The (not so much) Catholic Monarchs’ wedding

The Catholic Monarchs are one of the most important royal couples of history. But, how did it all started?

First thing to keep in mind is XV century Spain was not a unified territory: the iberian peninsula was divided in different kingdoms and two of them were Castilla and Aragon. Before the marriage of the Catholic Kings, the king of Castilla was Henry IV, the older step brother of Isabel (spoiler, they didn’t have a great relationship), and the king of Aragon was John II, father to Ferdinand II.

Long story short, Henry IV had a daughter (although many thought she wasn’t actually his descendant) called Juana la Beltraneja, and she was the heir to the castilian throne. Isabel claimed her rights to the throne supported by some noble families, and the king finally recognized her rights on the succesion line under the condition he would choose a husband for her. Isabel signed this pact, but did she follow it? Of course not! She decided to follow her own will and chose a husband without the king knowing it. Henry IV would have never thought of Ferdinand of Aragon as husband material for his step sister, because that marriage would give Isabel way too much power to confront his daughter Juana in the claim for the throne. 

Isabel and Ferdinand were cousins, and according to the eclesiastic doctrine they needed a papal permission to get married. The pope John II denied his permission to keep his distance with the castillian war for the throne. But the future king and queen were not having a no for an answer, even if it meant going against the Vatican, so they falsified the papers and got married in Valladolid the year 1469. When the marriage was discovered, both Ferdinand and Isabel were excomunicated. Not very catholic of them, don’t you think?

 

 

But lying to the king of Castilla and to the Vatican didn’t stop them from getting the throne. Trying to cool the tension, the pope Sixt IV sent a cardinal to put some order in 1471. The name of this cardinal may ring a bell, he was Rodrigo Borgia, the future pope Alexander VI. Rodrigo made a deal with Fernando and Isabel (what a surprise!). He agreed to give a papal permission to legitimize the wedding and, in exchange, his first born Pedro Luis Borgia would get the city and duchy of Gandia (in Valencia). 

The noble families were divided. Some supported Isabel and others supported Juana la Beltraneja, the daughter of Henry IV. This conflict ended up in a civil war won by Isabel’s party in 1479, and with this victory whe was named queen of Castilla. Ferdinand inheired the aragonese throne the same year, after the death of his father.

The marriage of the Catholic Monarchs was never supposed to happen. It went against the political authority and, even more important, it went against the eclesiastic doctrine. But the determination of Isabel and Ferdinand to get married and rule their kingdoms was more powerful than a king’s authority and a pope’s power, and because of that, they set the course of history.

Sources:

Eslava, Juan (2019). “Los reyes católicos”. Ed. Planeta (Bookets), Barcelona.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reyes_Católicos#/media/Archivo:Ferdinand_of_Aragon,_Isabella_of_Castile.jpg

https://2puertadecuartos.wordpress.com/2017/01/23/unit-4-christian-kingdoms-europe-between-8th-15th-c/

https://www.patrimonionacional.es/microsites/retratos/obras_principales.htm

https://www.khm.at/objektdb/detail/2440