances of inheriting the throne of Castile. For one thing, she added the political and military backing of Aragon - the second most powerful kingdom in Spain - to her strong contingent of faithful nobles. For another, she neutralized her second strongest rival to the throne of Castile - her new husband, Ferdinand, who had his own claims. With Ferdinand and Aragon on her side, Isabella would only have to continue to build support to her own cause and wait for the day when she would have to deal with Joan. Her moment arrived on December 12^th, 1474, when news reached Isabella in Segovia that Henry had died the day before. Isabella quickly made her way to the Alc�zar of Segovia (seen above right) where she was granted protection by the governor and received confirmation as queen of Castile and Le�n by the council of Segovia. Within days, she was surrounded by nobles offering their allegiance - both genuine and insincere - to the new queen. (The picture on the left is of a painting of the proclamation of Isabella as queen, which is located in the Galley Room of the Alc�zar of Segovia.) There was, however, still the problem of Joan, who was not only considered by many to be the legitimate heir, but by this time also had the support of Portugal. For five years, the war of succession raged until, finally, in 1479, it ended - thanks in no small part to Ferdinand's accession to the throne of Aragon and the birth of a son and heir, Prince John (Juan).

Isabella and Ferdinand's children would play an important role in completing what their parents began with their marriage - the unification of the disparate Spanish monarchies. It's actually not completely correct to say that Isabella and Ferdinand themselves united Castile and Aragon, since the two kingdoms were ruled separately, if jointly, by the two sovereigns. But they did anticipate that the two kingdoms would, in the future, be ruled under one sovereign - preferably their son John - much in the same way that Aragon and Catalonia had come together in the 12^th century under Petronila's son. But the children also provided additional opportunities to build political alliances elsewhere, and this meant that the marriages of all five of Ferdinand and Isabella's children became a chief preoccupation for Isabella. Although the most memorable of these marriage alliances was that of Katherine (Catalina) of Aragon to Henry VIII of England, the marriages of her other children were hardly less eventful.

What began as a politically expedient way to mend the rift between Castile and Portugal eventually turned into an ambitious desire by Isabella to unite the Iberian Peninsula by joining Castile and Aragon with Portugal through the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella's children to the Portuguese royals. Unfortunately, the experiment began badly and ended tragically. No sooner was the first marriage made - between Ferdinand and Isabella's eldest child, Princess Isabella, and Prince Alfonso (Afonso) of Portugal, the second in line to the throne - in 1490 when the extended wedding celebrations were darkened by the sudden and tragic death of the groom, who was thrown from his horse. Princess Isabella returned to her parents' Court and swore never to marry again. Much to her chagrin, a second marriage for Princess Isabella was arranged six years later, this time to her late husband's elder brother, King Manuel of Portugal. Tragedy once again marred the wedding celebrations when Ferdinand and Isabella's son and heir, Prince John, died. As the eldest of four daughters, the young Isabella - now queen of Portugal - became heir to her parents' kingdoms. But, in 1500 young Isabella died shortly after giving birth to a son, Prince Miguel, who now became heir to, and the hope of, all three kingdoms. Within two years, he too was dead. With their other two daughters already spoken for, Ferdinand and Isabella now turned to their fourth child, Princess Mar�a, to save the Portuguese alliance and marry her late sister's husband. Fortunately for everyone, untimely death did not despoil this marriage, but the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon would not unite with Portugal for another 80 years. (By this point, you have probably realized that Katherine of Aragon's marriage to brothers - first to Prince Arthur, Prince of Wales, and second to Henry VIII of England - was not unusual in her family. All told, two of Isabella's daughters each married, successively, a pair of brothers, and King Manuel of Portugal successively married two of Isabella's daughters.)

Most importantly for the immediate and distant future of Spain was the double marriage in 1496 of Prince John to Margaret of Austria, and of Princess Joan (Juana) - Isabella and Ferdinand's third child - to Philip of Austria, eldest son of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian. The marriage of Prince John - heir to both his parents' thrones - had, of course, been considered the most important, but all the responsibility would unexpectedly fall onto Princess Joan after the deaths of Prince John in 1497, Princess Isabella in 1500, and the little Prince Miguel in 1502. If there was an advantage to Joan's position, it was that she was married to the heir to the Habsburg dynasty, who could protect and defend her position. The clear disadvantage, however, was that it was soon discovered that Joan wasn't well mentally. For Isabella, it must have been a severe blow to find that her heir was mentally unstable and unfit to rule. In the time preceding her own death, Isabella spent much of her time nursing Joan and worrying over the future of the kingdom she had worked so hard to defend and expand and the future of the union between Castile and Aragon. Unwell herself, Isabella must have foreseen the problems that were to arise in the very likely event that she predeceased her husband. On Isabella's death, Joan would come into half her inheritance - Castile - leaving Ferdinand to rule only Aragon until his death. As it turned out, whatever worries Isabella might have had about the division of the two kingdoms very nearly came true under the reign of the next queen regnant, Joan "The Mad" (Juana "La Loca").

We continue next week with Joan, then finish with Spain's only modern queen regnant, the cause of civil war and an alleged nymphomaniac, Isabella II.

Until next week, 

- Tori Van Orden Mart�nez

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More on Spanish Royalty
Those of you interested in the Spanish royal family will be pleased to learn that Geraldine will soon launch Etoile's Unofficial Spanish Royal Family Pages. As marriage makes me something of an honorary Spaniard and I've long been interested in the Spanish monarchy, I've been working with Geraldine to develop the content for this great new site and have plans for a number of columns on the subject. Needless to say, we're very excited and invite you to share with us what you would particularly like to see addressed. Whether it's a topic you'd like to learn more about, a favorite web site, pictures you want to share, or anything else regarding the Spanish royals, let us know by sending an e-mail to and . We look forward to hearing from you! -Tori

All photos included in this column were taken by the author, are copyright Tori V. Mart�nez and may not be reproduced without her permission.