Ferdinand II, also known asFerdinand I, Ferdinand III, andFerdinand V[b] (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), calledFerdinand the Catholic, wasKing of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As thehusband and co-ruler of QueenIsabella I of Castile, he was alsoKing of Castile from 1475 to 1504 (asFerdinand V). He reigned jointly with Isabella over adynastically unifiedSpain; together they are known as theCatholic Monarchs. Ferdinand is considered thede facto firstking of Spain, and was described as such during his reign, even though, legally,Castile andAragon remained two separate kingdoms until they were formally united by theNueva Planta decrees issued between 1707 and 1716.[1]
Following Isabella's death in 1504, the couple's daughterJoanna became queen of theCrown of Castile. That year, after a war with France, Ferdinand conquered theKingdom of Naples. In 1507 he becameregent of Castile on behalf of Joanna, who was alleged to be mentally unstable. In 1506, as part of a treaty with France, Ferdinand marriedGermaine of Foix, with whom he had no surviving children. In 1512 he conquered most of theKingdom of Navarre, ruling all the territories comprising modern-day Spain until his death in 1516. He was nominally succeeded by his daughter Joanna, but power was soon assumed by her son Charles I (laterHoly Roman Emperor Charles V).
Ferdinand marriedIsabella, the half-sister and heir presumptive ofHenry IV of Castile, on 19 October 1469 inValladolid,Kingdom of Castile and Leon.[4] Isabella also belonged to the royalHouse of Trastámara, and the two were second cousins by descent fromJohn I of Castile. They were married with a clearprenuptial agreement on sharing power, and under the joint motto "tanto monta, monta tanto". He becamejure uxoris King of Castile when Isabella succeeded her deceased brother in 1474. The two young monarchs were initially obliged to fight acivil war against the Queen of PortugalJoanna la Beltraneja, the purported daughter of Henry IV, and were swiftly successful.[4][5] When Ferdinand succeeded his father as King of Aragon in 1479, the Crown of Castile and the various territories of the Crown of Aragon were united in apersonal union. The various states were not formally administered as a single unit, but as separate political units under the same monarchs.[6] (Thelegal merging of Aragon and Castile into a single Spain occurred underPhilip V in 1707–1715.)
Ferdinand the Catholic swearing thefueros as theLord of Biscay atGuernica in 1476Columbus soliciting aid of Ferdinand's wife Isabella.
The first years of Ferdinand and Isabella's joint rule saw the Spanish conquest of theEmirate of Granada, the last Islamical-Andalus entity on the Iberian peninsula, completed in 1492.[4][7]
The completion of theReconquista was not the only significant act performed by Ferdinand and Isabella in that year. In March 1492, the monarchs issued the Edict of Expulsion of the Jews, also called theAlhambra Decree,[8] a document which ordered allJews either to be baptised and convert to Christianity or to leave the country.[9] It allowedMudéjar Moors (Islamic) andconversoMarrano Jews to stay, while expelling all unconverted Jews from Castile and Aragon (most Jews either converted or moved to the Ottoman Empire). 1492 was also the year in which the monarchs commissionedChristopher Columbus to find a westward maritime route for access to Asia, which resulted in the Spanish arrival in the Americas.
In 1494, theTreaty of Tordesillas divided the entire world beyond Europe betweenPortugal and Castile (Spain) for conquest and dominion purposes – by a north–south line drawn down the Atlantic Ocean.
Ferdinand abrogated a section of the 1491Treaty of Granada peace treaty in 1502 by dismissing the clearly guaranteed religious freedom forMudéjar Muslims. Ferdinand forced all Muslims in Castile and Aragon to convert,conversoMoriscos, to Catholicism, or else be expelled. Some of the Muslims who remained were mudéjar artisans, who could design and build in the Moorish style.
Wedding portrait of Ferdinand and Isabella
The latter part of Ferdinand's life was largely taken up with disputes with successive kings ofFrance over control of Italy, theItalian Wars. In 1494,Charles VIII of France invaded Italy and expelledAlfonso II, who was Ferdinand's first cousin once removed and step nephew, from thethrone of Naples. Ferdinand allied with various Italian princes and withEmperor Maximilian I to expel the French by 1496 and install Alfonso's son,Ferdinand II, on the Neapolitan throne. In 1500, following Ferdinand II's death and accession of his uncleFrederick, Ferdinand signed an agreement with Charles VIII's successor,Louis XII, who had just successfully asserted his claims to theDuchy of Milan, to partition Naples between them, withCampania and theAbruzzi, including Naples itself, going to the French and Ferdinand takingApulia andCalabria. The agreement soon fell apart and, over the next several years, Ferdinand's great generalGonzalo Fernández de Córdoba fought to take Naples from the French, finally succeeding by 1504.
The King of France complains that I have twice deceived him. He lies, the fool; I have deceived him ten times and more.
Some time before 1502,Andreas Palaiologos, the last exiled claimant to theByzantine throne of his house, sold his titles and royal and imperial rights to Ferdinand. Those, however, had never been made use of, due to the doubtful nature of the deal.[11]
Isabella made her will on 12 October 1504, in advance of her 26 November 1504 death. In it she spelled out the succession to the Crown of Castile, leaving it toJoanna and then to Joanna's son Charles. Isabella was dubious of Joanna's ability to rule and was not confident of Joanna's husband ArchdukePhilip. Ferdinand moved quickly after his wife's death to continue his role in Castile. On the day of his wife's death, he formally renounced his title as King of Castile and instead became governor (gobernador) of the kingdom, as a way to become regent. Philip deemed his wife sane and fit to rule. A compromise was forged between Philip and Ferdinand, which gave Ferdinand a continued role in Castile.[13] Ferdinand had served as Joanna's regent during her absence in theNetherlands, ruled by her husband Archduke Philip. Ferdinand attempted to retain the regency permanently, but was rebuffed by the Castilian nobility and replaced with Joanna's husband.
In theTreaty of Villafáfila of 1506, Ferdinand renounced not only the government of Castile in favor of Philip but also the lordship of the Indies, withholding half of the income of the "kingdoms of the Indies".[14] Joanna and Philip immediately added to their titles the kingdoms of Indies, Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea. But the Treaty of Villafáfila did not hold for long because of the death of Philip; Ferdinand returned as regent of Castile and as "lord of the Indies".[15]
The widowed Ferdinand made an alliance with France in July 1505 and marriedGermaine of Foix, cementing the alliance with France. She was the granddaughter of his half-sister QueenEleanor of Navarre and niece of Louis XII of France. Had Ferdinand's son with Germaine, John, Prince of Girona, born on 3 May 1509, survived, "the crown of Aragon would inevitably been separated from Castile"[13] and denied his grandson Charles the crown of Aragon. But the infant Prince John died within hours and was buried in theconvent of Saint Paul inValladolid,Kingdom of Castile and Leon, and later transferred toPoblet Monastery,Vimbodí i Poblet,Principality of Catalonia (Crown of Aragon), traditional burial site of the kings of Aragon.[16]
Ferdinand had no legal position in Castile, with thecortes of Toro recognizing Joanna and her children as heirs and Ferdinand left Castile in July 1506. After his son-in-law Philip's untimely death in September 1506, Castile was in crisis. Joanna was allegedly mentally unstable, and Joanna's and Philip's son, Charles, the future EmperorCharles V, was only six years old. CardinalFrancisco Jiménez de Cisneros, the Chancellor of the Kingdom, was made regent, but the upper nobility reasserted itself. Ferdinand led an army againstPedro Fernández de Córdoba y Pacheco, themarquis of Priego ofCórdoba, who had seized control there by force.[17]
By 1508, Ferdinand had triumphed and war resumed in Italy, this time against theRepublic of Venice, in which all the other powers with interests on the Italian peninsula, including Louis XII, Ferdinand II, Maximilian, andPope Julius II joined together in theLeague of Cambrai. Although the French were victorious against Venice at theBattle of Agnadello, the League of Cambrai soon fell apart, as both the Pope and Ferdinand II became suspicious of French intentions. Instead, the 'Holy League' was formed, in which now all the powers joined together against Louis XII and France.
In November 1511, Ferdinand and his son-in-law KingHenry VIII of England signed theTreaty of Westminster, pledging mutual aid between the two againstNavarre and France ahead of theSpanish invasion of Navarre as of July 1512. After the fall of Granada in 1492, he had manoeuvred for years to take over the throne of theBasque kingdom, ruled by QueenCatherine of Navarre and KingJohn III of Navarre, also lords ofBéarn and other sizeable territories north of thePyrenees and inGascony. Ferdinand annexed Navarre first to the Crown of Aragon, but later, under the pressure of Castilian noblemen, to the Crown of Castile. The Holy League was generally successful in Italy, as well, driving the French from Milan, which was restored to itsSforza dukes by the peace treaty in 1513. The French were successful in reconquering Milan two years later, however.
Ferdinand II died on 23 January 1516, inMadrigalejo,Extremadura, Kingdom of Castile and Leon. He is entombed atCapilla Real,Granada. His wife Isabella, daughter Joanna, and son-in-law Philip rest beside him there.
Ferdinand and Isabella established a highly effective sovereignty under equal terms. They utilised a prenuptial agreement to lay down their terms. During their reign they supported each other effectively in accordance to his joint motto of equality: "Tanto monta [or monta tanto], Isabel como Fernando" ("They amount to the same, Isabel and Ferdinand"). Isabella and Ferdinand's achievements were remarkable: Spain was united, or at least more united than it ever had been; the crown power was centralised, at least in name; thereconquista was successfully concluded; the groundwork for the most dominant military machine of the next century and a half was laid; a legal framework was created; the church was reformed. Even without the benefit of the American expansion, Spain would have been a major European power. Columbus' discovery set the country on the course for the first modern world power.
Ferdinand by an unknown painter, c. 1520s
During the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, Spain pursuedalliances through marriage with Portugal,Habsburg Austria, andBurgundy. Their first-born daughter Isabella was married toManuel I of Portugal, and their first-born son John was married to Margaret of Austria. However, the deaths of these children, and the death of Isabella, altered the succession plan forcing Ferdinand to yield the government of Castile to Philip of Habsburg, the husband of his second daughter Joanna.[18]
In 1502, the members of the AragoneseCortes gathered inZaragoza, and Parliamentsof the Kingdom of Valencia andthe Principality of Catalonia inBarcelona, as members of the Crown of Aragon, swore an oath of loyalty to their daughterJoanna as heiress, butAlonso de Aragón, Archbishop of Saragossa, stated firmly that this oath was invalid and did not change the law of succession which could only be done by formal legislation by theCortes with the King.[19][20] So, when King Ferdinand died on 23 January 1516, his daughter Joanna inherited theCrown of Aragon, and his grandsonCharles became Governor General (regent).[21] Nevertheless, the Flemish wished that Charles assume the royal title, and this was supported by his paternal grandfather the Holy Roman EmperorMaximilian I and byPope Leo X. Consequently, after Ferdinand II's funeral on 14 March 1516, Charles I was proclaimed King of Castile and of Aragon jointly with his mother. Finally, the CastilianRegent, CardinalJiménez de Cisneros accepted thefait accompli, and the Castilian and AragoneseCortes paid homage to him[22] as King of Aragon jointly with his mother.[23]
Ferdinand's grandson and successor Charles, was to inherit not only the Spanish lands of his maternal grandparents, but theAustrian andBurgundian lands of his paternal family, which would make his heirs the most powerful rulers on the continent and, with the discoveries and conquests in theAmericas and elsewhere, of the first truly global empire.
With his wife Isabella I the Catholic (whom he married 19 October 1469), King Ferdinand had seven children:
Isabella (1470–1498), Princess of Asturias (1497–1498). She married firstAfonso, Prince of Portugal, then after his death married his uncle Prince Manuel, the future KingManuel I of Portugal. She died in childbirth delivering her sonMiguel da Paz, Crown Prince of both Portugal and Spain who, in turn, died in infancy.
John (1478–1497), Prince of Asturias (1478–1497). He marriedMargaret of Austria (daughter of EmperorMaximilian I). He died oftuberculosis and his posthumous child with Margaret was stillborn.
Joanna I (1479–1555), Princess of Asturias (1500–1504), Queen of Castile (1504–1555), Queen of Aragon (1516–1555). She marriedPhilip I(Philip the handsome) (son of Emperor Maximilian I); and was the mother of KingCharles I of Spain (also known asCharles V as Holy Roman Emperor). Ferdinand made her out to be mentally unstable and she was incarcerated by him, and then by her son, inTordesillas for over 50 years. Her grandson,Philip II of Spain, was crowned in 1556.
A stillborn child, twin of Maria. Born 1 July 1482 at dawn. Sources differ on gender.
Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536). She married firstArthur, Prince of Wales, son of and heir to KingHenry VII of England and, after Prince Arthur's death, she married his brother Henry, Duke of York, who also became Prince of Wales and then KingHenry VIII. She thus became Queen of England and was the mother of QueenMary I.
^In the papal bullSi convenit [es] of 1496, Ferdinand II and Isabella I were named "King and Queen Catholics of the Spains (Rey y Reina Católicos de las Españas)".
^Edwards, John.The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs 1474–1520. Blackwell Publishers Inc, 2000, pp. 1–37
^Edwards, John.The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs 1474–1520. Blackwell Publishers Inc, 2000, pp. 38–39
^Joseph F. O'Callaghan,A History of Medieval Spain (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1983), 24.ISBN0-8014-9264-5.Preview of cited page available on Google Books as of 10 March 2011. See also: Richard Fletcher, "The Early Middle Ages, 700–1250", inSpain: A History, ed. Raymond Carr (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000).ISBN0-19-280236-4.
^Michael C. Thomsett,The Inquisition: A History (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, Inc., 2010), 158.
^Bernard Lewis,Cultures in Conflict: Christians, Muslims and Jews in the Age of Discovery (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 35–36.ISBN0-19-509026-8
^Miles H. Davidson,Columbus then and now: a life reexamined, University of Oklahoma Press 1997,ISBN0-8061-2934-4, p. 474.
^Norwich, John Julius,Byzantium: The Decline and Fall, p. 446
^Guillermo Fatás y Guillermo Redondo (1995)."Blasón de Aragón" (in Spanish). Zaragoza, Diputación General de Aragón. pp. 101–102. Archived fromthe original on 31 January 2012.
^abEdwards,The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs, p. 288.
^De Francisco Olmos, José María: Estudio documental de la moneda castellana de Carlos I fabricada en los Países Bajos (1517),Revista General de Información y Documentación13, 133–153, 2003. URL: L. Külső hivatkozások
^Edwards,The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs, pp. 288–289.
^Elliot, J. H.Imperial Spain 1469–1716. Penguin Books (New York: 2002), p. 208.ISBN0-14-100703-6
^Real Academia de la Historia."Alonso de Estrada".Diccionario Biográfico Español. Retrieved9 February 2025.
^abcdefMenéndez Pidal de Navascués, Faustino (2004)«Los Reyes Católicos»,El escudo de España, Madrid, Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genealogía; Ediciones Hidalguia.ISBN978-84-88833-02-0
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