King Enrique IV 'The Impotent' of Castile and Queen Juana

[Marengo]

Enrique IV ‘The Impotent’, King of Castile and Leon (Valladolid, 5 January 1425 – Madrid, 11 December 1474), married 1stly in Valladolid on 16 October 1440 Princess Blanche of Aragon & Navarre (Olite, ? 1424 – ?, 2 December 1464), married 2ndly in Cordoba on 22 May 1455 Princess Juana of Portugal (Quinta do Monte Olivete, Almada, 31March 1439 – Madrid, 13 June 1475)

Reign: 1454 - 1474

Dynasty: Trastámara

Predecessor: King of Castile & Leon

Succeeded by: Queen Isabel I of Castile & Leon, Queen of Aragon & Napels

Daughter Enrique & Juana: Queen Juana ‘La Beltranaja’ of Portugal

Parents Enrique: King Juan II of Castile and Princess Maria of Aragon

Parents Blanche: King Juan II of Aragon and Queen Blanche I of Navarre

Parents Juana: King Duarte I of Portugal and Princess Leonor of Aragon

Siblings Enrique: Princess Catalina, Princess Leonor and Princess Maria of Castile

Half Siblings Enrique: Queen Isabel I and King Alfonso XII of Castile & Leon

Siblings Blanche: Prince Carlos of Aragon & Navarre, Prince of Viana and Gerona; Princess Juana of Aragon and Navarre and Countess Leonor of Foix, regent of Navarre (later Queen of Navarre)

Half Siblings Blanche: King Fernando II of Aragon & Napels, King of Castile and Queen Juana of Napels

Siblings Juana: Prince João, Princess Filipa, King Alfonso V, Princess Maria and Prince Fernando of Portugal, Duke of Viseu; Leonor, Holy Roman Empress; Duchess Beatriz of Cleves, Prince Duarte and Princess Catarina of Portugal

 

[Marengo]

Enrique IV (5 January 1425 - 11 December 1474), King of Castile, nicknamed the Impotent (ruled 1454-1474), was the last of the weak late medieval kings of Castile. During Enrique's reign the nobles increased in power and the nation became less centralised. He was born in 1425 and was the son of John II of Castile and Maria of Aragon, daughter of King Ferdinand I of Aragon.
At the age of fifteen he was married to Blanca of Navarre (1420-1464) . Blanca was considered to have remained a virgin, not only on her wedding night, but for the rest of her marriage. After thirteen years, Enrique sought a divorce. An official examination confirmed the virginity of Blanca, and a priest questioned the prostitutes of Segovia, who confirmed that Henry was sexually capable. Blanca was sent home, eight years later became Queen of Navarre, then, her family imprisoned her, and she was later killed under strange circumstances in 1464 (supposedly, poisoned, but this has not been confirmed).

In 1455, Enrique married Princess Juana, sister of Afonso V of Portugal. After six years of marriage, in 1462, she gave birth to a daughter, Joanna, also Juana, nicknamed "La Beltraneja". Six years after the birth of the throne's heir, part of the nobility of Castile revolted against the king. The rebels claimed that the princess was not the daughter of the king, but actually the daughter of Beltran de la Cueva, Duke of Albuquerque. This hypothesis was reinforced when the Queen had another child with the nephew of a bishop. It is probable that the father of the first daughter of the Queen was the King, but is almost sure that the second one was not the king's. Miller maintains that the question of her paternity cannot be answered.

Read the entire wikipedia article here.

 

[Marengo]

The Infanta Joana (1439–1475; pron. IPA: [ʒu'ɐnɐ]; English: Joan, ) was a Portuguese infanta daughter of King Edward of Portugal and his wife Eleanor of Aragon. She was born in the Quinta do Monte Olivete, Almada on March 31, 1439, six months after the death of her father.
In 1455 she married Henry IV of Castile and six years later had a daughter also named Juana (or Joan), called La Beltraneja because of rumours that she was in fact daughter of Don Beltrán de la Cueva. Henry sent Joan to live in Coca at the castle of Henry's supporter, bishop Fonseca

Read the entire wikipedia article here.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Why did King Henry IV of Castile's relationship with his sister Isabella sour over the issue of her marriage?

 

[Moonmaiden23]

"The Impotent"??! What a sobriquet to carry throughout all history(**typing between fits of giggles and snickering***)?

 

[Curryong]

Yes, he signed all his documents that way! And with a straight face.

 

[Blog Real]

Enrique IV of Castile (miniature from a manuscript of the German traveler Jörg von Ehingen, circa 1455).
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Enrique_IV_de_Castilla_cropped.jpg

 

[Blog Real]

The death of Enrique El Impotente, the unsolved mystery that changed the history of the Monarchy

The 15th century was that of poisons, betrayals and daggers kept in the sleeves. And he was also the one who experienced the rise of the Catholic Monarchs, who had to make their way to the throne above candidates and relatives who were ahead of them in the line of succession. It is tempting, and this has been done throughout history, to join both ends to present Isabel and Fernando as assassins, responsible for the death of Infante Alfonso, King Enrique IV of Castile, the valid Juan Pacheco or the Aragonese Carlos of Viana, but the reality is that there is no scientific proof that shows the hand of the monarchs in these deaths that placed the crown of the great Spanish kingdoms on their heads.

https://www.abc.es/historia/abci-mu...-historia-monarquia-202109210132_noticia.html

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Who made this fresco of Queen Juana?
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joana_de_Portugal.jpg