At the age of 15, the Prince of Asturias and heir to the Crown of Castile, the future Henry IV , he married the infanta Blanca de Navarra . After several years of marriage without issue, the rumor began to spread that the prince was impotent and, logically, the nickname with which he went down in history would be Enrique the Impotent . According to later studies by Professor Gregorio Marañón , in the essay Henry IV of Castile and his time , he suffered from « eunuchoid dysplasia with acromegalic reaction «. The fact of not having consummated the marriage served him to obtain the annulment and marry in second marriage with Juana de Portugal in 1455.
Henry IV
A year earlier, his father, Juan II of Castile , had died. , and was crowned as Henry IV. Now the situation was even more worrying, he was already king and needed an heir. In 1462 the miracle took place... Juana was born . Due to the evil suffering from the king, rumors about the paternity of little Juana began to circulate. The Save me of the time awarded the paternity to Beltrán de la Cueva and, for this reason, Juana's nickname would be la Beltraneja . The handsome gentleman, married to the daughter of the Marquis of Santillana, was the king's favorite and supposed lover of the queen.
Beltran of the Cave
A few years later, a couplet was circulating that made reference to the promiscuity of Beltrán de la Cueva:
It is a public voice and fame
that you fuck three people,
your master and your mistress
and the daughter of the Marquis;
you fuck the King and the Queen
and everything the world is scared
how can you not fuck with the infanta.
If the people sing it, it will be true.