Germaine of Foix – A maligned Queen (Part two)

Read part one here.

On 1 February 1516, Germaine and Ferdinand set out for Madrid and later settled at El Abrojo to await Charles’s arrival. It was a difficult time – Joanna was confined at Tordesillas, Charles was essentially a foreigner, and Germaine was a childless widow. There were rumours that many wished to see Ferdinand on the throne rather than Charles. Nevertheless, Germaine refused to move to Aragon as stipulated in her late husband’s will and remained in Castile as a sign of loyalty to the new King – Charles.

On 27 November 1517, Germaine arrived in Valladolid to greet Charles. He greeted her with a kiss, and would not allow her to dismount from her mule.¹ Charles was accompanied by his sister, Eleanor. Charles reportedly respected Germaine so much that he spoke to her while kneeling, but this respect soon waned. However, he continued to treat her as a mother, which is what he called her. There were some rumours of an affair between them, but these have been discounted in recent years.²

On 17 June 1519, Germaine married John of Brandenburg-Ansbach, who had been part of Charles’s entourage. Like her late husband, she was criticised for remarrying, not only because John was considered to be beneath her, it was also a disgrace to her late husband’s memory. Nevertheless, the marriage was to Charles’s advantage as John was a cousin of Joachim I Nestor, Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, whose vote was needed for Charles’s election as Holy Roman Emperor.³

In 1520, Germaine and John travelled in Charles’s entourage to Aachen to attend his imperial coronation.

In 1523, Germaine was named Virreina and Lieutenant General of the Kingdom of Valencia and her husband its Captain General. They moved into the Archbishop’s Palace, which had been empty since 1427. It was Germaine who did most of the actual governing. She was also known to have been present during executions, and Charles had urged to act harshly to maintain order.⁴ He wrote to her, “We say to you that, notwithstanding said pardons and remissions, you will prosecute and punish with justice.”⁵

When John died in July 1525, Germaine was again accused of poisoning a husband. It did not help that she was only in mourning for a short period of time and she remarried only one year later. Her third husband was Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria and they were named joint Viceroys and Lieutenants General of Valencia.⁶ Germaine was never known as Duchess of Calabria as it was considered a lesser rank than that of Queen. She also held on to Her Highness as a style of address, which was used for Queens before Charles V came into power.

The Duke of Calabria was the son of Frederick, the deposed King of Naples. Frederick died shortly after being deposed in 1501. The Duke had lived in Barcelona for several years as a hostage, but he earned the favour of Charles V and was eventually released. The marriage with Germaine neutralized him as a possible claimant to Naples, as at the age of 38, she was unlikely to give him an heir.

The couple became known for their work on the Royal Palace of Valencia and the library that the Duke installed there. Germaine and Ferdinand were also known for owning several musical instruments, such as vihuelas, a chest of vihuelas de arco, two lutes (presumably Italian), an organ inherited from Naples, and several other organs and keyboard instruments, and a number of ‘Turkish’ drums. They had about 40 musicians in their employment.⁷ Their court became a leading centre of culture.

In September 1536, Germaine fell ill at the Royal Palace of Valencia, and she wrote her will before moving to the countryside.  Germaine died on 15 October 1536 at 11 in the evening in Liria. The cause of death may have been apoplexy or a digestive illness.⁸ Her body was transferred to Valencia and temporarily interred in the monastery of Santa Maria de Jesus. She was transferred to the Monasterio de San Miguel de los Reyes in 1546.

This monastery was founded as a result of a clause in Germaine’s will in which she requested a Hieronymite monastery to serve as a mausoleum.

Her husband later remarried to Mencía de Mendoza.

1. Germana de Foix by Rosa E. Ríos Lloret, p. 110-111
2. Germana de Foix by Rosa E. Ríos Lloret, p. 112
3. Germana de Foix by Rosa E. Ríos Lloret, p. 116
4. Germana de Foix by Rosa E. Ríos Lloret, p. 145
5. Germana de Foix by Rosa E. Ríos Lloret, p. 146
6. Marino, Nancy F. “THE LITERARY COURT IN VALENCIA, 1526-36.” Hispanófila, no. 104, 1992, pp. 1–15. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43808291. Accessed 9 May 2024.
7. The court of Don Fernando de Aragón, Duke of Calabria in Valencia, c.1526–c.1550: music, letters and the Meeting of Cultures by Bernadette Nelson p.197
8. Gandoulphe, Pascal. “Quelques réflexions sur Germaine de Foix (1488-1536), dernière reine d’Aragon, et sa fortune historiographique.” Cahiers d’études romanes. Revue du CAER 42 (2021): 189-209.