The Year of Isabella I of Castile – Maria of Aragon, An overshadowed Queen (Part two)

Read part one here.

After a proxy wedding, Maria left Castile as Queen of Portugal on 23 September 1500. Her parents travelled with her to Santa Fe, where they said their goodbyes. She would never see them again. Maria entered Portugal through the town of Mouro on 20 October 1500. She met her new husband at Alcácer do Sal, where the in-person wedding occurred on 30 October. Maria kept in close contact with her mother until her mother died in 1504.

During the early days of her marriage, Maria was often in the company of her mother- and sister-in-law, Beatrice of Portugal, Duchess of Viseu and Isabella, Duchess of Braganza, and she appeared to enjoy their company.¹

Maria was known to have been a quiet and docile woman who did not resist the influence of her sister-in-law, the widow of her husband’s predecessor, Queen Eleonor. She was not politically active, although she was present at audiences and ceremonies of the court.

Maria and Manuel’s first child was born on 6 June 1502. He would be the future King John III. Maria went on to have ten children in total, of which six sons and two daughters would survive to adulthood. As a mother, Maria closely monitored the education of her children. The children were fed by wetnurses as was usual, but Maria kept her children close to her. According to one chronicler, “She chastised the prince (John) and her children when they deserved it, without forgiving any of them, to whom she always showed equal love, making no difference other than the precedence of age at which each one was.”²

Elaine Sanceau wrote, “While parents and diplomats discussed their future fate, the young Infantes were carefully brought up at court. Their mother, Queen Maria, grave-eyed, self-effacing, virtuous, always busy about the works of religion and charity, plying her skilful needle in the most beautiful embroidery, kept a close watch on all her children, guiding them in the way they should go, nor sparing to punish them whey they deserved it.”³

Maria’s mother, Queen Isabella, died when Maria was heavily pregnant with her third child, and “almost in the final days of her expected labour”, and the devastating news was kept from her.⁴ The child was named Beatrice, as her elder sister already carried the name of her famous grandmother, Isabella. It is unclear how much Maria knew about the mental state of the new Queen of Castile, her sister Joanna, and the following power struggle between Joanna’s husband Philip and their father, Ferdinand.

In 1506, plague struck the city of Lisbon, and the Lisbon Massacre of the Jews took place and Maria left the city to safely wait out the birth of her fourth child, a son named Luis. That same year, Joanna’s husband, Philip, died suddenly at the age of 28. Their father won the power struggle, and Joanna was confined in Tordesillas from 1509. Meanwhile, Maria moved into the newly built Ribeira Palace.

In early 1516, Maria’s father, Ferdinand, died, but we do not know what their contact was like during Maria’s years in Portugal as there are no surviving letters. We do know that she ordered the appropriate mourning clothes.

On 8 September 1516, Maria gave birth to her final child, a son named António. He was baptised the following Wednesday “because the infant was ill, and for this reason, he was baptised without ceremony.”⁵ He lived for just under two months, and he was buried without ceremony in Belém. Maria had not come out of this last childbirth without injury, and she suffered horrible pains for months. She managed to attend the confirmation of three of her sons in October 1516 in a great deal of pain. It is not clear what exactly Maria was suffering from, although cancer may have played a part.⁶

Maria died on 7 March 1517 at the age of 34. Manuel was so grieved that he retired to a monastery for a while. In response to her death, he also made his will. Maria’s body was carried by a mule to the Convent of Madre Deus at night, covered with a black velvet cloth with a white cross.⁷ Her coffin was placed in a chapel next to the cloister. The nuns removed her robes and put her in the habit of St Francis before she was buried in the chapel. Her remains were moved to the Jerónimos Monastery in 1551.

Maria has been tragically overshadowed by her more famous parents and siblings. Even in Portugal, she was overshadowed by two other Queens: Queen Eleanor, who signed her name “rainha”, Joanna la Beltraneja who signed her name “Yo la Rey-na.” Maria herself signed with “reyna” or “la reyna”, which makes it difficult to distinguish between them. There are also no complete account books to overview Maria’s purchases. Nevertheless, her legacy passed through her children. Her eldest daughter, Isabella, became Holy Roman Empress as the wife of Joanna’s son, Charles. Her eldest son, John, succeeded his father as King of Portugal and married Joanna’s daughter, Catherine.

In 1518, Maria’s husband remarried Joanna’s daughter, Eleanor, and had one further surviving child with her. King Manuel died in 1521.

1. Rainhas consortes de D. Manuel I by Isabel dos Guimarães Sá p.124
2. Rainhas consortes de D. Manuel I by Isabel dos Guimarães Sá p.136
3. The reign of the fortunate king, 1495-1521 by Elaine Sanceau p.143
4. Rainhas consortes de D. Manuel I by Isabel dos Guimarães Sá p.140
5. Rainhas consortes de D. Manuel I by Isabel dos Guimarães Sá p.146
6. The reign of the fortunate king, 1495-1521 by Elaine Sanceau p.145
7. Rainhas consortes de D. Manuel I by Isabel dos Guimarães Sá p.162