Now that TV has made the figure fashionable of Isabel I of Castile, the female part of the Catholic Monarchs, I would like to refer to a little-known matter of this important historical figure:blood from the famous English dynasty of the Plantagenets ran through his veins, which produced well-known figures in literature, movies and TV.
To the Plantagenet dynasty belonged Henry II (husband of the very famous Eleanor of Aquitaine) his sons Richard «The Lion Heart» and John «Lackland» (by the way, very mistreated by literature and cinema and always playing bad in front of his brother, Ivanhoe or Robin Hood), Edward I known as "Longshanks" and as "Hammer of the Scots" and Edward "The Black Prince", who promised to be a great king but died of dysentery before his father, spoiling expectations English to destroy the French in the Hundred Years' War, and being the germ of the War of the Roses between the houses of York and Lancaster that bled England for years.
Precisely, the brother of Edward "The Black Prince", John of Gaunt not only actively participated in the intrigues that gave rise to the Wars of the Roses, but also had time to father a large offspring. Among his fourteen children was Catherine of Lancaster, daughter of his second wife, Constance of Castile.
For reasons that would take too long to explain (see article dedicated to Catherine of Lancaster) the move to promise Katherine with the infant of Castile Enrique de Trastámara (future Enrique III) was crucial to put an end to the war that devastated Castile between the Trastámara and the descendants of Pedro I «El Cruel». Enrique was named Prince of Asturias and, therefore, Catherine of Lancaster became the first Princess of Asturias.
As a result of their marriage, two daughters and a son were born, Juan, who on the death of his father became Juan II of Castile, although Catalina had to act as regent because her son was only two years old when he acceded to the throne.
She married John II twice; first with María de Aragón (three children, among them Enrique IV de Castilla) and then with Isabel de Portugal (two children, among them our protagonist Isabel I).
The story about the disputes between Enrique and Isabel and the question of Juana "La Beltraneja" are not the subject of this entry, which only intended to establish the relationship between Isabel I and the Plantagenet dynasty of her grandmother Catalina de Lancaster, first Princess of Asturias.
Related books:“Catherine of Lancaster” by Maria Teresa Alvarez; Sharon Kay Penman's "The War of the Roses"; "The Catholic Monarchs" by Jean Plaidy.
Image| Elizabeth I of Castile
More information| Catherine of Lancaster, first princess of Asturias