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Ferdinand II of Aragon
Photo: Michael Sittow, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons18

Ferdinand II of Aragon

King of Aragon from 1479 to 1516

Ferdinand II (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), also known as Ferdinand the Catholic (Spanish: Fernando el Católico), was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of Castile, he was also King of Castile from 1475 to 1504 (as Ferdinand V).2

From Wikipedia’s article on Ferdinand II of Aragon (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Mar 19, 1452, died Feb 2, 1516.1

About

He reigned jointly with Isabella over a dynastically unified Spain; together, they are known as the Catholic Monarchs. Ferdinand is considered the de facto first king of Spain, and was described as such during his reign, even though, legally, Castile and Aragon remained two separate kingdoms until they were formally united by the Nueva Planta decrees issued between 1707 and 1716.

The Crown of Aragon that Ferdinand inherited in 1479 included the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia, Mallorca, Sardinia, and Sicily, as well as the Principality of Catalonia. His marriage to Isabella is regarded as the "cornerstone in the foundation of the Spanish monarchy". They played a major role in the European colonization of the Americas, sponsoring the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492. That year, the couple defeated Granada, the last Muslim state in Western Europe, thus completing the centuries-long Reconquista.

Following Isabella's death in 1504, the couple's daughter Joanna became queen of the Crown of Castile. That year, after a war with France, Ferdinand conquered the Kingdom of Naples. In 1507, he became regent of Castile on behalf of Joanna, who was alleged to be mentally unstable. In 1506, as part of a treaty with France, Ferdinand married Germaine of Foix, with whom he had no surviving children. In 1512, he conquered most of the Kingdom of Navarre, ruling all the territories comprising modern-day Spain until his death in 1516. He was nominally succeeded by his daughter Joanna, but power was soon assumed by her son Charles I (later Holy Roman Emperor Charles V).

From Wikipedia’s article on Ferdinand II of Aragon, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

Ferdinand was born on 10 March 1452 in the town of Sos del Rey Católico, Kingdom of Aragon, as the son of John II of Aragon (whose family was a cadet branch of the House of Trastámara) by his second wife, Juana Enríquez.

From Wikipedia’s article on Ferdinand II of Aragon (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: ruler.10

  • 1504 to 1516Regent9
  • 1479 to 1516Monarch of the Crown of Aragon9
  • 1479 to 1516King of Sardinia9
  • 1476 to 1504King of Castile and León (Iure uxoris)9
  • 1476 to 1477Grand Master of the Order of Santiago, Order of Santiago9
  • 1458 to 1469Count of Ribagorza9
  • Date not recordedFounded Duchy of Aliaga and Castellot3
  • Date not recordedFounded Council of Aragon4
  • Date not recordedFounded University of Valencia5
  • Date not recordedFounded county of Belchite6
  • Date not recordedFounded Real Audiencia del Principado de Cataluña7
  • Date not recordedFounded Estudi General Lul·lià8
  • Date not recordedDuke of Gandía, Duchy of Gandía9

Personal life

  • BornMar 19, 1452, Palacio de los Sada11
  • DiedFeb 2, 1516, Casa de Santa María12 13
  • CitizenshipCrown of Aragon14
  • SpousesIsabella I of Castile 1469 to 150415; Germaine of Foix 1505 to 151615

Marriage and accession

Ferdinand married Isabella, the half-sister and heir presumptive of Henry IV of Castile, on 19 October 1469 in Valladolid, Kingdom of Castile and Leon. Isabella also belonged to the royal House of Trastámara, and the two were second cousins by descent from John I of Castile. They were married with a clear prenuptial agreement on sharing power, and under the joint motto "tanto monta, monta tanto". He became jure uxoris King of Castile when Isabella succeeded her deceased brother in 1474. The two young monarchs were initially obliged to fight a civil war against the Queen of Portugal Joanna la Beltraneja, the purported daughter of Henry IV, and were swiftly successful. When Ferdinand succeeded his father as King of Aragon in 1479, the Crown of Castile and the various territories of the Crown of Aragon were united in a personal union. The various states were not formally administered as a single unit, but as separate political units under the same monarchs. (The legal merging of Aragon and Castile into a single Spain occurred under Philip V in 1707–1715.)

The first years of Ferdinand and Isabella's joint rule saw the Spanish conquest of the Emirate of Granada, the last Islamic al-Andalus entity on the Iberian peninsula, completed in 1492.

The completion of the Reconquista was not the only significant act performed by Ferdinand and Isabella in that year. In March 1492, the monarchs issued the Edict of Expulsion of the Jews, also called the Alhambra Decree, a document which ordered all Jews either to be baptised and convert to Christianity or to leave the country. It allowed Mudéjar Moors (Islamic) and converso Marrano Jews to stay, while expelling all unconverted Jews from Castile and Aragon (most Jews either converted or moved to the Ottoman Empire). 1492 was also the year in which the monarchs commissioned Christopher Columbus to find a westward maritime route for access to Asia, which resulted in the Spanish arrival in the Americas.

In 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas divided the entire world beyond Europe between Portugal and Castile (Spain) for conquest and dominion purposes – by a north–south line drawn down the Atlantic Ocean.

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Children

With his wife Isabella I the Catholic (whom he married 19 October 1469), King Ferdinand had seven children:

Isabella (1470–1498), Princess of Asturias (1497–1498). She married first Afonso, Prince of Portugal, then after his death married his uncle Prince Manuel, the future King Manuel I of Portugal. She died in childbirth delivering her son Miguel da Paz, Crown Prince of both Portugal and Spain who, in turn, died in infancy.

A son miscarried on 31 May 1475 in Cebreros

John (1478–1497), Prince of Asturias (1478–1497). He married Margaret of Austria (daughter of Emperor Maximilian I). He died of tuberculosis and his posthumous child with Margaret was stillborn.

Joanna I (1479–1555), Princess of Asturias (1500–1504), Queen of Castile (1504–1555), Queen of Aragon (1516–1555). She married Philip I (Philip the handsome) (son of Emperor Maximilian I); and was the mother of King Charles I of Spain (also known as Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor). Ferdinand made her out to be mentally unstable and she was incarcerated by him, and then by her son, in Tordesillas for over 50 years. Her grandson, Philip II of Spain, was crowned in 1556.

Maria (1482–1517). She married King Manuel I of Portugal, the widower of her elder sister Isabella, and was the mother of King John III of Portugal and of the Cardinal-King, Henry I of Portugal.

A stillborn child, twin of Maria. Born 1 July 1482 at dawn. Sources differ on gender.

Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536). She married first Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of and heir to King Henry VII of England and, after Prince Arthur's death, she married his brother Henry, Duke of York, who also became Prince of Wales and then King Henry VIII. She thus became Queen of England and was the mother of Queen Mary I.

With his second wife, Germaine of Foix (whom he married on 19 October 1506 in Blois, Kingdom of France), King Ferdinand had one son:

John, Prince of Girona, who died hours after being born on 3 May 1509.

He also left several illegitimate children. Two of them were born before his marriage to Isabella.

With Aldonça Ruiz d'Ivorra i Alemany, a Catalan noblewoman of Cervera, he had:

Alonso de Aragón (1469–1520). Archbishop of Zaragoza and Viceroy of Aragon.

With Juana Nicolaua:

Juana de Aragón (1469–1510). She married Bernardino Fernández de Velasco, 1st Duke of Frías.

With Toda de Larrea:

María Esperanza de Aragón (? – 1543). Abbess of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas.

With Juana Pereira:

María Blanca (1483–1550). Abbess of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, where her sister María was previously abbess.

With María Luisa Duque de Estrada y López de Ayala:

Alonso de Estrada (c. 1470– 1530), Governor and Captain General of New Spain, General Treasurer of the Royal Treasury of New Spain, Corregidor of Cáceres, Admiral of the Fleet of Málaga. Considered by some historians as a possible illegitimate son of Ferdinand II.

From Wikipedia’s article on Ferdinand II of Aragon (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Awards

  • 1480Knight of the Garter16
  • Date not recordedGrand Master of the Order of Santiago16
  • Date not recordedKnight of the Order of the Golden Fleece16
  • Date not recordedOrder of Calatrava16
  • Date not recordedOrder of Santiago16

Sources

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