General Notes

b. March 10, 1452, Sos, Aragon
d. Jan. 23, 1516, Madrigalejo, Spain
byname FERDINAND THE CATHOLIC, Spanish FERNANDO EL CATÓLICO king of Arag
on and king of Castile (as Ferdinand V) from 1479, joint sovereign with Qu
een Isabella I. (As Spanish ruler of southern Italy, he was also kno
wn as Ferdinand III of Naples and Ferdinand II of Sicily.) He united the S
panish kingdoms into the nation of Spain and began Spain's entry into t
he modern period of imperial expansion.
Ferdinand was the son of John II of Aragon and Juana Enríquez, both of Cas
tilian origin. In 1461, in the midst of a bitterly contested succession, J
ohn II named him heir apparent and governor of all his kingdoms and land
s. Ferdinand's future was assured when he came of age, in 1466, and wh
en he was named king of Sicily, in 1468, in order to impress the cou
rt of Castile, where his father ultimately wished to place him. In additi
on to participating in court life, the young prince saw battle during t
he Catalonian wars. In the summer of 1468, beginning to sow his wild oat
s, he went courting; the first fruits of these adventures were Alfon
so of Aragon, future archbishop of Zaragoza and his father's favourite, a
nd Juana of Aragon.
John II was careful about Ferdinand's education and took personal char
ge of it, making sure that Ferdinand learned as much as possible from expe
rience. He also provided him with teachers who taught him humanistic attit
udes and wrote him treatises on the art of government. Ferdinand had no ap
parent bent for formal studies, but he was a patron of the arts and a devo
tee of vocal and instrumental music.
Ferdinand had an imposing personality but was never very genial. From h
is father he acquired sagacity, integrity, courage, and a calculated reser
ve; from his mother, an impulsive emotionality, which he generally repress
ed. Under the responsibility of kingship he had to conceal his stronger pa
ssions and adopt a cold, impenetrable mask.
He married the princess Isabella of Castile in Valladolid in October 146
9. This was a marriage of political opportunism, not romance. The cou
rt of Aragon dreamed of a return to Castile, and Isabella needed help to g
ain succession to the throne. The marriage initiated a dark and troubled l
ife, in which Ferdinand fought on the Castilian and Aragonese fronts in or
der to impose his authority over the noble oligarchies, shifting his bas
is of support from one kingdom to the other according to the intensi
ty of the danger. Despite the political nature of the union, he loved Isab
ella sincerely. She quickly bore him children: the infanta Isabella was bo
rn in 1470; the heir apparent, John, in 1478; and the infantas Juana (call
ed Juana la Loca--Joan the Mad), Catalina (later called--as the first wi
fe of Henry VIII of England--Catherine of Aragon), and María followed. T
he marriage began, however, with almost continual separation. Ferdinand, o
ften away in the Castilian towns or on journeys to Aragon, reproached h
is wife for the comfort of her life. At the same time, the restlessne
ss of his 20 years drove him into other women's arms, by whom he sir
ed at least two female children, whose birth dates are not recorded.
Between the ages of 20 and 30, Ferdinand performed a series of heroic deed
s. These began when Henry IV of Castile died on Dec. 11, 1474, leaving h
is succession in dispute. Ferdinand rushed from Zaragoza to Segovia, whe
re Isabella had herself proclaimed queen of Castile on December 13. Ferdin
and remained there as king consort, an uneasy, marginal figure, until Isab
ella's war of succession against Afonso V of Portugal gained his acceptan
ce in 1479 as king in every sense of the word. That same year John II die
d, and Ferdinand succeeded to the Aragonese throne. This initiated a confe
deration of kingdoms, which was the institutional basis for modern Spain.
The events of this period bring out the young king's character more clear