The Grand Duchy of the West - A Valois-Burgundian TL
- Thread starter BlueFlowwer
- Start date
certainly yes !
just a little curiosity first ( then I'll let you go 😇 ) , anyway what are you going to do with Emilia (Otl was a fragmented mess divided between the Este, local nobles vassals of the Pope (the various Farnese, Riario, Barberini etc.), the Sforza, Venice and finally Rome itself) ?
ooh how lovely to see how well Catherine is doing as Queen, she'll go down as one of England's best Queen Consort's!!!!
She's definitely up there with Philippa of Hainault and her mother in law. And four healthy sons is rather impressive!
Now we need brides for the younger sons. The Prince of Wales is gonna get a foreign match and either George or John is most likely going to wed Elizabeth Grey, heiress to the Viscounty of Lisle. But the other twin (born 1507) and Edward (born 1518) needs brides.
And Lionel of England b 1501 needs a wife as well.
And nobody brings up sending one of them to the church! I don't have the strength to hear those arguments again.
Katherine Willoughby will still be born here? She would be a very good and likely match for Edward
I think she would exist in this TL, so yes, she could be in the running. I'm also considering some girls whom only had one brother standing between them and a inheritance, like Katherine FitzAlan.
IF Henry wants to push his French claims, he could do worse than marrying one of his younger boys to Catherine de Medici and claiming Boulogne and the Auvergne through her. Just saying.
What Henry? Is there a Henry in this TL? And Catherine de Medici is most likely gonna be butterflied away as her mother doesn't really exist here in the same way as otl. I think you're looking at the wrong TL here, my dear.
Sorry, I meant Richard. But yes, I'd forgotten Catherine's mother had been butterflied away...
Oh good. I was worried you had gone a bit wonky there. Richard's heir is currently betrothed to the heiress to Boulogne, but that one is about to take a turn soon.
Chapter 36 - Spain from 1510 to 1515
Chapter 36 – Spain from 1510 to 1515
In 1510 Juan III of Spain were very much on top of the world. France had been beaten into submission, Roussillon were safely in his hands, the Foix lands of his wife was secured to the Spanish crown and he held several valuable hostages in Spain. Pierre Terrail, the former marshal of France remained incarcerated in Segovia and the young duke of Angouleme currently resided in Burgos, where he enjoyed the comforts of his imprisonment in the Alcazar of the city. Many prisoners of importance had been housed in the Castle of Burgos, including Garcia II of Galicia, Alfonso VI of Léon and Castile, Infante Frederick of Castile and Tomás de Gournay, believed to be the murderer of King Edward II of England. The Alcazar would become an important place for Juan in his later years and the stage for the most tragic act in his reign in 1533. After that, the castle was abandoned by the Trastamara kings and used mostly for storage of gunpowder and weapons.
The Castle of Burgos
“The Alcazar of Burgos holds a special place in Spanish history, marked by death and tragedies associated with the Castilian monarchs from the age of Alfonso VIII to the reign of Juan III of Spain. Originally the seat of the sovereign, the castle was abandoned in 1533 by Juan after the rebellion against the crown that started three years before that. Historians whom has studied the reign of the first king of all the Spanish kingdoms had taken an especial interest in those years and the decision he made in Burgos that left a black stain on his reputation. The options of choosing a different fate at that time existed and other rulers might have made it, but Juan were a man of his time and to add to the pressure, the king. As monarch he would have been sworn to uphold the laws of the kingdoms and in Castile, the one who bore the responsibility to punish those who broke the laws of the realms. The events that transpired in that late summer clearly left Juan marked and as the weather turned colder when autumn arrived in that year, so did the king himself.”
In the shadow of the Alcazar – The history of the castle in Burgos
By Margarita de Silva
Pierre Terrail recovered his strength slowly in Segovia and in 1512 he was back to his full health. While the negotiations went on between France and Spain for a peace treaty, the release of Terrail and Angouleme was part of the discussions. Juan was willing to ransom both men back at a price and also to settle the treaty with the betrothal of his granddaughter, Infanta Isabel to the dauphin, Louis. His own daughter, Isabella of Granada had left for her marriage in Portugal in 1507, leaving his second daughter Eleanor who would wed Maximilian of Austria, the heir to the king of the Romans in 1514.
While the ransom for François of Angouleme had been decided at 50,000 florins, King Charles refused to negotiate for Terrail. His opinion of the former Marshal was that the latter had failed the king and France itself by not defeating Infante Ferdinand and letting the Spaniards sack the city of Toulouse, so he refused to have him back in his kingdom. This of course angered several important persons in France, as the valiant knight was held in high esteem amongst many. The treatment of the Queen mother Isabelle did not help either. An increasingly number of people felt like the late king had brought on the misfortunes of France by invading Brabant with little provocation. However, the execution of Alain d’Albret and the exile of Louis of Orléans had broken the spirit of rebellion and while the reign of Charles IX would be marked by discontent and strife between different fractions, he saw no further rebellion against the crown.
As for the relationship between the king and his family, it was rather distant. His only sibling, Marie de Valois would leave for her marriage to the heir to Scotland in 1511 and the relationship with his wife, Isabelle of Portugal, remained as distant as ever. Isabelle dutifully bore her husband two more children, Jeanne in 1512 and Jean two years later, but after 1515, she moved her household to Château de Vincennes in Paris, that her husband gave her upon her request. Isabelle took it upon herself to complete the construction of the chapel in Vincennes that had remained unfinished. No doubt the queen found the chateau to her taste, with its strong walls, high tower and exquisite chapel that dominated it. Isabelle was herself a solitary and solemn woman, who preferred to occupy herself with religion and music. In her decorated chamber in the tower, she could see far around Paris while the rooms heard the sound of music playing as she and her ladies passed time in reading, playing cards and attending masses.
Historians of the French renaissance court would paint a mostly negative picture of Charles IX and Isabelle, one that has been challenged in recent years by modern historians. Charles had been called an inactive ruler, who surrendered the duchy of Burgundy, and County of Nevers to Brabant and Lorraine and whom let others run the kingdom while he remained a shut away in the Loire Valley. Isabelle was accused of being a negligent mother and a cold and frigid wife who preferred the company of monks and nuns to courtiers. Neither reputation is fully true in a historical sense, but bears some strands of truth. Burgundy and Nevers would indeed leave the crown of France, but they did so as part of treaties that Charles had to sign. And while the king was at several times distant from court, he did not leave the government of the realm to strangers. From 1512 to her death in 1522, Anne de Beaujue took a dominant part of government. Being the regent for her late brother had prepared her well and she would become more successful when her nephew needed her. Anne had urged strongly for the execution of Albret in 1510 and Charles became reliant on her. Anne seemed to be understanding of his state and put her hands on the reins of government without complaining. She was also the person who oversaw the care and education of Charles’s children, in particular the Dauphin, whom many saw as the best hope for France’s future. Jeanne and Jean would view their great-aunt as their mother, as Isabelle of Portugal saw them rarely and mostly kept in touch by letters.
Louis of Valois, the Dauphin of France in 1520
To Pierre Terrail the refusal of Charles to ransom him came as a hard blow and the blame he got from the king was even harder. The Marshal had put his faith in the crown, had led brave men into battles for the crown and had nearly died defending the crown. Now the king refused to acknowledge his sacrifices and proclaimed him to the whole of Christendom as a failure. Terrail had always been a devoted follower of the chivalric code of honour; to defend the weak, and be merciful to the poor, be fierce in battle and merciless to his enemies. He had accepted the office of Marshal to serve the king and to serve the realm and now the king had abandoned him and the realm were far away. His purpose had been lost and now he was a prisoner in a strange kingdom, taken captive and treated by the same man who had done his outmost to deliver him to his grave on the battlefield. Pierre also knew that if their roles had been reversed, he would have taken Ferdinand back to court and held him for ransom. For Pierre three years would pass in Segovia, as his doubts gnawed at his mind and his king still refused to see him returned to the kingdom that he had nearly given his life for.
In 1513 he was released from the Alcazar by Juan’s order to travel to Aragon. The reason for this travel was a rather sad one: King Ferdinand was on his death bed. Juan had been in the kingdom since spring and it would be two months later that his father, the wily Ferdinand the Fox, the catholic monarch and the man whom had created an empire with his sovereign wife, breathed his last in the Aljaferia castle. The palace had been extended by him and Isabel during their reign and Ferdinand spent his last days in the rooms of which they had shared together.
Juan III of Castile was with his father on the morning he died, sitting next to his bedside for the last hours as he had done for his mother. On his deathbed Ferdinand declared his testament: To his son and heir the Crowns of Aragon, Sicily, Sardinia, Valencia and Majorca would be given along with the Counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne. The title of Prince of Girona was to be his grandson Juan’s and to his second son and namesake Ferdinand the Elder he wished to bestow the title of Duke of Villahermosa as the previous holder had died without heirs.
As all Aragonese monarchs before him, Juan’s coronation took place in Cathedral of the Savior of Zaragoza. Here he swore his oath to the courtes of Aragon, the fueros that defined the rights and privileges the laws of the kingdoms rested upon. He was now Juan of Castile, Chuan of Aragon, Joan of Catalonia and Joanes of the Basques. His wife, Catherine of Navarre was crowned along with her husband, becoming queen consort of Aragon as well as Castile. The dower towns of Aragon had already been given to her after Isabel’s death.
Both king and queen watched with pride as their son, now twenty-seven years old, became sworn in as Prince of Girona, with his Lorraine wife, Yolande besides him. The Princess was expecting her third child at the coronation and she would remain in Zaragoza in the Del Real Palace in Valencia until the baby would arrive. Juan took no chances with his daughter in law’s health at this point, as the heirs to the throne only had two living children after eleven years of marriage. It was also suspected that Yolande was carrying twins and thus she needed to rest even more. As she had just turned twenty-eight, both spouses hoped for a second son. The princess prayed regularly to Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary. Anne was the saint commonly invoked by mothers or women seeking to conceive. In spite of that, Yolande had already given birth to a strong son, Infante Juan, now four years old. Her only daughter, Infanta Isabella had just turned ten years old as well. Isabella’s betrothal to the dauphin was the centre of negotiations between Spain and France, as a peace between the kingdoms. Four months after the coronation Yolande gave birth to twins, a son and a daughter, much to the rejoice of the court. The boy was named in honour of his uncle, Charles of Lorraine while the little girl was christened Ana, Infanta of Spain. Juan was delighted by their birth and ordered celebrations in all of Aragon, with a great joust to add to it.
Juan stayed in Aragon for over a year before returning to Castile and during that time he ordered the construction of a new royal palace in Barcelona. Along with the Aljaferia and Del Real Palace, it served as a residence for the Crown of Aragon. Made in the style of renaissance castles of that time, it would be the first of its kind that appeared in Aragon. Juan’s long reign would be a watershed for architecture in Spain. He built more then five palaces and oversaw the construction of monasteries, churches and roads during his life.
Castle of Barcelona, constructed by John III of Aragon
His kingship in Aragon would be an interesting one to historians. Juan managed to both respect the laws of the kingdom and win the good will of his subjects, while at the same time steadily imposing monarchy on the kingdom. It would not be a complete success during his lifetime, but it would be brought to completion during the reign of one of his successors several decades later.
Pierre Terrail had a front seat to the coronation in Zaragoza. The sight of Juan becoming crowned seemed to have moved him greatly and afterwards he received the honour of sitting at the king’s table. The move was likely a political one, showing of his magnanimity as an honourable ruler to his enemies and to the envoys from France, Terrail’s prominently position ensured that all people present saw that he had been fairly treated as prisoner. Their presence at the coronation would also be partly to inspect the Infanta as a future dauphine and Isabel did not disappoint.
“Mademoiselle Isabelle appears to be the most perfect of princesses, with a most delightful manners benefiting her station. During our feastings in court the young lady entertained us with music played at great skill and dances in Castilian fashion. She converses with great ease with all seeking her time regardless of titles and dispenses almons to the paupers in the city as benefit a royal lady of good and christian character.”
Her aunt, Infanta Eleanor also took a prominent place in her father’s coronation and the imperial ambassadors who would send their report to the emperor Maximilian said of their future archduchess that she appeared to be a lady of excellent bearing, but somewhat solemn and with a regal dignity. After the coronation Eleanor would wed Archduke Maximilian by proxy and seven months after it would be her time to depart for Austria. With Eleanor came a dowry of 400,000 ducats to the imperial coffers, and while it was a large amount of money, Juan had no intentions of sending his daughter to the empire in anything other then splendour. Also, the many ransoms he acquired for the French hostages made up for the loss. François would arrive back home to France to take his rightful place as Duke of Angouleme after the coronation, but Terrail would remain in Spain.
For the former Marshal had now found a king to serve. Whether it was the disgraceful conduct of Charles IX, or his imprisonment in Castile, or the character of Juan III himself, worthy of devotion, that played the most important role in turning the most celebrated knight of France into a fiercely loyal sword of Spain is unknown, but that is what happened after the coronation.
Pledging himself on his bended knees and placing his sword in front of Juan’s feet, Pierre Terrail choose to serve another king in front of the assembled gathering. This he did without a trace of shame or guilt, finally satisfied by finding a monarch most worthy of his service, whom he knew would reciprocate his faith fully. Nineteen years later, Terrail would give his life for a king a second time, perishing in the last battle of the rebellion of 1532. The end of the abandoned marshal of France would come while defending the Crown of Spain against another rebellion, this time at the hands of another Ferdinand of Spain.
It was during the investiture of the youngest of Juan’s three sons that Ferdinand the elder once more took notice of his nephew’s face. As Gaston received the title of Master of Order of Montesa by the king, Ferdinand the younger stood to the side and watched. Compared to the obvious pride in the thirteen-year-old infante’s face, his brother’s features held only wrath and darkness. He had never had much love for his brother’s second son and the years that had passed had done nothing to lessen his feelings. For a moment the two Ferdinands locks gazes with each other, and their glances are equally as cold and dark, like spears of tarnished silver flung across the room.
Ferdinand the Younger, Duke of Granada from 1530
The marriage of his grandson, Infante Juan had been on the king’s mind ever since his birth in 1509. Since the alliance between Spain and Portugal were of crucial importance to peace within the Iberian kingdoms, the second daughter of Alfonso VI and Isabella of Aragon was his first choice, as the eldest, Infanta Eleanor was born in 1495 and had left for her marriage to the king of Naples’s son already. Her younger sister, Infanta Isabella had been a surprise to the king and queen as neither was expecting her in 1507. A betrothal had been agreed upon in 1510, when both children had just learned to toddle and the courtes had agreed with it. The match had strong support with both Queen Isabella and Princess Isabella, the sister and daughter of Juan. Alfonso also wanted to keep an alliance with Spain, but the crown prince, Joao was more critical to the many alliances with Castile and Aragon. The match had come to naught in 1515 as the frail infanta had died from a childhood sickness, leaving her family devastated. Thus, another match for Infante Juan had to be arranged with another prestigious bride.
In 1515 King Juan began one more for marriage partners for Spain. One for his grandson and one for his youngest son, Infante Gaston. As he planned to make Gaston the Viceroy of Sicily, an Italian match held great appeal and the search for a woman of proper age and blood started in the many noble houses in the Italian states. The end of the year was married by a tragedy in the family, as Infante Carlos died before his second birthday. The Prince and Princess of Asturias now only had one son to inherit it all. Fortunately, Infante Juan remained of very robust health and so did the infantas Isabella and Ana.
For the boy he was almost certain would one day be the sole heir to his son, a royal match was needed from elsewhere and Juan turned his attention to the various kingdoms beyond the borders of Spain where he would almost certainly find the bride in question.
Author's Note: And we're back in the courts of John III of Castile, Navarre and now, of Aragon as well. Our boy is collecting crowns and realms. Ferdinand the King is dead, Ferdinand the Elder is observant and Ferdinand the Younger isn't at all about to become a ticking time bomb, why are you all so worried? Terrail found a worthy king to serve and Juan is just made of awesome. Isabel I would be so proud.
In 1510 Juan III of Spain were very much on top of the world. France had been beaten into submission, Roussillon were safely in his hands, the Foix lands of his wife was secured to the Spanish crown and he held several valuable hostages in Spain. Pierre Terrail, the former marshal of France remained incarcerated in Segovia and the young duke of Angouleme currently resided in Burgos, where he enjoyed the comforts of his imprisonment in the Alcazar of the city. Many prisoners of importance had been housed in the Castle of Burgos, including Garcia II of Galicia, Alfonso VI of Léon and Castile, Infante Frederick of Castile and Tomás de Gournay, believed to be the murderer of King Edward II of England. The Alcazar would become an important place for Juan in his later years and the stage for the most tragic act in his reign in 1533. After that, the castle was abandoned by the Trastamara kings and used mostly for storage of gunpowder and weapons.
The Castle of Burgos
“The Alcazar of Burgos holds a special place in Spanish history, marked by death and tragedies associated with the Castilian monarchs from the age of Alfonso VIII to the reign of Juan III of Spain. Originally the seat of the sovereign, the castle was abandoned in 1533 by Juan after the rebellion against the crown that started three years before that. Historians whom has studied the reign of the first king of all the Spanish kingdoms had taken an especial interest in those years and the decision he made in Burgos that left a black stain on his reputation. The options of choosing a different fate at that time existed and other rulers might have made it, but Juan were a man of his time and to add to the pressure, the king. As monarch he would have been sworn to uphold the laws of the kingdoms and in Castile, the one who bore the responsibility to punish those who broke the laws of the realms. The events that transpired in that late summer clearly left Juan marked and as the weather turned colder when autumn arrived in that year, so did the king himself.”
In the shadow of the Alcazar – The history of the castle in Burgos
By Margarita de Silva
Pierre Terrail recovered his strength slowly in Segovia and in 1512 he was back to his full health. While the negotiations went on between France and Spain for a peace treaty, the release of Terrail and Angouleme was part of the discussions. Juan was willing to ransom both men back at a price and also to settle the treaty with the betrothal of his granddaughter, Infanta Isabel to the dauphin, Louis. His own daughter, Isabella of Granada had left for her marriage in Portugal in 1507, leaving his second daughter Eleanor who would wed Maximilian of Austria, the heir to the king of the Romans in 1514.
While the ransom for François of Angouleme had been decided at 50,000 florins, King Charles refused to negotiate for Terrail. His opinion of the former Marshal was that the latter had failed the king and France itself by not defeating Infante Ferdinand and letting the Spaniards sack the city of Toulouse, so he refused to have him back in his kingdom. This of course angered several important persons in France, as the valiant knight was held in high esteem amongst many. The treatment of the Queen mother Isabelle did not help either. An increasingly number of people felt like the late king had brought on the misfortunes of France by invading Brabant with little provocation. However, the execution of Alain d’Albret and the exile of Louis of Orléans had broken the spirit of rebellion and while the reign of Charles IX would be marked by discontent and strife between different fractions, he saw no further rebellion against the crown.
As for the relationship between the king and his family, it was rather distant. His only sibling, Marie de Valois would leave for her marriage to the heir to Scotland in 1511 and the relationship with his wife, Isabelle of Portugal, remained as distant as ever. Isabelle dutifully bore her husband two more children, Jeanne in 1512 and Jean two years later, but after 1515, she moved her household to Château de Vincennes in Paris, that her husband gave her upon her request. Isabelle took it upon herself to complete the construction of the chapel in Vincennes that had remained unfinished. No doubt the queen found the chateau to her taste, with its strong walls, high tower and exquisite chapel that dominated it. Isabelle was herself a solitary and solemn woman, who preferred to occupy herself with religion and music. In her decorated chamber in the tower, she could see far around Paris while the rooms heard the sound of music playing as she and her ladies passed time in reading, playing cards and attending masses.
Historians of the French renaissance court would paint a mostly negative picture of Charles IX and Isabelle, one that has been challenged in recent years by modern historians. Charles had been called an inactive ruler, who surrendered the duchy of Burgundy, and County of Nevers to Brabant and Lorraine and whom let others run the kingdom while he remained a shut away in the Loire Valley. Isabelle was accused of being a negligent mother and a cold and frigid wife who preferred the company of monks and nuns to courtiers. Neither reputation is fully true in a historical sense, but bears some strands of truth. Burgundy and Nevers would indeed leave the crown of France, but they did so as part of treaties that Charles had to sign. And while the king was at several times distant from court, he did not leave the government of the realm to strangers. From 1512 to her death in 1522, Anne de Beaujue took a dominant part of government. Being the regent for her late brother had prepared her well and she would become more successful when her nephew needed her. Anne had urged strongly for the execution of Albret in 1510 and Charles became reliant on her. Anne seemed to be understanding of his state and put her hands on the reins of government without complaining. She was also the person who oversaw the care and education of Charles’s children, in particular the Dauphin, whom many saw as the best hope for France’s future. Jeanne and Jean would view their great-aunt as their mother, as Isabelle of Portugal saw them rarely and mostly kept in touch by letters.
Louis of Valois, the Dauphin of France in 1520
To Pierre Terrail the refusal of Charles to ransom him came as a hard blow and the blame he got from the king was even harder. The Marshal had put his faith in the crown, had led brave men into battles for the crown and had nearly died defending the crown. Now the king refused to acknowledge his sacrifices and proclaimed him to the whole of Christendom as a failure. Terrail had always been a devoted follower of the chivalric code of honour; to defend the weak, and be merciful to the poor, be fierce in battle and merciless to his enemies. He had accepted the office of Marshal to serve the king and to serve the realm and now the king had abandoned him and the realm were far away. His purpose had been lost and now he was a prisoner in a strange kingdom, taken captive and treated by the same man who had done his outmost to deliver him to his grave on the battlefield. Pierre also knew that if their roles had been reversed, he would have taken Ferdinand back to court and held him for ransom. For Pierre three years would pass in Segovia, as his doubts gnawed at his mind and his king still refused to see him returned to the kingdom that he had nearly given his life for.
In 1513 he was released from the Alcazar by Juan’s order to travel to Aragon. The reason for this travel was a rather sad one: King Ferdinand was on his death bed. Juan had been in the kingdom since spring and it would be two months later that his father, the wily Ferdinand the Fox, the catholic monarch and the man whom had created an empire with his sovereign wife, breathed his last in the Aljaferia castle. The palace had been extended by him and Isabel during their reign and Ferdinand spent his last days in the rooms of which they had shared together.
Juan III of Castile was with his father on the morning he died, sitting next to his bedside for the last hours as he had done for his mother. On his deathbed Ferdinand declared his testament: To his son and heir the Crowns of Aragon, Sicily, Sardinia, Valencia and Majorca would be given along with the Counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne. The title of Prince of Girona was to be his grandson Juan’s and to his second son and namesake Ferdinand the Elder he wished to bestow the title of Duke of Villahermosa as the previous holder had died without heirs.
As all Aragonese monarchs before him, Juan’s coronation took place in Cathedral of the Savior of Zaragoza. Here he swore his oath to the courtes of Aragon, the fueros that defined the rights and privileges the laws of the kingdoms rested upon. He was now Juan of Castile, Chuan of Aragon, Joan of Catalonia and Joanes of the Basques. His wife, Catherine of Navarre was crowned along with her husband, becoming queen consort of Aragon as well as Castile. The dower towns of Aragon had already been given to her after Isabel’s death.
Both king and queen watched with pride as their son, now twenty-seven years old, became sworn in as Prince of Girona, with his Lorraine wife, Yolande besides him. The Princess was expecting her third child at the coronation and she would remain in Zaragoza in the Del Real Palace in Valencia until the baby would arrive. Juan took no chances with his daughter in law’s health at this point, as the heirs to the throne only had two living children after eleven years of marriage. It was also suspected that Yolande was carrying twins and thus she needed to rest even more. As she had just turned twenty-eight, both spouses hoped for a second son. The princess prayed regularly to Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary. Anne was the saint commonly invoked by mothers or women seeking to conceive. In spite of that, Yolande had already given birth to a strong son, Infante Juan, now four years old. Her only daughter, Infanta Isabella had just turned ten years old as well. Isabella’s betrothal to the dauphin was the centre of negotiations between Spain and France, as a peace between the kingdoms. Four months after the coronation Yolande gave birth to twins, a son and a daughter, much to the rejoice of the court. The boy was named in honour of his uncle, Charles of Lorraine while the little girl was christened Ana, Infanta of Spain. Juan was delighted by their birth and ordered celebrations in all of Aragon, with a great joust to add to it.
Juan stayed in Aragon for over a year before returning to Castile and during that time he ordered the construction of a new royal palace in Barcelona. Along with the Aljaferia and Del Real Palace, it served as a residence for the Crown of Aragon. Made in the style of renaissance castles of that time, it would be the first of its kind that appeared in Aragon. Juan’s long reign would be a watershed for architecture in Spain. He built more then five palaces and oversaw the construction of monasteries, churches and roads during his life.
Castle of Barcelona, constructed by John III of Aragon
His kingship in Aragon would be an interesting one to historians. Juan managed to both respect the laws of the kingdom and win the good will of his subjects, while at the same time steadily imposing monarchy on the kingdom. It would not be a complete success during his lifetime, but it would be brought to completion during the reign of one of his successors several decades later.
Pierre Terrail had a front seat to the coronation in Zaragoza. The sight of Juan becoming crowned seemed to have moved him greatly and afterwards he received the honour of sitting at the king’s table. The move was likely a political one, showing of his magnanimity as an honourable ruler to his enemies and to the envoys from France, Terrail’s prominently position ensured that all people present saw that he had been fairly treated as prisoner. Their presence at the coronation would also be partly to inspect the Infanta as a future dauphine and Isabel did not disappoint.
“Mademoiselle Isabelle appears to be the most perfect of princesses, with a most delightful manners benefiting her station. During our feastings in court the young lady entertained us with music played at great skill and dances in Castilian fashion. She converses with great ease with all seeking her time regardless of titles and dispenses almons to the paupers in the city as benefit a royal lady of good and christian character.”
Her aunt, Infanta Eleanor also took a prominent place in her father’s coronation and the imperial ambassadors who would send their report to the emperor Maximilian said of their future archduchess that she appeared to be a lady of excellent bearing, but somewhat solemn and with a regal dignity. After the coronation Eleanor would wed Archduke Maximilian by proxy and seven months after it would be her time to depart for Austria. With Eleanor came a dowry of 400,000 ducats to the imperial coffers, and while it was a large amount of money, Juan had no intentions of sending his daughter to the empire in anything other then splendour. Also, the many ransoms he acquired for the French hostages made up for the loss. François would arrive back home to France to take his rightful place as Duke of Angouleme after the coronation, but Terrail would remain in Spain.
For the former Marshal had now found a king to serve. Whether it was the disgraceful conduct of Charles IX, or his imprisonment in Castile, or the character of Juan III himself, worthy of devotion, that played the most important role in turning the most celebrated knight of France into a fiercely loyal sword of Spain is unknown, but that is what happened after the coronation.
Pledging himself on his bended knees and placing his sword in front of Juan’s feet, Pierre Terrail choose to serve another king in front of the assembled gathering. This he did without a trace of shame or guilt, finally satisfied by finding a monarch most worthy of his service, whom he knew would reciprocate his faith fully. Nineteen years later, Terrail would give his life for a king a second time, perishing in the last battle of the rebellion of 1532. The end of the abandoned marshal of France would come while defending the Crown of Spain against another rebellion, this time at the hands of another Ferdinand of Spain.
It was during the investiture of the youngest of Juan’s three sons that Ferdinand the elder once more took notice of his nephew’s face. As Gaston received the title of Master of Order of Montesa by the king, Ferdinand the younger stood to the side and watched. Compared to the obvious pride in the thirteen-year-old infante’s face, his brother’s features held only wrath and darkness. He had never had much love for his brother’s second son and the years that had passed had done nothing to lessen his feelings. For a moment the two Ferdinands locks gazes with each other, and their glances are equally as cold and dark, like spears of tarnished silver flung across the room.
Ferdinand the Younger, Duke of Granada from 1530
The marriage of his grandson, Infante Juan had been on the king’s mind ever since his birth in 1509. Since the alliance between Spain and Portugal were of crucial importance to peace within the Iberian kingdoms, the second daughter of Alfonso VI and Isabella of Aragon was his first choice, as the eldest, Infanta Eleanor was born in 1495 and had left for her marriage to the king of Naples’s son already. Her younger sister, Infanta Isabella had been a surprise to the king and queen as neither was expecting her in 1507. A betrothal had been agreed upon in 1510, when both children had just learned to toddle and the courtes had agreed with it. The match had strong support with both Queen Isabella and Princess Isabella, the sister and daughter of Juan. Alfonso also wanted to keep an alliance with Spain, but the crown prince, Joao was more critical to the many alliances with Castile and Aragon. The match had come to naught in 1515 as the frail infanta had died from a childhood sickness, leaving her family devastated. Thus, another match for Infante Juan had to be arranged with another prestigious bride.
In 1515 King Juan began one more for marriage partners for Spain. One for his grandson and one for his youngest son, Infante Gaston. As he planned to make Gaston the Viceroy of Sicily, an Italian match held great appeal and the search for a woman of proper age and blood started in the many noble houses in the Italian states. The end of the year was married by a tragedy in the family, as Infante Carlos died before his second birthday. The Prince and Princess of Asturias now only had one son to inherit it all. Fortunately, Infante Juan remained of very robust health and so did the infantas Isabella and Ana.
For the boy he was almost certain would one day be the sole heir to his son, a royal match was needed from elsewhere and Juan turned his attention to the various kingdoms beyond the borders of Spain where he would almost certainly find the bride in question.
Author's Note: And we're back in the courts of John III of Castile, Navarre and now, of Aragon as well. Our boy is collecting crowns and realms. Ferdinand the King is dead, Ferdinand the Elder is observant and Ferdinand the Younger isn't at all about to become a ticking time bomb, why are you all so worried? Terrail found a worthy king to serve and Juan is just made of awesome. Isabel I would be so proud.
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It's actually gonna blow up while he's alive. Juan is gonna live quite a long life.
Yep! You're such a treasure girl! I hope Gaston does a good job in sicily me and frederick II love that island!
And very happy that spain is at last united under a worthy monarch