Maria of Aragon was born on 29 June 1482 as the daughter of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. Her mother had been pregnant with twins, and Maria’s twin was stillborn a day and a half later. It is unclear if her twin was a boy or a girl. Maria had two elder sisters and an elder brother. Another sister named Catherine was born in 1485.
Queen Isabella was noted by foreign diplomats as having an affectionate relationship with her children. For example, an envoy from France noted that Queen Isabella held the infant Catherine in her lap during a bullfight and lovingly interacted with her.1 However, she was known to be a demanding mother, and she monitored their education. They learned about etiquette and protocol from an early age, but as a younger daughter, she was frequently left behind during state events. Her early years were spent in lessons and prayer.
Isabella planned a suitable education for her children, and Maria and her sisters studied Latin under Beatriz Galindo, a scholar. Queen Isabella founded a school of classics at the palace, and while this was mostly attended to educate noblemen and noblewomen, her own children would have benefitted from its presence. Maria would have also studied history, civil and canon law, Scripture and literature. She would also learn to weave, spin, sew, embroider, dance, draw and cook. Maria and her sisters were being prepared for lives as consorts.
Maria was just eight years old when the first of the siblings left to be married. Queen Isabella’s namesake eldest daughter, Isabella, was to marry Afonso, Prince of Portugal. Just eight months later, Afonso died in a riding accident, and Isabella returned home with a broken heart. In 1492, Maria and her siblings were present when their parents triumphantly rode into Granada.
As Maria grew up, she would be considered for several matches, such as King James IV of Scotland. This was considered around the same time as her sister Catherine’s match with Arthur, Prince of Wales, and the idea was that the sisters could keep the peace. In 1495, Prince Afonso’s father died, and he was succeeded by his cousin Manuel, the same man who had accompanied Isabella to Portugal for her wedding. Manuel had grown attached to Isabella during their time together and wanted to marry her. However, Queen Isabella offered her younger daughter Maria instead. Manuel refused, saying it would be Isabella or he would look further. Isabella’s parents asked her to finally renounce her mourning and marry Manuel. However, Isabella insisted that she would never again “know another man.”2 The issue temporarily rested while the family focussed their attention on John and Joanna’s marriages.
In August 1496, Joanna left Castile to be married to Philip the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy, and the wedding took place on 20 October 1496. A few months after their wedding, Philip’s sister Margaret was sent to Castile to marry John. Their wedding occurred on 3 April 1497 and Margaret was an instant hit at court. John adored his new wife to the concern of his doctors that he was exhausting himself in the bed chamber. Meanwhile, Queen Isabella continued to negotiate with Manuel for him to accept Maria, but he still refused, wishing only for Isabella. Eventually, Isabella agreed to the match, though she asked for as little festivities as possible. She also requested that Manuel would expel all the Castilian conversos (those who had fled from Castile to Portugal due to the Inquisition), and he agreed, and he also agreed to expel Jews and Muslims. As her second wedding approached, it became clear that John was very ill. Manuel kept the news from Isabella so that she would not delay the wedding, and they were married on 30 September 1497.
John accepted his fate readily, asking only that his parents take care of Margaret, who was pregnant. He died on 4 October 1497 – still only 19 years old. The pregnant Margaret also fell ill, and Queen Isabella rushed to nurse her back to health. Nevertheless, the child she was carrying was born prematurely and died. This now left Isabella as the heir to the throne. By the time Manuel and Isabella returned to Castile to be sworn in as heirs to Castile, she was pregnant. This was a relief for the Aragonese, who would have preferred a man to inherit. If Isabella had a son, he would inherit everything. While at Zaragoza to discuss this matter, Isabella went into labour and gave birth to a son on 23 August 1498. However, she was still very malnourished from all the fasting she had done while in mourning, and she died within an hour of giving birth.
Isabella’s son was named Miguel de la Paz, and he was granted Aragonese succession rights on top of the rights he had in Castile and Portugal. He was a sickly child and Manuel left him in the care of Queen Isabella while he returned to Portugal. On 19 July 1500, Queen Isabella held her young grandson as he, too, died.
This left Maria’s elder sister Joanna as the next heir, leaving King Manuel without a wife and an heir. Once again, Maria came back into the picture. She was her parents’ only available daughter, as her younger sister Catherine had already been promised to Arthur, Prince of Wales. Her parents had been proactive and had already applied for a papal dispensation, which arrived just a few days after the tragic death of Miguel de la Paz.
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