King Fernando II/V of Aragon & Castile and Queen Isabel I of Castile & Leon


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Fernando II, King of Aragon, Sicily, Napels, Valencia, Sardinia and Navarre, Count of Barcelone, Titular King (Fernando V) of Castile (Sos, 10 March 1452 – Madrigalejo, 23 January 1516), married 1stly in Valladolid on 19 October 1469 Isabel I, Queen of Castile (Madrigal de las Altas Torres, 22 April 1451 – Medina del Campo, 26 November 1504), married 2ndly in on Germaine of Foix (Foix, 1488 – Liria, 18 October 1538)

Reign Fernando: 1479 - 1516

Reign Isabel: 1474 - 1504

Dynasty Fernando: Trastámara

Dynasty Isabel: Trastámara

Predecessor Fernando (Aragon): King Juan II ‘The Great’ of Aragon

Predecessor Fernando (Napels): King Louis XII of France

Predecessor Isabel: King Enrique IV of Castile & Leon

Successor Fernando:Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (King Carlos I of Spain)

Successor Isabel: Queen Juana ‘The Mad’ of Castile

Children Fernando & Isabel: Queen Isabel of Portugal; Prince Juan of Castile & Aragon, Prince of Asturias; Queen Juana ‘The Mad’ of Castile, Duchess of Burgundy; Queen María of Portugal; Queen Catherine of England & Ireland and Prince Pedro de Embasaguas of Castile & Aragon

Parents Fernando: King Juan II of Aragon and Dona Juana Enriquez y Fernández de Cordoba

Parents Isabel: King Juan II of Castile and Princess Isabel of Portugal

Parents Germaine: Jean de Foix, Viscount of Narbonne and Princess Marie d'Orléans.

Sister Fernando: Queen Juana of Napels

Half Siblings Fernando: Prince Carlos of Aragon & Navarre, Prince of Viana & Gerona, Queen Blanche of Castile, Princess Juana of Aragon & Navarre and Countess Leonor of Foix, Regent of Navarre (later Queen of Navarre)

Siblings Isabel: Kign Alfonso XII of Castile & Leon

Half Siblings Isabel: King Enrique IV of Castile & Leon, Princess Catalina, Princess Leonor and Princess Maria of Castile

Brother Germaine: Gaston de Foix, Duc of Nemours
 
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Ferdinand II of Aragon & V of Castile the Catholic (Spanish: Fernando II de Aragón y V de Castilla "el Católico", Catalan: Ferran II d'Aragó "el Catòlic", Aragonese: Ferrando II d'Aragón "lo Catolico"; March 10, 1452 – January 23, 1516) was king of Aragon (1479–1516), Sicily (1468–1516), Naples (1504–1516), Valencia, Sardinia and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, King-consort of Castile (1474-1504) and regent and true ruler of this country from 1506 to his death, in the name of his mentally challenged daughter Joan.

Ferdinand was the son of John II of Aragon (whose family was a cadet branch of the House of Trastámara) by his second wife, the Castilian noblewoman Juana Enriquez. He married Infanta Isabella, the half-sister and heiress of Henry IV of Castile, on October 19, 1469 in Valladolid and became king consort of Castile when Isabella succeeded her brother as Queen of Castile in 1474. Isabel also belonged to the royal House of Trastámara. The two young monarchs were initially obliged to fight a civil war against Joan, princess of Castile (also known as Juana la Beltraneja), the purported daughter of Henry IV, but were ultimately unsuccessful. 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 creating for the first time since the 8th century a single political unit which might be called Spain, although the various territories were not properly administered as a single unit until the 18th century. The first decades of Ferdinand and Isabella's joint rule were taken up with the conquest of the Kingdom of Granada, the last Muslim enclave in the Iberian peninsula, which was completed by 1492. In that same year, the Alhambra Decree was issued, expelling the Jews from both Castile and Aragon, and Christopher Columbus was sent by the couple on his infamously accidental expedition to the new world. By the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, the extra-European world was split between the crowns of Portugal and Castile by a north-south line through the Atlantic Ocean.

Read the entire wikipedia artcile here.
 
Isabella I of Castile (April 22, 1451November 26, 1504) was Queen regnant of Castile and Leon. She and her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon, laid the foundation for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles I (Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor).
The Castilian version of her name was Ysabel (Isabel in modern spelling), which traces etymologically to Hebrew Elisth or 'Elizabeth'. In Germanic countries, she is usually known by the Italian form of her name, 'Isabella'. Likewise, her husband is Fernando in Spanish, but Ferdinand in other languages. The official inscription on their tomb renders their names in Latin as "Helizabeth" and "Fernandus".
Pope Alexander VI named Ferdinand and Isabella "The Catholic Kings" (In Spanish, "Los Reyes Católicos"). She is also known as Isabel la Católica.
Isabella and Ferdinand expelled the Jews from Spain and made the Inquisition into a powerful institution whose main victims were Catholics of Jewish or Moorish ancestry. However, like a part of Iberians in general and most of Iberian nobility, she had some Jewish ancestry: three of her great-great-grandparents had Iberian (Sephardic) Jewish roots.

Isabella was born in Madrigal de las Altas Torres on April 22, 1451. Her brother Alfonso was born three years later. When her father, John II, died in 1454, her much older half-brother Henry IV became king. As soon as he ascended to the throne, he sequestered his half-siblings to Segovia and his stepmother to Arévalo, in virtual exile. Henry IV, whose first marriage to Blanca of Navarre was not consummated and had been annulled, remarried to have his own offspring. He then married Joana of Portugal. His wife gave birth to Joan, princess of Castile. When Isabella was about ten, she and her brother were summoned to the court, to be under more direct supervision and control by the king. In the Representation of Burgos the nobles challenged the King; among other items, they demanded that Alfonso, Isabella's brother, should be named the heir to the kingdom. Henry agreed, provided Alfonso would marry his daughter, Joan. A few days later, he changed his mind.

The nobles, now in control of Alfonso and claiming him to be the true heir, clashed with Henry's forces at the Battle of Olmedo in 1467. The battle was a draw. One year later, Alfonso died at the age of fourteen, and Isabella became the hope of the rebelling nobles. But she refused their advances, acknowledging instead Henry as king, and he, in turn, recognized her as the legitimate heir in the Treaty of the Bulls of Guisando, rather than Joan whose paternal origin was in dispute. In 1475, Joan married her uncle, the King of Portugal, but their marriage was later annulled by the Pope because of their family relation. Henry tried to get Isabella married to a number of persons of his choice, yet she evaded all these propositions. Instead she chose Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Aragon. They were married October 19, 1469 in Valladolid.

Read the entire wikipedia article here.
 
Germaine of Foix (1488-18 October 1538) was a French princess of the house of Foix, whom King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, married in 1505 after the death of his first wife, Queen Isabella I of Castile.
She was a daughter of Jean de Foix, Viscount of Narbonne and Marie d'Orléans. Her paternal grandparents were Gaston IV of Foix-Grailly and Queen regnant Eleanor of Navarre. Her maternal grandparents were Charles, duc d'Orléans and Marie of Cleves. Her only maternal uncle was Louis XII of France.
Following the death of Isabella, Ferdinand had to yield the government of Castile to his son-in-law Philip of Habsburg (1478-1506), who assumed power in the name of his wife Joanna (Juana la Loca, 1479-1555), Isabella's heir. Ferdinand objected to Philip's policies and to prevent Philip from gaining Aragon through Joanna, he married Germaine of Foix in the hope of having a son, who would take precedence over Joanna for the Crown of Aragon. This included Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia in Spain, and the Kingdom of Naples, Kingdom of Sicily and Sardinia in the Italian peninsula and the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Germaine was bright but not attractive. Being however a niece of Louis XII, King of France (reigned 1498-1515), did gain a short truce and brief alliance between the two kings, who were most often at war. In 1506 Philip of Habsburg died and Ferdinand became regent of Castile for his mentally unstable daughter Joanna. Ferdinand and Germaine did have a son, Juan, Prince of Aragon (3 May 1509) but he died almost at once. Despite the use of love potions, they did not have another.

Read the entire wikipedia article here.
 
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I read that the only written document Ysabel left was her will. It is supposed to be very informative about the couple's reign and accomplishments. Do you know anything about the will? Has it ever been translated into English?
Lexi
 
Germaine of Foix-Royal Death Anniversary,18th of October 1538


347px-Germaine_de_Foix1.jpg
 
Royal Anniversary- 26th of November,1504 -Death of Queen Isabella I of Castile and León.

Isabel_la_Cat%C3%B3lica-2.jpg
 
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There seem to be a few places mentioning Ferdinand's Jewish great-grandmother, but who were Isabella's Jewish ancestors?

...it's intensely ironic and tragic that they should be the only European monarchs with notable Jewish ancestry, of course.
 
Unfortunately, the prosecution of the Jews dates back to 5th century B.C.E when a jewish official known as Mordecai refused to bow down to the Kings aide, Haman. Unknown to many of the non-Jewish population is that Jews are not allowed to bow to anyone unless God himself. If it had not been for the intervention of the queen herself who was Jewish there would have been a mass murder of the Jewish populace.

The Jewish people have always had a strict adherence to their religious customs and since they were unwilling to worship the gods of other people it became even more notable when they were a minority. Moreover, the Jewish people are not allowed to marry outside of their own faith and for some this coupled with very little knowledge of this faith makes it seem exclusionary so it became easier to target them.
 
Unfortunately, the prosecution of the Jews dates back to 5th century B.C.E when a jewish official known as Mordecai refused to bow down to the Kings aide, Haman. Unknown to many of the non-Jewish population is that Jews are not allowed to bow to anyone unless God himself. If it had not been for the intervention of the queen herself who was Jewish there would have been a mass murder of the Jewish populace.

The Jewish people have always had a strict adherence to their religious customs and since they were unwilling to worship the gods of other people it became even more notable when they were a minority. Moreover, the Jewish people are not allowed to marry outside of their own faith and for some this coupled with very little knowledge of this faith makes it seem exclusionary so it became easier to target them.

I don't need my own history, culture, and religion explained to me, thanks. As well as utterly not answering the question, I find this completely irrelevant. None of it covers Spanish society or the reasons Isabel and Fernando established the Inquisition, by the way — which still isn't what I asked. Just curious to know who the Jewish ancestors of "los Catolicos" were.
 
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Unfortunately, the prosecution of the Jews dates back to 5th century B.C.E when a jewish official known as Mordecai refused to bow down to the Kings aide, Haman. Unknown to many of the non-Jewish population is that Jews are not allowed to bow to anyone unless God himself. If it had not been for the intervention of the queen herself who was Jewish there would have been a mass murder of the Jewish populace.



The Jewish people have always had a strict adherence to their religious customs and since they were unwilling to worship the gods of other people it became even more notable when they were a minority. Moreover, the Jewish people are not allowed to marry outside of their own faith and for some this coupled with very little knowledge of this faith makes it seem exclusionary so it became easier to target them.
You're retelling the Book of Esther from the Bible.
 
There seem to be a few places mentioning Ferdinand's Jewish great-grandmother, but who were Isabella's Jewish ancestors?
...it's intensely ironic and tragic that they should be the only European monarchs with notable Jewish ancestry, of course.

Ferdinand's Jewish ancestry is based on an apocryphal tradition (not contemporary sources) but Isabella's Jewish ancestry is based on proven fact.

V. NN (name unknown, of humble birth, a 15th century tradition states she was Jewish),mistress of Fadrique Alfonso, Señor of Haro, Grand Master of the Order of Santiago (natural son of Alfonso XI of Castile & Leonor de Guzman) (1333-1358)

IV. Alonso Enriquez, Señor of Medina Rioseco, Admiral of Castile (c1354-1429), m. Juana de Mendoza (c1361-1431)

III. Fadrique Enriquez, Admiral of Castile, Count of Melgar and Ruesa (d. 1473), m. Marina de Ayala Córdova y Toledo (d. 1431)

II. Juana Enriquez (1425-1468), m. Juan II King of Aragon (1398-1479)

I. Ferdinand II King of Aragon (1452-1516)
m.
I. Isabella I Queen of Castile (1451-1506)

II. Isabel of Portugal (c1427-1496), m. Juan II King of Castile (1405-1454)

III. Isabel of Braganza (1402-1465), m. Joao of Portugal (1400-1442)

IV. Affonso 1st Duke of Braganza (1377-1461), m. Brites Pereira

V. Ines Pires, mistress of King Joao I of Portugal

VI.Pero Estéves de Fonteboa, a shoemaker, originally a Castilian Jew who converted to Christianity (conversano)
 
Even though the idea of total tolerance and cooperation from the time is somewhat of a myth, by the looks of that chart, Spain in La Convivencia seems to have been a much more flexible society than it became under her, him and the inquisitors.
 
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