madeleine92posts: On this day in history two members of the Trastámara dynasty were born

madeleine92posts:On this day in history two members of the Trastámara dynasty were born: John II of Aragon “The Great”, father to Ferdinand The Catholic and his granddaughter Maria of Aragon - fourth child to the Catholic Monarchs. John II was born at Medina del Campo as the second son and second child (of seven) to Ferdinand I of Aragon, also known as Fernando de Antequera and his wife Eleanor Urraca of Castile. The chronicel Gonzalo García de Santa María described him as a corpulent man of middle stature and added that “even though his heart was merciful by nature, a terrible ferocity could be noticed in his conduct”, his eyes were clear and reddened with blood. Lucio Marineo Sículo on the other hand claimed the king had fair complexion, brown hair, small nose and beautiful hands. John was a man of great sense of honour and duty, possibly cold, astute, reserved but also full of illusions, fan of luxury and comfort. John liked literature, music and hunting. He was certainly one of the best Aragonese kings and one of the most important figures in Spanish history of the 15th century.Maria of Aragon was born at Córdoba as the fourth child of The Catholic Monarchs to survive infancy. These are some descriptions of her birth written by  reputable historians:“In February of 1482 the monarchs took a while to rest. Ferdinand dedicated himself to one of his passions: hunting and the Queen, being pregnant, was enjoying the company of her children, three years old Juan and two years old Juana. They had a long trip behind. They had reached the plateau in the full winter, tired due to distance they had to cover, particularly the Queen, who was five months pregnant at the time. One of the eye witnesses, Juan Bernanrdo Marimón, described Isabella as “a bit tired due to travelling and pregnancy.” We must emphasize that as much as the rematch due to failure in Zahara could wait, the help for courageous conquerors of Alhama had to be sent as soon as possible. The court started feverish preparations to gather means and to mobilize forces that would accompany Ferdinand. As we already noted, the news had reached Medina del Campo at the beginning of March and on the 14th day of the same month the king led his army, though we must say its main value depended on the number of people, not on military skills which was a result of hurry. Towards the end of the month Ferdinand was in Córdoba where he occupied himself with preparing troops to help people in Alhama that had alredy got support from Duke Medina - Sidonia. On the 29th day of April Ferdinand and his army entered Alhama. He increased the number of soldiers and left them good portion of supplies as well as equipment. This occurrence was as to speak, symbolic, meant to open the new chapter. After the actions that Andalusian nobility had taken, the king himself entered the scene, being seconded by Isabella. The Queen stayed behind, mobilizing all her kingdoms. As contemporary chronicles noted: “She also sent notification letters to all the knights and squires who had gotten lands and properties from her, commanding them to be ready with their weapons and horses when she would send for them, calling them to participate in a war.”She herself also took a trip in spite of being heavily pregnant, wanting to be as close to the scene of military events, as possible. It was her war. The holy war against the last Muslim enclave in Spain. Hence she left Medina del Campo, going to Andalusia. She had been travelling very slowly given her state but without taking any breaks, for the whole June. Finally, very tired but glad that she reached her goal, Isabella entered Córdoba on 23th day of June and six days later on June 29th (1482), she gave birth to her third daughter whom the Monarchs decided to name Maria. The labour was complicated and The Queen almost lost her life, though she paid her price anyway: she gave birth to twins but the second infant was stillborn.”Manuel Fernández Álvarez „On June 28, as Fernando prepared to depart from Córdoba to invest Loja, Isabel went into labor, at the council table. She gave birth to a third daughter and a stillborn female twin. The surviving child, in a marked departure from giving family names, was baptized María, surely a demonstration of devotion to the cult of Holy Mary, and most likely, given the circumstances, in her guise as Protectress of the Armies. However that may be, María was as it turned out the most fortunate of Isabel’s children. More immediately, according to Palencia, many people saw in the death of one twin a bad omen. And hindsight once again did not fail him, for from the time Fernando left two days later, Isabel received nothing but bad news. Cádiz had warned that his force was too small to invest Loja, and, on making camp, he informed Fernando that the site chosen was too low and too narrow. ”Peggy K. Liss.Unfortunately little is known about this daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand. Her life has never attracted particular attention of the scholars as compared to her famous sisters Joanna and Katherine. Certainly she was as much educated as her sisters and if not as gifted as them (though hard to say anything on the matter, given the lack of sources in regards to her) she would be known for providing her children with an excellent education, so like her own. Infanta Maria was said to be tall, slender, blonde, blue eyed, of fair complexion and round face: she was also sweet, compassionate, pious and some claim a bit giggly. The same little is known about her activities during her tenure as a Queen, except for typical ones, such as charities and patronage of humanism. One episode in her life though indicates she knew how to weight influence over her husband Manuel I (who was previously married to Maria’s elder sister Isabella), while serving her father and the interests of her homeland: when around 1509 her husband Manuel I and father Ferdinand II fell out on the political ground, and Manuel was being obstinate, not wanting to come to any agreement with his father-in-law, it was precisely Maria who intervened which resulted in negotiations and eventually a treaty was signed on 18 September 1509. Maria and Manuel had ten children, the most known of them are John III of Portugal, successor of his father to the Portuguese throne and Isabella of Portugal, Queen of Spain and Holy Roman Empress. Sources: „Isabel the Queen” by Peggy K. Liss.“Isabel La Católica” by Manuel Fernández Álvarez “La dinastía de los Trastámara” by Julio Valdeón Baruque -- source link

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