King Ferdinand Research Paper

In 1469 King Ferdinand II of Aragon married Queen Isabella I of Castile. Together they had a daughter named Joanna I of Castile. King Ferdinand then overthrew and conquered the Kingdom of Granada, doing so King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella united the three kingdoms of Aragon, Castile and Granada into one called España or Spain in English. Queen Isabella died and King Ferdinand passed on the crown to Joanna. Joanna’s husband Philip I of Castile desperately wanted the spanish crown and therefore proclaimed Joanna as mad and incapable of ruling over Spain, Philip became King Regent. Soon Phillip died of fever and was only king for a few short months. Joanna who was declared insane was not popular with the people of Spain, consequently the

Charles married his cousin Isabella of Portugal, uniting the kingdoms as one with their son Philip II of Spain and Philip I of Portugal. Though Philip was one of the best kings Spain has ever known he had a great deal of trouble with marriage. His first marriage to his cousin Maria of Portugal ended quickly after she died giving birth to their son who died as well. His second marriage was to Mary I of England in attempts to uniting England and Spain she too died. His third marriage was Elizabeth of Valois (daughter of King Henry II of France), when war broke out between France and Spain their relationship suffered although Elizabeth had two daughters with Phillip named Isabella and Catherine. His fourth and final marriage was to Anna of Austria also known as his niece. With her he had Philip III (Philip II of portugal) his only surviving son. When King Philip II died his son Philip III became king. Philip III married his cousin, Margaret the Archduchess of Austria. Philip spent a mass of Spain’s money entertaining himself, seeming not to notice the debt Spain was sinking deeply into. Therefore when King Philip III died and his son Philip IV became king Spain rejoiced. Spain was not handled to Philip in it’s best form, Portugal was unhappy and was attempting to succeed as well as Catalonia. Philip achieved in keeping Catalonia but failed to keep Portugal, thus ending Spain’s “Golden age” and decline from world power. Buckling under pressure Philip died leaving his four year old son Charles II to be king. Charles was disabled and often ill as a result of inbreeding. When Charles died childless, ending the Habsburg lineage the throne passed to his grandnephew Philip V. When Charles died he left all of his dominion to Philip including Spain, Spanish America, Spanish Netherlands and parts of Italy. Philip was the grandson of Queen