Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 3: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
History
Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 3: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
Biography
Had the reign of Isabella been less distinguished for events of such
momentous magnitude as to involve the future interests of the world, her
personal life would yet furnish data for a series of volumes, so replete
was it with stirring incidents and with heart-breaking sorrows. But the
same mental strength and moral courage that made her eminent as a queen,
made her remarkable also as a friend and mother. Prescott says: "Her
heart overflowed with affectionate sensibilities to her family and
friends. She watched over the declining years of her aged mother and
ministered to her sad infirmities with filial tenderness; we have
abundant proofs of how fondly and faithfully she loved her husband to
the last; while for her children she lived more than for herself, and
for them too she died; for it was their loss and their afflictions which
froze the current of her blood before age had had time to chill it."
Five children, four daughters and one son, grew to maturity under her
guiding influence. Isabella, the first born, and ever the favorite child
of the sovereigns, was born in 1470. She was twice married, first to
Alfonso, Prince of Portugal, who was killed by a fall from his horse
within five months after their marriage. Seven years later she married
his brother, Emanuel, King of Portugal. To the intense grief of her
husband, her parents, and her kingdom, she died in 1498, just one hour
after the birth of her son, the first and only heir to the kingdoms of
Castile, Aragon, and Portugal. The little Prince Miguel did not live to
fulfil the hopes that were centred in him, for he died, to the great
grief of the nation, before he had completed his second year.
The only son of Ferdinand and Isabella, Juan, Prince of Asturias, was
born in 1478. In his twentieth year he married the Princess Margaret,
daughter of the Emperor Maximilian; but before the elaborate nuptial
rejoicings had ended the young bridegroom died suddenly of a malignant
fever.
The Infanta Joanna, born 1479, married Philip I., son of the German
emperor, and became the mother of the great Emperor Charles V. of
Germany, Charles I. of Spain. Her mental derangement, tending to
permanent insanity, was a sore grief to the great queen, who
nevertheless made her the heir to her crown, with Ferdinand as regent.
The Infanta Maria, born in 1482, married Emanuel, the King of Portugal,
in 1600. Her daughter Isabella married her cousin, Charles V., and was
the mother of Philip II.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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