Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugal

Maria of Aragon
Maria of Aragon
	Stained glass depiction c. 1510–1513
Queen consort of Portugal and the Algarves
Tenure	30 October 1500 – 7 March 1517
Born	29 June 1482; Córdoba, Kingdom of Castile
Died	7 March 1517 (aged 34); Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal
Burial	Jerónimos Monastery, Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal
Spouse	Manuel I of Portugal (m. 1500)
Issue	John III of Portugal; Isabel, Holy Roman Empress; Beatriz, Duchess of Savoy; Luís, Duke of Beja; Ferdinand, Duke of Guarda; Infante Afonso; Henry I of Portugal; Infanta Maria; Duarte, Duke of Guimarães; Infante Antonio;
House	Trastámara
Father	Ferdinand II of Aragon
Mother	Isabella I of Castile
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Maria of Aragon (29 June 1482 – 7 March 1517) was a Spanish infanta, and queen consort of Portugal as the second spouse of Portuguese King Manuel I.

Life[]

Early life[]

Maria was born at C��rdoba on 29 June 1482 as the third surviving daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (the Catholic monarchs). She was the fourth of their five surviving children, and had a stillborn twin sister (though some other sources claim that the queen was pregnant with fraternal twins, and the stillborn baby was a boy).^[1] Like her sisters, she was given a thorough education, not only in household tasks but also in arithmetic, Latin, several other languages, history, philosophy and the classics.

Marriage[]

As an infanta of Spain, her hand in marriage was important in European politics. Before her marriage to Manuel I of Portugal, her parents entertained the idea of marrying her to King James IV of Scotland.^[2] This was at a time when her younger sister Catherine's marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales, was being planned. Ferdinand and Isabella thought if Maria was Queen of Scotland, the two sisters could keep the peace between their husbands. These plans, however, came to nothing. Her eldest sister Isabella, Princess of Asturias, was the first wife of Manuel I, but her death in 1498 created a necessity for Manuel to remarry; Maria became the next bride of the Portuguese king, reaffirming dynastic links with Spanish royal houses.

Manuel and Maria were married in Alcácer do Sal on 30 October 1500,^[3] and was granted Viseu and Torres Vedras as her dower. She had 10 children, eight of whom reached adulthood, including King John III of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress Isabella, and Beatrice, Duchess of Savoy.

Queen[]

Queen Maria was described as pale and thin to her exterior, with a retiring chin, and had a very serious character to her personality. Despite the fact that she was queen during a famous time period in Portuguese history, when the Portuguese court was one of the richest in Europe, she did not play any significant part as an individual. Serious and pious, she devoted her time to sewing, pious devotion and supervising the education of her children in accordance with the principles of her parents. She maintained a close correspondence with her parents, got along well with her sister-in-law Isabel and the queen dowager Beatrice, and hosted a large court with both Spanish and Portuguese ladies-in-waiting. King Manuel appreciated her pious nature, treated her with respect and awarded her with expensive clothes and jewelry during her pregnancies.

Queen Maria was not described as politically active, though chronicles praised her for occasionally persuading her husband to an act of mercy. She was, however, somewhat involved in religious politics. She supported King Manuel's religious-imperial project, including the plan to conquer the Mamluk's realm, destroy Mecca and Medina and reconquer Christian holy places such as Jerusalem. She co-founded the Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon.^[4]

During her life in Portugal, Maria was almost continually pregnant. Normally, she had but a few months pause between a delivery and her next pregnancy. This state of affairs resulted in an continual deterioration of her health and after the delivery of 1516, she was reportedly exhausted to a point that she was also temporarily mentally confused before she recuperated. She died in Lisbon on 7 March 1517, and was buried at the Jerónimos Monastery of Belém. She died as a result of her last pregnancy.

Legacy[]

In 1580, the dynastic links from the marriage led to a succession crisis in Portugal that made her grandson Philip II of Spain king of Portugal as Philip I of Portugal.

Ancestry[]

showAncestors of Maria of Aragon

Children[]

Her marriage with Manuel produced the following children:

Name	Birth	Death	Notes
King John III	6 June 1502	11 June 1557	Succeeded Manuel as King of Portugal. Had issue.
Infanta Isabella	24 October 1503	1 May 1539	Married Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Had issue.
Infanta Beatrice	31 December 1504	8 January 1538	Married Charles III, Duke of Savoy. Had issue.
Infante Luis, Duke of Beja	3 March 1506	27 November 1555	Unmarried but had illegitimate descendants, one of them being Antonio, Prior of Crato, a claimant of the throne of Portugal in 1580 (See: Struggle for the throne of Portugal).
Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Guarda	5 June 1507	7 November 1534	Married Guiomar Coutinho, Countess of Marialva. No surviving issue.
Infante Afonso	23 April 1509	21 April 1540	Cardinal of the Kingdom.
King Henry	31 January 1512	31 January 1580	Cardinal of the Kingdom who succeeded his grandnephew King Sebastian (Manuel's great-grandson) as 17th King of Portugal. His death triggered the struggle for the throne of Portugal.
Infanta Maria	3 February 1513		Died at birth.
Infante Duarte, Duke of Guimarães	7 October 1515	20 September 1540	Duke of Guimarães and great-grandfather of John IV of Portugal. Married Isabella of Braganza, daughter of Jaime, Duke of Braganza.
Infante Antonio	9 September 1516		Died at birth.

Her widowed husband later married a third time, in 1518, also this time from her family: Maria's niece Eleanor of Austria.

Notes[]

^ Philippa was the daughter John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster to his first wife Blanche of Lancaster,^[16] making her half-sister of Catherine of Aragon's maternal great-grandmother Catherine of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster to his second wife Constance of Castile.

References[]

^ Harris 2017, p. 78.
^ Bergenroth 1862, pp. 167–80.
^ Howe 2008, p. 53.
^ Harris 2017, p. 79.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ferdinand V. of Castile and Leon and II. of Aragon" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Isabella I, Queen of Spain at the Encyclopædia Britannica
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "John II of Aragon" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c ^d Ortega Gato, Esteban (1999). "Los Enríquez, Almirantes de Castilla" [The Enríquezes, Admirals of Castille] (PDF). Publicaciones de la Institución "Tello Téllez de Meneses" (in Spanish). 70: 42. ISSN 0210-7317.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Henry III, King of Castille at the Encyclopædia Britannica
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Lee, Sidney, ed. (1896). "Philippa of Lancaster" . Dictionary of National Biography. 45. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 167.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Gerli, E. Michael; Armistead, Samuel G. (2003). Medieval Iberia. Taylor & Francis. p. 182. ISBN 9780415939188. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Ferdinand I, King of Aragon at the Encyclopædia Britannica
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Miron, E. L. (1913). "Doña Leonor of Alburquerque". The Queens of Aragon: Their Lives and Times. Brentano's. p. 265. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "Mariana de Ayala Córdoba y Toledo". Ducal House of Medinaceli Foundation. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Leese, Thelma Anna, Blood royal: issue of the kings and queens of medieval England, 1066–1399, (Heritage Books Inc., 1996), 222.
^ Armitage-Smith, Sydney (1905). John of Gaunt: King of Castile and Leon, Duke of Aquitaine and Lancaster, Earl of Derby, Lincoln, and Leicester, Seneschal of England. Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 77. Retrieved 17 May 2018.

Sources[]

Bergenroth, G A, ed. (1862). "Spain: July 1498, 21–31". Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 1, 1485–1509.
Harris, Carolyn (2017). Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting. Dundurn Press.
Howe, Elizabeth Teresa (2008). Education and Women in the Early Modern Hispanic World. Ashgate Publishing Limited.
Serrano, Joana Bouza. Maria de Castela (1482–1517): uma rainha do Renascimento. In: As avis: as grandes rainhas que partilharam o trono de Portugal na segunda dinastia. 2ª ed. Lisboa: A Esfera dos Livros, 2009

Media related to Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugal at Wikimedia Commons

Portuguese royalty
Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugal House of Trastámara Born: 29 June 1482 Died: 7 March 1517
Preceded by Isabella of Aragon	Queen Consort of Portugal 30 October 1500 – 7 March 1517	Succeeded by Eleanor of Austria

[17] Philippa was the daughter John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster to his first wife Blanche of Lancaster,^[16] making her half-sister of Catherine of Aragon's maternal great-grandmother Catherine of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster to his second wife Constance of Castile.

[FOOTNOTEHarris201778-1] Harris 2017, p. 78.

[FOOTNOTEBergenroth1862167–80-2] Bergenroth 1862, pp. 167–80.

[FOOTNOTEHowe200853-3] Howe 2008, p. 53.

[FOOTNOTEHarris201779-4] Harris 2017, p. 79.

[1911-Ferdinand-5] Jump up to: ^a ^b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ferdinand V. of Castile and Leon and II. of Aragon" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

[Britannica295037-6] Jump up to: ^a ^b Isabella I, Queen of Spain at the Encyclopædia Britannica

[1911-John_II-7] Jump up to: ^a ^b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "John II of Aragon" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

[Ortega1999-8] Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c ^d Ortega Gato, Esteban (1999). "Los Enríquez, Almirantes de Castilla" [The Enríquezes, Admirals of Castille] (PDF). Publicaciones de la Institución "Tello Téllez de Meneses" (in Spanish). 70: 42. ISSN 0210-7317.

[Britannica261568-9] Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Henry III, King of Castille at the Encyclopædia Britannica

[DNB-Philippa-10] Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Lee, Sidney, ed. (1896). "Philippa of Lancaster" . Dictionary of National Biography. 45. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 167.

[GerliArmistead2003-11] Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Gerli, E. Michael; Armistead, Samuel G. (2003). Medieval Iberia. Taylor & Francis. p. 182. ISBN 9780415939188. Retrieved 17 May 2018.

[Britannica204397-12] Jump up to: ^a ^b Ferdinand I, King of Aragon at the Encyclopædia Britannica

[Miron1913-13] Jump up to: ^a ^b Miron, E. L. (1913). "Doña Leonor of Alburquerque". The Queens of Aragon: Their Lives and Times. Brentano's. p. 265. Retrieved 21 August 2018.

[Medinaceli-14] Jump up to: ^a ^b "Mariana de Ayala Córdoba y Toledo". Ducal House of Medinaceli Foundation. Retrieved 21 August 2018.

[Leese1996-15] Jump up to: ^a ^b Leese, Thelma Anna, Blood royal: issue of the kings and queens of medieval England, 1066–1399, (Heritage Books Inc., 1996), 222.

[Armitage-Smith1905-16] Armitage-Smith, Sydney (1905). John of Gaunt: King of Castile and Leon, Duke of Aquitaine and Lancaster, Earl of Derby, Lincoln, and Leicester, Seneschal of England. Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 77. Retrieved 17 May 2018.

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show v t Infantas of Aragon
1st generation	Sancha, Countess of Urgell
2nd generation	none
3rd generation	Petronilla
4th generation	Dulce, Queen of Portugal
5th generation	Constance, Holy Roman Empress Eleanor, Countess of Toulouse Sancha
7th generation	Violant, Queen of Castile Constance, Lady of Villena Isabella, Queen of France
8th generation	Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal Yolanda, Duchess of Calabria Sancha, Queen of Naples*
9th generation	Maria, Lady of Cameros Isabella, Duchess of Austria Constance, Queen of Cyprus Elisabeth, Duchess of Bavaria Margaret, Countess Palatine of the Rhine**
10th generation	Constance, Queen of Majorca Eleanor, Queen of Cyprus Eleanor, Queen of Aragon Beatrice, Countess Palatine of the Rhine Eleonor, Countess of Caltabellotta** Isabella, Marchioness of Montferrat* Alice, Countess of Ibelin*
11th generation	Constance, Queen of Sicily Joanna, Countess of Ampurias Eleanor, Queen of Castile Isabella, Countess of Urgell Maria of Sicily**
12th generation	Joanna, Countess of Foix Yolande, Duchess of Anjou Margarida, Queen of Aragon
13th generation	Isabella of Urgell, Duchess of Coimbra
14th generation	Maria, Queen of Castile Eleanor, Queen of Portugal
15th generation	Blanche II of Navarre Eleanor of Navarre Joanna, Queen of Naples
16th generation	Isabella, Queen of Portugal Joanna, Queen of Castile and Aragon Maria, Queen of Portugal Catherine, Queen of England
17th generation	Eleanor, Queen of Portugal and France Isabella, Queen of Denmark-Norway Mary, Queen of Hungary Catherine, Queen of Portugal
*also a princess of Majorca **also a princess of Sicily

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