Dynastic Marriage in England, Castile and Aragon, [625946]

1

Dynastic Marriage in England, Castile and Aragon,
11th – 16th Centuries

Lisa Joseph

A Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of
Masters of Philosophy
The University of Adelaide
Department of History

February 2015

2
Contents

Abstract 3
Statement of Originality 4
Acknowledgements 5
Abbreviations 6
Introduction 7
I. Literature Review: Dynastic Marriage 8
II. Literature Review: Anglo -Spanish Relations 12
III. English and Iberian Politics and Diplomacy, 14 – 15th Centuries 17
IV. Sources, Methodology and Outline 21
Chapter I:
Dynastic Marriage in Aragon, Castile and England: 11th – 16th Centuries
I. Dynastic Marriage as a Tool of Diplomacy 24
II. Arranging Dynastic Marriages 45
III. The Failure of Dynastic Marriage 50
Chapter II:
The Marriages of Catherine of Aragon
I. The Marriages of the Tudor and Trastámara Siblings 58
II. The Marriages of Catherine of Aragon and Arthur and Henry Tudor 69

Conclusion 81
Appendices:
I. England 84
II. Castile 90
III. Aragon 96

Bibliography 102

3
Abstract

Dynastic marriages were an important tool of dipl omacy utilised by monarchs throughout
medieval and early modern Europe. Despite this, no consensus has been reached among
historians as to the reason for their continued use, with the notable exception of ensuring the
production of a legitimate heir. This thesis will argue that the creation and maintenance of
alliances was the most important motivating factor for English, Castilian and Aragonese
monarchs. Territorial concerns, such as the protection and acquisition of lands, as well as
attempts to secure pe ace between warring kingdoms, were also influential elements
considered when arranging dynastic marriages. Other less common motives which were
specific to individual marriages depended upon the political, economic, social and dynastic
priorities of the ti me in which they were contracted.

An analysis of the marriages of the monarchs of England, Castile and Aragon, as well as
their heirs who lived long enough to marry, but died before they could inherit their
kingdoms, will show that most dynastic marriage s were arranged with neighbouring
dynasties. As well as political and geographic considerations, dynastic marriages had to
fulfil a variety of social expectations, and this thesis will determine how potential spouses
were identified from among the sons and daughters of Europe’s ruling families, and the
process through which the marriage was arranged.

Finally, by using the marriages of Catherine of Aragon with the Tudor princes, Arthur and
Henry, as well as the dynastic marriages of their siblings: Isabel, Juan, Juana and María
Trastámara and Margaret Tudor, it is possible to explore, in practice, how dynastic marriages
were arranged and how they were influenced by wider trends in Western European politics
and diplomacy . This thesis will therefore demonstrat e that dynastic marriages were arranged
for a variety of reasons, although the production of a legitimate heir and alliance building
were the most important considerations. Further, as the discussion of Catherine of Aragon’s
marriages highlights, those arr anging dynastic marriages had to take into consideration the
shifting diplomatic situation in medieval Europe.

4
Statement of Originality

I certify that this work contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any
other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution in my name and, to the
best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by
another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. In addition, I certify
that no part of this work will, in the future, be used in a submission in my name, for any
other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution without the prior
approval of the University of Adelaide and where applicable, any partner inst itution
responsible for the joint -award of this degree.

I give consent to this copy of my thesis, when deposited in the University Library, being
made available for loan and photocopying, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act
1968.

I also give p ermission for the digital version of my thesis to be made available on the web,
via the University's digital research repository, the Library catalogue and also through web
search engines, unless permission has been granted by the University to restrict ac cess for a
period of time.

Lisa Joseph

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Acknowledgements

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who helped to make this thesis a reality.
In particular thanks must go to my supervisors Claire Walker and Katie Barclay for th eir
invaluable guidance and advice throughout this journey. Without their patience and
motivation this thesis would not have been possible. Further t hanks must go to the Faculty of
Humanities and Social Sciences for their funding of this thesis, without th eir generous
contribution this research could not have been undertaken.

I would also like to thank my parents, John and Cathy, for their unconditional support and
proofreading skills.

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Abbreviations

C. S. P. Simancas Calendar of L etters and State Papers Relating to English
Affairs, Preserved Principally in the Archives of Simancas,
Volume I: Elizabeth, 1558 -1567, ed. Martin A. S. Hume
(London: 1892 ).
C. S. P. Spanis h Calendar of Letters, Despatches, and State Papers, Relating to
the Negotiations B etween England and Spain, Preserved in the
Archives at Simancas, and Elsewhere, Volume I, 1485 -1509,
ed. Gustav A. Bergenroth (London: Longman, Green,
Longman and Roberts, 1862).
C. S. P. Milanese Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, Existing in the
Archives and Collections of Milan, Volume I, 1485 -1618, ed.
A. B. Hinds (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1912).
C. S. P. Venetian (+ Vol.) Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, Relating to English
Affairs , Existing in the Archives and Collections of Venice,
and in Other Libraries of Northern Italy, Volume II, 1509 –
1519, ed. Rawdon Brown (London: Longmans, Green, Reader,
and Dyer, 1867).
Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, Relating to English
Affairs , Existing in the Archiv es and Collections of Venice,
and in Other Libraries of Northern Italy, Volume VII: 1558 –
1580, ed. Rawdon Brown (Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint,
1970).
Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, Relating to English
Affairs , Existing in the Archives and Collec tions of Venice,
and in Other Libraries of Northern Italy, Volume XV: 1617 –
1619, ed. Rawdon Brown (London: His Majesty’s Stationery
Office, 1909).
Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, Relating to English
Affairs, Existing in the Archives and Collectio ns of V enice,
Volume XXXII: 1659 -1661, ed. A. B. Hinds (London: 1931).

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Introduction

The widely -utilised practice of dynastic marriage in the medieval and early modern periods
ensured that Europe's monarchs were frequently connected by an intric ate web of family
alliances. Disagreements between families, therefore, could become disagreements between
kingdoms. Further, traditionally familial problems such as infertility and child mortality
could lead to national crises, such as a disputed successi on or a civil war. Despite this,
dynastic marriages continued to be cont racted by monarchs and their heirs. Historians have
debate d the function and value of dynastic marriage in the relationship between monarchs
and kingdoms. In the scholarship to date , the only widely accepted motivation for such
marriages is the production of legitimate heirs, although p olitical alliances, the promotion of
peace , territorial expansion and protection , and an increase in wealth or power, have also
been seen as possible important factors. This thesis will argue that for English, Castilian and
Aragonese monarchs, the creation and maintenance of alliances was the most significant
motivating factor in the contracting of dynastic marriages. Other influences such as the
creation of peace, territorial acquisition and protection and the recognition of a newly
established dynasty by other monarchies will be shown to be important motivations on
occasion , dependent on the domestic and international situation at the time. Catherine of
Aragon’s marriages with the Tudor brothers, Arthur and Henry VIII , will be used as a case
study to analyse the importance of these factors in dynastic marriage in Anglo -Spanish
diplomatic relations in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.

Whe n defining dynastic marriage, historians such as Benjamin Curtis and Heinz Duchhardt
take the approach of first defining a dynasty. Curtis states that the definition of a dynasty is
“a kinship -based political organisation promoting the interests of a famil y across
generations, which claims a right to power grounded in medieval notions of lineage and
inheritance.”1 Duchhardt argues that a dynasty is a “cross -generational [alliance] of
individuals constituted by land ownership and sovereign rights, and whose members married
partners of equal rank and social standing to maintain and expand their existing social and
power -political position.”2 A key element for this thesis is Duchhardt’s concept of a multi –
generational, kinship -based group distinguishable by the ir sovereign rights .
“Multigenerational ” includes a reigning monarch, their legitimate children, and any

1 Benjamin Curtis, The Habsburgs: The History of a Dynasty (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013), 3.
2 Heinz Duchhardt, “The Dynastic Marriage,” European History Online, Augu st 4, 2011, < http://www.ieg –
ego.eu/en/threads/european -networks/dynastic -networks/heinz -duchhardt -the-dynastic -marriage > (Accessed
May 24, 2012).

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grandchildren born to the monarch’s immediate heir. It is the right to rule, and the associated
social status, which differentiates a dynasty from other families , and, in this instance, it is the
right to rule a kingdom which separates a royal dynasty from the nobility and other
aristocratic houses . For the purposes of this thesis, a royal dynasty will therefore be defined
as a multigenerational kinship group characterised by its right to rule a kingdom. Dynastic
marriage, by extension, is a marriage between members of two different dynasties.

I. Literature Review: Dynastic Marriage

Despite the definition of dynastic marriage as an undertaking reserved fo r ruling families, it
must be acknowledged that such marriages shared many of the same characteristics and
motivations with unions contracted across all of the social classes. The desire for children, in
particular, paramount to a family’s survival, could be described as a universal trait.
Similarly, economic concerns would have been relevant factors when considering a potential
spouse, as each family aimed to, at least, maintain their social status. Finally, the virtues and
qualities of individual partners were important factors to consider both help to guarantee the
survival of the union and the production of children.3 Similarly potential couples of all social
statuses were bound by the Church which was able to codify as law its attitudes toward
marriage and sexual behaviour. Penalties were imposed for adultery and fornication, the
practice of concubinage was discouraged and the requirements for annulments and divorces
were tightened.4 The idea of free, preferably public, consent to a marriage was of incre asing
importance to Church authorities in the medieval period. Marriages which were conducted in
secret, called clandestine marriages, could prove problematic in the future if either partner
attempted to remarry. Clandestine marriages might also create pro blems for any children
born from the union as their status as legitimate offspring could be disputed, a circumstance
which ruling families, in particular, needed to avoid.

The majority, although certainly not all, of the literature concerning dynastic ma rriage has
been produced since the late 1970s, beginning with the work of Paula Sutter Fichtner and

3 For detailed studies in medieval marriage see, for example; Jack Goody, The Development of the Family and
Marriage in Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983); Georges Duby, The Knight, the Lady and
the Priest: The Making of Mo dern Marriage in Medieval France (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983 );
David Herlihy, Medieval Households (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1985 );
Christopher Brooke, The Medieva l Idea of Marriage (New York: Oxford University Pre ss, 1989 ); Georges
Duby, Love and Marriage in the Middle Ages (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996 ).
4 James A. Brundage, Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1987), 3, 145 -146 and 578.

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Georges Duby. Fichtner, in her article “Dynastic Marriage in Sixteenth -Century Habsburg
Diplomacy and Statecraft: An Interdisciplinary Approach” published in 1976, discusses the
earlier lack of scholarship. She argues that this may be due , in part, to a lack of
understanding concerning the reasons why ruling families so often chose dynastic marriages
for their children. Fichtner argues that since many of the aims of dynastic marriage,
particularly geographic expansion, financial gain and the development of new alliances
could be, and frequently were, gained by other means, those few historians who did discuss
dynastic marriage prior to 1976 were often confused by the practice.5 In his book Medieval
Marriage: Two Models from Twelfth -Century France, written two years later, Georges Duby
similarly confirms the lack of scholarship on dynastic marriage. Duby argues that one of the
causes was that the texts which sur vived from the medieval period provided an imperfect
picture of the practicalities of dynastic marriage.6 The work of both Fichtner and Duby has
helped to alleviate some of these issues, and has set the parameters for future scholarship on
the subject .

In her article , Fichtner examines the dynastic marriages arranged by Ferdinand I, Holy
Roman Emperor and grandson of Fernando and Isabel of Spain, for his children.7 Fichtner
argues that Ferdinand never claimed that dynastic marriages were expected to encour age
perpetual peace, but rather that they should be used to promote friendlier relations between
monarchs .8 Further, she argues that while geographic expansion was clearly a key goal in
many Habsburg marriages, it would be a simplification to state that su ch an aim was always
relev ant in dynastic marriage arrangements . Protection and preservation of territory through
the acquisition of alliances could also be considered an aim, as could the accurate gathering
of information in foreign courts. Fichtner , howe ver, further argues that each of these aims
could have been achieved by other forms of diplomacy.9 Fichtner’s major contribution
therefore , is the idea that dynastic marriages created a mutual obligation between the two
families involved through the recipr ocal exchange of gifts, and children, which formed the
backbone of the system of royal marriage.10

5 Paula S utter Fichtner, “Dynastic Marriage in Sixteenth -Century Habsburg Diplomacy and Statecraft: An
Interdisciplinary Approach,” The American Historical Review, 81:2 (1976), 243 -244.
6 Georges Duby, Medieval Marriage: Two Models from Twelfth Century France, trans. Elborg Forster
(Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1978), 1 -2.
7 Ferdinand I had fifteen children, thirteen of whom survived to adulthood. Of the thirteen survivors, ten made
dynastic marriages while the remaining three girls becam e nuns.
8 Sutter Fichtner, “Dynastic Marriage,” 257.
9 Sutter Fichtner, “Dynastic Marriage,” 245 -246.
10 Sutter Fichtner, “Dynastic Marriage,” 250 -251; Fichtner is elaborating upon the ideas of French archeologist
and sociologist Marcel Mauss, who proposed that the giving of gifts in primate societies created reciprocal

10

Duby, in his book, takes a different approach to that of Fichtner, analysing the marriages of
the upper aristocracy in twelfth -century France, and comparing the expectations of the upper
classes with those of the clergy. He argues that the two groups had conflicting ideas about
marriage, with the Church’s “model” of marriage gradually becoming the only acceptable
version . The Church desired that marriage shou ld be indissoluble and placed limits on who
could marry based on familial and spiritual relationships.11 In contrast, the aristocracy
wanted the freedom to repudiate spouses based on infertility or adultery on the part of the
wife.12 Further, Duby argues tha t the aristocracy’s desire to keep property within the family
ensured that nobles were inclined towards endogamy and content to marry within the third
degree of consanguinity.13 In recent years , Duby’s conclusions have been criticised by
historians such as Sara McDougall who argues that Duby’s models are too constrictive and
fail to take into consideration the fact that medieval society was not divided into neat
groups.14 As McDougall points out , not only were many members of the aristocracy also
members of t he clergy, but neither the aristocracy nor the Church was a united entity.15
Therefore, while Duby argues t hat it was solely the Church which determined the parameters
of medieval marriage, McDougall proposes that it was both the clergy and the aristocracy
who influenced marriage laws and regulations in order to further their own interests.16 There
is a large body of evidence which suggests that the nobility, at least, contracted marriages
within the degrees prohibited by canon law for their own benefit. Seve ral of these marriages
will be discussed in the first chapter. Naturally, for these marriages to be legally recognised
there had to be a dispensation provided by a willing pope.

While Ficht ner largely focuses on the “why” of dynastic marriages and Duby an d
McDougall examine the attitudes of the clergy and the aristocracy, Heinz Duchhardt and
Daniel Schönpflug in their essays, both look at the “who.” In his essay “The Dynastic
Marriage” Duchhardt argues that potential parents -in-law had to consider a future spouse’s
rank, and later, their religious affiliations. Duchhardt has also identified a geographic
consideration; he argues that long -distance dynastic marriages were rare until the nineteenth

obligation between groups, see; Marcel Mauss, The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic
Societies, trans. Ian Cunnison, London: Cohen and West Ltd, 1966.
11 Duby, Medieval Marriage , 17.
12 Duby, Medieval Marriage, 7.
13 Duby, Medieval Marriage, 8.
14 Sara McDougall, “The Making of Marriage in Medieval France,” in Journal of Family History, 38: 2, April
2013, 106.
15 McDougall, “The Making of Marriage,” 106.
16 McDougall, “The Making of M arriage,” 116.

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century. He elaborates upon several “regional marriage circles :” a Western European circle,
a Habsburg -Italian circle, an E ast Central European and a northern German -Scandinavian
circle.17 Schönpflug takes a similar approach in his essay “One European Family? A
Quantitative Approach to Regional Marriage Circles 1700 -1918.” However, while
Duchhardt bases his marriage circl es on regions, Schönpflug, uses his data which was
collated from an analysis of 386 dynastic marriages in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, to explain how individual dynasties intermarried and t he impact of religion upon
the choice of marriage partner.18 Schönpflug expands upon his idea in his 2010 article
“Dynastic Networks,” using fiv e European dynasties, the royal houses of Bourbon,
Habsburg, Hanover, Hohenzollern and Romanov, as examples to an alyse how ruling
dynasties governed themselves in regards to succession, property distribution and
marriage.19 The aim of bo th Duchhardt and Schönpflug was to identify patterns in the
marriage behaviour of ruling European dynasties. Both conclude that while some patterns
were identifiable in the regions and time periods they focus on, these patterns were subject to
change over time. Further, both historians recognise that marriages in the medieval and early
modern periods certainly took place outside these i dentified circles or patterns. The first
chapter of this thesis will analyse the marriages contracted by monarchs and their heirs in
England, Castile and Aragon from the eleventh to the fifteenth century to determine whether
or not they adhere to the model of regional marriage circles.

A large proportion of the remaining dynastic marriage literature analyses either a single
marriage or a small selection of marriages in a particular time or place. While much of this
scholarship bears no direct relationship to the Tudor -Trastámaran marriages, the analysis of
other marriages provides a useful insight into wider marriage patterns. As with Paula Sutter
Fichtner, historians frequently attempt to explain the motivation behind dynastic marriages,
although no genera l consensus has been reached aside from ensuring the continuation of the
dynasty through the birth legitimate male heirs. Retha Warnicke, for example, suggests that
when Henry VIII married Anne of Cleves , he was not only hoping to secure a second male
heir, but he was also attempt ing to create an anti -papal alliance. Further she proposes that the
extension of control over new territories was a factor in the dynastic marriages of the

17 Duchhardt, “The Dynastic Marriage.”
18 Daniel Schönpflug, “One European Family? A Quantitative Approach to Regional Marriage Circles 1700 –
1918,” in Royal Kinship: British -German Family Networks 1815 -1918, ed. Karina Urbach (Munich: K. G. Sa ur
Verlag, 2008), 25 -34.
19 Daniel Schönpflug, “Dynastic Networks,” European History Online, December 3, 2010, < http://www.ieg –
ego.eu/en/threads/european -networks/dynsatic -networks# > (Accessed July 3, 2012).

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Habsburg family.20 Sheila Sharp in her essay “The West Saxon Tradition of Dy nastic
Marriage with Special Reference to the family of Edward the Elder” identified three major
reasons for dynastic marriage in England in the tenth century: to gain or strengthen an
alliance against a common enemy, to win support from within the family, and to gain the
support of local families.21 Sharp’s analysis is interesting as it shows that some factors,
particularly the formation and strengthening of alliances, were influencing dynastic marriage
arrangements for many centuries before the marriage of Catherine of Aragon and Arthur
Tudor. Finally Elizabeth Bonner, in her article “Charles VII’s dynastic policy and the ‘Auld
Alliance :’ the marriage of James II and Marie de Guelders,” highlights the importance of
dynastic marriage in alliances and peace t reaties , particularly in maintaining the Franco –
Scottish alliance against England.22 The role of alliance creation and peace treaties in
dynastic marriage will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter O ne.

II. Literature Review: Anglo -Spanish Relations

A qu ick glance at the literature available on Anglo -Spanish relations prior to 1485 will
reveal an obvious dearth of academic studies. A good proportion of the literature which does
exist focuses either on trade between the two regions or on the Anglo -Castilia n relationship
during the Hundred Years’ War, or both. Most of the trade literature was produced in the late
1970s and 1980s, beginning in 1976 with Teofilo Ruiz’s essay “Castilian merchants in
England, 1248 -1350.”23 Two years later , the only book dealing e xclusively with trade
between the two regions, Wendy Childs’ Anglo -Castilian Trade in the Later Middle Ages
was published.24 While the latter chapters of Childs’ book discuss the type and quantities of
goods, shipping and the organisation of trade between t he two kingdoms, the first two
chapters analyse Anglo -Castilian trade within a political context. Childs argues that Anglo –
Castilian trade was affected not only by the relationship between England and Castile, but by

20 Retha M. Warnicke, The Marrying of Anne of Cleves: Royal Protocol in Early Modern England (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2000), 6 -8. For other historians who argue that territorial expansion was a key
factor in dynastic marriage see; Curtis, The Habsburgs, 6; Benno Teschke, The Myth of 1648: Class,
Geopolitics and the Making of Modern International Relations (London: Verso, 2003), 225.
21 Sheila Sharp, “The West Saxon Tradition of Dynastic Marriage with Spec ial Reference to the Family of
Edward the Elder,” in Edward the Elder, 899 -824, ed. Nick Higham and David Hill (London: Routledge,
2001), 83 -85.
22 Elizabeth Bonner, “Charles VII’s dynastic policy and the ‘Auld Alliance’: the marriage of James II and
Marie de Guelders,” The Innes Review, 54:2, Autumn 2003, 143 -144.
23 Teofilo F. Ruiz, “Castilian Merchants in England, 1248 -1350,” in Order and Innovation in the Middle Ages:
Essays in Honour of Joseph R. Strayer, ed. William C. Jordan, Bruce McNab and Teofilo F . Ruiz (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1976).
24 Wendy R. Childs, Anglo -Castilian Trade in the Later Middle Ages (Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 1978).

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the relationship between England and Fr ance. Castile was careful to protect its alliance with
its northern neighbour, and at times of open warfare between England and France Anglo –
Castilian trade declined.25 While trade between Castile and England is relatively well
represented by the work of Ru iz and Childs, there have been no scholarly studies
investigating Anglo -Aragonese trade. This is probably due to the fact that there was only
limited trade between the two kingdoms. Olivia Remie Constable argues that the majority of
English trade in the Mediterranean occurred with Castile and Italy, although in the
fourteenth century , a small amount of trade took place between England and the Aragonese
cities of Barcelona and Mallorca.26

Both English Intervention in Spain and Portugal in the Time of Edward III and Richard II
by Peter E. Russell, and England and Iberia in the Middle Ages, 12th-15th Century, edited by
María Bullón -Fernández , cover Anglo -Spanish relations prior to 1485. Russell’s work is an
in-depth analysis of the political, military and dyna stic interactions between England and
each of the Iberian kingdoms during the Hundred Years’ War, the War of Two Peters and
the Castilian Civil War. Although it was published in 1955, the book remains the most
detailed study of this period in Anglo -Iberian history. Russell’s narrative determines that it
was the failure of Lancastrian policy, based, in part, on a lack of understanding of the
intricacies of Iberian politics , which led to England’s inability to undermine French
influence and forge a lasting al liance with Castile in this period.27 The actions of the
Lancastrian brothers Edward, the Black Prince, John of Gaunt and Edmund of Cambridge,
are scrutinised in great detail, with the conclusion being that the actions of these men
contributed to the failur e of English policy in the Spanish kingdoms.28

Bullón -Fernández’s collection contains nine essays, plus an introduction. Three of the essays
are dedicate d to Anglo -Portuguese relations, while the remaining six largely look at cultural
exchanges between En gland and the Spanish kingdoms in the medieval period.29 Perhaps the
most useful for this thesis is Rose Walker’s essay “Leonor of England and Eleanor of
Castile: Anglo -Iberian Marriage and Cultural Exchange in the Twelfth and Thirteenth

25 Childs, Anglo -Castilian Trade, 5-6.
26 Olivia Remie Constable, Trade and Traders in M uslim Spain: The Commercial Realignment of the Iberian
Peninsula, 900 -1500 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 249.
27 Russell, Peter E., English Intervention in Spain and Portugal in the Time of Edward III and Richard II
(Oxford: Clarendon Press , 1955), xxi -xxii.
28 Russell, English Intervention, xxii-xxiii.
29 María Bullón -Fernández, England and Iberia in the Middle Ages, 12th-15th Century (New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2007).

14
Centuries.”30 This c omparative study examines the cultural impact both women had upon
their new realms, as well as the reception they received from their new subjects. While much
of Walker’s essay is d edicated to literary exchanges , it does conclude with the interesting
sugge stion that while Leonor of En gland (as she came to be known) was defined by her
Plantagenet ancestry throughout her life and in memorials to he r death, Leo nor of Castile’s
identity in England retained little of her Iberian inheritance.31 Conversely, Catheri ne of
Aragon, although beloved by the English populace, continued to be recognised as being of
royal Spanish blood.32

The Anglo -Spanish relationship in the period from 1485 until 1509 is also poorly
represented in scholarly studies. Many historians instea d focus their attention on political
and cultural exchanges during the reigns of the English queens, Mary I and Elizabeth I , later
in the sixteenth century, and on the Anglo -Spanish interactions in the New World. Two
notable exceptions to this statement ar e Ian Arthurson’s essay “The King of Spain’s
Daughter Came to Visit Me: Marriage, Princes and Politics,” and John M. Currin’s essay
“England’s International Relations, 1485 -1509: Continuities Amidst Change.” Arthurson’s
essay details the negotiations that led to Catherine and Arthur’s marriage, as well as the
marriage ceremony itself.33 He argues that Anglo -centric historians place too much emphasis
on Henry VII’s role in negotiating the union, and forget that Fernando and Isabel were the
more experienced di plomats. Instead Arthurson proposes that the Spanish monarchs were
reacting to events in Italy, particularly the Breton Wars of 1485 -91 and the Italian Wars of
1494 -1504, when they led the negotiations for the marriage.34 Currin similarly argues that
Henry VII is traditionally given too much credit for English diplomacy in the early years of
his reign. He claims that many historians ign ore the Plantagenet influence on early Tudor
policy, as well as the impact of Western Europe’s dynastic interactions.35 These ideas will be
further discussed in Chapter Two of this thesis.

30 Rose Walker, “Leonor of England and Eleanor of Castile: Anglo -Iberian Marriage and Cultural Exchange in
the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries,” in England and Iberia in the Middle Ages, 12th-15th Century, ed. María
Bullón -Fernández (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), 67 -87.
31 Walker, “Leonor of England and Eleanor of Casti le,” 83.
32 David Loades, The Tudor Queens of England (London: Continuum, 2009), 107.
33 Ian Arthurson, “The King of Spain’s Daughter Came to Visit Me: Marriage, Princes and Politics,” in Arthur
Tudor, Prince of Wales: Life, Death and Commemoration, ed. Stev en Gunn and Linda Monckton (Woodbridge:
The Boydell Press), 2009.
34 Arthurson, “The King of Spain’s Daughter,” 22.
35 John M. Currin, “England’s International Relations 1485 -1509: Continuities Amidst Change,” in Tudor
England and its Neighbours, ed. Susan D oran and Glenn Richardson (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005),
15.

15
There are also several useful biographies analysing the lives of both Catherine and Henry
VIII in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Catherine has traditionally been
studied w ithin the context of her second marriage to Henry VIII and its subsequent
annulment. Increasingly though , Catherine has emerged as a figure of historical interest in
her own right. In recent decades she has been the subject of several biographies. Garrett
Mattingly’s narrative biography, Catherine of Aragon, published in 1941, was described by
one of his contemporaries as “the first critical and conceived account which we have of
Catherine’s career.”36 In 1990, Mattingly’s book was described by one historian as still being
“the best study of the life of Catherine of Aragon.”37 Today, if references to his book in
recent works are anything to go by, it is still held in high regard. Mattingly’s book has the
further distinction of being one of the few biographies of Catherine which is absolutely
focused on her and not overshadowed by Henry VIII. Divided into three sections covering
her life as a Spanish princess, a queen in England and the period of the annulment, Mattingly
is obviously sympathetic to Catherine’s f ate, promoting her as an honourable and pious
woman caught up in a situation beyond her control. Finally, Mattingly was one of the first
historians to recognise and discuss Catherine’s diplomatic position, a role which is often, if
not overlooked, at least not discussed in any depth in most studies of her life. He argues that
Catherine played an important role in English foreign policy, particularly during her seven –
year-widowhood, when she acted as an ambassador for her father, Fernando.38

Giles Tremlett and David Loades have also written extensively on Catherine’s life. In The
Tudor Queens of England Loades provides a useful narrative of events leading to
Catherine’s marriage to Henry in 1509.39 More importantly, he too discusses her brief
position as amba ssador to England, claiming that such a position was unprecedented in her
time. He argues that while some women did serve as pseudo -ambassadors for their fathers,
they did so in the courts of their husbands, while Catherine was unmarried, and in 1507, it
appeared unlikely that she would marry in the immediate future.40 Loades claims that after
the wedding, Catherine, who was the more experienced partner in the marriage, probably
advised Henry in his relationship with her father.41 It seems likely that Catheri ne would have

36 Elmore Harris Harbison, The American Historical Review, 47: 3 (1942), 579; Garrett Mattingly, Catherine of
Aragon (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1941).
37 Constance Jordan, Rena issance Feminism: Literary Texts and Political Models (New York: Cornell
University Press, 1990), 106.
38 Mattingly, Catherine of Aragon , see pages 92 -93 for Catherine’s role as an ambassador; pages 137 -141 for
Catherine’s role in English foreign relations early in Catherine’s marriage to Henry VIII.
39 Loades, Tudor Queens, 87-107.
40 Loades, Tudor Queens, 87.
41 Loades, Tudor Queens, 91.

16
acted as an intermediary between her husband and her father, and possibly even as a
peacekeeper following Henry’s disastrous military campaigns at Fernando’s behest. Giles
Tremlett, author of Catherine of Aragon, Henry’s Spanish Queen agrees, and goes even
further, arguing that Fernando was the key in Henry’s ambitious plan to attack France.42
Over time however, Cather ine’s political impact waned. T his was largely due to the
increasing influence, initially of Thomas Wolseley, and later of Anne Boleyn.43

Arthur Tudor, Catherine’s short -lived first husband appears to be one of England’s most
forgotten royals. The announcement of Arthur’s birth heralded poems and pamphlets from
scholars across Europe announcing the beginning of a new golden age of peace and
prosperity.44 Named for the mythical British king from whom the Tudor family claimed
descent, Arthur's birth united in blood the formerly warring houses of his Lancastrian father,
Henry VII and his mother, Elizabeth, the daughter, sister and niece of three former Yorkist
kings, Edward IV, Edward V, and Richard III. Despite the celebrations which surrounded his
birth and the later controversy his marriage to Catherine played in English history, Arthur's
life has warranted just one scholarly book. St even Gunn and Linda Monckton’s Arthur
Tudor, Prince of Wales: L ife, Death and Commemoration serves to show how little is known
about Arthur and his life than anything else. Of the ten essays which make up the book, four
are dedicated to discussing the Prin ce’s final resting place, his tomb and chapel at
Worchester, one examines the representation of the Tudors in Welsh churches, one debates
the possibilities of labelling various portraits as Arthur, and another re -enacts his funeral.
Although it is surpr ising to discover that Arthur is so poorly represented in modern literature,
this can be explained by the scarcity of primary material directly relating to his life, forcing
modern scholars to contemplate his existence within the larger framework of his famil y, or
in this case, his role in Anglo -Spanish relations.

In complete contrast to his elder brother, Henry VIII has been the subject of innumerable
works.45 Further, many books and articles focused on other people and events, such as his
six wives, importan t early modern personalities, and the Reformation, will often dedicate at

42 Giles Tremlett, Catherine of Aragon: Henry’s Spanish Queen (London: Faber and Faber, 2011), 181 -182.
43 Loades, Tudor Que ens, 95.
44 Steven Gunn and Linda Monckton, “Introduction,” in Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales: Life, Death and
Commemoration, ed. Steven Gunn and Linda Monckton (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2009), 1.
45 See for example: David Loades, Henry VIII and his Que ens: Church, Court and Conflict (Sutton: Stroud,
2000); Diarmaid MacCulloch, ed., The Reign of Henry VIII: Politics, Policy and Piety (New York: St Martin’s
Press, 1995); J. J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011); Lucy Wooding, Henry
VIII (Abingdon: Routledge, 2009); Thomas Betteridge and Suzannah Lipscomb, ed., Henry VIII and the Court:
Art, Politics and Performance (Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, 2013).

17
least some space to Henry.46 However, this thesis is primarily concerned with how Henry
VIII and Catherine of Aragon’s marriage reflected the Anglo -Spanish relationship of the
time, a nd whether their union followed an established pattern of dynastic marriage . In his
essay “Foreign Poli cy,” David Potter argues that “[t] he relations between states were, strictly
speaking, the relations between dynastic rulers.”47 In other words, England a nd France had a
turbulent relationship , for example, because Henry VIII and Francis I had a turbulent
relationship. This idea will be explored further in this thesis. Chapter T wo will analyse how
the relationship between Henry VII and Fernando and Isabel, as well as their associations
with neighbouring monarchs, in particular, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, James IV
of Scotland, and Charles VIII and Louis XII of France, influenced the dynastic marriage
arrangements they made for their children.

III. English and Iberian Po litics and Diplomacy, 14th – 15th Centuries

Dynastic marriages, alliances and trade agreements, and other interactions between England
and the Spanish kingdoms were sporadic throughout much of the medieval period.48 This
was in part due to t he fact that monarchs were preoccupied with more pressing issues which
resulted from their geographic and historic circumstances. Unsurprisingly, Spanish monarchs
directed their attention toward their nearest neighbours: Portugal to the west, France to the
north, and Sicily and the Italian kingdoms to the east. The kingdoms also focused their
energies on the Muslim territory in the southern Iberian Peninsula and on crusading and land
acquisition in Northern Africa and the Near East.49 Further, the relationsh ip of each of the
Iberian kingdoms to the others was at times difficult, as the varying interests of the monarchs
came into conflict. The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were particularly tumultuous.
Castile suffered through tw o civil wars during this p eriod. T he First Castilian Civil War was
fought from 1366 until 1369 between the supporters of the two claimants to the throne,
Pedro I and his illegitimate half -brother, Enrique Trastámara. Just over one hundred years

46 See for example: David Loades, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (Stroud: Amberl ey Publishing, 2008); David
Potter, Henry VIII and Francis I: The Final Conflict, 1540 -47 (Leiden: Brill, 2011); George W. Bernard, The
King’s Reformation: Henry VIII and the Remaking of the English Church (New Haven: Yale University Press,
2007); Warnicke , The Marrying of Anne of Cleves ; Retha M. Warnicke, The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn:
Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).
47 David Potter, “Foreign Policy,” in The Reign of Henry VIII: Politics, Policy and Piety, ed. Diarmaid
MacCullouch (London: St Martin’s Press, 1995), 101.
48 Anthony Goodman, “England and Iberia in the Middle Ages,” in England and her Neighbours, 1066 -1453,
Essays in Honour of Pierre Chaplais, ed. Michael Jones and Malcolm Vale (Lond on: The Hambledon Press,
1989), 74 -75 and 80 -84.
49 Garrett Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy (New York: Cosimo Inc., 2008), 128 -129.

18
later, in 1479, Isabel of Castile gai ned the throne over her half -brother Enrique IV’s disputed
daughter, Juana la Beltraneja , ending the War of Castilian Succession which had raged for
four years. Further, from 1356 until 1375 all the kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, as well
as France and England, were engaged in The War of Two Peters ( La Guerra de los Dos
Pedros ). This war, fought between Pedro I of Castile, with the support of England, Navarre
and Portugal on one side and Pedro IV of Aragon, Enrique Trastámara and France on the
other, was an extension of both the Castilian Civil War and the Hundred Years’ War.50

The English, similarly, were preoccupied with neighbouring kingdoms and civil war. As
England shares a border with Scotland and claimed dynastic rights to the French throne,
Engli sh monarchs were largely, but not exclusively, preoccupied with those kingdoms.51 For
much of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries , England was at war with both of its
neighbours, beginning in 1332 with the Second War of Scottish Independence. The
followi ng year witnessed the beginning of the Hundred Years’ War between England and
France, a conflict which eventually grew to encompass each of the Iberian kingdoms.
Finally, from 1455 until 1485 the English nobility was devastated by civil war as noble
famili es battled each other to determine whether Henry VI, Edward IV, Edward V, Richard
III, or Henry VII had the right to rule.

It was largely the Hundred Years’ War, and the defence of English territories in France,
which brought the Iberian Peninsula and En gland into conflict in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries. English diplomacy in the Iberian Peninsula during this period was greatly
influenced by the perception held by both the English and French governments that Castile
was the preeminent Iberian po wer.52 Both kingdoms therefore attempted to develop and
maintain an alliance with Castile. Peter Russell has suggested that one reason for this
perception was the reality of Castilian naval strength. Castile possessed a large and well –
maintained merchant fl eet, similar to those utilised by England and France, which could be
called upon for support in military matters. However, in addition to this fleet, Castile, with
Genoese assistance, had developed an impressive fleet of galleys, designed for speed and
easy manoeuvrability, which had, by the fourteenth century, proven extremely effective in
battle. Russell claims that England and France were only too aware that should the Castilian
navy be deployed on either side during the Hundred Years’ War, their presenc e could prove

50 For a detailed analysis of The War of Two Peters and the Castilian Civil War see Russell, English
Intervention .
51 Goodman , “England and Iberia,” 95.
52 Goodman, “England and Iberia,” 73.

19
to be the decisive factor in the outcome of the conflict.53 Anthony Goodman, however,
claims that English political interest in Castile derived from the need to protect English
territory, initially in Gascony and later in Aquitaine, as well as beneficial trade between the
two kingdoms and respect for Castilian crusading traditions.54 Probably it was a combination
of all these factors. Certainly, the English were concerned by French intervention in Castile
and attempted to undermine French influe nce whenever the chance arose.

In 1362, early in the War of Two Peters, an alliance was signed by Pedro I of Castile and
Edward III of England. The alliance stipulated that the English would provide military aid to
Castile if required. Russell argues that the English had little to gain from this alliance, as
Pedro was too involved in Castilian affairs to offer any military support to his allies in
England or Gascony, an English -held territory in France, in return. He maintains that the sole
benefit the Eng lish could have hoped to have gained from the alliance was control over the
fleet of Castilian galleys.55 However, it is also credible that the English hoped to break the
French dominance over Castile in the event that Pedro was able to hold onto his throne . In
1366, with the support of France, Aragon and Carlos II, King of Navarre, who constantly
changed sides during the conflict, Enrique Trastámara invaded Castile and had himself
crowned king. Three years later, in March 1369, Enrique personally stabbed Pe dro I to death
at Montiel, ending the Castilian Civil War, and firmly allying Castile with France.56

In 1371, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, eager to claim the crown of Castile for himself ,
married Pedro’s eldest surviving daughter and heir, Constanza. Following his marriage
Gaunt had himself and his new wife declared King and Queen of Castile. The next year his
brother, Edmund of Langley, married Constanza’s sister, Isabel. Thus the conflict between
England, France and the Iberian kingdoms continued un til 1388 when, following a disastrous
Anglo -Portuguese invasion of Castile, Gaunt agreed to the terms of the Treaty of Bayonne.
The treaty finally put an end to English military intervention in the Iberian Peninsula. It
maintained that Gaunt give up his cl aims to the Castilian throne in return for a large financial
settlement. Further, Gaunt and Constanza’s daughter, Catherine of Lancaster, was to marry
the heir ap parent to the Castilian throne, the future Enrique III. However, although Gaunt
had signed awa y the rights of his heirs, the rights of the children of his brother, Edmund of
Langley, by Pedro’s remaining daughter, Isabel, were not mentioned. The Yorkists, Langley

53 Russell, English Intervention, 5-6.
54 Goodman, “England and Iberia,” 94.
55 Russell, English Intervention, 5-6.
56 Clara Estow, Pedro the Cruel of Castile: 1350 -1369 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 19 95), 259.

20
and Isabel’s heirs, were unable to act upon their hereditary claims to Castile, and un likely to
succeed if they did so. By the mid -fifteenth century, the Trastámaran dynasty was firmly
established on the throne, while the Yorkists were battling their Lancastrian cousins for
control of the English crown . Still, Isabel and Langley’s eldest so n, Edward, and their
nephew, Richard, successive dukes of York, both took a mild interest in their family’s
claim.57

Anthony Goodman and David Morgan claim that it was the Yorkist kings, rather than the
Tudors who successfully developed an Anglo -Spanish fr iendship, and certainly it was Duke
Richard’s son, the Yorkist king, Edward IV who finally succeeded in signing an alliance
with the Castilian king, Enrique IV.58 This alliance, ratified in 1467, as well as the Anglo –
Aragonese alliance of 1468 finally succe eded, although only temporarily, in undermining
French influence in the Peninsula.59 Edward’s alliance with Castile, however, lasted only
two years, before yet another Franco -Castilian alliance was agreed upon in 1469. Despite the
initial failure to impleme nt a long -lasting alliance with Castile, Edward continued his
attempts to develop a friendly relationship with the Spanish kingdoms. In 1477 he suggested
creating a dynastic link, proposing his son and heir, Edward, marry Isabel, eldest daughter of
Fernand o and Isabel. At the same time he suggested their only son, Juan, marry his daughter,
Catherine. The untimely deaths of Edward IV and his sons, Edward V and Richard, Duke of
York, put an end to his dynastic ambitions in Spain.60 However, Henry VII, Henry VI II,
Fernando and Isabel were able to establish a strong, although not always positive Anglo –
Spanish relationship based in part on the marriages of Catherine of Aragon and Edward IV’s
grandsons, Arthur and Henry.

Henry VII and Fernando and Isabel arranged dynastic marriages for each of their children.
Of the Trastámara siblings, Isabel and María became successive queens consort of Portugal,
while Juan and Juana both married into the Habsburg dynasty. Juan married Archduchess
Margaret of Austria and Juana wed Philip the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy and the
Burgundian Netherlands. In England, three of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York’s four
surviving children married more than once, and each made at least one dynastic marriage.
Daughters Margaret and Mary married James IV, King of Scotland and Louis XII of France
respectively. Both surviving sons married Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII went on to

57 Anthony Goodman and David Morgan, “The Yorkist Claim to the Throne of Castile,” in Journal of Medieval
History, Volume 11: 1, 1985, 61.
58 Goodman and Morgan, “The Yorkist Claim,” 61.
59 Goodman, “England and Iberia ,” 91-92.
60 Goodman, “England a nd Iberia,” 92.

21
make a further five marriages, only one of which, to Anne of Cleves, was a dynastic
marriage. Each of these Spanish and English marriages and a multitude of others conducted
throughout Europe in this period, ultimately aimed either to strengthen or enhance the
position of a dynastic monarchy. As explored in this thesis, i t was hoped that these marriages
would result in the eventual birth of an heir, unite ruling houses, secure peace or alliances
between families and states, or increase territorial or financial holdings for one family or
another. While the dynastic marriage of Arthur Tudor and Catherine of Aragon was
intended, in part, to deepen the ties of friendship between the two dynasties, the reality was
greatly complicated by the death of Arthur, and Catherine’s subsequent widowhood and
remarriage. This will be discussed in more depth in the second chapter of this t hesis.

IV. Sources, Methodology and Outline

This thesis will be divided into two chapters, the first of which will be further divided into
three sections. The first section of chapter one, entitled “Dynastic Marriage as a Tool of
Diplomacy” will answer two primary questions:
i. What was the purpose of dynastic marriage in medieval Aragon, Castile and
England?
ii. Is it possible to identify patterns in regards to the countries of origin of the
spouses in dynastic marriage arrangements?
In order to answer question one; this section will include an analysis of 108 royal marriages
from Aragon, Castile and England. This analysis will establish the most likely motivations
for dynastic marriage from the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries in these three kingdoms .
Potenti al aims such as the production of legitimate heirs, the creation and maintenance of
alliances, the acquisition or protection of territory and wealth, and the promotion of peace
will all be examined to determine whether or not they were consistent factors i n the
arrangement of dynastic marriages.

Other, less common motivations, which arose due to the circumstances relevant at the time
of certain marriages, will also be discussed. The inclusion of incentives such as the
recognition of a newly established dyn asty, strengthening a claim to the throne, the increase
or neutralisation of influence, prestige, aggrandisement of the realm, the legitimisation of
children born out of wedlock, concern for chastity, avoidance of consanguinity, an attraction
to particular qualities possessed by a potential spouse, love and lust, will all serve to

22
highlight the complex nature of dynastic marriage ar rangements. In many cases, no primary
source material remains from the marriage negotiations to conclusively determine the
motivations for the union; this is particularly true of the earlier marriages being analysed.
Further, the aims of a marriage are not always explicitly evident in the sources which have
survived. However, historians specialising in particular era s or individua ls have often been
able to deduce the probable reason s based on circumstantial evidence, such as domestic or
international events occurring at the time, correspondence between third parties, and the
assumed ambitions of monarchs arranging dynastic marriage s for their children.

In order to answer question two, this section will apply Heinz Duchhardt’s model of regional
marriage circles to England, Castile and Aragon, to determine the theory’s relevance to these
kingdoms. The same 108 marriages mentioned abo ve, will be further analysed to determine
the country of origin of the spouses chosen.61 The data will then be presented in three tables,
which will help to establish whether Duchhardt’s theory is indeed applicable . The majority
of the data for this first s ection will be collected from secondary sources, although where
possible primary source material, particularly in the form of letters and chronicles, such as
The Chronicle of James I, King of Aragon will be used.62

The second section of chapter one, entit led “Arranging Dynastic Marriages” will then detail
how a potential spouse was identified from the sons and daughters of Europe's ruling
families, and the process through which the marriage was arranged. This section will
highlight the fact that dynastic m arriages needed to fulfil social, as well as political,
expectations. Books and treatises such as Las Siete Partidas attributed, at least in part, to
Alfonso X of Castile in the mid -thirteenth century , and Basilikon Doron , written by James
VI of Scotland i n 1599 will be used.63 These sources will provide invaluable insight into the
opinions of monarchs, their advisors and ambassadors on the purpose and function of
dynastic marriage in the medieval and early modern period.

61 An analysis of how marriages were determined to be dynastic is included in the Introduction . Please see
pages 7 – 8.
62 James I, King of Aragon, The Chronicle of King James I, King of Aragon, Surnamed the Conqueror (Written
by Himself), V olume I, trans. John Forster (London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd), 1883.
63 Alfonso X, King of Castile, Las Siete Partidas, Volume Two: Medieval Government: The World of Kings and
Warriors, trans. Samuel P. Scott, ed. Robert I. Burns (Philadelphia: Univer sity o f Pennsylvania Press, 2001 );
Alfonso X, King of Castile, Las Siete Partidas, Volume Four: Family, Commerce and the Sea: The Worlds of
Women and Merchants, trans. Samuel P. Scott, ed. Robert I. Burns (Philadelphia: Univer sity of Pennsylvania
Press, 2001 ); James VI, King of Scotland, The True Law of Free Monarchies, and Basilikon Doron, ed. Daniel
Fischlin and Mark Fortier (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 1996).

23
The third section entitled “The F ailure of Dynastic Marriage” will analyse those occasions
when monarchs ignored dynastic concerns and married according to their own desires. It will
also discuss the use of annulments and betrothals as tools available to monarchs to further
their ambition s. It will be argued that monarchs could use betrothals to temporarily secure
alliances, while an annulment could be secured to end an unwanted or infertile union .

The second chapter will be divided into two sections. The first section, “ The Marriages o f
the Tudor and Trastámaran Siblings,” will analyse the marriages of Arthur and Henry
Tudor’s eldest sister , Margaret, as well as the marriages of Catherine of Aragon’s sisters,
Isabel, Juana and María, and her brother, Juan. This section will aim to inves tigate whether
these unions adhere to the pattern of dynastic marriages in Aragon, Castile and England
identified in the first chapter. Further, examination of these marriages will provide a useful
background to the motivations of Henry VII and Fernando an d Isabel which can then be
analysed in the context of Catherine of Aragon’s marriages. This section will rely heavily on
an analysis of primary sources, in particular the diplomatic correspondence between
Fernando and Isabel and their ambassadors Rodrigo d e Puebla , Pedro de Ayala and
Fernando, Duke of Estrada .64

The second section of Chapter T wo, “The Marriages of Catherine of Aragon” will examine
Catherine’s two dynastic marriages contracted with the Tudor brothers and the diplomatic
negotiations which led to them. It will show that Catherine and Arthur’s marriage was not
only an extension of Fernando and Isabel’s attempts to counter the influence of France and
to further their diplomatic goals in the Mediterranean, but it was also crucial to Henry VII’s
aim in securing alliances and the recognition of his right to rule in England. As such, their
union was contracted despite the constantly shifting diplomatic situation in late fifteenth
century England and Spain.

64 C. S. P Spanish .

24
Chapter I
Dynastic Marriage in Aragon, Cas tile and England: 11th – 16th Centuries

On 14 November 1501 at the old St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Arthur Tudor, Prince of
Wales, married Catherine of Aragon. Their union, which was typical of royal and aristocratic
marriages in medieval and early mod ern Europe, had first been proposed in 1487. The
negotiations, as well as the marriages themselves, were regularly used by families to further
their dynastic ambitions and as such could be lengthy and complicated. Catherine and
Arthur’s marriage took ten y ears of sporadic negotiation to arrange. Scholars have
articulated a range of motivations for such unions, dependent on the specific circumstances
relevant to each marriage. This chapter will therefore be divided into three sections. The first
section will include an analysis of dynastic marriages in England, Castile and Aragon from
the eleventh century until the deaths of Elizabeth I in England, Juana I in Castile and
Fernando II in Aragon. In conjunction with a discussion as to the reasons why dynastic
marriages were so frequently employed as a tool of international diplomacy, this analysis
will determine the reasons why monarchs from these three kingdoms consistently contracted
dynastic marriages. The second section will discuss how dynastic marriages wer e arranged,
from the identification of potential spouses through the negotiation period. The third section
will examine the pitfalls which could befall dynastic marriages, such as annulments and
broken betrothals, as well as the non -dynastic unions occasio nally contracted by monarchs
who ignored dynastic concerns and married according to their own desires.

I. Dynastic Marriage as a Tool of Diplomacy

This section will begin by analysing the marriages of monarchs and their immediate heirs in
England, Castile and Aragon. The intention is to determine firstly how many of these unions
were dynastic, and secondly the country of origin of the spouses. This data is presented in
three tables; one for each kingdom. Further analysis, within the context of scholarly
discussion about marriage patterns among ruling families during the medieval and
Renaissance periods, will establish the reasons why dynast ic marriages were arranged with in
these three kingdoms. Information regarding each marriage, including the most likely reason
for which they were contracted, can be found in the relevant appendix at the end of this
thesis. These appendices detail the marriage of every monarch, and the ir primary heir, from
the eleventh century until the death s of Elizabeth I of England in 1 603, Juana I of Castile in

25
1555, and Fernando II of Aragon in 151 6. The data for each marriage was taken
predominantly from secondary sources as no primary source material remains for some
marriages. As will be argue d, by piecing together the pattern of ma rriage partners in these
three kingdoms, it is possible to test the feasibility of various scholarly explanations about
dynastic marriage and to determine the key factors underpinning unions between ruling
houses over a sustained period.

England had twent y-three undisputed monarchs between 1066 and the death of Elizabeth I in
1603 (counting those who ruled twice only once).1 Further there were five heirs who lived
long enough to marry but died before they could inherit the throne: William Adelin, Henry
the Young King, Edward, the Black Prince, Edward of Westminster and Arthur Tudor.
Finally, there were four monarchs who died without marrying: William II, Edward V,
Edward VI and Elizabeth I. Between them, the remaining nineteen monarchs and five heirs
contra cted thirty -four marriages, although not all of them were dynastic unions. There were,
for example, several monarchs who were married well before they were considered to be
serious contenders for the throne. John was betrothed to the English heiress Isabel of
Gloucester in 1176, while four of his elder brothers were still alive, and he married her in
1189, shortly after his brother Richard inherited the throne.2 Henry IV married Mary de
Bohun in 1380, nineteen years before he seized the throne from Richard II, and Mary died
before he became king.3 Richard III married Anne Neville in 1472. At that stage Richard’s
elder brothers Edward IV and George of Clarence were alive and Edward’s eldest son, the
future Edward V , had been born.4 In addition, Edward IV’s wi fe, Elizabeth Woodville had
already given birth to five children and there was no reason to assume that she would not
have more sons. William I was already married to Matilda of Normandy in 1066 when he
invaded and conquered England. However, considering t hat one of the reasons why he
married Matilda was to use her family connections to further his claim to the English throne,
this marriage will be included in the list of English dynastic marriages.5 Finally, as their
union was arranged by Henry I, with the view that Stephen was a possible heir to the throne,
the marriage of Stephen and his wife, Matilda of Boulogne, will also be included in the list

1 Undisputed does not include the Empress Matilda or Lady Jane Grey.
2 Graham E. Seel, King John: An Underrated King (London: Anthem Press, 2012), 13 and 15 -16.
3 Helen M. Jewell, Women in Medieval England (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996), 120.
4 Nigel Saul, The Three Richards: Richard I, Ri chard II and Richard III (London: Hambledon Continuum,
2005), 147.
5 David Charles Douglas, William the Conqueror (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), 77.

26
of dynastic marriages. This is despite the fact they married in 1125, ten years before Stephen
claimed the th rone following Henry I’s death.6

Castile had twenty -one monarchs between 1037 and the death of Juana I in 1555. Moreover
there were two heirs, Fernando de la Cerda and Juan of Asturias, who lived long enough to
marry. Castile also had three monarchs who contracted marriages before they were expected
to inherit the throne. The future Queen Berenguela, for example, had a younger brother,
Fernando, when she married Alfonso IX, King of León, in 1197.7 The illegitimate Enrique of
Trastámara, the future Enrique II, was nineteen years away from claiming the Castilian
throne when he married Juana Manuel in 1350. Finally, the future Juana I, was her parents’
third surviving child when she married Philip of Burgundy in 1496. Between them, the
remaining eighteen mona rchs and their heirs contracted thirty -four marriages.

Finally, Aragon had twenty monarchs between 1035 and the death of Fernando II in 1516.
Only one Aragonese monarch failed to marry, Alfonso III. Alfonso had been betrothed to
Eleanor of England, but h e died in 1291, at the age of twenty -six, before the marriage could
take place.8 There were however, three heirs who lived long enough to marry: Jaime, son of
Jaime II of Aragon, Martín the Younger and Juan of Asturias, who was also heir to the
Castilian t hrone. Contemporaries of Jaime argued as to whether or not his 1319 marriage to
Leonor of Castile was legitimate. The prince refused to participate in parts of the marriage
ceremony, leaving his father to act on his behalf, and immediately after the ceremo ny
announced his intention to renounce his right to the throne and enter a monastery. The
marriage was not consummated and was eventually dissolved. Leonor was returned to
Castile the following year, although she did ultimately become queen of Aragon, marr ying
Jaime’s younger brother, Alfonso IV, as his second wife in 1329.9 As the union of Leonor
and Jaime was as intended as a dynastic marriage, it will be included in the marriages of
Aragon’s monarchs and heirs.

Five of Aragon’s monarchs married at leas t once before they were considered serious
contenders to inherit the kingdom. Alfonso IV, younger brother of Jaime, discussed above,
married Teresa d’Entença in 1314, five years before his brother renounced his right to the

6 Donald Matthew, King Stephen (London: Hambledon, 2002), 56 and 59.
7 Janna Bianchini, The Quee n’s Hand: Power and Authority in the Reign of Berenguela of Castile
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 34-36.
8 Elena Woodacre, The Queens Regnant of Navarre: Succession, Politics and Partnership, 1274 -1515 (New
York: Palgrave Macmilla n, 2013) , 26-27.
9 H. T. Sturcken, “The unconsummated marriage of Jaime of Aragon and Leonor of Castile (October 1319),”
Journal of Medieval History 5: 3 (1979): 193.

27
throne.10 Martín I married his fi rst wife, María de Luna in 1373 while his elder brother, Juan,
was still alive, and his son Martín the Younger married his first wife María, Queen of Sicily
after Juan inherited the throne.11 The future Fernando I married his only wife, Leonor of
Albuquerqu e, in 1393, nineteen years before he was elected King of Aragon by the
Compromise of Caspe.12 Finally, Juan II was the second surviving son of Fernando I when
he married his first wife, Blanca of Navarre, in 1420.13 The monarchs of Aragon and their
heirs who lived to marry therefore contracted thirty -three dynastic marriages between them.

The following three tables show the country of origin of each of the consorts of the
monarchs of England, Castile and Aragon. The marriages of their immediate heirs who
married but died before they could inherit the throne are also included. The majority of the
marriages were dynastic and are shown in a dark blue colour. The marriages of non -heirs,
including second or subsequent sons and other male relatives, daughters and usurpers, who
later become monarchs are shown in pink. Finally the non -dynastic marriages of monarchs
and heirs, including clandestine unions and the marriages based on love or desire are shown
in green.

Origins of the marriage partners of English monarch s and their heirs 1066 -160314

10 Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez, “La política matrimonial de la Casa Condal de Barcelona y Real de Aragón
desde 1213 hasta Fernando el Católico,” Acta historica et archaelogica mediaevalia 23-24 (2002): 210.
11 Núria Silleras -Fernández, “Spirit and Force: Politics, Public and Private in the Reign of Maria de Luna
(1396 -1406),” in Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Theresa Earenfight
(Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2005), 79 -80; D’Arcy J. D. Boulton, The Knights of the Crown: The
Monarchical Orders of Knighthood in Later Medieval Europe, 1325 -1520 (Woodbridge: T he Boydell Press,
2000), 284.
12 Ana Echevarría Arsuaga, “The Queen and the Master: Catalina of Lancaster and the Military Orders,” in
Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Theresa Earenfight (Aldershot:
Ashgate Publishing, 2005), 96 and 99.
13 Woodacre, The Queens Regnant of Navarre , 91.
14 See Appendix One for references.

28

Origins of the marriage partners of Castilian monarchs and their heirs 1037 -155515

Origins of the marriage partners of Aragonese monarchs and their heirs 1035 -151616

15 See Appendix Two for references.
16 See Appendix Three for references. 02468101214
France England United
SpainNavarre Holy Roman
EmpireLow
CountriesCastile Scotland
0123456789

29

When considering the data, the common factor across the marriage patterns for all three
kingdoms is the predominance of French princesses as queens consort. It is unsurprising that
both England and the Spanish kingdoms looked to France, given France’s status as Europe’s
preeminent military power in medieval a nd early modern Europe, and its geographic
proximity to each of the kingdoms. Further, both the English and Aragonese Crowns claimed
lands within France as their own, whilst Aragonese expansion into the Mediterranean was at
times tempered by French ambitio ns in the same area, particularly in Sicily and Naples.
While Castile was traditionally friendly with France, the Castilians occasionally looked to
England for support against their powerful northern neighbour, particularly during the First
Castilian Civil War (1366 -69) which ultimately drew the Iberian Peninsula into the greater
conflict of the Hundred Years War.

England had twelve French queens, compared to Castile, which had eight, and Aragon which
had ten. Five of these Anglo -French marriages formed a part of peace treaties, including
three during the Hundred Years’ War: those of Richard II and Isabella of Valois in 1396,
Henry V and Catherine of Valois in 1420, and Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou in 1445.
None of these marriages were successful in the long-term in ending the conflict between the
two countries.17 Further, in 1299 a double marriage was arranged between Edward I and

17 Michael J. Bennett, “Richard II and the Wider Realm,” in Richard II: The Art of K ingship, ed. Anthony
Goodman and James Gillespie (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 197; Robert Douglas Smith and Kelly 024681012

30
Philip’s IV sister, Margaret of France, and Edward’s son, the future Edward II and Philip’s
daughter, Isabella.18 The marriages were suggested by the pope, Boniface VIII, as a way of
securing peace and an alliance between the two kingdoms. Peace was only a factor in one
other English dynastic union. In 1485, Henry VII, newly crowned, married Elizabeth of
York, successfully uniting the rival dynasties which had been battling to rule England and
helping to secure his claim to the throne.19 Just under a quarter, therefore, or twenty -two
percent of English dynastic marriages, were contracted with peace as a motiving concern,
although on ly one resulted in long -term peace between warring dynasties.

Similarly, seven Castilian and three Aragonese marriages were contracted with the probable
aim of securing peace, beginning in 1032 with the marriage of Fernando I of Castile and
Sancha of León . None of the Aragonese unions resulted in long -term peace, in fact the
second marriage; that of Jaime and Leonor Castile in 1319, which was discussed earlier in
the chapter, exacerbated the volatile situation which existed between Aragon and Castile at
the time of the marriage. It took a second marriage, ten years later, between Leonor, and
Jaime’s younger brother, Alfonso IV, to the repair the damage caused by Jaime’s repudiation
of his wife. The Castilian -Aragonese peace however, did not survive beyond t he death of
Alfonso IV in 1336, and in 1359 Leonor was imprisoned and murdered on the orders of her
stepson, Pedro III.20

The marriages arranged by Castilian monarchs were more likely to result in peace, at least in
the short term. Alfonso XI’s marriage to Maria of Portugal in 1328, for example, ensured at
least a temporary peace, and allowed Alfonso the stability and the resources to focus on his
campaigns against the Muslim kingdom in the southern Iberian Peninsula.21 A later
marriage, contracted in 1388, between the future Enrique III of Castile and John of Gaunt’s
daughter Catherine, formed a part of a successful peace treaty between the two kingdoms,
wherein Gaunt renounced his claims to the Castilian throne in exchange for the union.22

DeVries, The Artillery of the Dukes of Burgundy, 1363 –1477 (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2005), 86 –87.
Ralph Alan Griffiths, The Reign of King Henry VI: The Exercise of Royal Authority, 1422 -1461 (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1981), 485.
18 Michael Prestwich, Edward I (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), 129.
19 P. R. Cavill, The English Parliaments of Henry VII, 1485 -1504 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 31.
20 Carlos Estepa Díez, “Rebelión y rey legítimo en las luchas entre Pedro I y Enrique II,” in Lucha política:
Condena y legitimación en la España medieval, eds. Isabel Alfonso, Julio Escalona and Georges Martin (Lyon:
ENS Éditions, 2004). 47 -48.
21 Teofilo F. Ruiz, Spain’s Centuries of Crisis, 1300 – 1474 (New Jersey: Wiley -Blackwell, 2007), 61 –62.
22 P. E. Russell, English Intervention in Spain and Portugal in the Time of Edward III and Richard II (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1955), 490.

31
While the premise that dynastic marriage was used as a means to attempt to secure peace
between warring kingdoms is generally accepted, opinions are divided as to whether or not
the same the can be said of the expansion of power and territory. In The Myth of 1648:
Class, G eopolitics and the Making of Modern International Relations Benno Teschke claims
that dynastic marriage was a ruler’s “single fastest and most cost -effective expansion
strategy.”23 Monarchs from England, Castile and Aragon were occasionally tempted to use
dynastic marriage to expand, consolidate or protect territory. There were two ways monarchs
could secure or increase their territories using dynastic marriage: marriage to an heiress, or a
military conquest, with the captured territories later recognised in a peace treaty as a part of a
marriage arrangement.

The English were more likely than their Castilian or Aragonese counterparts to marry in the
latter manner. In England, territorial expansion or protection was a factor in eight dynastic
marriages: those of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry, the Young King and Margaret
of France, Richard I and Berengaria of Navarre, John and Isabella of Angoulême, Edward I
and Leonor of Castile, Edward I and Margaret of France, and Edward II and Isabella of
France .24 Further, the marriage of Henry V to Catherine of Valois in 1420 was a briefly
successful attempt to secure English claims to French lands won during the Hundred Years’
War. The Treaty of Troyes, which arranged the union, aimed not only “at the re –
establ ishment of peace and removal of dissensions between the kingdoms of France and of
England” but it also named Henry as the heir to the French crown.25 Ultimately attempts by
the English to secure both French lands and the throne failed when Henry died unexpe ctedly
leaving an infant son as his successor. Despite eight marriages therefore, the English were
never able to expand their territories beyond those which they held in France and Ireland.
Further, the French territories were mostly lost by the end of the Hundred Years’ War in
1453, and were never again recovered, even though occasional attempts were made to
reclaim them.

23 Benno Teschke, The Myth of 1648: Class, Geopolitics, and the Making of Modern International Relations
(London: Verso, 2003), 225.
24 Jean Dunbabin, “Henry II and Louis VIII,” in Henry II: New Interpretations , ed. Chr istopher Harper -Bill and
Nicholas Vincent (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2007), 49; Wilfred L. Warren, Henry II (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1977), 44 -45; Anne J. Duggan, “Henry II, the English Church and the Papacy,
1154 -76,” in Henry II: New Interpretations, ed. Christopher Harper -Bill and Nicholas Vincent (Woodbridge:
The Boydell Press, 2007), 169; Saul, The Three Richards, 139; Nicholas Vincent, “Isabella of Angoulême:
John’s Jezebel,” in King John: New Interpretations, ed. S. D. Church (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1999),
172; Prestwich, Edward I , 8-9; Craig Taylor, “Henry V, Flower of Chivalry,” in Henry V: New Interpretations,
ed. Gwilym Dodd (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2013), 219.
25 “Appendix: The Treaty of Toyes, 21 May, 1420,” in Anne Curry, “Two Kingdoms, One King: The Treaty of
Troyes (1420) and the Creation of a Double Monarchy of England and France,” in The Contending Kingdoms:
France and England, 1420 -1700, ed. Glenn Richardson (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2008), 35.

32

In contrast to those eight English dynastic marriages, territorial gain was only a factor in four
Castilian unions: those of Fernando I and Sancha of León, Alfonso VI and Zaïda, Sancho III
and Blanca of Navarre and Alfonso VIII and Eleanor of England, and in two Aragonese
marriages: those of Sancho Ramírez and Isabella of Urgell and Pedro II and Marie of
Montpellier.26 As with their Engli sh counterparts, Castilian and Aragonese monarchs prior to
the sixteenth century were rarely successful in their attempts to increase their territory
through dynastic marriage. Nevertheless , dynastic alliances between the two kingdoms, and
Portugal, agains t the Moors were ultimately successful in conquering the Muslim kingdoms
of the Iberian Peninsula and therefore increasing the territory of Castile in particular.

Aragonese monarchs attempted four times to gain control of foreign crowns through
dynastic m arriage: Pedro III married the heiress, Constance of Sicily in 1262, while Jaime
II’s marriage to Marie of Lusignan in 1315 was an attempt to add the crown of Cyprus to the
Aragonese possessions.27 Further, Martín the Younger married his cousin, María of Si cily in
1390 in order to settle the question of the Sicilian succession and return the kingdom to
Aragonese control.28 Martín, however, was not the heir to the Aragonese throne at the time
of this marriage. He was the heir in 1402, when he married his secon d wife, Blanca of
Navarre , although Blanca did not become the heiress of the Navarrese kingdom until 1413;
four years after Martín had died. In 1420, Blanca married for a second time, to Juan, second
son of Fernando I of Aragon. Despite a clause in their m arriage contract eliminating Juan
from the Navarrese line of succession should Blanca predecease him, Juan claimed the
throne for himself following Blanca’s death in 1441. In 1455 after he had succeeded to the
Aragonese throne, Juan named his youngest daug hter by Blanca, Leonor, as heiress to the
kingdom.29 These marriages had varying levels of success. In the case of Jaime II, he left no
legitimate heirs from his marriage to Marie of Lusignan to inherit the Cypriot throne, while

26 Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under King Alfonso VI, 1065 -1109 (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1988), 235; Rose Walker, “Images of Royal and Aristocratic Burial in Northern Spain, c.950
– c.1250,” in Medieval Memories: Men, Women and the Past, 700 -1300, ed. Elizabeth Van -Houts (London:
Routledge, 2013), 161; Anthony Goodman, “England and Iberia in the Middle Ages,” in England and her
Neighbours, 1066 -1453, Essays in Honour of Pierre Chaplais , ed. Michael Jones and Malcolm Vale (London:
The Hambledon Press, 1989), 76; Janice Mann, Romanesque Architecture and its Sculptural Decoration in
Christian Spain, 1000 -1120: Exploring Frontiers and Defining Identities (Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 2009), 108 -109; Ernest E. Jenkins, The Mediterranean World of Alfonso II and Peter II of Aragon (1161 –
1213) (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) , 93-94.
27 Stephen P. Bensch, Barcelona and its Rulers, 1096 -1291 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995),
290; Joseph F. O’Callaghan, A Histor y of Medieval Spain (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975), 405.
28 Boulton, The Knights of the Crown , 284.
29 Bernard F. Reilly, The Medieval Spains (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 207.

33
the Sicilian crown remained an Aragonese possession until it was permanently lost in 1713
during the War of Spanish Succession.30

There were certainly some dynasties which were able to create large empires through
dynastic marriage, the Habsburgs, for example. By the time of the coll apse of their dynasty
the Habsburgs had progressed from ruling over the Duchy of Austria in the thirteenth
century, to rule over much of central Europe, the Netherlands, Portugal, and parts of Italy, as
well as Spain and the Spanish kingdoms in the New Wor ld. Dynastic marriage though, was
not the only diplomatic tool at their disposal. Parts of the empire were taken by force, while
the position of Holy Roman Emperor, which several generations of Habsburg men held, was
an elected position. Paula Sutter Ficht ner has written that it is certainly possible to argue that
the Habsburgs were only able to build their empire through dynastic marriage. However she
continues that this argument is
still one derived from the occasional results of these arrangements, as i n the
Spanish [Habsburg] case, rather than from an examination of the total content
of these agreements and their possible relationship to the process of empire
building. It also drastically simplifies the range of concerns evidently
involved in such marri age policies. Succession provisions were only a part of
all the negotiations which [were] carried on, and sometimes the contingencies
which would activate them were so remote that territorial aggrandisement
could hardly have been the prime interest of any of the signatories.31
Even monarchs with an obvious interest in territorial expansion, did not always choose to
use dynastic marriage to further their ambitions. The kingdoms which eventually joined to
form modern Spain: Aragon, Castile, Galicia, León, Nava rre and the Muslim kingdom of Al –
Andalus, were united both through conquest and dynastic marriage over a period of three
hundred years. English, Castilian and Aragonese monarchs then, occasionally attempted to
increase or protect their territory through th e use of dynastic marriage , although marriage
was only one of several diplomatic tools available to achieve territorial goals. Further,
subsequent generations of medieval English and Spanish monarchs were unable to retain
their inherited foreign lands, par ticularly if the territory they claimed was a traditional
French dominion.

While territorial gains were an occasional consideration, wealth was frequently a motivation,
although it was rarely the only factor. When listing the qualities that a king should look for
in a potential wife, Alfonso X argued that her fourth most important quality is wealth. He

30 O’Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain , 405; Cir o Paoletti, A Military History of Italy (Westport:
Greenwood Publishing, 2008), 46 -47.
31 Paula Sutter Fichtner, “Dynastic Marriage in Sixteenth -Century Habsburg Diplomacy and Statecraft: An
Interdisciplinary Approach,” The American Historical Review 81 (19 76): 258 –259.

34
wrote that “the more wealthy she is, the greater benefit will result to the king, and to the
offspring which he will have by her, and also to the country, where he lives.” However,
Alfonso stated that coming from a good family and having good habits were more important
than being wealthy as “riches pass away more easily.”32 Despite the fleeting nature of wealth
monarchs still sought heiresses for their sons. Indeed, marriage to an heiress could provide
younger sons in particular with an inheritance of wealth and territory without fracturing the
family estate. In January 1478, for example, Richard, Duke of York, the youngest son of
Edward IV of England married Anne Mowbray, Countess of Norfolk, in Westminster. The
groom was aged just four years old, the bride was five. While betrothals of such young
children were not uncommon, an actual marriage was unusual. A week or so later,
parliament, at the king’s request, passed an act which circumvented the traditional
inheritance laws and ensured that if Anne died without an heir, her fortune would be
inherited by her husband, rather than revert back to her family.33 Anne died in 1481 at the
age of eight years, while her husband, Richard outlived her by only two years; it is believed
that he died in 1483, aged eight or nine years old.

The deaths of Richard of York and Anne Mowbray, both before they had reached ten years
of age, highlight the high levels of child mortalit y in medieval Europe. It was not uncommon
for a monarch to marry and become a parent to one or more children, only to die without an
heir. Nicholas Orme shows that out of the approximately ninety -six royal children born in
England between 1150 and 1500, le ss than half survived until their twenties, with a third
dying before their first birthday.34 Presumably the figures were similar for Spanish royal
children. While couples of all social classes married with the intention of producing children,
from the pers pective of royal families, the failure to produce an heir could have a devastating
impact, not only on the family itself, but on the kingdom over which they ruled. A disputed
succession could result in the collapse of the ruling family, and it had the pote ntial to lead to
civil war, as occurred in England in 1135 and 1455, in Castile in 1366 and 1475, in Aragon
in 1410, and in a united Spain in 1701. As such the production of an heir, or preferably heirs,
to continue the dynasty, was a crucial element of dy nastic marriages.

32 Alfonso X, King of Castile, Las siete partidas, Volume Two: Medieval Government : The World of Kings and
Warriors, ed. Robert I. Burns, trans. Samuel Parsons Scott (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,
2001), 298.
33 Anne Crawford, Yorkist Lord: John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, c. 1425 -1485 (London: Continuum UK,
2010), 87.
34 Nicholas Orme, Medieval Children (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 113.

35
The gender of any children born to the king was also of particular importance, much more so
than children born into non -royal families. While female children could inherit the throne in
both England and the Spanish kingdoms, it was unco mmon and a male heir was strongly
preferred. In England, Mary Tudor was the first queen to rule in her in own right, inheriting
the throne following the death of her childless younger brother, Edward VI in 1553. An
earlier attempt, in the twelfth century, by Henry I, to name his only surviving legitimate
child, a daughter Matilda, as his heir failed. Henry’s throne was instead claimed by his
nephew Stephen, although following almost two decades of warfare, known as The Anarchy,
Matilda’s eldest son, Henry, was named as Stephen’s successor.35

There were three female monarchs in medieval Spain. In Castile, Urraca succeeded to the
throne in 1109, following the death of her father, Alfonso VI. Over a century later, in 1217,
Berenguela inherited her throne from her younger brother, Enrique I, who died following an
accidental head injury. Finally, Petronilla of Aragon inherited her kingdom at the age of just
one year, in 1137, after her father, Ramiro II, abdicated in favour of a monastic life. Both
Urraca and Pet ronilla were recognised as heirs to their respective thrones by their fathers,
and were married, before they inherited their crowns, to men who were considered strong
enough to help them secure their kingdoms from domestic or foreign interference.36
Berengu ela, on the other hand, was not the heir when her marriage, to Alfonso IX, King of
León, was arranged by her parents in order to facilitate peace between the two kingdoms.37
In 1217 when she inherited the crown, she almost immediately abdicated in favour of her
teenage son, Fernando III. Certainly the possibility of a female as the only heir to the throne
could pose many problems in medieval and early modern Europe and steps, such as
legitimising a natural born son, were considered in some cases. Henry VIII, for example,
briefly considered legitimising his son, Henry FitzRoy, in order that he might one day inherit
the throne. Such a move however would have needed the support of the pope and would not
have been difficult to challenge.38 Similarly, Martín I of A ragon attempted to have his
illegitimate grandson, Fadrique, Count of Luna, named as his heir. Fadrique initially had the

35 See, for example: Warren, Henry II ; Marjorie Chibnall, The Empress Matilda: Que en Consort, Queen
Mother and Lady of the English (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1993); Edmund King, ed., The Anarchy of King
Stephen’s Reign (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994).
36 Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under King Alfonso VI , 357; Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla
Under Queen Urraca , 52-53; William Clay Stalls, “Queenship and the royal patrimony in twelfth -century
Iberia: the example of Petronilla of Aragon,” in Queens, Regents and Potentates, ed. Teresa M. Vann
(Cambridge: Academia Pre ss, 1993), 50 -51.
37 Miriam Shadis, Berenguela of Castile (1180 -1246) and Political Women in the High Middle Ages (London:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 62 -63.
38 David Loades, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (Stroud: Amberley Publishing, 2009), 36.

36
support of the pope, Benedict XIII, but not of the Aragonese aristocracy and his claim was
ultimately overlooked.39

The royal house o f Barcelona in Aragon highlight s the potential consequences for families
which failed to produce surviving children over several generations. Juan I, the penultimate
monarch of the House of Barcelona which had ruled the kingdom since 1164, produced five
children with his first wife and eight with his second, before his death in 1396. Of those
thirteen children, only two daughters, Juana and Yolande, survived to adulthood. Juana,
despite being married for fifteen years, died childless in 1407. Yolande produc ed six
children, five of whom survived childhood, yet her claim to the throne of Aragon was
overlooked in favour of her father’s nearest male relative: his brother Martín, who became
Martín I. Martín I had four children, three of whom died in childhood. Th e remaining child,
Martín the Younger, died in 1409 a year before his father, having outlived his two legitimate
children. The death of Martín I resulted in an interregnum which lasted for two years. On 28
June 1412, Fernando de Antequera, Martín I’s nephe w, the son of his sister Leonor and Juan
I of Castile, was elected king of Aragon by the Compromise of Ca spe. This election not only
solved the issue of the succession, but also established a new ruling dynasty in Aragon: the
house of Trastámara.40

With t he end of a family’s rule the most likely outcome of scarcity of heirs it is unsurprising
that the production of an heir as a motivation for dynastic marriage is the only aim in which
there appears to be complete agreement both by historians and contempora ry sources. In
“Dynastic Marriage in Sixteenth -Century Habsburg Diplomacy and Statecraft” Paula Sutter
Fichtner argues that “the production of legitimate heirs was a cardinal function of dynastic
marriages.”41 Similarly , Retha M. Warnicke, in The Marrying o f Anne of Cleves writes that
the “concern for the dynasty’s continuation was the single most important reason for royal
marriages.”42

39 T. N. Bisson, The Medieval Crown of Aragon: A Short History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986),
134-135.
40 Vicente Salas Merino, La Genealogía de Los Reyes de España (Madrid: Editorial Visión Libros, 2008), 116 –
117.
41 Sutter Fichtner, “Dynastic Marriage in Sixt eenth -Century Habsburg Diplomacy,” 245.
42 Retha M. Warnicke, The Marrying of Anne of Cleves: Royal Protocol in Early Modern England (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2000), 7.

37
Contemporary sources and the actions of monarchs who were desperate for legitimate sons
support the view that securing an heir was a vital function of dynastic marriage. In the
chronicle of his life, written in the thirteenth century, Jaime I of Aragon wrote
And thus, by advice of my great vassals, I took to wife the Infanta Doña
Leonor, for my father had left no son but me. They advised me to marry while
still young, because they said they were in great anxiety for my life, either
from maladies or from poison. And likewise because they wished on my
account that I should leave an heir, so that the kingdom might not go out of
the royal line.43
In England, Henry VIII’s increasingly desperate desire for male heirs has been well
documented. Himself a second son, Henry would have been aware of the need to provide
multiple male heirs to secure the succession and to allow for the cont inuation of the dynasty.
In 1516 following the birth of the future Mary I, the Venetian ambassador to England,
Sebastian Giustinian recorded in a letter to the Council of Ten that it had been remarked to
Henry VIII that “the State would have been yet more pleased had the child been a son.”44
Two years later, in 1518 during Catherine of Aragon’s last documented pregnancy,
Giustinian wrote: “God grant that she may give birth to a son, so that, having an heir male,
the King may not be hindered from embarking, i f necessary, in any great undertaking.”45 It is
evident from these comments that the birth of a male heir was important not only to the royal
family, whose genetic line he would continue, but also to the state he would one day rule, in
order to avoid a disp uted succession or a civil war. Further, a king without an heir was
restricted in the activities he could participate in. Until an heir was produced, and the
succession secured, kings were limited in the battles they could fight, and the dangerous
physical activities, such as hunting, jousting and crusading, they could indulge in, as their
primary aim was to stay alive. The birth of a legitimate heir would allow him to take a fuller
role in the military affairs of the kingdom.

It is perhaps the marriage of Ramiro II of Aragon which best demonstrates the importance
which was placed on securing a legitimate successor to the throne. Ramiro’s marriage in
1135 to Inés of Poitou was contracted solely for the purpose of begetting of an heir. The
death of Ramiro’s childless brother, Alfonso I, in 1134 meant that Ramiro had to marry to
ensure that Aragon maintained its independence from its neighbours. As Ramiro was a
dedicated bishop at the time of Alfonso's death it was determined necessary to find a woman
of prove n fertility, from a good family, in the hope of rapidly producing an heir. Inés was the

43 James I of Aragon, The Chronicle of King James I, King of Aragon, surnam ed the Conqueror (written by
himself), volume I, trans. John Forster (London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd, 1883), 32 -33.
44 Sebastian Giustinian to the Council of Ten, February 11, 1516, in C. S. P. Venetian (Vol. II) , 285.
45 Sebastian Giustinian to the Signory, October 25, 1518, in C. S. P. Venetian (Vol. II) , 470.

38
daughter of William IX, Duke of Aquitaine, and she already had three sons from her first
marriage. The couple’s only child, Petronilla was born in 1136 and betrothed th e following
year to Ramón Berenguer, Count of Barcelona. With an heir provided, Ramiro abdicated his
throne in favour of his daughter and her future husband and retired to a monastery in 1137.46

Despite the example of Ramiro II, there were rare occasions when the production of an heir
was not a factor in arranging a dynastic marriage. When Henry IV of England married
Joanna of Navarre in 1403, for example, he already had four surviving sons, ranging from
approximately thirteen to seventeen years of age. Hi s new bride also had four sons from her
first marriage to John V of Brittany. Rather than an heir, Henry was seeking not only an
alliance, but also the recognition by another dynasty of his right to rule.47 Similarly Fernando
III of Castile had seven sons b y his first wife, Elisabeth of Swabia, and all seven were alive
when he married for a second time in 1237.48 Janna Bianchini argues that it was Fernando’s
mother, Berenguela, who, concerned for her son’s chastity arranged a second marriage for
him.49 Arrangi ng a marriage due to concerns for chastity was an unusual motivation.
Bianchini was only able to identify one other such marriage, that of Berenguela’s nephew,
Louis IX of France, whose marriage was arranged for him by his mother, Blanche.50 These
few marri ages serve to highlight the fact that dynastic marriages were complex; they were
more than simply the means to producing surviving sons to carry on the dynasty, and their
purpose cannot be satisfactorily explained by any one theory.

By far the most import ant consideration in arranging dynastic marriages, aside from
producing an heir, was the creation or strengthening of alliances or friendships. In 1254
when he was arranging the dynastic marriage of his son Edward, Henry III stated “friendship
between prin ces can be obtained in no more fitting manner than by the link of conjugal
troth.”51 In “England and Iberia in the Middle Ages” Anthony Goodman argues that dynastic
marriage proposals were often used to create a common bond between countries with
varying in terests and ambitions.52 Certainly there is evidence that this was a consideration in

46 Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under King Alfonso VII, 1126 -1157 (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998), 53 –54.
47 Ian Mortimer, The Fears of Henry IV: The Life of Eng land’s Self -Made King (London: Random House,
2013), 246-247.
48 Bianchini, The Queen’s Hand , 242.
49 Bianchini, The Queen’s Hand, 243.
50 Bianchini, The Queen’s Hand, 146.
51 Thomas Rymer, Foedera, conventions, literae, 4 volumes (1816 -1869), i, 209, cited in John C. Parsons,
“Mothers, Daughters, Marriage, Power: Some Plantagenet Evidence, 1150 -1500,” in Medieval Queenship, ed.
John C. Parsons (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1998), 63.
52 Goodman, “England and Iberia,” 73.

39
many cases. One of the aims of the marriage between Catherine of Aragon and Arthur
Tudor, for example, was to strengthen a lapsed friendship between England and Spain.53
Similarly, the marriages of two of Catherine’s siblings, Juan and Juana, were intended to
develop stronger ties with the Habsburg dynasty.54

Castilian and Aragonese monarchs were more likely than their English counterparts to
contract dynastic marriages wit h French women to create or reinforce alliances. These were
occasionally military alliances, aimed against the other Iberian powers, such as Alfonso VI
of Castile’s first marriage, in 1073 or 1074 to Inés of Aquitaine, as well as his fifth marriage
in 1102 to Elisabeth of France.55 At other times, they were attempts to strengthen the
friendship between the two kingdoms. Seven out of eight Franco -Castilian marriages and
seven out of ten Franco -Aragonese marriages were most likely solemnised for this purpose.

In contrast to the Franco -Castilian and Franco -Aragonese marriages, just t hree Anglo -French
dynastic marriages aimed to create or maintain alliances, although only one of these alliances
was formed with the French crown. The remaining two unions were con tracted with the
nobility either against, or to counteract the influence of the French monarch. The marriage of
William I and Matilda of Flanders, for example, was probably intended to ally William with
Matilda’s father, Baldwin V, and her uncle, Henry I o f France, in order to provide public
recognition of William’s right, as an illegitimate son, to rule the Duchy of Normandy.56
However, the marriage, in 1119, of William Adelin and Margaret of Anjou was an alliance
against Louis VI, and an attempt to bring A njou under the influence of England.57 Further,
the marriage, in 1236, of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence might have been intended as an
alliance against Capetian France, as no other motive is immediately obvious. Henry gained
no territory or wealth, and no peace was necessary or achieved. Margaret Howell and Björn
K. U. Weiler have suggested that Henry was attempting to counter an alliance created by the
1234 marriage of Louis IX, King of France and Eleanor’s sister, Margaret.58

53 Ian Arthurson, “The King of Spain’s Dau ghter Came to Visit Me: Marriage, Princes and Politics,” in Arthur
Tudor, Prince of Wales: Life, Death and Commemoration, ed. Steven Gunn and Linda Monckton (Woodbridge:
Boydell Press, 2009), 24.
54 Garrett Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy (New York: Cosim o, 2010), 140.
55 Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under Queen Urraca, 1109 -1126 (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1982), 11 -12.
56 Douglas, William the Conqueror , 77.
57 Charles Warren Hollister, Henry I (New Haven: Yale University Press , 2001), 230 -231.
58 Margaret Howell, Eleanor of Provence: Queenship in Thirteenth -Century England (Oxford: Blackwell
Publishers, 1998), 9 -12; Björn K. U. Weiler, Henry III of England and the Staufen Empire, 1216 -1272
(Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2006), 56-57.

40
Not only did the rulers o f Castile, Aragon and England marry French women in order to
create alliances with the French crown, they also married to create alliances against France.
Richard I of England’s marriage to Berengaria of Navarre in 1191 was aimed at creating an
alliance wi th Berengaria’s father, Sancho, in order to protect England’s southern French
territories while Richard was on crusade.59 Similarly Richard II’s 1382 marriage to Anne of
Bohemia created an alliance against the French -backed Angevin Pope.60 Henry IV’s 1403
marriage to Joanna of Navarre has been suggested as a possible alliance against France,
although it has also been suggested that Henry was seeking recognition of his right to rule
England.61 Further, the marriage of Alfonso VI and Berta of Italy, which was so lemnised in
1094, presumably aimed to counteract the growing French influence in Castile which had
resulted from Alfonso's earlier two marriages to French women. However, this marriage was
probably not a military alliance. As Bernard Reilly notes, none of the Italian nobles would
have been capable, at that time, of providing Castile with any significant military
assistance.62 The marriages of three of Fernando and Isabel of Spain’s children, including
their heir, Juan of Asturias, as well Juana I and Catheri ne of Aragon, to the children of the
Holy Roman Emperor, Maximillian I and Henry VII of England were aimed, in part, at
encircling France with allies loyal to Spain, and will be discussed further in the second
chapter.63

A further seven English marriages w ere contracted with alliance building in mind, including
one Anglo -Castilian union, that of Alfonso VIII and Eleanor of England, which was
solemnised both to create an alliance, and to settle a dispute over the territory of Gascony.
The remaining six marri ages were those of Henry I and Matilda (also known as Edith) of
Scotland, Henry I and Adeliza of Louvain, Edward III and Philippa of Hainaut, Edward of
Westminster and Anne Neville, Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves, and Mary I and Philip of
Spain. The most li kely motives for the Scottish marriage were a friendship between the two
countries, and, even more importantly for Henry, a match with Matilda’s maternal family,
the House of Wessex, with the aim to further secure his position on the English throne.64 By
marrying Adeliza in 1121, Henry hoped to develop an alliance with her father, Godfrey,

59 Saul, The Three Richards , 139.
60 Saul, The Three Richards, 142.
61 Paul Strohm, England’s Empty Throne: Usurpation and the Language of Legitimation, 1399 –1422 (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 156; Mortimer, The Fears of Henry IV, 246–247.
62 Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under Queen Urraca , 25.
63 Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy , 140.
64 Lois L. Huneycutt, Matilda of Scotland: A Study of Medieval Queenship (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press,
2003), 27.

41
Duke of Lower Lorraine.65 Similarly, Edward III’s marriage to Philippa of Hainaut in 1328
aimed to connect Edward with an extensive network of new German and Dutch relative s.66
Edward of Westminster and Anne Neville ’s union was a domestic match which aimed to
reinforce an alliance between the supporters of Henry VI and his queen, Margaret of Anjou,
and Anne’s father, Richard Neville, the powerful Earl of Warwick, who had prev iously
supported the opposing king, Edward IV.67 Finally, Mary I’s marriage to Philip was intended
to restore England to the Catholic faith and assist Mary in securing and holding her throne.68
While Henry I and Edward III’s union s were political ly success ful, Mary’s marriage was
only partially successful. She was able to secure her throne, but her kingdom reverted to
Protestantism following her death. Similarly, Henry VIII’s fourth marriage to Anne of
Cleves in 1540 failed to achieve its goals. Their union w as to create an anti -Catholic, anti –
Papal alliance between England and Anne’s brother, William, Duke of Cleves, although this
time it was the marriage itself which failed, ending in an annulment the following year.69
However, t he marriage of Edward of Westm inster and Anne Neville in 1470 was a complete
failure, ending with the death of Anne’s father, Richard, in the battle of Barnet in April
1471, and of Edward in the battle of Tewkesbury in May 1471, after less than six months of
marriage.70

The Aragonese also married with the intention of creating alliances. All but two of Aragon’s
Castilian marriages were negotiated with this intention. The two marriages that were not
were those of Leonor of Castile. Her first marriage, with Jaime of Aragon, which was a total
failure, formed a part of a peace treaty, while her second marriage to Jaime’s brother,
Alfonso IV aimed to repair the damage done by her first marriage.71 Three of the four
marriages of Pedro IV, those with María of Navarre, Elinor of Portugal and Ele anor of
Sicily, were also contracted to create alliances.72

As with their English and Aragonese counterparts, Castilian monarchs were more likely to
marry to create or solidify alliances than for any other reason, with twenty -three marriages,

65 Eljas Oksanen, Flanders and the Ang lo-Norman World, 1066 -1216 (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2012), 25.
66 W. Mark Ormrod, Edward III (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011), 127.
67 Michael Hicks, Anne Neville: Queen to Richard III (Stroud: The History Press, 2007), 77 -78.
68 John E dwards, “Introduction: Carranza in England,” in Reforming Catholicism in the England of Mary
Tudor: The Achievement of Friar Bartolome Carranza, ed. John Edwards and Ronald Truman (Aldershot:
Ashgate, 2005), 3.
69 Warnicke, The Marrying of Anne of Cleves, 8.
70 Hicks, Anne Neville, 97-98.
71 Hinojosa Montalvo, Jaime II y el esplendor de la Corona de Aragón (San Sebastián: Nerea, 2006), 82.
72 Claramunt, “La política matrimonial,” 214.

42
or sixty -seven percent contracted for this reason. Six marriages were solemnised with
women from Aragon and a further six with Portugal. The overriding motivation for these
unions was the creation of alliances either against the Moorish kingdom in the southern
peninsu la, or against other Catholic, Iberian powers. This was a factor in all twelve of the
marriages with Aragonese and Portuguese women, although it was not the only factor. The
marriage, in 1109, of the future queen Urraca and Alfonso I of Aragon, aimed not o nly to
protect her right to the throne from external forces, but from the Castilian aristocracy.73 The
marriage, in 1375, of the future Juan I to Leonor of Aragon was solemnised with the hope
that it would not only allow Juan’s father, Enrique II, to concen trate on territorial expansion
into Navarre and Portugal, but it would enhance Juan’s right to rule Castile.74 Similarly the
1383 marriage of Juan I and Beatriz of Portugal was intended not only to create a Castilian –
Portuguese alliance at the expense of th e Anglo -Portuguese alliance, but as Beatriz was the
only child of Fernando of Portugal, she was an attractive prospect for Juan, who
unsuccessfully attempted to claim the Portuguese throne after the death of his father -in-
law.75 A further union, Alfonso VI’ s marriage, or concubinage, with the Moorish princess,
Zaïda, in the late eleventh century was a rare example of an inter -religious marriage and
alliance.76

Garrett Mattingly argues that Fernando II of Aragon’s predominant aim with the marriages
of his ch ildren, and also in his alliance building with the Italian states of Milan and Venice,
was to encircle France with allies loyal to Spain and Spanish interests. This was not only to
minimise the threat of a French attack, but to ensure that Fernando was fre e to pursue his
ambitions in Naples without French interference.77 Mattingly’s ideas will be further explored
in the second chapter. However, as a result of policies such as these, long -distance dynastic
marriages were rare in Europe until the nineteenth ce ntury, as monarchs sought alliances
closer to home. The studies of German historians Heinz Duchhardt and Daniel Schönpflug
confirm this. Duchhardt, in his essay “The Dynastic Marriage,” identifies four regional
marriage circles: a Western European circle, an East Central European circle, a North –
German/Scandinavian circle and a Habsburg -Italian circle, with most medieval and early

73 Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under King Alfonso VI , 357.
74 Ruiz, Spain’s Centuries of Crisis, 83-84.
75 O’Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain , 204 -205.
76 This marriage may have been a concubinage, although evidence survives to suggest that if regardless of the
status of the union, its intention was to create an allian ce between Alfonso and Al Mutamid, the King of
Seville; Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under King Alfonso VI , 235.
77 Garrett Mattingly, Catherine of Aragon (London: Jonathon Cape, 1961), 20.

43
modern dynastic marriages taking place within confines of these regions.78 Daniel
Schönpflug similarly notes a “spatial dimension ” to European dynastic marriage s, arguing
that royal families married within “specific regional marriage patterns.”79 Using the example
of the Hohenzollern family, Schönpflug demonstrates that eighty percent of the dynastic
marriages contracted by the famil y were with just seven neighbouring dynasties.80

The idea of regional marriage circles is supported by the theory that monarchs contracted
dynastic marriages for the purposes of building and maintaining alliances, and as a part of
peace treaties. Monarchs were more likely to create alliances or go to war with neighbouring
kingdoms or dynasties whose interests aligned or conflicted with their own, than with
monarchs with distant realms and few shared interests. Rulers of the Spanish kingdoms, for
example, m arried almost exclusively amongst themselves as well as with the royal families
of Portugal, southern Italy and France. Occasional marriages did occur with England, the
German states and Eastern Europe, i n particular Poland and Hungary . Similarly a large
percentage of English dynastic marriages were contracted with members of either the French
royal family or the English aristocracy. There were also occasional marriages with the royal
families of the Spanish kingdoms, including Navarre, as well as the Low C ountries, the Holy
Roman Empire and Scotland.81

While some dynastic marriages failed to achieve the aims for which they were contracted ,
others managed to result in lasting alliances or friendships between kingdoms. The union of
João I of Portugal and Phi lippa of Lancaster is perhaps the best example of a successful
dynastic marriage and alliance. In 1386 the couple were married as a part of the Treaty of
Windsor which also established an alliance between João and Philippa’s father, John of
Gaunt. Gaunt in tended to use the alliance to assist with his attempts to claim the Castilian
throne for himself. The Portuguese, on the other hand, required a strong military partnership
to offer protection from their powerful Iberian neighbours. Although Gaunt failed to
establish himself as king of Castile, the treaty between the two kingdoms was enormously
successful as it is still in force today.82 Despit e this, an alliance spanning over six centuries is

78 Heinz Duchhardt, “The Dynastic Marriage,” European Histor y Online, (2011): paragraph 8, accessed May
24, 2102, http://www.ieg -ego.eu/en/threads/european -networks/dynastic -networks/heinz -duchh ardt-the-
dynastic -marriage .
79 Daniel Schönpflug, “Dynastic Networks ,” European History Online, (2010): paragraphs 21 and 22, accessed
July 3, 2012, http://www.ieg -ego.eu/e n/threads/european -networks/dynastic -networks# .
80 Schönpflug, “Dynastic Networks,” paragraph 22.
81 See Appendices One, Two and Three.
82 Amélia P. Hutchinson, “”Os Doze de Inglaterra:” A Romance of Anglo -Portuguese Relations in the Later
Middle Ages?,” in England and Iberia in the Middle Ages, 12th – 15th Century, ed. María Bullón -Fernández
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), 167 -168.

44
unusual and the majority of dynastic marriage alliances failed to achieve much in the long –
term. Paula Sutter Fichtner has shown that it was the agreements themselves which were
inadequate, rather than the use of dynastic marriage as a diplomatic tool. She argues that
while dynastic unions “were expected to aid in knitti ng friendships together, they were not
supposed to remove every conceivable difficulty that could arise among the partners to the
wider alliance.” Further, Fichtner adds that such agreements could not foresee all
“unanticipated antagonisms, misunderstandin gs of provisions, and countless other snags”
which could arise.83 This section shows that many alliances and peace treaties based on
marriages failed to achieve the aims of the monarchs arranging them. Yet dynastic marriages
continued to be arranged with al liance building and peace treaties in mind. These unions
then were not expected to lead to alliances which would exist in perpetuity, rather they were
a part of the gradual strengthening of relationships between kingdoms and monarchs, and in
this they were undoubtedly successful.

Dynastic marriages then were an important diplomatic tool which monarchs could use in an
attempt to further their interests both domestically and internationally. Usually dynastic
marriages aimed to develop or maintain alliances, promote peace or to increase or protect
wealth, power or territory. As shown previously, the creation and maintenance of friendly
relations and alliances were factors in twenty -six Castilian marriages, twenty Aragonese
marriages and fifteen English marria ges. The increase or protection of territory , as well as
peace treaties featured less frequently in dynastic marriages. Territorial factors played a part
in eight English dynastic marriages, f our Castilian marriages and two Aragonese marriages.
Peace was a motivation in six English unions, as well as seven Castilian and three Aragonese
marriages. While these unions frequently failed in the long -term to achieve lasting peace or
enduring alliances they were often successful at satisfying these aims in the sho rt-term.
Dynastic marriages, therefore, aimed to fulfil a variety of diplomatic functions, however
there were also social criteria which were expected to be met. The eligibility criteria for
future consorts included rank, age, appearance and, increasingly, religion. The second
section of this chapter will discuss how potential spouses were selected.

83 Sutter Fichtner, “Dynastic Marriage in Sixteenth -Century Habsburg Diplomacy,” 257.

45
II. Arranging Dynastic Marriages

The process of arranging a dynastic marriage was frequently lengthy with identifying a
potential spouse from among the unmarrie d or widowed offspring and siblings of Europe’s
monarchs being the first step. As shown by the marriage tables in the first section of this
chapter , monarchs and their heirs usually married foreigners. This was for several reasons,
including the various po litical benefits mentioned above. Further, ruling dynasties, and
aristocratic families, constantly aspired to increase or, at a minimum, maintain their rank
through dynastic marriage.84 Las siete partidas lists a good family as the most important
quality th e potential wives of kings can possess as
the better her family, so much the more esteemed will he be, and the children
which he has by her will be more honoured, and held in greater
consideration… for the benefits which result from [this quality will] abi de in
the line which descends from her.85
Further the Partidas advises kings and queens on selecting husbands for their daughters:
As soon as they are of age the king and queen should endeavour to marry
them well and honourably, and, in doing this, they sho uld exert great
diligence, paying careful attention to four things. First, that those whom they
marry are persons of distinguished lineage; in order that the family from
which they are derived may become still more noble.86
The remaining three qualities pot ential husbands should have were: to be handsome and
graceful, to possess good habits, and to have a good inheritance. James VI of Scotland, later
also James I of England, gave similar advice to his son in his treatise Basilikon Doron ,
advising him to
Reme mber also that marriage is one of the greatest actions that a man doth in
all his time, especially in taking of his first wife; and if he marry first basely
beneath his rank, he will ever be the less accounted of thereafter… if a man
will be careful to bre ed horses and dogs of good kinds, how much more
careful should he be for the breed of his own loins? So shall ye in your
marriage have respect to your conscience, honour and natural weal in your
successors.87

The potential spouses of monarchs and their hei rs not only had to be of a suitable rank but
they also had to be of an appropriate religion. While this was not much of a concern prior to
the sixteenth century when the majority of Europe was Catholic, the Reformation narrowed

84 Daniel Schönpflug, “One European Fa mily? A Quantitative Approach to Royal Marriage Circles 1700 –
1918,” in Royal Kinship: British -German Family Networks, 1815 -1918, ed. Karina Urbach (Munich: K. G.
Saur Verlag, 2008), 26.
85 Alfonso X, Las siete partidas, Volume Two, 298.
86 Alfonso X, Las s iete partidas, Volume Two, 307.
87 James VI, King of Scotland, The True Law of Free Monarchies, and Basilikon Doron, ed. Daniel Fischlin
and Mark Fortier (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 1996), 140.

46
available marriage partners as Catholics frequently married fellow Catholics and Protestants
usually married Protestants.88 James I advised his son
to marry one that were fully of your own religion… For although that to my
great regret the number of any princes of power and account p rofessing our
religion be but very small, and that therefore this advice seems to be the more
strait and difficile, yet ye have deeply to weigh and consider upon these
doubts how ye and your wife can be of one flesh and keep unity betwixt you
being members of two opposite churches. Disagreement in religion bringeth
ever with it disagreement in manners, and the dissension betwixt your
preachers and hers will breed and foster a dissension among your subjects.89
James’s advice was evidently ignored by his son a nd grandson, Charles I and Charles II,
both of whom were Anglican and both of whom married Catholics. The wife of Charles I,
Henrietta Maria of France, remained unpopular in England throughout her life, in part due to
her religion.90 The marriages of Charle s I and Charles II were the last conducted by English
monarchs with members of differing religions. In the Spanish kingdoms there is only one
example of a monarch marrying a non -Catholic. At some stage in the years immediately
following 1086, Alfonso VI, K ing of Castile and León, began a relationship, either a
marriage or a concubinage, with a Muslim princess, Zaïda, the daughter (some sources state
daughter -in-law) of al -Mutamind, King of the Moorish city of Seville. It is believed,
although some doubt rem ains, that Zaïda converted to Christianity and changed her name to
Isabel. Certainly the possibility of her son Sancho inheriting the throne was opposed by
many of the kingdom’s clergy. Ultimately their protests were irrelevant as Sancho was killed
in batt le in 1108 and Alfonso VI was instead succeeded by his daughter Urraca, Sancho’s
half-sister.91

In order to fulfil the aim of producing an heir, the age of the prospective bride, in particular,
was also critical. With life expectancies low and infant mort ality high, even among the upper
classes, it was of paramount importance to the survival of the dynasty that children were
conceived quickly and often. James I advised
Neither marry ye for any accessory cause or worldly respects, a woman
unable, either th rough age, nature, or accident, for procreation of children; for
in a king that were a double fault, as well against his own weal as against the
weal of his people.92
It was therefore not uncommon for a future couple to be betrothed either as infants or ver y
young children. According to Church law the minimum age in which a marriage could be

88 Duchhardt, “The Dynastic Marria ge.”
89 James VI, Basilikon Doron, 140.
90 Michelle White, Henrietta Maria and the English Civil Wars (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006), 29.
91 Patricia E. Grieve, The Eve of Spain: Myths and Origins in the History of Christian, Muslim and Jewish
Conflict (Baltimor e: John Hopkins University Press, 2009), 59.
92 James VI, Basilikon Doron, 139.

47
consummated was twelve years for girls and fourteen years for boys.93 It appears that many
marriages were indeed consummated at these early ages. Leonor of Castile was th irteen
years old when she married the future Edward I of England in 1254. Their marriage was
immediately consummated, as their first child, a stillborn daughter, was born less than nine
months after their marriage. Mary de Bohun was approximately twelve ye ars old in 1380
when she married the future Henry IV of England, who was himself aged just fourteen years,
their first child was born less than two years later.94

After selecting a potential bride or groom who met the above criteria of appropriate lineage ,
religion, age and potential political usefulness, preliminary discussions could begin between
parties. By the late medieval and early modern periods ambassadors were generally used to
negotiate dynastic marriages and from the thirteenth century they occa sionally even
performed proxy marriages. Negotiations were frequently lengthy, not only because the
expectations of both sides had to be accounted for, but because of the amount of time taken
for ambassadors to communicate with their sovereigns. Negotiatio ns for the marriage of
Catherine of Aragon and Arthur Tudor, for example, took more than a decade, beginning
when the pair were less than four years old, with representatives continuing to argue about
the date of Catherine’s departure for England right up until she left Spain. To help deal with
the time delays caused by distance, and to attempt to gain a greater understanding of other
rulers, monarchs began to employ resident ambassadors. These ambassadors were first used
in Spain and England in the late fi fteenth and early sixteenth centuries, following a precedent
set in Italy. Between 1480 and 1500, Fernando of Aragon established resident ambassadors
in London, Brussels, Rome, Venice, and at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor.95
Fernando even briefly used his daughter, Catherine of Aragon, as a resident ambassador
while she was a widow living in London. Henry VII, likewise, employed John Stile who
resided in Spain from 1505 to 1510 and his employment was continued by Henry VIII from
1512 to 1517. Henry VII I similarly employed John Spinelly in The Netherlands early in his
reign.96 These two men, as well as the representative in Rome, were the only English
ambassadors employed by Henry VII or Henry VIII until Thomas Wolsey established
additional embassies in F rance and Venice in the 1520s.97

93 Ishbel C. M. Barnes, Janet Kennedy, Royal Mistress: Marriage and Divorce at the Courts of James V and VI
(Edinburgh: John McDonald, 2007), 3 -4.
94 Bryan Bevan, Henry IV (New Yo rk: St Martin’s Press, 1994), 7 -8.
95 Michael Jacob Levin, Agents of Empire: Spanish Ambassadors in Sixteenth -Century Italy (New York:
Cornell University Press, 2005), 6
96 Warnicke, The Marrying of Anne of Cleves, 23.
97 Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy, 160-161.

48
While ambassadors were making preliminary arrangements regarding dowries and so on, it
was common, after the fourteenth century, for the potential bride to be interviewed and for a
portrait to be exchanged. For monarchs an d their heirs who married partners they had never
before seen, portrait exchange provided not only the chance to witness what the other party
looked like, but within a culture of courtly romance, it provided the first opportunity for love
at first sight.98 Appearance was obviously an important factor, with one monarch stating in
1661 that he would “marry no one who was not beautiful.”99 Similarly both Alfonso X and
James VI advised their readers to marry attractive brides. Alfonso wrote
The more beautiful she is, the more he will love her, and the children which
he has by her will be more handsome and graceful; which is very fitting for
the children of kings, in order that they may make a good appearance among
other persons.
However he adds that it should be r emembered that beauty will fade and if a monarch had to
choose he should look for a wife who is from a good family and in possession of good habits
before concerning himself about her looks.100 Similarly James VI advised that “beauty
increaseth your love to your wife, contenting you the better with her, without caring for
others.”101 In 1505 when he was toying with the idea of remarrying, Henry VII of England
requested his ambassadors send a description of the appearance of the leading candidate,
Juana, Queen o f Naples. Their account included information such as Juana’s age, height,
body shape and general demeanour, as well as details such as the appearance of her skin,
hair, face, teeth, limbs, neck and breasts. They also included particulars such as the smell of
her breath and whether or not she had any hair on her lips.102 It is evident then that monarchs
expected their dynastic marriage partners to fulfil personal criteria, as well as to meet
diplomatic expectations.

The exchange of portraits to determine the attractiveness of potential marriage candidates,
however, was not without its own problems. Following the deaths of his first three wives,
Henry VIII sent court painter Hans Holbein to Cleves in modern Germany to paint a portrait
of his intended bride. Ho lbein was in the difficult position of having to paint an honest
likeness for Henry, while at the same time pleasing Anne’s network of supporters in Cleves.
Ultimately Holbein was unable to meet all of those expectations. Henry was repulsed by

98 Warnicke, The Marrying of Anne of Cleves, 48 – 49.
99 Francesco Giavarina, Venetian Resident in England to the Doge and Senate, January 28, 1661, in C. S. P.
Venetian (Vol. XXXII) , 243.
100 Alfonso X, Las siete partidas, Volume Two, 298.
101 James VI, Basilikon Doron, 139.
102 Report of Francis Martin, James Braybooke, and John Stile, concerning the old Queen of Naples and the
young Queen, her daughter, June 1505, in C. S. P. Spain, 359-361.

49
Anne upon he r arrival in England and their marriage was quickly annulled.103 Henry’s
daughter Elizabeth later claimed that “she [had] taken a vow to marry no man whom she has
not seen, and will not trust portrait painters.”104 Regardless of the occasional flattery of
portraits, their exchange continued to be popular for the contracting of dynastic marriages
throughout the medieval and early modern period.

Once it had been established that both parties were willing to proceed with the union,
negotiations could proceed in e arnest. Not only were marriage treaties important,
negotiations themselves could be used as political tools. Monarchs were occasionally able to
prolong discussions for their own benefit, or, more commonly, to break them off entirely if
another option prese nted itself. England’s Elizabeth I appears to have been the master of
negotiations for her own political advantage. In 1580, the Venetian ambassador in France,
Lorenzo Priuli, wrote stating
when [Elizabeth] is certain that the marriage cannot be accomplish ed she does
not abandon the negotiation, because she desires to feed the English with the
hope that she will marry in order… to avoid the election of her successor…
she could not make any declaration without giving rise to many troubles and
incurring dange r to herself.105
Similarly in 1618, James I of England attempted to negotiate a marriage between his son and
heir, the future Charles I and Anna Maria of Spain. From James’s perspective this “Spanish
Match” could bring peace between the two countries at a ti me when the Anglo -Spanish War,
which concluded in 1604, was still causing distrust.106 However, the Spanish intentions were
obviously quite different. Piero Contarini, Venetian Ambassador Extraordinary, wrote to the
Doge and Senate in Venice stating that the Spaniards
deceived [James I] with these hopes of marriage and by promising him a
considerable sum of money on this account, but that in short it was all
pretence, devoid of any intention of a matrimonial alliance, against which
there were too many objecti ons, both on account of religion, and also because
they meant to marry that princess to the king of Bohemia. The real object of
this negotiation was to benefit their affairs.107
In Scotland, Mary of Guise used similar tactics to strengthen her own alliances while Henry
VIII of England and James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran negotiated a treaty between

103 Michael Leyton, The Structure of Paintings (Vienna: SpringerVer lag, 2006), 99.
104 The Bishop of Aquila to Count de Feria, May 1559, in C. S. P. Simancas , 64-78.
105 Lorenzo Priuli, Venetian Ambassador in France to the Signory, March 12, 1580, in C. S. P. Venetian (Vol.
VII), 634.
106 See in particular; Alexander Samson, e d. The Spanish Match: Prince Charles’s Journey to Madrid, 1623
(Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2006); Glyn Redworth, The Prince and the Infanta: The Cultural Politics of
the Spanish Match (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004).
107 Piero Contarini, Venetia n Ambassador Extraordinary in England to the Doge and Senate, May 4, 1618, in C.
S. P. Venetian (Vol. XV) , 207.

50
themselves for the marriage of her infant daughter Mary, Queen of Scots. John Guy notes
that:
The treaty of Greenwich was a dead letter from the start. Mary of G uise had
no intention of honouring it; she had used the period of negotiation simply to
face down Arran and Henry VIII and to win time to build a new, more
comprehensive coalition.108
On other occasions negotiations took considerable time due to the sensitiv e nature of the
treaties which eventuated from them. Peace proposa ls and the transfer of territories were
important, not just to the dynasties involved, but to their subjects also. As such, great care
was taken during the negotiation process to ensure a sa tisfactory agreement was reached.

Dynastic marriages then were arranged to meet a variety of political and personal criteria.
From a political perspective marriages were arranged with the aim of producing a legitimate,
preferably male heir. Further, dyna stic marriages were commonly intended to create or
maintain alliances between monarchs and kingdoms, to increase or protect territory, or to
secure peace. At other times they aimed to provide recognition of a new monarch’s right to
rule or to offset the po wer of another group or individual. The frequency with which
monarch’s married in order to meet these political aims ensured that most dynastic marriages
occurred within identifiable marriage circles. Certainly Aragonese, Castilian and English
monarchs ten ded to marry with their closest neighbours. However, aside from political
criteria, it is evident from this section that personal criteria, such as the age, religion and
family of a potential bride or groom also had to be considered. Appearance, habits and
wealth were also thought to be important.

III: The Failure of Dynastic Marriage

Despite the care and attention with which dynastic marriages were arranged and their
accepted use a form of medieval and early modern diplomacy, there were occasions when a
monarch attempted to take matters into his own hands, and marry of his own accord with no
consideration for diplomatic concerns. More frequently, there were times when the
marriages themselves failed leading to a breakdown in the alliances or peace treat ies they
were contracted to reinforce. There were two examples each from England, Castile and
Aragon of monarchs, or their heirs, contracting clandestine marriages against the wishes of
their families. The majority of these unions resulted from kings marry ing their mistresses,

108 John Guy, Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005),
24.

51
presumably for love or to legitimise any children they might produce. These marriages were
generally unpopular as they could threaten the position of older children from previous
unions. Further, they often resulted in the promotion o f relatives of the new queen to
positions of power within the Court, which were traditionally filled by the aristocracy.

Both Edward the Black Prince and Edward IV contracted clandestine marriages with English
women without the knowledge or support of the ir families and advisors. David Loades
claims that Edward IV’s 1464 marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was extremely unusual in
that
[n]ever before had a ruling king of England married one of his own subjects.
The normal practice, both for rulers and potenti al rulers, had been to take a
bride from one of the princely houses of western Europe… The King of
England had taken himself off the marriage market, so no alliance could be
strengthened or peace mediated by that means.
Further he argues that the while Edw ard, the Black Prince, had married his cousin, Joan of
Kent, Edward had never become king so Edward IV’s marriage was unique.109 Undoubtedly
the most important difference in these two unions is that Edward IV was King of England at
the time of his marriage w hile Edward the Black Prince was not. However, at the time it
would have been reasonable to assume that the Black Prince would eventually inherit his
father’s crown; Edward was already thirty years old in 1361 when he married Joan, well past
the dangers of infancy and childhood. Further, Edward III, the Black Prince’s father had
been in the process of arranging a dynastic marriage for him with the wealthy heiress,
Margaret of Flanders, when the news of his union became public.110

There were four further clan destine marriages in Castile and Aragon, which resulted in
strained relationships between the kings, the nobility and the heirs who had married without
their permission. Sancho IV of Castile married, as his first and only wife, his Leonese
cousin, María of Molina in 1282 and despite pressure from the pope, refused to leave her.
Sancho’s father had previously arranged a marriage and an anti -Navarrese alliance for him
with Guillerma of Montcada, which Sancho broke in order to marry María.111 Further Pedro
I of Castile elevated his mistress María de Padilla to the position of wife, abandoning his

109 David Loades, Tudor Queens of Englan d (London: Continuum, 2009), 43.
110 Karl P. Wentersdorf, “The Clandestine Marriages of the Fair Maid of Kent,” Journal of Medieval History 5:
3 (1979): 217 -218.
111 Paulette Pepin, “A Case Study: Contract and its Consequences for the Kingdom of Castile -León,” The
Historian 75:4 (2013): 807, and Teofilo F. Ruiz, ”Unsacred Monarchy: The Kings of Castile in the Late Middle
Ages,” in Rites of Power: Symbolism, Ritual, and Politics Since the Middle Ages , ed. Sean Wilentz
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Pr ess, 1999), 126.

52
first wife, Blanche of Bourbon, just hours after marrying her in order to do so.112 Jaime I of
Aragon married, as his third wife, one of his former mistresses, Navarrese n oblewoman
Teresa Gil de Vidaure; and Pedro IV did the same thing in 1377 when he married his fourth
wife, Sibil la de Fortià.113

Similarly, Henry VIII of England elevated his mistress, Anne Boleyn , to the position of wife
and queen. He later contracted a further three times with women of his Court , according to
his own desires, and with no regard to concerns such as alliances, peace treaties or territorial
expansion. However, Henry was able to use the promise of dynastic marriage with his
daughter Mary to ma nipulate foreign policy in much the same was he could have with
negotiations for a dynastic union of his own. Seven such betrothals were negotiated on
Mary’s behalf during her father’s lifetime, although none of them resulted in a marriage.114

Considering t he precarious nature of dynasties, and the reliance on the fertility and longevity
of their members, as well as their vital role in providing a stable succession for the states
over which they ruled, it was important that all possible steps were taken to e nsure their
survival. It was, therefore, not uncommon for monarchs to attempt to annul a marriage for a
variety of reasons. The infertility of the wife, particularly if the husband had proven capable
of producing offspring with other women, was one of the more common motivations for
annulling a marriage. As Georges Duby wrote, “Marrying the daughters of kings… was
worth doing only if they produced male heirs.”115 Alfonso X of Castile, for example, married
Violante of Aragon in 1249 when she was just ten years of age. Concerned that his wife
failed to become pregnant for several years, Alfonso arranged another marriage for himself,
presumably planning to ask the pope to annul his earlier union. By the time his new bride
arrived in Castile, Violante was pregnant , and Alfonso rejected the idea of another marriage.
Violante and Alfonso ultimately had twelve children and the idea of an annulment was not
raised again.116

112 Anne J. Cruz, “The Female Figure as Political Propaganda in the Pedro el Cruel Romancero,” in Spanish
Women in the Golden Age: Images and Reality, ed. Magdalena S. Sánchez and Alain Saint -Saëns (Westport:
Greenwood Press, 1996), 73.
113 Robert Ignatius Burns, Moors and Crusaders in Mediterranean Spain (Aldershot: Variorum, 1978), 26 -27;
Núria Silleras -Fernández, “Money isn’t everything: Concubinage, Class, and the Rise and Fall of Sibilla de
Fortià, Queen of Aragon (1377 -87), in Women and W ealth in Late Medieval Europe, ed. Theresa Earenfight
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), 72.
114 John Edwards, Mary I, England’s Catholic Queen (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011), 16 –61.
115 Georges Duby, Medieval Marriage: Two Models from Twelfth -Century France (Baltimore: The John
Hopkins University Press, 1978), 49 -50.
116 Sandy Bardsley, Women’s Roles in the Middle Ages (Westport: Greenwood Press, 2007), 82 -83.

53
Marriages between members of ruling families could usually be annulled with relative ease
espec ially if they had not been consummated, or if it could be proven that the couple was
within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity, or kinship.117 Prior to 1215 the laws of
consanguinity forbade the marriage of couples more closely related than the seventh degree
(sixth cousins), while the laws of affinity forbade a widower from marrying any of his
deceased wife’s cousins to the same degree.118 Chris Given Wilson argues that the
motivation behind the consanguinity laws was to “expand the dominion of love,” or to create
more ties of kinship among people.119 However , it was often impossible to know, and
certainly to prove, who a person’s sixth cousins were, and therefore whether the marriage
fell within the prohibited degrees, especially at the lower end of the soc ial scale. In 1215 the
Fourth Lateran Council changed the rules regarding consanguinity and from then on
marriage between couples related in the fourth degree (third cousins), and closer were
forbidden.120 Marriages between more closely -related couples were still possible, but a
dispensation was required. Part of the controversy surrounding consanguineous marriages in
this period was that while the pope could grant a dispensation to marry, he, or a subsequent
pope, could also revoke it. Monarchs could therefo re use the excuse of consanguinity as a
convenient loophole to annul an inconvenient, unprofitable or childless marriage if they
desired. In 1152, the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII was annulled after
fifteen years. The union had not been a happy one and had produced only two daughters.
While it had been known that the couple was related within the fourth degree (they were
third cousins), this was overlooked at the time of their marriage. Sources vary as to who
initiated the annulment but it is clear that both Eleanor and Louis contracted second
marriages with people to whom they were also related within the rules of consanguinity.
Eleanor married Henry II, King of England who was her third cousin, while Louis married
Constance of Castile to whom he was even more closely related.121

The use of annulments highlights the significant role which dynastic marriage played in
alliance building and territorial expansion in particular. If a potential spouse became

117 Judith J. Hurwich, Noble Strategies: Marriage and Sexuality in the Zimmern Chronicle (Kirksville: Truman
State University Press, 2006), 167 -168.
118 Medieval Sourcebook: Ninth Ecumenical Council: Lateran I, 1123, Canon 5,
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/lateran1.asp
119 Chris Given Wilson and Anne Curteis, The Royal Bastards of Medieval England (London: Routledge,
1988), 30 -31.
120 Medieval Sourcebook: Twelfth Ecumenical Council: Lateran IV, 1215, Canon 50,
http:/ /www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/lateran4.asp
121 Constance Brittain Bouchard, “Eleanor’s Divorce from Louis VII: The Uses of Consanguinity,” in Eleanor
of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady, ed. Bonnie Wheeler and John Carmi Parsons (New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2002), 225.

54
available who was more capable of be ing an ally, or of providing land or money for the
dynasty, it was not uncommon, especially in the medieval period for a ruler to repudiate, or
annul the marriage of one wife in order to marry another. There were two English monarchs
who had their marriage s annulled in order to further their own interests; John and Henry
VIII. In 1176, at the time when John’s marriage to Isabel of Gloucester was arranged, he had
three elder, surviving brothers, and was considered unlikely to inherit the throne. His
marriage then, was typical of those of younger sons. Isabel was a wealthy heiress who could
provide both money and territory for John who was expected to receive no lands from his
father. After succeeding to the throne, John used the excuse of consanguinity to ann ul his
childless marriage, and claim Isabel’s lands for the crown.122 He was then able to marry
Isabella of Angoulême whose lands he wished to acquire.123 Henry VIII however, is the most
obvious , and one of the most extreme example s of a king dissolving his un wanted marriages ;
beheading two of his wives and annulling a further two unions .124 Henry was not the only
medieval or early modern monarch to get rid of an unwanted queen, although he was the
only one to have his former queens beheaded.

Annulments were mor e common in both Castile and Aragon than in England, with five
Castilian dynastic marriages ending in this manner. There were four in Aragon and a further
two attempted annulments which were not granted by the pope.125 The majority of these
annulments claime d consanguinity. Usually it was the monarch who applied for the
annulment, however, in the case of Berenguela of Castile, who had married her father’s
cousin Alfonso IX of León, the pope insisted on the separation despite appeals from both
parties.126 There were only two annulments, and two attempted annulments, in which the
king did not claim consanguinity as a motivation. Enrique IV of Castile had his marriage to
Blanca of Navarre annulled in 1453 after thirteen years of marriage. He claimed that
witchcraft had prevented him from consummating the marriage and a physical examination
of Blanca confirmed her virginity.127 Enrique’s second marriage to Juana of Portugal
produced only one daughter after six years, and her paternity was disputed. The child was

122 Wilfred L. Warren, King John (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978), 30.
123 Vincent, “Isabella of Angoulême,” 172.
124 As well as annulling his marriages to Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII also annulled his
marriage to Anne Boleyn before she was executed, an act which left his daughter, Elizabeth, illegitimate, see:
Eric Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn: The Most Happy (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004), 354 –
355.
125 The Castilian annulments were: 1. Urraca and Al fonso I of Aragon, 2. Enrique I and Mafalda of Portugal, 3.
Berenguela and Alfonso IX of León, 4. Enrique IV and Blanca of Navarre and 5. Enrique IV and Juana of
Portugal; the Aragonese annulments were: 1. Sancho Ramírez and Isabel of Urgell, 2. Alfonso ñ and Urraca of
Castile, 3. Jaime I and Leonor of Castile, and 4. Jaime II and Isabel of Castile.
126 Bianchini, The Queen’s Hand , 69.
127 Woodacre, The Queens Regnant of Navarre , 112.

55
known as Juana la Beltraneja after the man presumed to be her father, Beltran de la Cueva.
In spite of attempts to make la Beltraneja appear to look like the King, including breaking
her nose to look like his, she was ultimately excluded from the line of success ion.128 In 1464
Enrique repudiated Juana of Portugal who was banished from court and sent to live under the
care of Archbishop Alfonso de Fonseca at Alaejos.129

Further, Pedro II of Aragon tried, unsuccessfully, for seven years to annul his marriage to
Marie of Montpellier. In his initial appeal to Pope Innocent III, Pedro did claim a
consanguineous impediment to his marriage. However, he also claimed that at the time of
their union , in 1204 , Marie was married to Bernard IV, Count of Comminges, who was still
alive in 1206 when Pedro appealed for an annulment.130 In January 1213 Innocent handed
down his decision regarding the annulment. He ruled that Marie’s prior marriage to Bernard
was invalid, due to two factors; Marie and Bernard were related within the forbid den degrees
of consanguinity, and Bernard was married to another woman at the time of his marriage to
Marie.131 With Marie’s earlier marriage being declared illegitimate, no impediments
remained to her marriage with Pedro, and his appeal for an annulment was rejected.

Finally, Jaime I of Aragon refrained from claiming a consanguineous connection when he
attempted to annul his common law marriage to Teresa Gil de Vidaure. Instead, in 1265 he
appealed to Pope Clement IV to on the probably fraudulent grounds t hat Teresa had
contracted leprosy.132 Clement was outraged Jaime had asked for an annulment, and in a
letter dated 17 February 1266, refused his request, writing
[w]e are astonished at the irresponsibility and the motivation that led you to
present a petitio n contrary to God, abominable to angels, and monstrous to
men… Do you believe that, if all the queens there are throughout the whole
world became lepers, we would give kings on that account the licence to
contract marriage with other women? You know for su re that each and every
one of them would suffer a rejection, even if the royal houses were to die out
root and branch for want of issue.133

128 Stephen Brown, 1494: How a Family Feud in Medieval Spain Divided the Worl d in Half (Vancouver:
Douglas and MacIntyre, 2011), 24.
129 José Luis Martín Rodríguez, Enrique IV de Castilla: Rey de Navarra, Príncipe de Cataluña (Hondarribia:
Editorial Nerea, 2003), 199 and 211.
130 Jenkins, The Mediterranean World, 96.
131 Jenkins, The Me diterranean World, 100.
132 Burns, Moors and Crusaders , 26.
133 Pope Clement IV to Jaime I, King of Aragon, February 17, 1266, in Dissolving Royal Marriages: A
Documentary History, 860 -1600, ed. David d’Avray (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 113 -115.

56
Jaime had already had his first marriage to Leonor of Castile annulled and had taken his
cousin, Berenguela Alfonso as his mistress.134 With his second annulment unsuccessful
Jaime banished Teresa to Valencia and continued his relationship with Berenguela.

Not only were marriages annulled when the alliances they were intended to support were no
longer possible or necessar y, but it was even more common for betrothals to be broken -off
as the political situation changed. Indeed betrothals were as much a political tool as the
eventual marriages they sometimes resulted in. As mentioned earlier, the future Mary I of
England was one such pawn utilised by her father, Henry VIII and his advisors, particularly
Cardinal Wolseley, to further England’s ambitious foreign policy. Mary was just two years
old when she was first betrothed to Francis, the 6 -month -old son of Francis I of Franc e.135
By 1520 the betrothal, and the alliance it formed a part of, had been broken and Henry
instead sought a union with Mary’s maternal cousin, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, also
Carlos I of Spain. Mary was five years old at the time the betrothal was fina lised, while her
intended groom was twenty -one. Charles however, was not willing to wait almost a decade
for Mary to reach a marriageable age and instead married twenty -two-year-old Isabella of
Portugal.136 Disappointed, but undeterred, over the next twenty years negotiations took place
to marry Mary to another of her cousins, James V, King of Scotland, as well as Henri, the
Duke of Orléans, William, Duke of Cleves, Dom Luis of Portugal, and Philip, the Lutheran
Duke of Bavaria.137 Despite these numerous marria ge negotiations, Mary remained
unmarried during her father’s lifetime, and she ultimately arranged her own dynastic union
to her second -cousin, Philip II of Spain, the son of her former betrothed, Charles V, after she
ascended to the throne.

As with dyna stic marriages then, betrothals and annulments were tools of diplomacy which
monarchs could use to further their ambitions. Betrothals were used seal alliances, either
temporarily, until the political situation changed, or in the long -term if a marriage we re to
follow. Annulments, on the other hand, could be seen as a possible “escape -clause” to be
used by monarchs to put an end to marriages that were no longer meeting the expectations in
which they were contracted. Failure to provide children, the possibil ity of another, more
profitable marriage alliance or the complete incompatibility of the couple, were the most
common motivations for an annulment, with the excuse of consanguinity used to secure

134 Burns, Moors and Crusaders , 26–27.
135 Edwards, Mary I , 15.
136 Edwards, Mary I, 15 and 17.
137 Anna Whitelock, Mary Tudor, England’s First Queen (London: Bloomsbury, 2009), 29, 36, 101, and 137.

57
permission from the pope. The frequency with which monarchs attempted to annul
marriages, break betrothals, or marry according to their own desires rather than for the
benefit of the kingdom, highlight the difficulties in securing peace, alliances or territory
through the marriage of two, often previously unfamilia r, individuals. Marriages which were
unsatisfying on a personal level, as well as those which were unsuccessful in meeting the
aims which they were contracted for could fail to survive, putting the subsequent alliances at
risk. As shown in the second secti on of this chapter attempts were made to ensure that a
potential spouse was acceptable on a personal level, as well from a political perspective, in
order to avoid such a circumstance. Chapter Two will now analyse the marriages of
Catherine of Aragon and t he Tudor brothers to determine whether or not they adhere to the
now establishe d pattern of dynastic marriage.

58
Chapter II:
The Marriages of Catherine of Aragon

The dynastic marriage of Catherine of Aragon and Arthur Tudor was the result of over a
decade of negotiations which continued despite the constantly shifting alliances and political
motivations of the monarchs of Western Europe. Several times between 1488 and 1501 the
marriage alliance looked unlikely to proceed. However, the persistence of Henry VII of
England , and Fernando and Isabel of the Spanish kingdoms, and their flexibility in
reworking the marriage treaties ensured its survival. Even the deaths of Arthur in 1501, and
of Isabel in 1504 , did not prove to be insurmountable obstacles to the An glo-Spanish
alliance. This chapter will be divided into two sections. The first section will discuss the
marriages of the Tudor and Trastámara siblings . It will analyse the political motivations and
manoeuvring which led to the marriages of Isabel, Juan, J uana and María Trastámara as well
as Margaret Tudor, in order to highlight the importance of the anti -French coalition to
Spanish dynastic policy. Further , this section will argue that an Anglo -Scottish peace was
important both to Henry VII as the king of England, but also to Fernando and Isabel as
Henry’s allies. The second section , which considers the motivations for the m arriage of
Catherine of Aragon and Arthur Tudor, will examine the negotiations and the two treaties
which led to their union in 1501. I t will show that the marriage was an extension of
Fernando and Isabel’s system of western European alliance s and was central to Henry VII’s
desire to win recognition from his contemporaries of his right to the t hrone.

I: The Marriages of the Tudor and T rastámara Siblings

The foreign policy of Fernando of Aragon and Isabel of Castile in the 1480s and the early
1490s was dominated by Fernando’s desire to encircle France with allies loyal to Spain.1
Castile and France had a recent tradition of alliances an d military partnerships against
England. This was partially due to the First Castilian Civil War (1366 -69) in which the
French and the English had supported opposing Castilian kings, with the French -backed

1 Garrett Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy (New York: Cosim o Inc., 2010), 138; Ian Arthurson, “The King of
Spain’s Daughter Came to Visit Me: Marriage, Princes and Politics,” in Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales: Life,
Death and Commemoration, ed. Steven Gunn and Linda Monckton (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2009),
23.

59
monarch, Enrique of Trastámara, the eventual winne r.2 The Franco -Aragonese relationship
however, was strained, due in part, to conflicting territorial interests. The territories of
Roussillon and Cerdagne had been lost to France by Fernando’s father, Juan II, who had
entered into a military alliance with Louis IX in 1463 in order to crush a revolt by his
Catalonian subjects. Louis had insisted that payment for French support in Catalonia be
secured by the revenues of the two regions, a move which effectively granted him control
over them, as Juan was unabl e to pay what he owed.3 Despite attempts by Juan to reclaim the
territories, France invaded Roussillon’s capital, Perpignan, in 1475 and both counties came
under the full control of the French Crown.4 As well as endeavouring to secure the return of
the ter ritories, Fernando’s foreign policy aims were influenced by French interference in
Brittany and Italy during the Breton Wars (1485 -91) and the Italian Wars (1494 -1504),
particularly as the Aragonese Crown claimed territory within the Mediterranean , includi ng
Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and Naples.5

Fernando however, through his marriage to Isabel I, and his role as king consort of Castile,
was also bound to Castile’s traditional alliances and enmities. In particular, Fernando and
Isabel’s diplomatic manoeuv res had to take into consideration Portugal and the role of the
Portuguese in Isabel’s succession to the Castilian throne.6 While Fernando’s inheritance of
the Aragonese throne in 1479 was straightforward, Isabel’s rise to the throne of Castile in
1475 was not, and was only made possible due to her success in the War of t he Castilian
Succession (1475 -79). Isabel’s father, Juan II of Castile, had married twice. By his first wife,
María of Aragon, he had one surviving child, the future Enrique IV of Castile. By Isabel of
Portugal, his second wife, he had two further children: Alfonso, who died at the age of
fourteen years, and Isabel.7 Enrique IV, Isabel’s half -brother, also married twice. His first
marriage, to Blanca of Navarre, was unconsummated, and after thirteen years, was annulled.8
Two years later in 1455 Enrique married Juana of Portugal, and after seven years of marriage
a daughter was born, also named Juana. There were doubts about the legitimacy of the
younger Juana. Her mother was suspected of havi ng an affair with Beltrán de la Cueva,

2 For a detailed analysis of the Franco -Castilian and Anglo -Castilian relationships during the fourteenth century
see; P. E. Russell, English Intervention in Spain and Portugal in the Time of Edward III and Richard II
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955).
3 Alan Ryder, The Wreck of Catalonia: Civil War in the Fifteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2007), 104 -105.
4 J. N. Hillgarth, The Spanish Kingdoms, 1410 -1516, Volume II: Castilian Hegemony (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1978), 297 -298.
5 Arthurson , “The King of Spain’s Daughter Came to Visit Me,” 22.
6 Hillgarth, The Spanish Kingdoms, 537-538.
7 Luis Suárez Fernández, Isabel I, Reina, 1451 -1504 (Barcelona: Editorial Ariel, 2000), 7.
8 Elena Woodacre, The Queens Regnant of Navarre: Succession, Poli tics, and Partnership, 1274 -1512 (New
York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 111.

60
Duke of Alburquerque, and was eventually banished from court.9 The marriage was
subsequently annulled in 1468. The doubt surrounding the legitimacy of Enrique’s only heir,
as well as his inability to effectively gover n Castile, led initially to civil war and later to the
war of succession. While many Castilian nobles, as well as Isabel’s husband Fernando and
his supporters, recognised Isabel’s right to rule Castile, Juana had the support of the
Portuguese, including th e king, Afonso V, who she married in 1475.10

Within this context, the marriage of Isabel and Fernando’s eldest daughter, Isabel, to Afonso
V’s grandson, Afonso, was arranged. The treaties of Alcáçovas and Las Terçerias de Moura
(1479) laid out the terms o f the marriage and aimed to establish :
perpetual peace between us [Isabel and Fernando] and the said our kingdoms
and lordships, and our cousin, the very illustrious king of Portugal and the
Algarves on this side and beyond the sea in Africa, and his son, the illustrious
prince Dom João, and the said their kingdoms and lordships.11
To maintain peace , Afonso V agreed to renounce his rights to the Castilian throne , which he
claimed through his marriage to Juana, and to recognise Isabel I as queen. Isabel and
Fernando likewise agreed to renounce any claims they might have to the Portuguese throne.
Further, as the marriage of Afonso V and Juana had been annulled in 1478 on the grounds of
consanguinity, Juana was given the choice of entering a convent or waiting fourteen years
until Isabel and Fernando’s son, Juan, was old enough to marry, at which point she would
have to marry him. Juana chose the convent, and her Castilian supporters received pardons .12

Stabilising the relationship with Portugal was obviously a concern for Isabel and Fernando,
as they ultimately committed not one, but two daughters to the cause. The marriage of Isabel
and Afonso lasted less than a year before Afonso was killed in a horse -riding accident in
1491. What occurred next reveals the co mplex motives underpinning such marital unions.
Despite the political reasons for the marriage, it w as also a love match, and Isabel refused to
remarry on her return to Spain. Her pleas ultimately went unheeded, and she remarried in
1497, to Afonso's uncle , the newly -crowned Manuel I.13 Their union ensured the continuance
of the treaties of Alcáçovas and Las Terçerias de Moura and the friendship between Portugal
and the Spanish kingdoms. However, Isabel's own untimely death in childbirth in 1498,

9 Teofilo F. Ruiz, Spain’s Centuries of Crisis: 1300 -1474 (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007), 97.
10 William D. Phillips, Jnr., “Isabel of Castile’s Portuguese Connections and the Opening of the Atlantic,” in
Queen Isabel I of Castile: Power, Patronage, Persona, ed. Barbara F. Weissberger (Woodbridge: Tamesis,
2008), 22.
11 Treaty of Alcáçovas -Toledo (September 4, 1479), <http://avalon.law.yale.edu/15th_century/sppo01.asp >
12 Phillips, “Isabel of Castile’s Portuguese Connections,” 22.
13 François Soyer, The Persecution of the Jews and Muslims of Portugal: King Manuel I and the End of
Religious Tolerance (1496 -7) (Leid en: Koninklijke Brill, 2007), 171.

61
followed in 1500 by the death of her son, Miguel da Paz, again brought an end to the
dynastic relationship between the kingdoms. A third marriage, between Isabel’s widower,
Manuel I and her younger sister, María, was solemnised in 1500.14 It was this marriage ,
lasting seventeen years and producing ten children, including Isabel of Portugal who became
the queen consort of Spain through her marriage to her cousin, Ca rlos I , which finally
resulted in long -term peace between Spain and Portugal.

J. N. Hillgarth described F ernando and Isabel as the first Iberian rulers to systematically
creat e marriage alliances outside the peninsula.15 This statement can indeed be accurately
applied to the marriages of their son Juan, and two of their daughters, Juana and Catherine.
The same , however, cannot be said for the marriages of Isabel and María. Instead, their
marriages follow an established pattern of Castilian and Aragonese royal children marrying
into the Portuguese royal family. Isabel was the sixt eenth queen consort of Portugal. Of the
fifteen queens who had gone before her, three were Aragonese and four were Castilian.16
Further, Isabel and María’s marriages seemingly conform to a traditional method, as outlined
in chapter one, of securing peace with a warring neighbour. Together with the successful
completion of the Reconquista in 1492, their daughters ’ marriages allowed Fernando and
Isabel to pursue their diplomatic aims outside the peninsula.

Central to these aims were allia nces with the Holy Roman Empire and England, and, if
possible, with Scotland.17 In the late 1480s discussions began for the marriages of Juan,
Juana and Catherine with the children of the Habsburg emperor , Maximilian I , and Henry
VII of England. In 1490, a marriage was also suggested between Juana, Fernando’ s

14 Ana Maria S. A. Rodrigues, “For the Honor of Her Lineage and Body: The Dowers and Dowries of Some
Late Medieval Queens of Portugal,” e-Journal of Portuguese History 5:1 (2007): 10.
15 Hillgarth, The Spanish Kingdoms, 539.
16 From Aragon: 1. In 1174 Dulce, daughter of Petronilla, Queen of Aragon, married Sancho I, see; Peter
Linehan, Spain, 1157 -1300: A Partible Inheritance (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2008), 18; 2. In 1281
Isabel, daughter of Pedro III, King of Aragon, m arried Dinis, King of Portugal, see; Linehan, Spain, 1157 –
1300 , 176; 3. In 1428 Leonor of Aragon, daughter of Fernando I, King of Aragon married Duarte, King of
Portugal, see; Isabel dos Guimarães Sá, “Cousin Marriage and Well -Being among the Portuguese Ro yal Family
during the 15th and 16th Centuries,” in The Transmission of Well -Being: Gendered Marriage Strategies and
Inheritance Systems in Europe (17th-20th Centuries), ed. Margarida Durães, et al. (Bern: Peter Lang, 2009), 102.
From Castile: 1. In 1208 Ur raca, daughter of Alfonso VIII, King of Castile, married the future Afonso II, 2. In
1253 Beatriz, illegitimate daughter of Alfonso X, King of Castile, married Afonso III, 3. In 1309 Beatriz,
daughter of Sancho IV, King of Castile, married Afonso IV, 4. In 1475 Juana la Beltraneja , disputed daughter
of Enrique IV, married Afonso V. A further two women; Blanca of Castile and Constanza Manuel,
granddaughters of Castilian kings, married the future Pedro I, King of Portugal, but both of their marriages
were ann ulled before Pedro became king, see; Vicente Ángel Álvarez Palenzuela, “Relations between Portugal
and Castile in the Late Middle Ages – 13th-16th Centuries,” e-Journal of Portuguese History 1:1 (2003): 1.
17 Hillgarth, The Spanish Kingdoms, 538; William D. Phillips, Jnr., “The Frustrated Unity of Atlantic Europe:
The Roles of Spain and England,” in Material and Symbolic Circulation Between Spain and England, 1554 –
1604, ed. Anne J. Cruz (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2008), 10.

62
illegitimate daughter, born before his marriage with Isabel, and James IV, King of
Scotland.18 From a Spanish perspective, t he common factors in the negotiati ons for each of
these marriages was an alliance against France with each of the monarchs involved , and the
return of the counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne. A letter from Fernando and Isabel to their
ambassador in England, Rodrigo de Puebla in 1488 states that “[t]he principal reason why
they decide to conclude the treaty of alliance with Henry is in order that they may get back
from the King of France the said counties.”19 However, even after Charles VIII returned
Roussillon and Cerdagne to Aragonese control in 1493, Fernando and Isabel continued to
negotiate with Maximilian and Henry for dynastic uni ons between their children. The
survival of the negotiations beyond the return of the counties establishes that it was the
alliance, rather than the territorial acquisition which was main purpose of Spanish
diploma cy. Luis Suárez Fernández argues that the alliance aimed to prevent France from
establishing wider power over Europe. This was to be achieved by introducing a balance of
power to counteract French hegemony as none of the monarchs included in the anti -French
coalition had the power to oppose or sup plant France alone.20 Certainly the inclusion of
Scotland in the alliance, as well as the development of the Spanish -Portuguese relationship
supports this theory .

Alliances between each of the Spanish allies against France, therefore, were considered
essential to maintaining peace and counteracting French interference, initially in Brittany,
and later in the Mediterranean.21 A letter from the Spanish monarchs to Rodrigo de Puebla in
December 1488 stated that “[e]very means must be used to prevent Brittany f rom falling into
the power of France.”22 Both Maximilian and Henry were identified as key allies in
preventing the loss of Breton independence. This was due, in Henry’s case, to his control
over the English Channel, which was essential to the Spanish and Du tch armies both for
transportation and communication purposes.23 Further, both Maximilian and Henry hoped to
secure the marriage of the duchy’s heiress, Anne, either for themselves or one of their
countrymen. A marriage for Anne with the Duke of Buckingham, for example, was

18 Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile to Diego de Guevara and Rodrigo de Puebla,
January 1490, in C. S. P. Spanish , 26.
19 Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile to Rodrigo de Puebla, 1488, in C. S. P. Spanish ,
14.
20 Luis Suárez Fernández, Los reyes católicos: el camino hacia Europa, Volume 5 (Madrid: Ediciones Rialp,
1990), 96.
21 Suárez Fernández, Los reyes católicos, 95-96.
22 Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile to Rodrigo de Puebla, December 17, 1488, in C.
S. P. Spani sh, 18.
23 Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy, 141.

63
suggested by Henry in 1488.24 Yet i t was Maximilian who briefly secur ed the hand of Anne
of Brittany and in 1490 he and Anne were married. However, t he marriage was never
consummated and was annulled by the pope in 1492. Anne was then marr ied to Charles VIII
of France and Brittany became a province under the French Crown , revealing that marriages
could thwart Spanish foreign policy aims, as much as they might advance them .25

Negotiations for a double marriage between Fernando and Isabel’s children, Juan and Juana
and Maximilian’s children, Marga ret and Philip began in 1487 -88 before the loss of Brittany.
Again, the dynastic marriages, and the alliance they would strengthen, survived despite the
failure of what was claimed to be a key motiva ting factor for the anti -French coalition. The
immediate focus , at least from the perspective of the Spanish monarchs, shifted from
Brittany to Italy.26 Fernando, as well as being king of Aragon and consort in Castile, was the
hereditary king of Sicily and Sardinia, while his cousin and brother -in-law, Ferrante I, ruled
in Naples. Ferrante died in January 1494, and in November France invaded Italy, triggering
the Italian Wars. In 1495 Fernando, Isabel and Maximilian, as well as the pope, Alexander
VI, and th e leaders of Milan and Venice, allied themselves in the League of Venice, with the
aim of protecting the Italian states from the French invasion.27 The alliance was sealed with
marriage of Juana and Philip in 1496 and Juan and Margaret in 1497. It is imposs ible to
know with certain ty whether the marriages of the Trastámara and Habsburg children would
have gone ahead if it were not for Charles VIII’s invasion of Italy . The unions suggest that
as well as being the results of strategic planning, dynastic marria ges were also the
consequence of the circumstances and events which necessitated them. This supports the
concept that dynastic marriages were arranged for complex reasons and no single
explanation for their continued usage will suffice.

Garrett Mattingly argues that in 1496 when Henry VII joined the League , “any pretence that
[it] was just an Italian affair was dropped. It was, in fact, a European -wide coalition against
France.”28 Two attempts by Alexander, Fernando and Isabel to include João II, King of
Portugal, in the League supports the theory of an extensive anti -French alliance.29 Further

24 Rodrigo de Puebla to Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile, October 11, 1488, in C. S.
P. Spanish , 15.
25 Joachim Whaley, German and the Holy Roman Empire, Volume 1: Maximilian I to the peace of Westphalia,
1493 -1648 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 71.
26 Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy, 142.
27 Thomas James Dandelet, Spanish Rome, 1500 -1700 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), 19 -20.
28 Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy, 144.
29 Alexander IV invited João to join the League in May 1495, but he declined. The Spanish monarchs invited
him again in September 1495, and were again turned down, see; Soyer, The Persecution of the Jews and
Muslims of Portugal, 151.

64
evidence can be garnered from Fernando’s behaviour concerning an alliance between Henry
and Maximilian, and between Henry and James IV of Scotland. While England and t he Holy
Roman Empire remained at odds with each other, there were concerns that either of them
could form an alliance with France against the other. From 1495 Fernando and Isabel
consistently instructed de Puebla to attempt to reconcile Henry with Maximili an and his son
Philip, both of whom had offered support to Perkin Warbeck, the pretender to the English
throne. In 1483 , Edward IV of England died leaving as his heirs his two young sons: Edward
V and Richard, Duke of York. During the summer of 1483, short ly after their uncle, Richard
III, had them declared illegitimate, and himself crowned as king, the boys disappeared in
mysterious circumstances from the Tower of London where they had been living. Richard III
was deposed by Henry VII in 1485 , but the ques tion of what had happened to the young
princes remained. In 1490 , Perkin Warbeck, professing to be Richard, Duke of York,
claimed the throne of England. Warbeck had the support of Margaret of York, the Duchess
of Burgundy and the young princes’ aunt, which led some credibility to his claim. It is not
known whether Margaret actually believed Warbeck to be her nephew, or whether she was
simply causing trouble for Henry VII.30 Maximilian formally recognised the pretender as an
English prince in 1494, a move whi ch granted Warbeck considerable status and endangered
the Anglo -Imperial relationship.31 Further, in 1495, Warbeck sought, and was given ,
protection from James IV, ensuring that an alliance with Scotland was necessary to
guarantee peace in England. A letter of April 1496 details the concerns Fernando and Isabel
had regarding Maximilian and Philip’s public acceptance of Warbeck’s claim to be Richard
of York.
One of their daughters being about to be married to the Archduke [Philip],
and another to Prince Arthu r, it would be a most lamentable misfortune if the
husband of one sister were in arms against the husband of the other sister. To
avoid such an occurrence it was necessary to first conclude the alliances.32
Maximilian and Henry’s relationship highlights th e difficulties faced by Fernando and Isabel
in securing alliances between independent monarchs with differing political aims , and firmly
points to the significance of marriage as a tool of their foreign policy agenda . Yet it also
reveals that they were not willing to sacrifice their daughters’ loyalties and security to further
their own diplomatic goals.

30 See, for example; Ian Arthurson, The Perkin Warbeck Conspiracy, 1491 -1499 (Stroud: The History Press,
2009); Alison Weir, The Princes in the Tower (London: Random House, 2011).
31 Sean Cunningham, “National War and Dynastic Politics: Henry VII’s Capacity to Wage War in the S cottish
Campaigns of 1496 -1497,” in England and Scotland at War, c.1296 -c.1513, ed. Andy King and David Simkin
(Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, 2012), 303.
32 Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile to Rodrigo de Puebla, April 14, 1496, in C. S. P.
Spanish , 90.

65
When Henry VII came to the English throne in 1485, he inherited an Anglo -Scottish
relationship largely defined by intermittent wars, border raids, and a m utual animosity. Andy
King and Michael A. Penman claim that after 1357 it was the Scots who set the tone for
Anglo -Scottish relations . Scottish identity, they wrote, was in part determined by their
“militant patriotism,” while their foreign policy was heav ily influenced by their continuing
alliance with France against England.33 In the same period, the English were far more
concerned with France, and their policies towards Scotland were mainly aimed at subduing,
rather than conquering, their northern neighbo ur.34 Neither Henry VII, nor the Spanish
monarchs, could afford to tolerate a Scottish -backed pretender to the English throne. In
Henry’s case this was a direct threat to his right to r ule. From a Spanish perspective,
Warbeck endangered both the marriage of their youngest daughter, Catherine, with the
Prince of Wales, and the alliance it aimed to strengthen. Further, if Warbeck was successful
in gaining the English throne, it was possible that he would be influenced by Scotland’s
traditional Auld Alliance wi th France, which would in turn remove England from Spanish
political influence.

James realised Warbeck’s potential as a political pawn to be used to his own advantage
against England, and to ensure that Scotland remained within the orbit of Anglo -Spanish
diplomacy.35 Fernando and Isabel were increasingly determined to secure peace between
Henry and James, and attempted to manipulate the Scottish king into withdrawing his
support for Warbeck with the promise of a dynastic marriage. A letter from the Spanish
monarchs to de Puebla highlights the benefits of a Scottish alliance:
We learnt… that the King of Scots had some complaints to make against the
King of France, and was therefore willing to enter into alliance with us. He
wished to marry with (a daughter o f us). It seemed to us that this would be of
great advantage to the King of England, in his difficulties in his kingdom; and
we certainly wish that when our daughter is married to his son, his realms
should enjoy repose. In order that the King of Scots mig ht not assist him of
Ireland [Warbeck], and that he might set him at variance with the King of
France (which would be equally advantageous to us and to the King of
England), we deigned to send ambassadors to him, and instructed them that it
was principle b usiness to procure peace, or least a long truce, between
Scotland and England, and at the same time to detach Scotland from France.36

33 Andy King and Michael A. Penman, “Introduction: Anglo -Scottish Relations in the Fourteenth Century – An
Overview of Recent Research,” in England and Scotland in the Fourteenth Century: New Perspectives, ed.
Andy King and Michael A. Pe nman (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2007), 3.
34 King and Penman, “Introduction,” 4 -5.
35 David Dunlop, “The ‘Masked Comedian’: Perkin Warbeck’s Adventures in Scotland and England from 1495
to 1497,” The Scottish Historical Review 70: 190 (1991): 101.
36 Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile to Rodrigo de Puebla, April 26, 1496, in C. S. P.
Spanish , 96.

66
As mentioned earlier, this was not the first time that the Scottish and Spanish monarchs
discussed the idea of a dynastic m arriage. In 1490 it was suggested that James marry
Fernando’s illegitimate daughter, Juana. In the same letter in which Fernando and Isabel
gave permission for a marriage between James and Juana, they instructed de Puebla to
deceive the Scots into thinking that there was a chance they would accept a marriage
between him and one of their legitimate daughters:
If the Scots wish to have one of the Infantas of Spain they must be put off
with false hopes, because if a plain refusal were given them they might be
induced to reconcile themselves with the King of France.37
This Spanish policy of deception towards Scotland continued until 1502 when negotiations
for a dynastic marriage between James IV and Margaret Tudor were finalised. As late as July
1498 when an Ang lo-Scottish marriage was already being discussed, the Spanish
ambassador to Scotland, Pedro de Ayala wrote that “[t]he King of Scots firmly believes that
he shall marry one of their daughters.”38 Evidently Fernando and Isabel never had any
intention of marr ying one of their daughters to the Scottish king; however, for almost a
decade they were able to use the promise of a dynastic marriage to influence James IV’s
foreign policy.

Daniel Riches claims that “[s]uccessful dynastic marriage negotiations require d each side to
believe that it had something to gain from the match.”39 As shown above , it was not unusual
for monarchs to use marriage negotiations, or the promise of a dynastic marriage, to
manipulate or deceive other rulers in order to achieve their aims . In this instance Fernando
and Isabel did not need to commit to a match in order to gain from it. The Spanish
monarchs’ manipulation of James IV confirms that the proposed marriage and alliance was
of greater importance to Scotland than it was to Spain, a fact of which Fernando and Isabel
must have been aware . The situation also highlights the importance of negotiations in
dynastic marriage arrangements. In this instance, Fernando and Isabel were able to stop
Scotland from allying itself with France simply by discussing the possibility of a marriage.

It was in 1496 that Fernando and Isabel first suggested a dynastic marriage between England
and Scotland as a means of securing peace between the two kingdoms. In a letter to de
Puebla, they wrote

37 Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile to Diego de Guevara and Rodrigo de Puebla,
January 1490, in C. S. P. Spani sh, 26.
38 Pedro de Ayala to Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile, July 25, 1498, in C. S. P.
Spanish , 178.
39 Daniel Riches, Protestant Cosmopolitanism and Diplomatic Culture: Brandenburg -Swedish Relations in the
Seventeenth Century (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, 2013), 31 -32.

67
We must not deprive the King of Scots of his hope of having our daughter.
On the contrary, we must amuse him as long as possible. The King of
England might, if he likes it, propose to the King of Scots a marriage with one
of his daughters… We think that would be desi rable. Our ambassadors in
Scotland and ourselves would lend all our assistance to bring about such an
arrangement.40
In June and August 1496, Fernando and Isabel again wrote to de Puebla insisting that he
continue to delude the King of Scots, while at the s ame time attempting to broker a marriage
between James IV and Henry VII’s daughter, Margaret.41 James IV’s offer to sign a
perpetual peace treaty with England in exchange for a marriage with one of the Spanish
infantas probably only served to convince Ferna ndo and Isabel that their tactics in Scotland
were working .42

Henry VII was initially against the idea of an Anglo -Scottish marriage. In July 1499, the
Spanish ambassador in Scotland, Pedro de Ayala, recorded Henry’s thoughts on the
marriage:
I am really s orry that I have not a daughter or a sister for him [James IV]…
But I have already told you, more than once, that a marriage between him and
my daughter has many inconveniences. She has not yet completed her ninth
year of age, and is so delicate and weak t hat she must be married much later
than other young ladies. Thus it would be necessary to wait at least another
nine years.43
Further, Henry stated that his wife, Elizabeth of York, and his mother, Margaret Beaufort,
were against the union.
Besides my own d oubts, the Queen and my mother are very much against this
marriage. They say if the marriage were concluded we should be obliged to
send the Princess directly to Scotland, in which case they fear the King of
Scots would not wait, but injure her, and endang er her health.44
It was not uncommon for a parent, particularly a mother, to delay the age at which a
daughter was married. John Carmi Parsons suggests two reasons for this: the first was to
give girls time to learn from their mothers all that they needed t o know in order to represent
their natal family in a dynastic marriage alliance.45 Secondly, in what was the more pertinent

40 Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile to Rodrigo de Puebla, April 26, 1496, in C. S. P.
Spanish , 97.
41 Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile to Rodrigo de Puebla, June 21 , 1496, in C. S. P.
Spanish ,105; Isabel I, Queen of Castile to Rodrigo de Puebla, August 18, 1496, in C. S. P. Spanish , 115-116.
42 Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile to Rodrigo de Puebla, June 21, 1496, in C. S. P.
Spanish , 105.
43 Pedro de Ayala to Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile, July 25, 1498, in C. S. P.
Spanish , 176.
44 Pedro de Ayala to Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile, July 25, 1498, in C. S. P.
Spanish , 176.
45 John Carmi Par sons, “Mothers, Daughters, Marriage, Power: Some Plantagenet Evidence, 1150 -1500,” in
Medieval Queenship, ed. John Carmi Parsons (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1998), 75.

68
factor with regards to Margaret Tudor, was a concern that the marriage would be
consummated before the bride had reached a level of p hysical maturity to handle any
resulting pregnancy and childbirth.46 Margaret Beaufort was particularly aware of the
dangers of consummating a marriage at a young age. Married to Edmund Tudor at twelve,
Margaret gave birth to her first and only child aged j ust thirteen years. Modern historians
have suggested that Margaret’s youth and lack of physical development resulted in a
traumatic birth which caused extensive physical damage and rendered her incapable of
having further children.47 There were other record ed occasions when parents delayed the
marriages of their daughters out of concern for their safety. Eleanor, eldest daughter of
Edward I of England, for example, was betrothed at the age of eleven years to the future
Alfonso III of Aragon. The marriage nev er took place as Edwa rd, together with his wife,
Leonor of Castile, and his mother Eleanor of Provence, refused to send the young Eleanor to
Spain claiming that she was not old enough to marry.48 It is entirely plausible therefore that
Henry VII, together w ith Elizabeth of York and Margaret Beaufort , was acting out of a
genuine concern for t he younger Margaret’s welfare by delaying a potential union with the
Scottish king. Instead, Henry pushed for a marriage between James IV and Fernando and
Isabel’s daught er, sixteen -year-old María, their only daughter who remained both unmarried
and un -betrothed. However, following the Truce of Ayton (1497) and the defeat and
eventual execution of Warbeck, the ambassadors reported that Henry was warming to the
idea of the marriage, and by January 1502 the marriage alliance between the two kingdoms
was concluded.49

The marriages of the Trastámara siblings and Margaret Tudor highlight the concerns, both
diplomatic and personal, which monarchs had to consider when arranging b eneficial
dynastic unions for their children. From a diplomatic perspective the marriages of Isabel,
María and Margaret apparently conform to an established method of securing peace between
warring neighbours. The marriages of Juan and Juana similarly foll ow a traditional pattern of
using dynastic marriage to strengthen alliances. When considered together, these marriages
further highlight Fernando and Isabel’s foreign policy aims, and demonstrate how dynastic
marriages could be used to advance diplomatic g oals. The unions of Margaret, Juan and

46 Parsons, “Mothers, Daughters, Marriage, Power,” 68.
47 Michael K. Jones and Malcolm G . Underwood, The King’s Mother: Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of
Richmond and Derby (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 40; Kim D. Philips, Medieval Maidens:
Young Women and Gender in England, c.1270 -c.1540 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003), 38 –
39.
48 Philips, Medieval Maidens, 40; Jennifer Ward, Women in England in the Middle Ages (London: Hambledon
Continuum, 2006), 55.
49 Stanley B. Chrimes, Henry VII (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), 284.

69
Juana were a part of a wider strategy of anti -French alliances and involved considerable
planning and diplomatic manoeuvring. The second section of this chapter will analyse the
negotiations for Catherine’s marriages with Arthur and Henry Tudor to determine whether
these unions follow a similar pattern.

II. The Marriage s of Catherine of Aragon and Arthur and Henry Tudor

Henry VII had been king for less than three years when he suggested a marriage between his
then t wo-year-old son, Arthur, and one of Fernando and Isabel’s daughters. For Henry who
had only recently won his throne, the marriage was an important step towards the public
acceptance of his dynasty from his European counterparts.50 Henry VII, however, was no t
the first English king to attempt a dynastic alliance with Fernando and Isabel. In 1476 or
1477 Edward IV suggested a marriage between his eldest son, Edward and the Spanish
infanta, Isabel.51 Further, in 1479 he proposed an additional marriage between hi s daughter
Catherine, and Juan, Prince of Asturias, Fernando and Isabel’s only son.52 As a former rival
claimant to the throne, Edward IV , like Henry, was eager to marry his children to members
of Europe’s established dynasties. From 1475 until his death in 1483 Edward discussed and
negotiated marriages for his two sons and four of his eldest daughters with continental ruling
families . By 1480 , Edward’s focus had shifted away from Spain, and he was negotiating
what would have been an advantageous marriage fo r his heir with Anne of Brittany.53 Eight
years later, in April 1488, the Spanish ambassadors Rodrigo de Puebla and Juan de
Sepulveda were in London to begin the process of negotiating the marriage of a new heir
with the youngest of the Spanish infantas, Ca therine. These negotiations resulted in the
treaty of Medina del Camp o which was ratified on 26 March 1489 by Fernando and Isabel
and in September 1490 by Henry VII.54 The marriage treaty was renewed and ratified, with
some alterations, in 1496.55

50 John M. Currin, “England’s I nternational Relations 1485 -1509: Continuities Amidst Change,” in Tudor
England and Its Neighbours, ed. Susan Doran and Glenn Richardson (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005),
31.
51 Charles Ross suggests the marriage was discussed in the winter of 1476; Charles Derek Ross, Edward IV
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974), 246; Anthony Goodman, on the other hand, argues the
marriage was first raised in 1477; Anthony Goodman, “England and Iberia in the Middle Ages,” in England
and her Neighbours, 1066 -1453, Essays in Honour of Pierre Chaplais, ed. Michael Jones and Malcolm Vale
(London: The Hambledon Press, 1989), 93.
52 Goodman, “England and Iberia,” 93.
53 Ross, Edward IV, 246-247.
54 “Treaty of Medina del Campo (March 28 -29, 1489),” in C. S. P. S panish , 21-24.
55 “Treaty between Henry VII, King of England and Fernando II, King of England and Isabel I, Queen of
Castile (October 1, 1496)” in C. S. P. Spanish , 129-130.

70

The trea ty of Medina del Campo contained twenty -five clauses outlining the marriage, the
dowry , and the military alliance and friendship between England, Castile and Aragon.
Almost all of the clauses were debated and disputed by either Henry or Fernando and Isabel
at some stage during the negotiation process. The dowry and the alliance against France
were issues which were frequently raised, and both were to have lasting consequences either
for Catherine or the Anglo -Spanish relatio nship. In a letter dated 6 July 1488, de Puebla
wrote to Fernando and Isabel, stating that the marriage portion “is expected to be 200,000
gold scudos, every scudo to be of the value of 4s 2d.”56 The amount of money to be paid was
obviously discussed at some length by the ambassadors and c ommissioners, yet despite
Fernando and Isabel’s insistence that the marriage portion be as low as possible, in the
ratified treaty of 1489, the marriage portion was indeed 200,000 gold scudos. Spanish
diplomat Pedro de Ayala recognised Henry’s fascination with money, writing to his
employers in 1498 that “he is not a great man. Although he professes many virtues, his love
of money is too great.”57 It is likely, therefore, that the marriage portion was non -negotiable
from Henry’s perspective. The 1496 treaty stated that one half of the marriage portion was to
be paid within ten days of the marriage ceremony, with a further 50,000 scudos paid the
following year, and the remaining 50,000 the year after that.58 Although de Puebla was
instructed in 1496 to stipulat e the return of the money in case the marriage was to be
dissolved for any reason, the se details were not included in the treaty.59

While the general treaty of alliance proposed between England and the Spanish kingdoms
remained, in essence, the same, the c lauses relating to France changed significantly from
1489 to 1499. The 1489 treaty, for example, included five clauses relating to France. The
clauses established that Henry VII would not conclude peace, an alliance, or develop any
treaties with France wit hout the approval of Fernando and Isabel, who promised to do the
same on their side. Similarly, the treaty established that whenever Fernando and Isabel were
to make war against France, Henry would do the same; the converse was also true, while

56 Rodrigo de Puebla to Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile, July 6, 1488, in C. S. P.
Spanish , 4.
57 Pedro de Ayala to Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile, July 25, 1498, in C. S. P.
Spanish , 178.
58 “Treaty between Henry VII, King of England and Fernando II, King of England and Isabel I, Quee n of
Castile (October 1, 1496)” in C. S. P. Spanish , 129.
59 Fernando II, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile to Rodrigo de Puebla (extract draft), in C. S. P.
Spanish , 125; “Treaty between Henry VII, King of England and Fernando II, King of Engl and and Isabel I,
Queen of Castile (October 1, 1496)” in C. S. P. Spanish ,129-130.

71
neither sid e would help France in a war against the other.60 The exception was clause eight
which stated
In case the King of France voluntarily restore Normandy and Aquitaine to
England, Henry shall be at liberty to conclude peace with him without the
consent of Spain ; or in case the King of France restore Roussillon and
Cerdagne to Spain, then, Fernando and Isabel shall be at liberty to make
peace with him without the consent of England.61
This, of course was exactly what happened, at least as far as Fernando and Isab el were
concerned. In January 1493 , Charles VIII of France returned Roussillon and Cerdagne to
Aragon on the proviso that Fernando remain neutral during Charles’s planned invasion of the
Italian kingdoms.62 As discussed earlier in this chapter, the return o f the territories to Aragon
was one of Fernando’s principle foreign policy goals in the 1480s and early 1490s. Once
they were returned to Aragonese possession, Fernando was, at least for a time, willing to
enter into an alliance with France. However, t here was no chance that Charles VIII would
willingly return Aquitaine and Normandy to English possession. Nor was Henry in any
position to fight for their return. Nevertheless, John Currin claims that Henry was honour –
bound to attempt to recover the lost terri tories, while Charles VIII and his successor Louis
XII, were equally compelled to protect them. The best Henry could realistically hope for
from the French king was compensation, and in 1490 he made financial reimbursement his
condition for peace between t he two kingdoms.63 By the treaty of Étaples (1492) , therefore,
the French agreed to pay Henry an annual pension of 50,000 crowns, and to cease support
for Perkin Warbeck. In return Henry agreed to recognise French control of Brittany.

The January 1493 trea ty of Barcelona which returned Roussillon and Cerdagne to Aragon
also stated that Spain was to enter into an alliance with France against their former allies.
The second clause stated that
Fernando and Isabel bind themselves to assist the King of France a gainst all
his enemies, without exception, and in particular against the English, who are
old foes of the French, and the King of the Romans and the Archduke Philip,
as long as they shall be at war with the said King Charles.
They further agreed
Not to con clude, or permit to be concluded, any marriage of their children
with any member of the Royal family of England, or of the King of the

60 “Treaty of Medina del Campo (March 28 -29, 1489),” in C. S. P. Spanish , 22.
61 “Treaty of Medina del Campo (March 28 -29, 1489),” in C. S. P. Spanish , 22.
62 A. J. Grant, The French Monarchy, 1483 -1789, Volume One (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2013), 18.
63 John M. Currin, “Persuasions to Peace: The Luxembourg -Marigny -Gaguin Embassy and the State of Anglo –
French Relations, 1489 -90,” The English Historical Review 113: 453 (1998): 903 -4.

72
Romans, or in general with any enemy of France, without previously
obtaining the express permission and consent of the Ki ng of France.64
In January 1493 , it may have been difficult to imagine the marriage of Catherine and Arthur
occurring at all. Yet the Anglo -Spanish alliance survived, and negotiations for the marriage
continued, presumably without the permission of Charles VIII who was focused on his
Italian plans. The durability of the alliance in the face of changing political circumstances
highlights its importance to both parties. Certainly from Henry’s perspective, the marriage
was indispensable. He had initially sought the union as a means to show continental
recogniti on of his right to rule England, for the marriage to fail before it was solemnised,
particularly while there was an active pretender championing his own rights to the throne ,
would have been catastrophic f or Henry’s diplomatic ambitions . There was also the financial
benefit promised by the outcome of negotiations regarding the Spanish princess’s dowry.
Further, from the limited range of potential brides available amongst England’s traditional
dynastic marri age partners, a daughter of the Spanish monarchs was the best option for
Arthur. The French king, Charles VIII , had no surviving daughters, and his two sisters, Anne
and Jeanne, were both married by 1476. His successor, Louis XII had two daughters, Claude
and Renée, but they were too young, born in 1499 and 1510 respectively. Maximilian I had
only two legitimate children: Philip and Margaret, who were already betrothed to Fernando
and Isabel’s children. The Scottish king, James IV, was as yet unmarried, and had no
children of his own; he also had no sisters, only two brothers.

Catherine of Aragon and Arthur Tudor were married on 14 November 1501 in Saint Paul’s
Cathedral, London, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry Deane. The couple had already
been mar ried twice by proxy, the first time on 19 May 1499 in England, with ambassador de
Puebla acting as proxy for Catherine. From the thirteenth century proxy marriages
increasingly became a part of marriage negotiations. Often performed by ambassadors, they
were used to ensure marital security, and to provide reluctant parents with peace of mind
before they sent their daughters off to be married.65 It was not uncommon for more than one
proxy marriage to be performed. One would be held at the conclusion of the ne gotiations,
and another, if necessary, when the parties to be married reached a marriageable age.
Catherine and Arthur’s first proxy marriage was contracted per verba de prasenti, and was
therefore considered indissoluble.66 Despite this, Fernando and Isabe l wrote to de Puebla in
August 1500 requesting a second proxy marriage once Arthur had reached the canonically

64 “Treaty of Barcelona (January 8, 1493),” in C. S. P. Spanish , 43.
65 Warnicke, The Marrying of Anne of Cleves, 103.
66 Witness to the marriage ceremony of Arthur, Prince of Wales, to Catherine, Princess of Wales, (May 19,
1499), in C. S. P. Spanish , 209-210.

73
acceptable age for marriage, and refusing to send Catherine to England until it had been
performed.67 It is possible that Fernando and Isabel were attempting to delay Catherine’s
departure for England by requesting another proxy marriage. However, it is more likely that
they were hoping to ensure that in the future Arthur’s status as a minor at the time of his first
proxy marriage could not be used to invalidate the union.

Following their marriage , the young couple travelled together to Ludlow Castle in the Welsh
Marches, where they were to live while Arthur performed his duties as the Prince of Wales.
It was at Ludlow Castle that Arthur died on 2 A pril 1502 after less than five months of
marriage. Various causes of death including tuberculosis, plague, sweating sickness,
influenza, pneumonia, an unknown wasting disease and testicular cancer have all been
proposed.68 While the cause of Arthur’s death is unknown , it is certain that the disease was
fast-acting, and he had likely been in good health until a short time before his death. None of
the Spanish ambassadors had made any mention of Arthur suffering from ill health in their
correspondence with Fer nando and Isabel. In 1488, before Arthur had reached his second
birthday, the ambassadors, de Puebla and Sepulveda, were invited to view the young prince
naked, and later while he slept, so that they might inform the Spanish monarchs of his
appearance. De Puebla later wrote that Arthur “appeared to us so admirable that, whatever
praise, commendation, or flattery any one might be capable of speaking or writing could
only be the truth in this case.”69 Arthur was only a toddler at this stage so any illness may not
yet have been apparent. H owever de Puebla made no mention in any of his later
correspondence of Arthur being weak or ill . Similarly, in September 1497 the Milanese
ambassador to England, Raimondo de’Raimondi, wrote to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan,
describing Arthur as “about eleven years of age, but taller than his years would warrant, of
remarkable beauty and grace and very ready in speaking Latin.”70 Despite his apparent
health at the time of his marriage, Arthur died, and with his death the Anglo -Spanish alliance
was again imperilled.

67 Fernando I, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile to Rodrigo de Puebla, August 13, 1500, in C. S. P.
Spanish , 241.
68 See for example; Elizabeth Lane Furdell, The royal doctors, 1485 -1714: medical personnel at the Tudor an d
Stuart Courts (New York: University of Rochester Press, 2001), 23; Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII
(London: Pimlico, 1991), 37; Frederick Hepburn, “The Portraiture of Prince Arthur and Katherine of Aragon,”
in Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales: life , death and commemoration, ed. Steven Gunn and Linda Monckton
(Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2009), 39; David Loades, Henry VIII and his Queens: Church, Court and
Conflict (Sutton: Stroud, 2000), 19; Robert Hutchinson, Young Henry: The Rise of Henry VIII (New York: St
Martin’s Press, 2012), 60 -61.
69 Rodrigo de Puebla to Fernando I, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile, July 15, 1488, in C. S. P.
Spanish , 241.
70 Raimondo de’Raimondi, Milanese ambassador to England, to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan , September 8,
1497, in C. S. P. Milanese , 322.

74

Considering the length of time taken to arrange Catherine and Arthur's marriage , the
importance Fernando and Isabel placed on the Anglo -Spanish alliance , and the precedent
they had established with the Portuguese marr iages of Catherine’s older sisters, Isabel and
María, it is unsurprising that upon hearing of Arthur's death , they immediately suggested a
marriage and alliance between Catherine and the new Prince of Wales, Henry. In 1501 the
French king, Louis XII, had i nvaded Italy. The invasion began as a joint Franco -Spanish
military operation with the aim of dividing the spoils between Louis and Fernando .71
However, the monarchs argued over how to divide the territories they had conquered, and by
July 1502 Isabel wrote to her ambassador, the Duke of Estrada, that the French king was
intending to invade and conquer the county of Roussillon. In what at first glance appeared to
be a replay of the diplomatic manoeuvring of the 1480s and 1490s, Isabel reiterated the
importan ce of an alliance with England.72 In this case though, it was Henry VII who had the
upper hand. Not only was the Spanish infanta in England and not in the custody of her
parents, but there were rumours that the French were also seeking a n alliance and a dynastic
marriage with the young Prince Henry .73 Fernando and Isabel ’s proposed Anglo -Spanish
alliance aimed to safeguard the t erritories threatened by France, Roussillon and the Spanish
territories in Italy, and the former English duchies of Gascony and Norma ndy in France.

Before any new marriage could be agreed upon, there remained the question of Catherine’s
dowry. The treaties which preceded Catherine and Arthur’s marriage made no mention of
was to happen should Arthur die before the birth of any heirs, a curious oversight
considering Fernando and Isabel’s son Juan had died in similar circumstances in 1497.74
Letters between Fernando and Isabel and their ambassadors, de Puebla and the Duke of
Estrada, suggest that the Spanish monarchs were relying on an esta blished precedent based
on canon and civil law to secure the return of the 100,000 scudos already paid for
Catherine’s do wry. In June 1502 they wrote to the Duke of Estrada stating
[t]he marriage being dissolved, the dowry returns to the fat her and mother
who gave it … this is clearly stated both in canon and civil law… Therefore,
not only are we not bound to pay the King of England that which still remains
unpaid of the dowry, but he is obliged to pay back to us what he has already
received of the dowry.75
Two months later, in August, Isabel again wrote to Estrada .

71 Robert Knecht, The Valois: Kings of France, 1328 -1589 (London: Hambledon Continuum, 2007), 128.
72 Isabel I, Queen of Castile to Fernando, Duke of Estrada, July 12, 1502, in C. S. P. Spanish , 272.
73 Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII , 40.
74 Suárez Fernández, Los reyes católicos, 149-150.
75 See, for example; Fernando I, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile, to Fernando, Duke of Estrada,
June 16, 1502, in C. S. P. Spanish , 271.

75
Of a truth, a thing of such a kind as is asserted by the King of England was
never before seen or heard of, or demanded; and it has excited so much
surprise in us that we can hardly believe he has said it… If [Henry VII]
should refer to the treaty, then you shall say that since all the laws oblige him
to make restitution of the marriage portion, and of this there is no doubt, he
must point out the article of the treaty which says that, in this case, he is not
bound to make restitution of the portion. Such an article is not to be found in
it.76
It seems likely then, that from Fernando and Isabel’s perspective at least, it was not thought
necessary to add a death clause to treaty which arranged Catherin e and Arthur’s marriage.
There were already laws and established social expectations which determined what should
happen to the dowry if the marriage were to be dissolved by the death of the husband.

In 1488, early in the negotiation process, Fernando an d Isabel instructed de Puebla to ensure
that Catherine’s dower payments, which amounted to one third of the revenues of Wales,
Cornwall and Chester, be held for the duration of her life, even in the event that the marriage
were to be dissolved by Arthur’s death.77 Despite this request, neither the 1489 treaty of
Medina del Campo, nor any of the subsequent versions of the marriage treaty, made any
mention of the payments being held for life. It is likely, considering his love of money and
his refusal to repay the marriage portion, that Henry VII was unwilling to make such a
commitment. In May 1502, after receiving news of Arthur’s death, Fernando and Isabel sent
Fernando, Duke of Estrada to London with two sets of instructions. The first set requested
Estrada guarantee the return both of Catherine and her marriage portion. He was also to
secure Catherine’s share of the revenues of Wales, Cornwall and Chester from Henry.78 The
second set of instructions empowered Estrada to negotiate a second marriage between
Catherine and the young Prince Henry, as well as to settle the financial terms of this second
union.79 For Fernando and Isabel the continuation of the matrimonial alliance with England
was of vital importance, especially with Louis XII threatening Spanish terr itorial interests.
Their main aim therefore in sending the Duke of Estrada to England was to negotiate for a
continuation of the alliance, and the instructions demanding the payment of one third of the
revenue of the agreed -upon regions, and the repayment of the marriage portion was part of a
strategy to secure the second marriage.80

76 Isabel I, Queen of Cas tile, to Fernando, Duke of Estrada, August 10, 1502, in C. S. P. Spanish , 279.
77 Fernando I, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile, to Rodrigo de Puebla, 1488, in C. S. P. Spanish ,
13.
78 Fernando I, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile, t o Fernando, Duke of Estrada, May 10, 1502, in
C. S. P. Spanish , 267.
79 Fernando I, King of Aragon and Isabel I, Queen of Castile, to Fernando, Duke of Estrada, May 10, 1502, in
C. S. P. Spanish , 267.
80 Loades, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, 17.

76

The fact that the matrimonial alliance endured beyond Arthur’s death, despite the mistrust
which developed between Henry, Fernando and Isabel during the negotiations for the se cond
marriage, suggests how important the alliance was for the Spanish monarchs’ anti-French
coalition. From Henry’s perspective an Anglo -Spanish marriage was also valuable, both as a
means to secure Catherine’s outstanding dowry payment and to maintain th e alliance
between the two kingdoms. Yet it also points to the shifting motivations for unions between
ruling families. It seems likely that by this point Henry was no longer using dynastic
marriage with Spain as means to gain recognition of his right to r ule from an established
dynasty. By 1502 , Henry had ruled England for seventeen years and his reign had managed
to withstand the threat posed by two pretenders in the previous century. Further, the
marriage of his daughter, Margaret, and the Scottish king, James IV had just been arranged
and the French had expressed interest in a marriage alliance with the new Prince of Wales,
indicating that his tenure of the English throne was already well established.

On 11 February 1503, her thirty -seventh birthday, Elizabeth of York died as a result of
complications from the birth of her seventh child. Shortly after her death a rumour reached
Fernando and Isabel in Spain that a marriage had been suggested, possibly by de Puebla,
between Catherine and the newly widowe d Henry VII. While the idea may have appealed to
Henry, it shocked Isabel, who wrote to the Duke of Estrada advising him to ensure it did not
take place. She wrote
[T]his would be a very evil thing, – one never before seen, and the mere
mention of which of fends the ears, – we would not for anything in the world
that it should take place… You must likewise say very decidedly that on no
account would we allow it, or even hear it mentioned.81
Isabel argued that the match with Henry, Prince of Wales would be je opardised if Henry VII
were to persist with the idea of marrying his former daughter -in-law. It was the younger
Henry with whom Catherine was to marry and no other. While Henry VII’s actions can be
described as unusual, they do add weight to Catherine’s as sertion that her marriage to Arthur
was never consummated. It is unlikely that Henry would agree to a marriage with his
deceased son’s wife if he believed there was a chance t hey had consummated their union,
unless of course Henry was willing to again cont ravene canon law in order to keep
Catherine’s dowry. Marrying his son’s widow however, does seem like an extraordinary step
to take. The idea was quickly dropped and negotiations continued for Catherine’s marriage
to Prince Henry.

81 Isabel I, Queen of Castile to Fernando, Duke of Estrada, April 11 and 12, 1503, in C. S. P. Spanish , 295.

77

On 23 June 1503 , a new treaty and marriage alliance between Henry VII and Fernando and
Isabel was agreed upon. The treaty of Richmond allowed for the betrothal of Catherine with
Henry, Prince of Wales and several days later, despite Henry still being a minor, the couple
were mar ried by proxy.82 However, there was still the problem of the dispensation from the
pope. The first clause in the marriage treaty stated that by her union with Arthur, Catherine
was now related to Henry, Princ e of Wales, within the first deg ree as “her marri age with
Prince Arthur was solemnised according to the rites of the Catholic Church, and afterwards
consummated.”83 The clause contradicts both Henry VII’s actions in suggesting that a
marriage between himself and Catherine was possible, and Fernando and Is abel’s articulated
belief that the union had not been consummated. In a 1503 letter to Francisco de Rojas, his
ambassador in Rome, Fernando wrote
[A]lthough they were wedded, Prince Arthur and the Princess Katharine
never consummated the marriage. It is w ell known in England that the
Princess is still a virgin. But as the English are much disposed to cavil, it has
seemed to be more prudent to provide for the case as though the marriage had
been consummated… The right of succession depends on the undoubted
legitimacy of the marriage.84
Pope Julius II was also unsure as to whether or not Arthur and Catherine had managed to
consummate their marriage, as the dispensation he granted stated that the union had
“perhaps” been consummated. Despite this lack of certai nty, the dynastic alliance between
England and the Spanish kingdoms was again renewed.

In November 1504, Isabel of Castile died, and her throne was inherite d by her eldest
surviving child, Juana. Catherine’s status was lowered from that of a princess of S pain, to a
princess of Aragon. Then, in June 1505 Henry, Prince of Wales protested his betrothal. He
stated that as the proxy marriage had been contracted during his minority, he would not
ratify it and it was therefore void.85 Catherine was unaware of the protest and Henry
continued to refer to her as his wife. Henry A. Kelly suggests that the protest was in case
there was a dispute over Catherine’s dowry.86 However, considering it came less than a year
after the death of Isabel, it is possible that it was a reaction to Catherine’s reduced status as a
sister, rather than a daughter, of the queen of Castile. Catherine later wrote to her father
about a delay in paying the marriage portion, which he attributed, in part, to Isabel’s death.

82 Currin, “England’s International Relations,” 32.
83 “Treaty of Richmond (June 23, 1503),” in C. S. P. Spanish , 306.
84 Fernando II, King of Aragon to Francisco de Rojas, August 23, 1503, in C. S. P. Spanish , 309.
85 Henry Ansgar Kelly, The Matrimonial Trials of Henry VIII (Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2004), 105.
86 Kelly, The Matrimonial Trials, 105.

78
She argued that “as lon g as the marriage portion is not paid, [Henry VII] does not think
himself and the Prince bound by the marriage contract.”87 By 1508 Fernando was also
having second thoughts about the marriage and Henry VII’s worth as an ally. Henry’s
constant demands that t he remaining 100,000 scudos of Catherine’s dowry be paid, must
have been a source of irritation for Fernando.

In 1508 and 1509 before the death of Henry VII, it seemed unlikely that Catherine and
Henry’s marriage would ever occur. Mistrust had developed between King Henry and
Fernando, and with Spain now allied with the French against Venice, the anti -French
alliance was no longer relevant. However, in April 1509, Henry VII died of tuberculosis and
was succeeded by his son as Henry VIII. Finally, in June 1509 Henry and Catherine married.
From Henry’s perspective, and that of his councillors, it was i mperative that he marry
quickly, as he had neither brothers, nor sons to continue his line should he perish. Catherine
though, was not the only potential bride on offer for Henry. The Emperor Maximilian, for
example, had been promoting a marriage with his granddaughter, the eleven -year-old
Eleanor of Austria. Two major theories have been proposed as to why Henry chose to marry
Catherine instead of any other brid e. Firstly, Henry wanted to establish an anti -French
alliance with Fernando, and secondly, that he had fallen in love with Catherine and he
married her because he wanted to .88 While kings generally married for political reasons,
there were instances, as dis cussed in Chapter One, of monarchs and their heirs marrying for
love or lust . Henry’s grandfather, Edward IV provided one example. Henry’s later marriages
to Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr suggest that love
might have featur ed as prominently in his selection of marriage partners as much as a need
for civil stability and diplomatic considerations. It is therefore not unlikely that he married
Catherine because he desired her . Further, given the need to marry to ensure the succe ssion
through the birth of an heir, the age of Eleanor of Austria would have been a concern. In
contrast, on the basis of age at least , Catherine was perfectly capable of producing an heir.

Henry VII and Fernando and Isabel, therefore , each attempted to f urther their diplomatic
interests through the dynastic marriages of their children. Henry’s aims were less
complicated than those of his Spanish counterparts, and he was ultimately successful in
securing them, despite the political setbacks caused by the d eath of his eldest son. Henry
intended to use the dynastic marriages of his children Arthur and Margaret, and later Henry,

87 Catherine, Princess of Wales, to Fernando II, King of Aragon, September 7, 1507, in C. S. P. Spanish , 426.
88 David Starkey, The Reign of Henry VIII: Personalities and Politics (London: Random House, 2002), 34;
Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, 69-70.

79
in order to achieve five main aims. Firstly, he needed the recognition of his continental
contemporaries of his right to rule England . Secondly, Henry wanted a general alliance with
a strong western European power. Thirdly, he needed an alliance against the pretender to the
throne, Perkin Warbeck, or at the very least, a refusal by the other European monarchs to
recognise him as the rig htful heir to the throne. The fourth motivation was peace with
Scotland. Finally, Henry evidently intended to profit financially from the union s.

From an English perspective, the marriage of Catherine and Arthur was initially a success.
Henry VII did ind eed achieve recognition of his right to rule, and he was able to maintain an
alliance with the Spanish monarchs. Perkin Warbeck was captured and executed after the
eventual refusal by Charles VIII, Maximilian I, Philip of Burgundy, and James IV to
recognis e or assist him. Peace with Scotland was secured, at least for Henry VII’s lifetime
and the marriage of James Stuart and Margaret Tudor ultimately led to the union of England
and Scotland under their great -grandson, James I and VI. Finally, Henry managed t o secure a
dowry of 200,000 scudos from Fernando and Isabel , 100,000 of which were paid before
Arthur died. He managed to retain the money following the dissolution of the first marriage ,
although the 100,000 which had been paid was transferred to Catherin e’s second dowry.
Further, he managed to avoid paying Catherine her dower of one third of the revenues of
Wales, Cornwall and Chester, forcing her to sell some of her possessions to pay her staff in
England.89 None of the motivations for the marriages of Ar thur, Margaret and Henry were
unusual. As shown in Chapter One, the creation or maintenance of alliances was by far the
most common aim of dynastic marriage. Further, marrying to achieve the recognition of a
new dynasty was common whenever an unmarried mon arch from a new dynasty, or the heir
if the monarch was already married, gained the throne. Securing peace was also a frequent
motivation. While marrying solely in order to profit financially was apparently rare (there
were no examples in the sources exami ned for the English, Castilian or Aragonese marriages
analysed in the first chapter ), Henry VII’s insistence upon Catherine’s dowry figure and
terms, and his reluctance to relinquish the money, demonstrates that wealth was most
definitely a consideration w hen choosing a bride.

Fernando and Isabel arranged dynastic marriages for their children both to solve their
immediate political pro blems and further their long -term aims of territorial protection and
expansion, and to counteract French power in Western E urope. They suffered setbacks in
creating peace and in neutralising the French as a result of the deaths of their eldest children,

89 Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, 56.

80
Isabel and Juan. Nevertheless they ultimately managed to achieve all of the political
advantages they aimed for, although occ asionally only in the very short -term. Fernando and
Isabel had five main goals in mind when they arranged the marriages of their children. Their
most immediate concern was to establish peace with Portugal and , secondly , to have the
Portuguese recognise Isa bel’s right to the throne of Castile. In both cases they were
successful, although it ultimately took three marriages to secure the Portuguese peace. Their
third aim was territorial protection an d expansion. I nitially they demanded the return of the
disput ed duchies of Roussillon and Cerdagne, and later they aimed to expand and
consolidate territory in Italy. In this aim they were successful, at least within their lifetimes,
however, Roussillon and Cerdagne were returned to French rule in the seventeenth ce ntury
and the Italian possessions were lost during the War of Spanish Succession in the eighteenth
century. Fernando and Isabel’s fourth aim was the establishment of a military alliance to
protect themselves and their territories, and in this they were par tially successful. T hey were
able to create the alliance, but it wasn’t always effective. The rulers they allied with, Henry
VII and Maximilian I , in particular , had their own interests and they were not always willing,
or able to come to the aid of their Spanish allies. Finally, the Spanish monarchs hoped to
create an anti -French coalition which would act as a counterbalance to French power. Again,
they were partially successful, an alliance was created, but it was not strongly adhered to and
at times each of the allies created a separate alliance with France against the other powers.

This analysis of the Tudor -Trastámara marriages establishes that dynastic marriages played
an important role in late medieval European diplomacy. They were tools frequently
employed by monarchs to strengthen alliances and promote peace with neighbouring realms .
Such marriages could be used to secure territory, or to publically establish the right of a new
monarch to rule. These aims were not always successfully accomplished. Occasionally
dynastic marriages failed to achieve much beyond the production of an heir, and, sometimes,
not even th at. Paula Sutter Fichtner argues that the difficulties in creating successful dynastic
marriage alliances was due to the inadequate “arrange ments designed to implement these
pacts” rather than the system of dynastic marriage itself.90 Certainly the lengthy
arrangements for Catherine and Arthur’s marriage show that such arrangements needed to be
flexible and to take into consideration a politica l situation which was constantly changing . It
is likely that the ir marriage would not have occurred had the parties involved not been
capable of redrawing the marriage treaty to accommodate the shifting political landscape. In

90 Paula Sutter Fi chtner, “Dynastic Marriage in Sixteenth -Century Habsburg Diplomacy and Statecraft: An
Interdisciplinary Approach,” The American Historical Review 81:2 (1976): 257.

81
many cases, monarchs may have believed it was easier to simply seek another alliance which
more accurately reflected the new circumstances.

82
Conclusion

This thesis had several aims. The first was to establish what motivated Aragonese, Castilian
and English monarchs in the medieval period to contract marriages with other ruling houses .
The second was to determine whether Heinz Duchh ardt’s theory regarding the geographic
element of dynastic marriage could be applied to th ese three kingdoms. Finally, the last
chapter of this thesis aim ed to use the marriages of Catherine of Aragon and Arthur and
Henry Tudor as a case study to apply the theories discussed earlier and to reinforce their
validity.

The first chapter established that with the exception of producing a legitimate, preferably
male heir, monarchs from each of the three kingdoms were more likely to marry to create or
maintain alliances than for any other reason. For the English and the Castilians , territorial
expansion or the protection of previously acquired territory was the s econd most common
motivating factor, while the Aragonese aimed to gain control over foreign crowns by
marrying royal heiresses. Peace treaties and the recognition of a new dynasty by an already
established royal house were circumstantial motivations which arose occasionally in each
kingdom. Other factors such as marrying specifically to avoid a consanguineous union were
rare, but highlight the complicated array of considerations which monarchs, and their
advisers, took into account when arranging dynastic u nions. Non-dynastic factors such as the
appearance, behaviour and personalities of potential spouses were also found to be relevant
to royal marriage arrangements , suggesting that individual motives and desires might be just
as significant in certain conte xts.

Considering therefore, that the majority of dynastic marriages were arranged with alliance
building, peacemaking and territorial interests as the main mo tivations it is unsurprising that
monarchs commonly intermarried with neighbouring dynasties. Duc hhardt’s theory of
regional marriage circles was indeed found to be applicable to dynastic marriage in England,
Aragon and Castile, with over seventy -five percent of marriages following this pattern.
There were exceptions, as Duchhardt found in his period, but those marriages aimed to fulfil
specific criteria relevant at the time of the union.

The case study of the marriages of Catherine of Aragon and Arthur and Henry Tudor
establishes the political motivations their parents considered when arranging the unions. The
negotiations confirm that multiple factors were taken into consideration including alliance

83
building , peace between kingdoms and dynastic recognition . J. N. Hillgarth argues that
Fernando and Isabel were the first Spanish monarchs to systematic ally create alliances
outside the Iberian Peninsula and the discussions regarding the marriages of their children
Juan and Juan a confirm this. Each of the marriages of the Tudor and the Trastámara siblings,
including Catherine of Aragon’s two unions, follo w an established pattern of dynastic
marriage. There was not the space in this thesis to consider whether the marriages of the
daughters and younger sons of each of the monarchs of England, Castile and Aragon, also
adhere s to this pattern of marriage circl es and alliance building. Future studies may be able
to confirm or contradict this.

84
England

Reference
Number Year Monarch / Heir Spouse Spouse Country of
Origin Reasons for Marriage
E.1 1049 -52 William I Matilda of Flanders France Alliance
Increase in the influence of Normandy
Public acceptance of William’s right to rule Normandy
by an established ruler
David Charles Douglas, William the Conqueror (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), 76 -77.
Mark Hagger, William: King and Conqueror (London: I B Tauris, 2012), 14.
William II N/A
E.2 1100 Henry I Matilda of Scotland Scotland Alliance either with Scotland or Matilda’s maternal
family, the House of Wessex
To appease his English subjects who wanted the
marriage
Strengthen his claim to the thro ne through a marriage
with a descendant of England’s Anglo -Saxon kings
Charles Warren Hollister, Henry I (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 126 -127.
Lois L. Huneycutt, Matilda of Scotland: A Study of Medieval Queenship (Woodbridge: The Boydell Pre ss, 2003), 26 -28.
E.3 1121 Henry I Adeliza of Louvain Low Countries Alliance
Charles Warren Hollister, Henry I (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 180 -181.
Eljas Oksanen, Flanders and the Anglo -Norman World, 1066 -1216 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univers ity Press, 2012), 25.
Heather J. Tanner, Families, Friends and Allies: Boulogne and Politics in Northern France and England, c.879 -1160 (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill,
2004), 162.
E.4 1119 William Adelin Margaret of Anjou France Alliance against France
Char les Warren Hollister, Henry I (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), 230 -231.
Charles Warren Hollister and Thomas K. Keefe, “The Making of the Angevin Empire,” Journal of British Studies 12:2 (1973): 5 -6 and 9.
E.5 1125 Stephen Matilda of Boulogne France Alliance for Henry I with Boulogne
Marriage with a descendant of England’s Anglo -Saxon
kings
Marriage with an heiress

85
Heather J. Tanner, Families, Friends and Allies: Boulogne and Politics in Northern France and England, c.879 -1160 (Leiden: Koninklijk e Brill,
2004), 163 -164.
Judith A. Green, “Henry I and the Origins of the Civil War,” in King Stephen’s Reign, 1135 -1154, ed. Paul Dalton and Graeme J. White
(Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2008), 13.
E.6 1152 Henry II Eleanor of Aquitaine France Territo rial expansion
To stop anyone else from marrying Eleanor and
threatening the Angevin lands in France
Ralph V. Turner, Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen of France, Queen of England (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), 19.
Wilfred L. Warren, Henry II (Berke ley: University of California Press, 1977), 42 -45.
E.7 1172 Henry, the Young King Margaret of France France Territorial expansion (the Vexin)
Anne J. Duggan, “Henry II, the English Church and the Papacy, 1154 -76,” in Henry II: New Interpretations, ed. C hristopher Harper -Bill and
Nicholas Vincent (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2007), 169.
Jean Dunbabin, “Henry II and Louis VII,” in Henry II: New Interpretations, ed. Christopher Harper -Bill and Nicholas Vincent (Woodbridge: The
Boydell Press, 2007), 55 -56.
E.8 1191 Richard I Berengaria of Navarre Navarre Alliance
Territorial protection
John Gillingham, Richard I (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), 126.
Nigel Saul, The Three Richards: Richard I, Richard II and Richard III (London: Hambledon Continu um, 2005), 139.
E.9 1189 John Isabel of Gloucester England Marriage with an heiress
Graham E. Seel, King John: An Underrated King (London: Anthem Press, 2012), 13 and 44.
Wilfred L. Warren, King John (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978), 30 .
E.10 1200 John Isabella of Angoulême France Lust
Territorial expansion
Desmond Seward, Eleanor of Aquitaine: The Mother Queen of the Middle Ages (New York: Pegasus Books LLC, 2014), 236.
Nicholas Vincent, “Isabella of Angoulême: John’s Jezebel,” in King John: New Interpretations , ed. S. D. Church (Woodbridge: The Boydell
Press, 1999), 172.
E.11 1236 Henry III Eleanor of Provence France Counteract the advantages gained by France by Louis
IX’s marriage with Margaret of Provence
Alliance against Capetian France
Björn K. U. Weiler, Henry III of England and the Staufen Empire, 1216 -1272 (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2006), 56 -57.
Margaret Howell, Eleanor of Provence: Queenship in Thirteenth -Century England (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), 9 -12.

86
E.12 1254 Edward I Leonor of Castile Castile Territorial protection
John Carmi Parsons, Eleanor of Castile: Queen and Society in Thirteenth -Century England (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1998), 7 -14.
Michael Prestwich, Edward I (Berkeley: University of Cali fornia Press, 1988), 8 -9.
E.13 1299 Edward I Margaret of France France Peace
Territorial protection
Lisa Benz St. John, Three Medieval Queens: Queenship and the Crown in Fourteenth -Century England (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 1.
Michael Prestwich , Edward I (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), 129.
E.14 1308 Edward II Isabella of France France Peace
Territorial protection
Alliance
Jennifer Ward, Women in Medieval Europe: 1200 -1500 (New York: Routledge, 2014), 114.
Roy Martin Haines, King Edward II: His Life, His Reign and Its Aftermath, 1284 -1330 (Montreal: McGill -Queen’s University Press, 2003), 19 -20.
E.15 1328 Edward III Philippa of Hainaut Low Countries Alliance
Lisa Benz St. John, Three Medieval Queens: Queenship and the Crow n in Fourteenth -Century England (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 5.
W. Mark Ormrod, Edward III (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011), 127.
E.16 1361 Edward, the Black Prince Joan of Kent England Love (clandestine marriage)
David Green, “The Hundr ed Years War, Colonial Policy and the English Lordships,” in The Hundred Years War (Part III): Further
Considerations, ed. L. J. Andrew Villalon and Donald J. Kagay (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 244.
Karl P. Wentersdorf, “The Clandestine Marriages of the Fair Ma id of Kent,” Journal of Medieval History 5:3 (1979): 217 -218.
E.17 1382 Richard II Anne of Bohemia Holy Roman Empire Alliance
Anthony Tuck, “Richard II and the House of Luxembourg,” in Richard II: The Art of Kingship, ed. Anthony Goodman and James Gille spie
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 217 and 229.
Nigel Saul, The Three Richards: Richard I, Richard II and Richard III (London: Hambledon Continuum, 2005), 142 -145.
E.18 1396 Richard II Isabella of Valois France Peace
Michael J. Bennett, “Rich ard II and the Wider Realm,” in Richard II: The Art of Kingship, ed. Anthony Goodman and James Gillespie (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1999), 197.
Robert Knecht, The Valois: Kings of France, 1328 -1589 (London: Hambledon Continuum, 2007), 48.
E.19 1381 Henry IV Mary de Bohun England Marriage with an heiress
Bryan Bevan, Henry IV (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1994), 7 -8.
Alison Weir, Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and His Scandalous Duchess (London: Random House, 2011), 164.
E.20 1403 Henry IV Joanna of Navarre Navarre Recognition of Henry’s right to rule / legitimation of

87
his dynasty
Ian Mortimer, The Fears of Henry IV: The Life of England’s Self -Made King (London: Vintage, 2008), 247.
Paul Strohm, England’s Empty Throne: Usurpation and the Language of Legitimation, 1399 -1422 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998),
158.
E.21 1420 Henry V Catherine of Valois France Peace
Territorial expansion
Sandra Logan, “Thrice Royal Queen: Katherine de Valois and the Tudor Monarchy in Henry V and England’s Heroicall Epistles,” in The Rule of
Women in Early Modern Europe, ed. Anne J. Cruz and Mihoko Suzuki (Campaign: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 160.
Craig Taylor, “Henry V, Flower of Chivalry,” in Henry V: New Interpretations, ed. Gwily m Dodd (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2013), 219.
E.22 1445 Henry VI Margaret of Anjou France Peace (general truce)
Ralph Alan Griffiths, The Reign of Henry VI: The Exercise of Royal Authority, 1422 -1461 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981) , 485.
Bertram Percy Wolffe, Henry VI (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), 170.
E.23 1464 Edward IV Elizabeth Woodville England Love / lust (clandestine marriage)
David Loades, The Tudor Queens of England (London: Continuum, 2009), 43.
Charles Der ek Ross, Edward IV (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1974), 85 -86.
E.24 1470 Edward of Westminster Anne Neville England Alliance between Henry VI’s supporters and Richard
Neville, Duke of Warwick, Anne’s father
Peter D. Clarke, “English Roya l Marriages and the Papal Penitentiary in the Fifteenth Century,” The English Historical Review 120:488 (2005),
1020.
David Hipshon, Richard III and the Death of Chivalry (Stroud: The History Press, 2009), 156.
Edward V N/A
E.25 1472 Richard III Anne Neville England Marriage with an heiress
Peter D. Clarke, “English Royal Marriages and the Papal Penitentiary in the Fifteenth Century,” The English Historical Review 120:488 (2005),
1022 -23.
Nigel Saul, The Three Richards: Richard I, Richard II and Ric hard III (London: Hambledon Continuum, 2005), 147.
E.26 1485 Henry VII Elizabeth of York England Peace between the two families contending for the
English throne
Steven Gunn and Linda Monckton, “Introduction: Arthur Tudor, the Forgotten Prince,” in Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales: life, death and
commemoration, ed. Steven Gunn and Linda Monckton (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2009), 1.
P. R. Cavill, the English Parliaments of Henry VII, 1485 -1504 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 31.
E.27 1501 Arthur Tudor Catherine of Aragon United Spain Recognition of Henry VII’s right to rule England by an

88
established dynasty
Anti-French alliance
Financial gain
John M. Currin, “England’s International Relations 1485 -1509: Continuities Amidst Change,” in Tudor England and its Neighbours, ed. Susan
Doran and Glenn Richardson (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), 19.
Garrett Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy (New York: Cosimo Inc., 2010), 141 -143.
E.28 1509 Henry VIII Catherine of Aragon United Spain Henry VII I claimed that his father had asked him, on
his deathbed, to marry Catherine
Alliance
Garrett Mattingly, Catherine of Aragon (New York: L ittle, Brown and Company, 1941), 14.
J. J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011), 12.
E.29 1533 Henry VIII Anne Boleyn England Love / lust
Desire for a male heir
George W. Bernard, The King’s Reformation: Henry VIII and the Remaking of the English Church (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007), 4.
Retha M. Warnicke, The Rise and Fall of Ann e Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1989), 6 -8.
E.30 1536 Henry VIII Jane Seymour England Desire for a male heir
Docile, calm personality – opposite to Anne Boleyn
David Loades, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (Stroud: Amberley Publishing, 2009), 87 -88.
Elizabeth Norton, Jane Seymour: Henry VIII’s True Love (Stroud: Amberley Publishing, 2009), 11.
E.31 1540 Henry VIII Anne of Cleves Holy Roman Empire Desire for a male heir
Anti-Papal alliance
To of fset the Franco -Imperial rapprochement
David Potter, Henry VIII and Francis I: The Final Conflict, 1540 -47 (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, 2011), 49 -51.
Retha M. Warnicke, The Marrying of Anne of Cleves: Royal Protocol in Tudor England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 8.
E.32 1540 Henry VIII Catherine Howard England Love / lust
Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (London: Pimlico, 1991 ), 431.
Lacey Baldwin Smith, A Tudor Tragedy: The Life and Times of Catherine Howard (London: Jonathan C ape, 1961), 117 -118 and 122.
E.33 1543 Henry VIII Catherine Parr England Catherine had a very different personality to Anne
Boleyn and Catherine Howard – spotless reputation
Nursemaid skills

89
Linda Porter, Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Kath erine Parr (London: Pan Macmillan, 2010), 129.
Susan James, Catherine Parr: Henry VIII’s Last Love (Stroud: The History Press, 2010), 95.
Edward VI N/A
E.34 1554 Mary I Philip of Spain United Spain Foreign / Catholic alliance, in part to help Mary se cure
her throne
John Edwards, Mary I: England’s Catholic Queen (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011), 144.
Sarah Duncan, Mary I: Gender, Power, and Ceremony in the Reign of England’s First Queen (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 42 -43.
Elizabet h I N/A

90
Castile

Reference
Number Year Monarch / Heir Spouse Spouse Country of
Origin Reasons for Marriage
C.1 1032 Fernando I Sancha of León León Aggrandisement of the realm
Territorial expansion
Peace
Alfonso Sánchez Candeira, Castilla y León en el siglo XI: studio del reinado de Fernando I (Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, 1999), 73 –
82.
Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under King Alfonso VI, 1065 -1109 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), 7 -8.
C.2 1070/
1071 Sancho II Alberta Unknown origin –
probably foreign Prestige / recognition from a foreign dynasty of
Sancho’s right to rule
Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under King Alfonso VI, 1065 -1109 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), 45 -48.
C.3 1073/
1074 Alfonso VI Agnes of Aquitaine France Alliance
Prestige
Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under King Alfonso VI, 1065 -1109 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), 79 -80.
Marcus Graham Bull, Knightly Piety and the Lay Response to the First Crusade: The Limousin and Gascony, c.970 -c.1130 (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1993), 87.
C.4 1079 Alfonso VI Constance of
Burgundy France Alliance
Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under Queen Urraca, 1109 -1126 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982), 11 -12.
Marcus Graham Bull, Knightly Piety and the Lay Response to the First Crusade: The Limousin and Gascony, c.970 -c.1130 (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1993), 87.
C.5 1094 Alfonso VI Berta of Italy Italy Probably an attempt to moderate the influence of the
Burgundians
Alliance
Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under Queen Urraca, 1109 -1126 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982), 25.
Szabolcs de Vajay, “Reflexiones en torno a Berta, ter cera mujer de Alfonso VI,” in Anales de la Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y
Genealogía, Volumen II (Madrid: Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genealógica, 1996), 341.
C.6 1090s Alfonso VI Zaïda Muslim Spain Alliance
Territorial gain

91
Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under King Alfonso VI, 1065 -1109 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), 235.
Francisco García Fitz, Relaciones políticas y guerra. La experiencia castellano -leonesa frente al Islam. Siglos XI -XIII (Sevilla: Universidad de
Sevilla, 2002), 74.
C.7 1102 Alfonso VI Elisabeth of France France Probably some form of alliance
Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under Queen Urraca, 1109 -1126 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982), 33.
C.8 1108 Alfonso VI Beatrix of France France Unclear – presumably to secure some diplomatic or
political advantage for the Crown
Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under King Alfonso VI, 1065 -1109 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), 345 -346.
C.9 1080s Urraca Raymond of Burgundy France To reinforce the alliance created by Alfonso VI’s
marriage to Constance of Burgundy
María del Carmen Pallares Méndez and Ermelindo Portela, La Reina Urraca (San Sebastián: Editorial Nerea, 2006), 29 -30.
C.10 1109 Urraca Alfonso I of Aragon Aragon Military alliance
To protect the Crown from foreign and domestic
claims, and from Alfonso himself
Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under King Alfonso VI, 1065 -1109 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), 357.
Simon Barton, The Aristocracy in Twelfth -Century León and Castile (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 12.
Therese Martin, “The Art of a Reigning Queen as Dynastic Propaganda in Twelfth -Century Spain,” Speculum 80: 4 (2005): 1 159.
C.11 1127 Alfonso VII Berengaria of
Barcelona Aragon Alliance
Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under King Alfonso VII, 1126 -1157 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998),
19-20.
Luis Suárez Fernández, Historia de Españ a antigua y media, Volumen I (Madrid: Ediciones Rialp, 1976), 562.
C.12 1152 Alfonso VII Rica of Poland Poland Imperial connection
Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under King Alfonso VII, 1126 -1157 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvan ia Press, 1998),
114.
C.13 1151 Sancho III Blanca of Navarre Navarre Territorial claims
Ángeles Masiá de Ros, Relación Castellano -Aragonesa desde Jaime II a Pedro el Ceremonioso, Volumen I (Madrid: CSIC, 1994), 30 -31.
Rose Walker, “Images of Royal and A ristocratic Burial in Northern Spain, c.950 -c.1250,” in Medieval Memories: Men, Women and the Past,
700-1300, ed. Elizabeth Van -Houts (London: Routledge, 2013), 161.
C.14 1177 Alfonso VIII Eleanor of England England Alliance
To settle a territorial disput e (over Gascony)

92
Anthony Goodman, “England and Iberia in the Middle Ages,” in England and her Neighbours, 1066 -1453, Essays in Honour of Pierre
Chaplais, eds. Michael Jones and Malcolm Vale (London: The Hambledon Press, 1989), 79.
C.15 1215 Enrique I Mafalda of Portugal Portugal Alliance profitable for Enrique’s regent (Álvaro
Núñez)
Janna Bianchini, The Queen’s Hand: Power and Authority in the Reign of Berenguela of Castile (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 2012), 116.
Luis Suárez Fer nández, Historia de España antigua y media, Volumen I (Madrid: Ediciones Rialp, 1976), 6.
C.16 1197 Berenguela Alfonso IX of León León Peace
H. Salvador Martínez, Alfonso X, The Learned: A Biography, trans. Odile Cisneros (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2010), 23.
Miriam Shadis, Berenguela of Castile (1180 -1246) and Political Women in the High Middle Ages (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 62 –
63.
C.17 1219 Fernando III Beatrice of Swabia Holy Roman Empire Avoidance of consanguinity
H. Salvador Martí nez, Alfonso X, The Learned: A Biography, trans. Odile Cisneros (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2010), 35 -36.
C.18 1237 Fernando III Joan of France France Avoidance of consanguinity
Concern for chastity
H. Salvador Martínez, Alfonso X, The Learned: A Bio graphy, trans. Odile Cisneros (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2010), 40 -41.
Janna Bianchini, The Queen’s Hand: Power and Authority in the Reign of Berenguela of Castile (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 2012), 242 -243.
C.19 1249 Alfonso X Violante of Aragon Aragon Alliance
Friendship
H. Salvador Martínez, Alfonso X, The Learned: A Biography, trans. Odile Cisneros (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2010), 104.
Melissa R. Katz, “The Final Testament of Violante de Aragón (c.1236 -1300/01): Agency a nd (dis)Empowerment of a Dowager Queen,” in
Queenship in the Mediterranean: Negotiating the Role of the Queen in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras, ed. Elena Woodacre (New York:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 52.
C.20 1268 Fernando de la Cerda Blanche of Franc e France Alliance
H. Salvador Martínez, Alfonso X, The Learned: A Biography, trans. Odile Cisneros (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2010), 184 -185.
Manuel González Jiménez, Alfonso X el Sabio (Barcelona: Ariel, 2004), 209.
C.21 1282 Sancho IV María de Molina León Love
Harlan Sturm, “Historical and Textual Underpinnings,” in Heavenly Bodies: The Realms of La estrella de Sevilla, ed. Frederick A. de Armas
(London: Associated University Presses, 1996), 94.
C.22 1302 Fernando IV Constance of Portugal Portugal Alliance against the Moors

93
Peace
Joseph F. O’Callaghan, The Gibraltar Crusade: Castile and the Battle for the Strait (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011), 97.
Miguel Ángel Ladero Quesada, “Sobre la evolución de las fronteras medi evales hispánicas (siglos XI a XIV)” in Identidad y representación de
la frontera en la España medieval (siglos XI -XIV), eds. Carlos de Ayala Martínez, Pascal Buresi and Philippe Josserand (Madrid: Casa de
Velázquez and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 2001 ), 38.
C.23 1328 Alfonso XI Maria of Portugal Portugal International recognition of his dynasty
Peace on the western frontier
Alliance against the Moors
Joseph F. O’Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975), 408.
Teofilo F. Ruiz, Spain’s Centuries of Crisis, 1300 -1474 (New Jersey: Wiley -Blackwell, 2007), 61 -62.
C.24 1353 Pedro I Blanche of Bourbon France Alliance
To further the Franco -Castilian friendship
L. J. Andrew Villalon, “Spanish Involvement in the Hundre d Years War and the Battle of Nájera,” in The Hun dred Years: A Wider Focus, Part
1, eds. L. J. Andrew Villalon and Donald J. Kagay (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, 2005), 10 -11.
Paulino García Toraño, El Rey Don Pedro el Cruel y Su Mundo (Madrid: Marcial Pons, Ediciones Jurídicas y Sociales, 1996), 112.
C.25 1353 Pedro I María de Padilla Castile Love (There is some debate over whether or not
Pedro actually married María, or whether she
remained his mistress)
Legitimise their children
Clara Estow, Pedro the Cr uel of Castile: 1350 -1369 (Leiden: EJ Brill, 1995), 87.
Joseph F. O’Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013), 420.
C.26 1354 Pedro I Juana de Castro Castile Unclear reasons – possibly an alliance to appease
Pedro’s Castilian detractors
Possibly an alliance with Juana’s powerful family
Clara Estow, Pedro the Cruel of Castile: 1350 -1369 (Leiden: EJ Brill, 1995), 147 -148.
Vicente A. Álvarez Palenzuela and Luis Suárez Fernández, Historia de España VI: La consolidación de los reinos hispánicos (1157 -1369)
(Madrid: Gredos, 1988), 154.
C.27 1350 Enrique II Juana Manuel Castile Alliance with a powerful noble family for protection
Link to the legitimate royal line
Clara Estow, Pedro the Cruel of Castile: 1350 -1369 (Leiden : EJ Brill, 1995), 22 -24.
Luis Suárez Fernández, Historia de España antigua y media, Volumen I (Madrid: Ediciones Rialp, 1976), 296.

94
C.28 1375 Juan I Leonor of Aragon Aragon Alliance
Peace
Recognition of the new Trastámara dynasty
Luis Suárez Fernández , Juan I de Trastámara: 1379 -1390 (Burgos: Editorial la Olmeda, 1994), 12.
Teofilo F. Ruiz, Spain’s Centuries of Crisis, 1300 -1474 (Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2011), 82 -83.
C.29 1383 Juan I Beatrix of Portugal Portugal Alliance
To disrupt the Anglo -Portugue se alliance
Joseph F. O’Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013), 204 -205.
Vicente Ángel Álvarez Palenzuela, “Relations between Portugal and Castile in the Late Middle Ages (13th-16th Centuries), e-Journal of
Portug uese History 1:1 (2003): 12.
C.30 1388 Enrique III Catherine of Lancaster England Peace
To remove a pretender to the throne (Catherine’s
father, John of Gaunt abandoned his claims to the
Castilian throne)
Anthony Goodman, John of Gaunt: The Exercise of Princely Power in Fourteenth -Century Europe (London: Routledge, 2013), 128.
P. E. Russell, English Intervention in Spain and Portugal in the Time of Edward III and Richard II (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955), 490.
C.31 1418 Juan II María of Aragon Aragon Alliance
Santiago González Sánchez, Las relaciones exteriores de Castilla a comienzos del siglo XV: La minoría de Juan II (1407 -1420) (Madrid:
Comité Español de Ciencias Históricas, 2013), 85 -86.
Theresa Earenfight, The King’s Other Body: Maria of Castile and the Crown of Aragon (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,
2010), 28.
C.32 1447 Juan II Isabel of Portugal Portugal Alliance
Diana Pelaz Flores, “Queenly Time in the Reign of Juan II of Castile (1406 -1454),” in Queenship in the Mediterra nean: Negotiating the Role
of the Queen in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras, ed. Elena Woodacre (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 177.
Townsend Miller, Henry IV of Castile, 1425 -1474 (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1972), 58 -59.
C.33 1440 Enrique IV Blanca of Navarre Navarre Alliance
Peace
Elena Woodacre, The Queens Regnant of Navarre: Succession, Politics and Partnership, 1274 -1512 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013),
112.
José Luis Martín Rodríguez, Enrique IV de Castilla: Rey de Navarra, Príncip e de Cataluña (Hondarribia: Editorial Nerea, 2003), 30.
C.34 1455 Enrique IV Juana of Portugal Portugal Alliance

95
José Luis Martín Rodríguez, Enrique IV de Castilla: Rey de Navarra, Príncipe de Cataluña (Hondarribia: Editorial Nerea, 2003), 94.
Nicasio S alvador Miguel, Isabel la Católica: Educación, mecenazgo y entorno literario (Madrid: Centro Estudios Cervantinos, 2008), 123.
C.35 1469 Isabel I Fernando II of Aragon Aragon Alliance with a strong husband capable of helping
Isabel win and secure her thro ne
Future union of the Crowns of Aragon and Castile –
to unite the Trastámaran territory
Barbara F. Weissberger, Isabel Rules: Constructing Queenship, Wielding Power (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008), 42.
Luis Suárez Fernández, Los Reye s Católicos: La Conquista del Trono, Volumen I (Madrid: Ediciones Rialp, 1989), 32.
Luis Suárez Fernández, Los Trastámara y los reyes Católicos (Madrid: Gredos, 1985), 207.
C.36 1497 Juan of Asturias Margaret of Austria Holy Roman Empire Anti-French allia nce
Bethany Aram, Juana the Mad: Sovereignty and Dynasty in Renaissance Europe (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2005), 35.
Garrett Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy (New York: Cosimo Inc., 2010), 140.
C.37 1496 Juana I Felipe of Burgundy Holy Roman Empire Anti-French alliance
Bethany Aram, Juana the Mad: Sovereignty and Dynasty in Renaissance Europe (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2005), 35.
Elena Gascón Vera, “Juana I of Castile, Catherine of Aragon, and the Failure of Femi nine Power in the Construction of Empire,” in Juana of
Castile: History and Myth of the Mad Queen, ed. María A. Gómez, Santiago Juan -Navarro and Phyllis Zatlin (Cranbury: Associated University
Presses, 2008), 51.
Garrett Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy (New York: Cosimo Inc., 2010), 140.

96
Aragon

Reference
Number Year Monarch / Heir Spouse Spouse Country of
Origin Reasons for Marriage
A.1 1036 Ramiro I Gisberga / Ermisenda
of Bigorre France Alliance
Ana Isabel Lapeña Paúl, Sancho Ramírez, R ey de Aragón (¿1064? –1094) y Rey de Navarra (1076 -1094) (Gijón: Ediciones Trea, 2004), 21.
Clay Stalls, Possessing the Land: Aragon’s Expansion into Islam’s Ebro Frontier under Alfonso the Battler, 1104 -1134 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995),
21.
A.2 1060s Sanc ho Ramírez Isabel of Urgell Catalonia Alliance
Territorial consolidation and expansion
Ana Isabel Lapeña Paúl, Sancho Ramírez, Rey de Aragón (¿1064? –1094) y Rey de Navarra (1076 -1094) (Gijón: Ediciones Trea, 2004), 59.
Janice Mann, Romanesque Architectur e and its Sculptural Decoration in Christian Spain, 1000 -1120: Exploring Frontiers and Defining Identities
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009), 108 -109.
A.3 1076 Sancho Ramírez Felicia of Roucy France Military alliance
Ana Isabel Lapeña Paúl, Sancho Ramírez, Rey de Aragón (¿1064? –1094) y Rey de Navarra (1076 -1094) (Gijón: Ediciones Trea, 2004), 62.
Lynn H. Nelson, “The Foundation of Jaca (1076): Urban Growth in Early Aragon,” Speculum 53: 4 (1978): 697.
A.4 1086 Pedro I Agnes of Aquitaine France Alliance
Carlos Laliena Corbera, Pedro I de Aragón y de Navarra, 1094 -1104 (Burgos: La Olmeda, 2000), 147.
Marcus Graham Bull, Knightly Piety and the Lay Response to the First Crusade: The Limousin and Gascony, c.970 -c.1130 (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1 993), 87.
A.5 1097 Pedro I Berta Unknown origin Prestige of having a foreign wife
Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under King Alfonso VI, 1065 -1109 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), 283.
A.6 1109 Alfonso I Urraca of Castile Castile Political and military a lliance
José Ángel Lema Pueyo, Instituciones Políticas del Reinado de Alfonso I “El Batallador,” Rey de Aragón y Pamplona (1104 -1134) (Bilbao:
Universidad del País Vasco, 1997), 48.
Joseph F. O’Callaghan, A History of Med ieval Spain (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975), 214.
A.7 1135 Ramiro II Agnes of Poitou France Agnes’s proven fertility
Need for an heir
Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León -Castilla Under King Alfonso VII, 1126 -1157 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998), 53 –
54.

97
William Clay Stalls, “Queenship and the Royal Patrimony in Twelfth -Century Iberia: The Example of Petronilla of Aragon,” in Queens, Regents
and Potentates, ed. Theresa M. Vann (Cambridge: Academia Press, 1993), 50.
A.8 1150 Petronilla Ramón Berenguer IV,
Count of Barcelona Barcelona Secure the throne for Petronilla, especially from Castile
and Navarre
Union of Aragon and Barcelona
Silvia Orvie tani Busch, Medieval Mediterranean Ports: The Catalan and Tuscan Coasts, 1100 to 1235 (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2001), 3.
William Clay Stalls, “Queenship and the Royal Patrimony in Twelfth -Century Iberia: The Example of Petronilla of Aragon,” in Queens, Regents
and Potentates, ed. Theresa M. Vann (Cambridge: Academia Press, 19 93), 50 -51.
A.9 1174 Alfonso II Sancha of Castile Castile Alliance
Ángeles Masiá de Ros, Relación Castellano -Aragonesa desde Jaime II a Pedro el Ceremonioso, Volumen I (Madrid: CSIC, 1994), 31.
Damian J. Smith, Innocent III and the Crown of Aragon: The Limits of Papal Authority (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2004), 21.
A.10 1204 Pedro II Marie of Montpellier France Territorial gain
Increased influence in southern France
Control over a rich commercial centre
Elizabeth Haluska -Rausch, “Unwilling Partne rs: Conflict and Ambition in Marriage of Peter II of Aragon and Marie de Montpellier,” in
Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Theresa Earenfight (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2005), 4 and 6.
Ernest E. Jenkins, The Medite rranean World of Alfonso II and Peter II of Aragon (1162 -1213) (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 93 -94.
A.11 1221 Jaime I Leonor of Castile Castile To provide stability for Aragon through a powerful
alliance
Possibility of an immediate heir
John C. Shideler, A Medieval Catalan Noble Family: the Montcadas, 1000 -1230 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), 150.
José Luis Villacañas Berlanga, Jaume I El Conquistador (Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 2003), 93 -94.
A.12 1235 Jaime I Violante of Hungary Hungary The pope offered two possible candidates for Jaime to
choose from to avoid a future annulment based on
consanguinity
Marta van Landingham, “Royal Portraits: Representations of Queenship in the Thirteenth -Century Catalan Chronicles,” in Queenship i n Medieval
and Early Modern Spain, ed. Theresa Earenfight (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2005), 114 -115.
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez , “La Política Matrimonial de la Casa Condal de Barcelona y Real de Aragón Desde 1213 Hasta Fernando el
Católico,” Acta hi storica et archaelogica mediaevalia 23:24 (2002): 202.
A.12 1255 Jaime I Teresa Gil de Vidaure Navarre To legitimise any children and include them in the line
of succession
Love – Teresa had been Jaime’s mistress before she

98
became his common -law wife
Stefano Maria Cingolani, Historia y mito del rey Jaime I de Aragón (Barcelona: Edhasa, 2008), 361.
A.13 1262 Pedro III Constance of Sicily Sicily Anti-Angevin alliance
Future acquisition of the Sicilian Crown
Commercial ambitions
Salvador Claramunt Rodríg uez, “La Política Matrimonial de la Casa Condal de Barcelona y Real de Aragón Desde 1213 Hasta Fernando el
Católico,” Acta historica et archaelogica mediaevalia 23:24 (2002): 202 -203.
Stephen P. Bensch, Barcelona and Its Rulers, 1096 -1291 (Cambridge: Cambr idge University Press, 1995), 290.
Alfonso III N/A
A.14 1291 Jaime II Isabel of Castile Castile Alliance against the Moors
Ángeles Masiá de Ros, Relación Castellano -Aragonesa desde Jaime II a Pedro el Ceremonioso, Volumen I (Madrid: CSIC, 1994), 40 .
Joseph F. O’Callaghan, The Gibraltar Crusade: Castile and the Battle for the Strait (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011), 97 -98.
A.15 1295 Jaime II Blanche of Anjou France Peace
Territorial dispute
Karen Stöber, “Monks and Politics i n Thirteenth -Century Wales and Catalonia,” in Thirteenth -Century England XIV, eds. Janet Burton, Phillipp
Schofield and Björn Weiler (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2013), 93 -94.
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez , “La Política Matrimonial de la Casa Condal de B arcelona y Real de Aragón Desde 1213 Hasta Fernando el
Católico,” Acta historica et archaelogica mediaevalia 23:24 (2002): 205.
A.16 1315 Jaime II Marie of Lusignan Cyprus Attempt to claim the crown of Cyprus
Link to the eastern Mediterranean
Joseph F. O’Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975), 405.
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez , “La Política Matrimonial de la Casa Condal de Barcelona y Real de Aragón Desde 1213 Hasta Fernando el
Católico,” Acta historica et archael ogica mediaevalia 23:24 (2002): 206.
A.17 1322 Jaime II Elisenda of Montcada Catalonia Unknown reasons, possibly her youth, piety and beauty
made her an attractive prospect for her aging husband
José Hinojosa Montalvo, Jaime II y el esplendor de la Coro na de Aragón (San Sebastián: Nerea, 2006), 255.
A.18 1319 Jaime Leonor of Castile Castile Peace
H. T. Sturcken, “The Unconsummated Marriage of Jaime of Aragon and Leonor of Castile (October 1319), Journal of Medieval History 5:3
(1979): 200.
A.19 1314 Alfonso IV Teresa d’Entenca Aragon Marriage with an heiress – Alfonso was the second son

99
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez , “La Política Matrimonial de la Casa Condal de Barcelona y Real de Aragón Desde 1213 Hasta Fernando el
Católico,” Acta historica et ar chaelogica mediaevalia 23:24 (2002): 210 -211.
A.20 1329 Alfonso IV Leonor of Castile Castile To repair the damage done by Leonor’s earlier
marriage to Alfonso’s brother, Jaime, and his
repudiation of her
Peace
H. T. Sturcken, “The Unconsummated Marriag e of Jaime of Aragon and Leonor of Castile (October 1319), Journal of Medieval History 5:3
(1979): 197.
José Hinojosa Montalvo, Jaime II y el esplendor de la Corona de Aragón (San Sebastián: Nerea, 2006), 82.
A.21 1338 Pedro IV María of Navarre Navarre Alliance
Núria Silleras -Fernández, “Money Isn’t Everything: Concubinage, Class and the Rise and Fall of Sibilla de Fortià, Queen of Aragon (1377 -87),” in
Women and Wealth in Late Medieval Europe, ed. Theresa Earenfight (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010) , 68.
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez , “La Política Matrimonial de la Casa Condal de Barcelona y Real de Aragón Desde 1213 Hasta Fernando el
Católico,” Acta historica et archaelogica mediaevalia 23:24 (2002): 214.
A.22 1347 Pedro IV Elinor of Portugal Portug al Alliance
Núria Silleras -Fernández, “Money Isn’t Everything: Concubinage, Class and the Rise and Fall of Sibilla de Fortià, Queen of Aragon (1377 -87),” in
Women and Wealth in Late Medieval Europe, ed. Theresa Earenfight (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2 010), 68.
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez , “La Política Matrimonial de la Casa Condal de Barcelona y Real de Aragón Desde 1213 Hasta Fernando el
Católico,” Acta historica et archaelogica mediaevalia 23:24 (2002): 214.
A.23 1349 Pedro IV Eleanor of Sicily Sicily Alliance
Núria Silleras -Fernández, “Money Isn’t Everything: Concubinage, Class and the Rise and Fall of Sibilla de Fortià, Queen of Aragon (1377 -87),” in
Women and Wealth in Late Medieval Europe, ed. Theresa Earenfight (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), 68.
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez , “La Política Matrimonial de la Casa Condal de Barcelona y Real de Aragón Desde 1213 Hasta Fernando el
Católico,” Acta historica et archaelogica mediaevalia 23:24 (2002): 214.
A.24 1377 Pedro IV Sibilla de Fortià Catalonia Love
To legitimise their daughter
Núria Silleras -Fernández, “Money Isn’t Everything: Concubinage, Class and the Rise and Fall of Sibilla de Fortià, Queen of Aragon (1377 -87),” in
Women and Wealth in Late Medieval Europe, ed. Theresa Earenfight (N ew York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), 72.
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez, Societat, cultura i món mediterrani a l’Edat Mitjana. Recull d’articles (Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona,
2014), 451 -452.
A.25 1373 Juan I Martha of Armagnac France Alliance

100
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez , “La Política Matrimonial de la Casa Condal de Barcelona y Real de Aragón Desde 1213 Hasta Fernando el
Católico,” Acta historica et archaelogica mediaevalia 23:24 (2002): 219 -220.
A.26 1380 Juan I Violant of Bar France Alliance – against his father’s wishes
Luis Suárez Fernández, Los Trastámara y los reyes Católicos (Madrid: Gredos, 1985), 46.
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez, “La Política Matrimonial de la Casa Condal de Barcelona y Real de Aragón Desde 1213 Hasta Ferna ndo el
Catól ico,” Acta historica et archaelogica mediaevalia 23:24 (2002): 219 -220.
A.27 1373 Martín I María de Luna Aragon Heiress – Martín was a second son at the time of his
marriage
Núria Silleras -Fernandez, “Spirit and Force: Politics, Public and Private in th e Reign of Maria de Luna (1396 -1406), in Queenship and Political
Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Theresa Earenfight (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2005), 80.
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez , “La Política Matrimonial de la Casa Condal de Barcelo na y Real de Aragón Desde 1213 Hasta Fernando el
Católico,” Acta historica et archaelogica mediaevalia 23:24 (2002): 222.
A.28 1409 Martín I Margaret of Prades Aragon Need for an immediate heir
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez , “La Política Matrimonial de l a Casa Condal de Barcelona y Real de Aragón Desde 1213 Hasta Fernando el
Católico,” Acta historica et archaelogica mediaevalia 23:24 (2002): 224 -225.
A.29 1309 Martín the Younger Maria, Queen of Sicily Sicily Regain control over Sicily
To resolve the cont est of the Sicilian succession
D’Arcy Jonathan Dacre Boulton, The Knights of the Crown: The Monarchical Orders of Knighthood in Later Medieval Europe, 1325 -1520
(Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2000), 284.
Teofilo F. Ruiz, Spain’s Centuries of Crisis: 130 0-1474 (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007), 75.
A.30 1402 Martín the Younger Blanca of Navarre Navarre Alliance
Elena Woodacre, The Queens Regnant of Navarre: Succession, Politics and Partnership, 1274 -1512 (New York: Pa lgrave Macmillan, 2013), 85 –
86.
A.31 1393 Fernando I Leonor of
Alburquerque Castile Leonor was an heiress wealthy in land, money and
connections
Ana Echevarria -Arsuaga, “The Queen and the Master: Catalina of Lancaster and the Military Orders,” in Queenship and Political Power in
Medie val and Early Modern Spain, ed. Theresa Earenfight (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2005), 96.
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez , “La Política Matrimonial de la Casa Condal de Barcelona y Real de Aragón Desde 1213 Hasta Fernando el
Católico,” Acta historica et a rchaelogica mediaevalia 23:24 (2002): 226.
A.32 1415 Alfonso V María of Castile Castile Alliance
Theresa Earenfight, The King’s Other Body: María of Castile and the Crown of Aragon (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010), 5.

101
A.33 1420 Juan II Blanca I, Queen of
Navarre Navarre Marriage with an heiress – Juan was the second son
Attempt to gain control of the kingdom of Navarre
To prevent Blanca from marrying someone else
Elena Woodacre, The Queens Regnant of Navarre: Succession, Politic s and Partnership, 1274 -1512 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 91 –
94.
Santiago González Sánchez , Las relaciones exteriores de Castilla a comienzos del siglo XV: La minoría de Juan II (1407 -1420) (Madrid: Comité
Español de Ciencias Históricas, 2013 ), 117-120.
A.34 1447 Juan II Juana Enrique of
Castile Castile Alliance
Alan F. C. Ryder, Alfonso the Magnanimous: King of Aragon, Naples and Sicily, 1396 -1458 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), 270.
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez , “La Política Matrimonial de la Casa Condal de Barcelona y Real de Aragón Desde 1213 Hasta Fernando el
Católico,” Acta historica et archaelogica mediaevalia 23:24 (2002): 232.
A.35 1469 Fernando II Isabel I, Queen of
Castile Castile Alliance
Future union of the Crowns of Aragon and Cas tile – to
unite the Trastámaran territory
To stop the Castilians from allying with France
Joseph F. O’Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975), 574.
Luis Suárez Fernández, Los Trastámara y los reyes Católicos (Mad rid: Gredos, 1985), 207.
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez, Societat, cultura i món mediterrani a l’Edat Mitjana. Recull d’articles (Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona,
2014), 471.
A.36 1506 Fernando II Germaine of Foix France To break the friendship of Phili p of Burgundy and the
French monarchy
Alliance to counteract Philip’s Castilian ambitions
Strengthen Fernando’s claim to Navarre
John Lynch, Los Asturias, 1516 -1700 (Barcelona: Editorial Crítica, 2007), 45.
Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez, Societat, cultur a i món mediterrani a l’Edat Mitjana. Recull d’articles (Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona,
2014), 471.
A.37 1497 Juan of Asturias Margaret of Austria Holy Roman Empire Anti-French alliance
Bethany Aram, Juana the Mad: Sovereignty and Dynasty in Renai ssance Europe (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2005), 35.
Garrett Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy (New York: Cosimo Inc., 2010), 140.

102

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