At the end of December 1473, King Henry IV of Castile had several meetings with his half-sister Isabella in Segovia.
He agreed to meet with her at the Alcazar, which was reportedly quite cordial. Isabella had gone from his chosen heiress to a repudiated heiress in the last years, and their relationship had been complicated. Isabella expressed her wish to succeed her brother rather than his supposed daughter, Joanna la Beltraneja. He could not confirm this but invited her and her husband, Ferdinand, to dinner days later. After dinner, Henry suddenly felt a pain in his side and was forced to retire to bed. He was very ill for several days and only partially recovered. Even during his illness, he refused to recognise Isabella as his heiress.
Over the following months, Henry tried to smooth over the succession in favour of his daughter. However, he only further alienated those nobles who would have been her supporters. Isabella had most of the great nobles on her side.
Early in the winter of 1474, Henry, who had still not fully recovered and was still vomiting blood, went hunting in the forest of El Pardo. He fell from his horse and returned to Madrid bruised and chilled to the bone. Exhausted, he took to his bed and died there on 11 December 1474 as his confessors waited to hear who he would name as his successor. He either did not confirm a successor, or his confessors did not want to say. In theory, he had been succeeded by Joanna.
King Henry’s modest funeral was mocked, and he was buried in ordinary clothes and leather gaiters.
A messenger rushed to bring the news of the King’s death to Isabella, who was in Segovia. Isabella received the news of her half-brother’s death with “profound sadness” the following day. 1 Despite her grief, she knew she had to act quickly.
Be the first to comment