On 30 June 1478, Queen Isabella I of Castile finally got her wish after a daughter and a miscarriage – a healthy son was born. He was named John or Juan. He would later be joined by another three sisters.
Nine days after his birth, John was carried by a governess in a procession with grandees and bishops to the Santa Maria la Mayor Cathedral, where he was baptised. The chronicler Pulgar wrote, “The queen has paid off the debt of providing this kingdom with a male heir. He [God] chose not from the tribe of Alfonso nor, because he rejected the tabernacle of God, from Enrique [Henry]. He chose instead the tribe of Elisabeth [meaning Isabella], which he loved.” 1 John’s parents were still deep in the succession war with Isabella’s niece, Joanna, and John’s birth seemed to prove that God was on Isabella’s side. Little John was installed in the court with his wet nurse, Maria de Guzman.
After negotiations with Joanna, she was forced to choose between an engagement with Isabella’s newborn son, which he could renege on when he was 14, or taking a nun’s vows and entering a cloistered Portuguese convent. The 18-year-old Joanna chose to enter a convent.
John, as the heir, received Isabella’s special attention. She routinely called him “My angel”, even if she was mad at him.2 She had appointed Juana de la Torre as his ama or nurse, and he had become quite close to her. When John was 11, his household was separated from that of his mother, and by the time of his marriage, he had his own court at Almazan. As a young boy, he was carried in a litter by servants as the court moved around. When he was a little older, he would ride his own mule. He was provided with bullfights, music, fireworks and chess as his entertainment.
When he was seven years old, Diego de Deze, a Dominican tutor, was appointed to him. He taught him Latin, grammar, ethics, reading and music.3 He was often in his parents’ company and learned from them as well. In 1496, shortly before the weddings of his sisters Isabella and Joanna, John was named Prince of Asturias.
It was soon time for him to marry as well, and he had been part of a double negotiation. His bride, Margaret of Austria, would be brought back on the fleet that had taken his sister Joanna to her groom. However, the weather was quite adverse, but a route over land was not possible due to the political tensions.
On 22 January 1497, it was decided to set sail, even though the weather was still not ideal. The ships were forced to land near the English coast during a storm. King Henry VII immediately sent food and aid, and the ships were forced to wait for three weeks. During a second attempt, Margaret’s ship hit another ship, and a terrified Margaret jumped from the ship into a boat. During the third attempt, many ships in the fleet were destroyed during subsequent storms, and Margaret wrote this melancholic verse, “Here lies Margaret, the willing bride, twice married but a virgin when she died.”4
On 6 March 1497, two ships limped into the harbour of Santander, and one of them carried Margaret. Margaret met her future mother-in-law, Queen Isabella I of Castile, in Burgos shortly after her arrival. Margaret tried to kneel and kiss Isabella’s hand, but Isabella raised her up. The Venetian ambassador later wrote, “The Queen’s reception of her was quite a sight. Kissing and hugging many times, she took her with her.” 5 Margaret was dressed in a “French-style dress of gold brocade and crimson lined with ermine, topped off by a black felt hat and accompanied by large pearls.” 6
On 19 March 1497, Margaret and John were married, although they had to wait two weeks to consummate the marriage as it was Lent. They took to each other immediately, and physicians began to worry about the time the couple spent in bed together. Margaret wrote home to her father how happy she was and that her tears “were not out of sadness.” 7 Prince John was “a prisoner to his love for the lady, our young prince is once more too pale.” 8 Physicians advised to separate the two from time to time, but Isabella told them that it was not right for man to separate what God has joined.8 And so, John’s health declined at an alarming rate.
On 29 September, Queen Isabella was informed that her son was dangerously ill, and King Ferdinand arrived just in time to say goodbye to his dying son. On 4 October 1497, John died at the age of 20 at the Bishop’s Palace in Salamanca. They had just learned of Margaret’s pregnancy.
Isabella devoted herself to looking after Margaret. She and Ferdinand wrote, “Our devotion to the princess only grows, as she tries hard and so sensibly, just as [the person] she is, and we will work to console her and to make her happy as if she had lost nothing. She is healthy with her pregnancy, thank God, and we that – by His mercy – the fruit that emerges from her will be consolation and repair for our woes. We care and will care for the princess just as if her husband were still alive, for we hold her in that place and love forever.” 9
After a pregnancy of seven months, Margaret went into premature labour. In April 1498, a stillborn daughter was born. One courtier bluntly wrote, “Instead of bearing the much-desired offspring, she offered us a dead child.” 10
John was buried in the Real Monasterio de Santo Tomás in Ávila. His position as the heir now passed to his eldest sister, Isabella.
- Isabella of Castile by Giles Tremlett p.165-166
- Isabella of Castile by Giles Tremlett p.396
- Isabella of Castile by Giles Tremlett p.398
- Margareta van Oostenrijk by Johan de Cock p.29
- Isabella of Castile: Europe’s first great queen by Giles Tremlett p.394
- Isabella of Castile: Europe’s first great queen by Giles Tremlett p.395
- Margareta van Oostenrijk by Johan de Cock p.30
- Isabella of Castile: Europe’s first great queen by Giles Tremlett p.399
- Isabella of Castile: Europe’s first great queen by Giles Tremlett p.403
- Isabella of Castile: Europe’s first great queen by Giles Tremlett p.404
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