Birth of Maria of Aragon, queen of Portugal

 

 On this day ~ 29th June 1482 

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 Birth of Maria of Aragon, queen of Portugal 

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 Maria of Aragon was born in Córdoba, on 29th June 1482. Maria played a significant dynastic role in the royal courts of both Spain and Portugal.

 Maria was of the daughter of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon.
She was reportedly the survivor of a set of twins.

Maria received a comprehensive education, which included a wide range of subjects such as languages, history, philosophy, and arithmetic.

 As an infanta of Spain, Maria's hand in marriage was important in European politics.

Before her marriage to Manuel I of Portugal, her parents entertained the idea of marrying her to King James IV of Scotland.

 At this time, her younger sister Katharine's marriage to Arthur Prince of Wales, was being planned.

Ferdinand and Isabella thought if Maria was Queen of Scotland, and Katharine the Queen of England ~ the two sisters could keep the peace between their husbands.

These plans, however, came to nothing, and King James married Margaret Tudor instead.

 Maria's siblings all entered into advantageous marriages.
Her sister Isabella was married to Afonso, Prince of Portugal and Manuel King of Portugal, who would end up also being Maria's husband!

Her sister Juana married Philip “the Handsome” and her brother Juan married Philip's sister Margaret.

Maria's little sister Katharine, was married to Arthur Prince of Wales, and later his brother, King Henry VIII.

 Maria's elder sister, Isabella passed away in 1498, within an hour of giving birth.

This left Manuel I widowed, and needing a new wife...
Maria was chosen, and became the next bride of the Portuguese king.
Manuel and Maria were married on 30th October 1500.

 Queen Maria was described as pale and thin, with a retiring chin, and had a very serious character to her personality.

Despite the fact that she was queen during a famous time period in Portuguese history, she did not play any significant part as an individual, or as a queen ~ apart from birthing the necessary heirs,.

 Serious and pious, she devoted her time to sewing, religious devotion and supervising the education of her children.

During her life in Portugal, Maria was almost continually pregnant.
She had but a few months pause between a birth, and her next pregnancy.

Maria had 10 children, eight of whom reached adulthood, including, King John III of Portugal, and Holy Roman Empress Isabella.

 King Manuel I admired Maria's devout nature and treated her with respect.

He bestowed her with lavish garments and jewellery during her continuous pregnancies.
However, with each pregnancy, Maria's health slowly got worse.

The birth of her last son Antonio in September 1516, would be a tragedy for everyone.

 Baby Antonio died within hours of his birth, and Maria struggled to recover in the following months.
She was reportedly exhausted to a point, that she was also temporarily mentally confused.

Maria died in Lisbon on the 7th March 1517, and was buried at the The Jerónimos Monastery of Belém.

Her death was probably caused by her pregnancies, she may have been suffering from pernicious anaemia, or another pregnancy related deficiency.

The Tudor Intruders (and more)

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 Source ~ lisbon. vip/lisbonhistory/maria-of-aragon-queen-of-portugal.
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 Stained-glass window in the High Chapel of the Church of Saint Mary of Victory Batalha Monastery, Leiria, Portugal.
Attributed to Francisco Henriques, c. 1510-1513.