Women of the Romance Countries (Illustrated): Woman: In all ages and in all countries Vol. 6 (of 10)Effinger, John R. (John Robert)
History
Women of the Romance Countries (Illustrated): Woman: In all ages and in all countries Vol. 6 (of 10)
Effinger, John R. (John Robert)
Women -- Italy -- History; Women -- Spain -- History
questionable honor, and daring to be jealous of the real queen, she made
King Henry pay dearly for her favors, and she was soon installed in a
palace of her own and living in a splendor and magnificence which
rivalled that of the queen herself. The Archbishop of Seville, strange
to relate, openly espoused her cause. Her insolent and domineering ways
were a fit counterpart to those of the queen, and the unfortunate people
were soon making open complaint. Beltran, the king in fact, was the open
and accepted favorite of the queen, and Henry, the king in name only,
was devoting himself to a vain and shallow court beauty who wished to be
a veritable queen and longed for the overthrow of her rival! Such was
the sad spectacle presented to the world by Castile at this time, but
the crisis was soon to come which would clarify the air and lead to a
more satisfactory condition in the state. Matters were hastened to their
climax when the queen gave birth, in 1462, to a daughter who was called
after her mother, Juana; but so evident was the paternity of this
pitiful little princess, that she was at once christened La Beltraneja
in common parlance; and by that sobriquet she is best known in history.
It is doubtful if the sluggish moral natures of this time would have
been moved by this fact, if the king had not insisted that this baby
girl should be acknowledged as his daughter and heiress to the crown of
Castile. This was too much for the leaders of the opposition, and they
demanded that Henry's younger brother, Alfonso, be recognized as his
successor. This proposition brought about civil warfare, which was ended
by Alfonso's death in 1468, and then Isabella was generally recognized
as the real successor to her unworthy brother Henry, in spite of the
claims he continued to put forth in favor of La Beltraneja.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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