Germaine de Foix
Germaine de Foix (* 1488 or 1490 in Foix , Narbonne , † October 15, 1536 in Liria , Valencia ) was a French noblewoman and the second wife of King Ferdinand II of Aragon .
Life
Germaine de Foix was born in 1488 or 1490 as the daughter of Jean de Foix , Count of Étampes and Vice Count of Narbonne , and his wife Maria of Orléans, sister of King Louis XII. from France, born.
After the death of his first wife, Queen Isabella of Castile , Ferdinand married the much younger Germaine de Foix in October 1505 ( marriage by proxy ) and on March 22, 1506 in Dueñas in the hope of an heir who would succeed Aragón would stand in front of his daughter Johanna.
The political connection should bring peace between King Ludwig XII. of France and King Ferdinand of Aragon, which had been agreed in the Treaty of Blois . The treaty included the French king giving his niece dynastic rights to the Kingdom of Naples and the title of King of Jerusalem. These rights would revert to the French crown if the couple were childless. In return, Ferdinand of Aragón had to promise to appoint a son from this relationship as King of Aragón. The political connection caused resistance among members of the nobility of Castile , as it was believed that Ferdinand wanted to prevent his daughter Johanna and her husband Philip from inheriting the royal title of Aragon.
On May 3, 1509, the couple's first son, Juan, Príncipe de Gerona, was born in Valladolid . The prince was the future king of Aragon , Valencia, and Catalonia in Spain, and Naples , Sicily, and Sardinia in Italy, and would have prevented the amalgamation of the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile. However, the baby died just a few hours after its birth. According to other sources, he died at the age of four days on May 7, 1509.
Ferdinand's diplomatic duplicity and the changing alliances with France angered the English King Henry VIII , who was married to Ferdinand's youngest daughter Catherine of Aragón . Therefore, in 1514, he married his sister Maria to the 52-year-old King Ludwig XII. from France, who died just three months after the wedding.
King Ferdinand II of Aragon died on January 15, 1516. The king had suffered from health problems for two years and allegedly died after consuming aphrodisiac herbs to improve his fertility. Ferdinand promised Germaine an annual widow's pension of 50,000 florins in his will, which, however, was to be dissolved if the widow remarried. After the death of her husband, Germaine moved to Castile.
Ferdinand's grandson and successor, King Charles I of Spain, arranged for Germaine to marry the Margrave Johann von Brandenburg , a son of Frederick V, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and his wife Zofia Jagiellonka , princess, in Barcelona on June 17, 1519 from Poland. He was thus the cousin of Elector Joachim von Brandenburg . Germaine held the office of captain general and viceroy of Valencia , which Karl extended to Johann on March 27, 1523. The couple took the solemn oath of office on December 11, 1523 in the Cathedral of Valencia. During the revolutionary unrest in Valencia, almost all the palaces of the nobles living there were destroyed, but Johann's palace was spared. When Emperor Karl was arming against France in 1524, Johann transferred his and his wife's jewels and gold and silver dishes to help Karl out with funds. After John's death on July 5, 1525 in Valencia, Germaine married Fernando, Duke of Calabria and Prince of Taranto, on August 1, 1526 in Seville . He was born on December 15, 1488 in Andria, the son of King Frederick I of Naples and Isabella del Balzo. The couple were viceroy and viceroy of Valencia and were the patrons of art and music. The viceroys ruled authoritarian and were confronted in the course of their government activities with bandits, internal conflicts, the piracy of North Africa, the indebtedness of the nobility and the rebellion of the Moriscos . In addition, the couple put down the Germanías uprising, confiscated the rebels' goods and carried out a refeudalization process.
Germaine de Foix died at the age of 48 on October 15, 1536 in Liria and is buried in the monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes in Valencia . The Duke of Calabria married Mencia de Mendoza Fonseca, second Marquesa del Cenete, on February 1, 1540, and was viceroy of Valencia until his death on October 26, 1550 or August 5, 1550 in Valencia. He had an illegitimate son, Juan Pablo de Matarredona.
myth
Germaine de Foix and Charles I of Spain are said to have been lovers, according to contemporary sources.
In 1517, the young King Charles I of Spain met Germaine for the first time after arriving in Spain. The widow at the time was an attractive woman of 29 years of age who was not yet suffering from obesity. Karl organized banquets and tournaments in honor of Germaine. Soon a love affair should have developed between the king and Germaine, who is said to have a daughter named Isabel. Although she was never officially recognized, Germaine de Foix named this girl in her will "Infanta Isabel" (a title she could not bear) and the child's father "the emperor". The girl was raised at the royal court of Castile . Isabella, Infanta of Castile, is said to have been born in Valencia on August 20, 1518 and died in Perpignan in 1537 .
In 1519 Germaine de Foix accompanied Karl and his sister Eleanor to Saragossa and Barcelona , where the king was sworn in and the royal family was celebrated. Before the love affair between the widow and the young king could have become publicly known, it was decided that Germaine would marry Johann von Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach . Germaine and Johann were appointed Viceroy and Viceroy of the Kingdom of Valencia. Johann von Brandenburg became commander in chief of the army of the Kingdom of Valencia.
supporting documents
- ↑ Real Academia de la historia: Diccionario Bibliográfico español - Germana de Foix
- ↑ a b c d e f g Family tree of Ursula Germaine de Foix. at geneall.net.
- ↑ a b c d e family tree of Germaine de Foix at geneanet.org.
- ^ Friedrich von Raumer, Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl, Wilhelm Maurenbrecher: Historisches Taschenbuch. Volume 6, FA Brockhaus, 1835, p. 246 ( books.google.com digitized version).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Germaine de Foix |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French princess and the second wife of King Ferdinand II of Aragon |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1488 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Foix , Narbonne |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 15, 1536 |
| Place of death | Liria (Valencia) |