Mary of Castile, Queen of Aragon

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mary of Castile

Mary of Castile, Queen of Aragon (born September 14, 1401 in Segovia , † September 7, 1458 in Valencia ) was married to Alfonso V and was Queen of Aragón . During the absence of her husband (1420 to 1423 and 1432 to 1458), she ruled in Aragón.

She was the oldest child of Heinrich III. of Castile and Catherine of Lancaster . Her father died in 1406 and her mother took over the reign until her brother Johann, born in 1405, succeeded him. As a child - according to her father's will - she was betrothed to Alfonso de Aragón, whom she married in 1415, with a large dowry. The marriage remained childless and the relationship between the spouses was distant even before Alfonso went to Italy. Mary of Castile had health problems all her life. In 1416 her husband became king after the death of his father Ferdinand . At first she stayed completely out of politics, instead her mother-in-law Eleonore Urraca of Castile set the tone. Her husband left Aragón in 1420 to pursue his claim to the throne in Naples and was mostly absent afterwards. He transferred the reign to Maria because he mistrusted his own brothers . Officially she was not regent, but "Lugarteniente" (deputy of the king). Although Maria had many courtiers from her native Castile, she ruled mostly with Catalans, which contributed to her popularity with the Catalans. From 1432 onwards Alfons increasingly relied on his brother John II of Aragon , who also became his successor. Maria remained in control of the Principality of Catalonia (from 1436 only over Catalonia). When Alfons was captured by the Genoese in 1435 after the defeat of Ponza , she arranged for the ransom to be provided.

Her sister Katharina (1403–1439) was married to her husband's brother, Heinrich von Aragón, Duke of Villena (1400–1445). Her husband's sister, Maria von Aragón (1403–1445), was married to her brother John and was Queen of Castile. With her, Mary of Castile negotiated a peace between Castile and Aragon in 1429 in the absence of her husband (Mary of Castile negotiated for Aragon, Mary of Aragon for Castile).

When her brother Johann died in 1454, she traveled to Castile to negotiate with his son and successor Henry IV , as tensions between Aragon and Castile had re-emerged. She stayed in Arévalo in Castile until a year before her death.

literature

  • Theresa Earenfight: The king's other body: María of Castile and the crown of Aragon. University of Pennsylvania Press 2010
  • Francisca Hernández-León de Sánchez: Doña María de Castilla, Esposa de Alfonso el Magnánimo. Valencia: Universidad de Valencia, 1959
  • F. Soldevila: La reyna Maria, muller del Magnànim. Memorias de la Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona, ​​Volume 10, 1928, pp. 213-347

Web links

Commons : Mary of Castile  - Collection of images, videos and audio files