Frederick II of Prussia: Was He The Great Military Genious Of His Days or Another King Victim of Propaganda? (1712-1786)

Admittedly we have, on this blog, turned our eyes mostly to medieval figures who left their own marks in History in more restricted days, them being male or not. We have also noticed that when it comes to military wars and their heroes, most of the people look after male or female characters who lived in the turbulent period that were the Middle Ages.

However neglected some of the greatest personages of the Modern Era have become, at least to some extent in our point of view, we hope to bring them back to the common public eye. As a result, it is our humble attempt to enlight another perspective to Frederick II, the Great Prussian king who was the inspiration for many of his contemporary and for those who lived way beyond his years, such as Wilhelm II, the Kaiser of a unified Germany who looked at Frederick as his great example for his military ambitions.

As a king, soldier and man, who was King Frederick? Could it be possible to understand his personality, the person he was based on the interpretations of him we have from historians and others who speak and/or study him? Was he as great as history claimed he was, or did Frederick irresistible fall in the traps of propaganda? Motivated by these questions, we hope, if not providing an answer for them, to give space for reflections throughout this post.

Frederick (German: Friedrich) was born in Berlin, as the son of Frederick William I and his consot, Sophia Dorothea of Hanover on the day 24 January 1712. By his mother's side, he was grandson of George I of United Kingdom of Great-Britain, nephew of George II and first cousin to the Prince of Wales, also named Frederick, who'd be the father of King George III. He had a sister named Wilhelmine to whom he was very attached.

Frederick's education was a complicated subject that would bring tension in father-son relationship. For a start, King Frederick William I of Prussia wished his children to be educated as "simple folk" and having his former tutor Madame de Montbail, a Frenchwoman, to take the main role of the education of his children. Nonetheless, as the prince grew, he was instigated by his mother to get in touch with the enlightened subjects she herself had been previously in contact to. So he learned music, literature, French culture as welll as Greek and Roman classics, philosophy and poetry, despite being brought to the strict Huguenot education. To understand why such upbringing caused an opposition relationship between father and son, we have a closely look below:

"Frederick's upbringing and education were strictly controlled by his father, who was a martinet as well as a paranoic. Encouraged and supported by his mother and his sister Wilhelmina, Frederick soon came into bitter conflict with his father. Frederick William I deeply despised the artistic and intellectual tastes of his son and was infuriated by Frederick's lack of sympaty with his own rigidly puritanical and militaritic outlook. His disappointment and contempt took the form of bitter public criticism and even outright physicial violence, and Frederick, beaten and humiliated by his father, often over trifling details of behaviour, took refuge in evasion and deceit. This personal and family feud culminated spectacularly in 1730, when Frederick was imprisoned in the fortress of Küstrin after planning unsuccessfully to flee initially to France or Holland. Lieutenant Hans Hermann von Katte, the young officer who had been his accomplice in the plan, was executed in Frederick's presence, and there was for a short time a real possibility that the prince might share his fate."

Such were the tensions between these two men of different personalities. It was also rumoured that Frederick had been involved to homosexual relations with not only Katte, but formerly with the king's page, Peter Karl Christoph Keith. If such rumours were to be taken credit by the king, which probably were, then this situation in which Frederick was forced to watch Katte's execution explains the urgency his father was in arranging a marriage for his son. A few suitors included Maria Theresa of Habsburg herself, who Frederick proposed if she did not ascend as Charles VI's heiress, which she naturally declined. Eventually he was married to Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevern, who was a Protestant relative to the Habsburgs.

As a result, this was not a happy match for both parts, despite being said that Elisabeth continued to be devoted towards him. Upon his rising as King of Prussia, Frederick II soon managed to separate from his wife, paying rare visits to her and having a court for himself, and bestowing the title of "Prince of Prussia" to his younger brother Augustus William, acknowledging him as his heir instead.

That being said, where politics and wars were now concerned, from the first moment he became King of Prussia, Frederick declared no one else would decide policy of the kingdom but himself, which let the ministers very clear of his intentions as their sovereign. This taste for war would be released after being balanced with his personal tastes for arts, music and literature. One of his first acts as sole monarch was to attack the Habsburg's province of Sielisa, which was

"a wealthy and strategically important area to which the Hohenzollerns, the ruling family of Prussia, had dynastic claims, though weak ones. The most important threat to his plans was Russian support for Maria Theresa, which he hoped to avert by judicious bribery in St. Petersburg and by exploiting the confusion that was likely to follow the imminent death of the empress Anna. He also hoped that Maria Theresa would cede most of Silesia in return for a promise of Prussian support against her other enemies, but her refusal to do so made war inevitable."

In other words, involved at the War of the Austrian Sucession in which he not only contested Maria Theresa's authority as Holy Roman Empress (who was once the topic of this blog) but also over the territory of Silesia, battles were fought backed by the renewed alliance with Great-Britain, invading as well Saxony, claiming Prague for the Crown. In such conflict, however, territories were won and lost with certain assiduity. 

Following this war, it came the conquest of Poland. Frederick was surprisingly remembered for his prejudice and hate towards the Polish people. He claimed the conquering of Poland 

"under the pretext of an enlightened and civilizing mission, particularly given his negative perceptions about Poland and the traditions of its ruling elite, all of which merely provided a convenient path for the "sanguine ameliorism" of the Enlightenment and heightened assurance in the "distinctive merits of the 'Prussian way'". He prepared the ground for the partition of Poland-Lithuania in 1752 at the latest, hoping to gain territorial bridge between Pomerania, Brandenburg and East Prussian provinces."

By conquering Poland, he would prevent the advances of Russia towards his territory when it was Russia's Empress, Elisabeth (herself another topic of this blog) who complicated Frederick's interfering in European kingdoms. Eventually, however, an agreement between Frederick and Empress Catherine led to the latter controling the politics of Poland when a candidate she supported was elected King of the Polish. This pact between Russia and Prussia also guaranteed the mutual support if one of the parts suffered an attack from Austria or the Ottoman Empire. 

Where this enlightment is concerned, it must be remembered that the concept of "enlightened despotism"came under his domestic rule, when he established in cultured minds primacy of state over personal interests, tolerating religious differences, reforming the military, granting freedom of press to some extent and, mostly important, establishing the first German code of law. That is how his reign is most remembered for. However, 

"His actual achievements, [...] were sometimes less than they appeared on the surface; indeed, his inevitable reliance on the landowning officer [Junker] class set severe limits in several respects to what he could even attempt."

Based on that, how far can Frederick be granted the nickname "the Great"? In his first victory, he did not command his troops in person, and throughout the international conflicts Prussia participated, there had been victories and defeats in the same balance. He was, apparently, reserved and quiet, thoughtful even. According to the writer of this article¹ regarding the celebrization of Frederick as a military genious, 

"Frederick rationalized his position by appealing to "reason of state", a principle independent of moral guidelines applying to individuals. His 'Anti-Machiavel', published anonymously in 1740- the year of his accession to the throne- argued that law and ethics in international relations should be based on neither the interests of the ruler nor those of his people. Instead, they should be fundamentally consistent, subject to rational calculation and governed by principles that could be learned and applied in the same way one maintains and repairs a clock. This trope remained central to his foreign policy throughtout his reign."

But

"Frederick's ultimate success in the Seven Years' War came at a heavy price, both to him and to Prussia. Although Prussia remained financially stable at the war's conclusion (unlike most of the other major belligerents) its population was devastated from various invasions by Austria, Russia and Sweden. Many of Frederick's closest friends (as well as his sister Wilhelmine, his brother Augustus William and his mother) and the best of his officer corps died during the war."

Was he a ruthless man? Can it be said no? Hardly can we ever hold certainty based on events to shape someone's character. What we can possibly assume is that Frederick II was no more different than any other king in his position in the 18th century. There were certainly critics and perhaps there were contemporaries who held more victories and ruled in better terms. But what it must be remembered is that Frederick embodied the concept of the brave leader that encouraged his soldiers. As a king, he was successful to bring  Prussia reforms that enlarged it in culture, politics and military terms. equal to realms geographically greater such as Russia, and established empires as Great Britain and Austria. As the paragraph below tells us:

"In an age when physical courage was taken for granted in senior officers, Frederick twice left major battlefields--Mollwitz in 1741 and Lobositz in 1756--under dubious circumstances. [...] Nevertheless, the man who brought Prussia through three brutal wars, oversaw its reconstruction and secure its status as a great power was far more than the sum of his negatives."

And:

"Frederick's concept of statecraft in turn convinced him that Prussia must fight only short, decisive wars -partly to conserve scarce resources, partly to convince the losers to make and keep the peace, and partly to deter potential challengers. This required development of a forward-loaded military, able to spring to war from a standstill with strong initial results."

Kingship during this century was, evidently, differently shapped according to the demands of the 18th century. Yet, it must bear in mind that Frederick, coming from a small state if compared to established and older empires, managed to evolve Prussia evolve in military terms that would not be complete until the unifying Germany a century later. It is no wonder why Kaiser Wilhelm II often looked up at him, seeing the importance he brought to Prussia.

However might be our interpretation of who he was, as king and man, it is important to leave in evidence that:

"While Frederick did not necessarily seek battle for its own sake, he held nothing back once the fighting started. His enemies responded by denying him the initiative whenever possible, fighting only under favorable conditions and limiting their tactical commitments."

According to the expectations of the Prussians, he might have filled them well. But it is inevitable to say he fell to the temptations of propaganda, once commonly the present not always look glorious as the past seemed to have been, and was used as the greatest of Prussia to closely achieve the glory the Germans would continue to seek under Kaiser Wilhelm II and before him, Bismarck. To understand Germany, we must understand Frederick II's ambitions and how far they shaped him. Yet, he was far from the genious that Napoleon laterwards became, for better or worse. Frederick was, however, a man of his time and he must be remembered as such.


Bibliography:

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_the_Great

-https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederick-II-king-of-Prussia

-http://www.biography.com/people/frederick-ii-9301742

-http://www.historynet.com/frederick-the-great-the-first-modern-military-celebrity.htm¹

-https://www.boundless.com/world-history/textbooks/boundless-world-history-textbook/enlightened-despots-1110/frederick-the-great-and-prussia-1112/frederick-the-great-1121-17703/

-http://www.duhaime.org/LawMuseum/LawArticle-1297/1746-1794-Frederick-the-Greats-Great-Law-Reforms.aspx

-http://www.historytoday.com/reviews/frederick-great-king-prussia

-http://www.britishbattles.com/frederick-the-great-wars/the-battle-of-hohenfriedberg/

-http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21664055-what-made-frederick-great-prussian-and-powerful

Philippa d'Avesnes of Hainault: A Gentle Queen To A Warrior King (1317-1369)

On this day, we will speak about a queen that to the common knowledge is not remembered. When we think of queenship and Middle Ages, the first name that struck our names is, in most times, women as Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France, Urraca of Castile, and other queens who were reputed to go farther than the limit to them imposed by social rules. It is, therefore, understandable why so many people feel attracted to these figures that are not bound to the common sense. 

However, at the same time this attraction is justified, it has also been seen that women who were not as "bold" as those we have formerly mentioned, are left aside. It is forgotten that even the quietest queens were powerful too. But, unfortunately, if we follow the common sense of the concept of strong women in days that were majoritarily made by men, we will find that few pay attention to those who preferred to work on the background. 

That is why the topic of today is Philippa d'Avesnes of Hainault, the consort of King Edward III of England. Born in 1317 (although some sources claim to be the year of 1314) at Valceinnes, she was one of the many children to Count William "the Good" of Hainault and Holland and his consort, Jeanne de Valois, who, in turn, was a grauddaughter to King Philippe III of France. Her infancy is, unfortunately, not very discussed but one can presume that she was very educated for her days. It is said that her mother brought the French culture to the court of her husband and that, by extent, in her years, she enjoyed it. 

When King Edward II of England first began seeking an alliance with the Count of Hainault, it was first suggested that Prince Edward to take Philippa's older sister, Margaret, but she was eventually married to the German king Louis IV in 1324 and succeeded their brother William II as countess of Hainault upon his death. 

Circumnstances changed, however, when Queen Isabella began looking for support for her cause to make her husband abdicate and have her son crowned Edward III instead. She travelled through the continent in order to cement alliances. It must be remembered that Jeanne de Valois was Queen Isabella's first cousin for them both were granddaughters of King Philippe III of France. As we can see below;

"Isabella and Prince Edward came to Valenciennes in 1326. Edward was 13 and Philippa was 12. They spent a week together. There may have been preliminary talks at this time that if Isabella was successful in her mission, Prince Edward would marry one of the daughters of Hainault. When Isabella and Edward left, the chronicles say when she said her goodbyes, Philippa cried and regretted that her cousin was leaving her."

A papal dispensation was required since they were second cousins, and after Prince Edward became King Edward III of England, a delegation was sent to Hainault to confirm the betrothal to Philippa d'Avesnes, whom he chose to be his wife. They were thus married 

"[...] at York Minster, on 24 January 1328, eleven months after his accession to the English throne; although, the de facto rulers of the kingdom were his mother, Queen Dowager Isabella and her avaricious lover Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, who jointly acted as his regents. Soon after their marriage the couple retired to live at Woodstock Palace in Oxfordshire."

Philippa's coronation was delayed for at least two years and here we come to the matter of queenship that opposited the new queen to the queen dowager. In a letter written to her sister Margaret¹, she makes it clear the dominating position Queen Isabella holds alongside her lover, and how difficult it is for her to let go of her power by delaying Philippa's own coronation. Such struggle can be better understood following the next paragraphs:

"The lack of clarity concerning Philippa's role, and more broadly speaking the institution of queenship, was further demonstrated in the fact that no-one was officially designated regent for the young king during his minorit between February 1327 and November 1330. However, the role was effectively taken on by his mother and Philippa's predecessor, Isabella of France. Philippa, then, had more or less been relegated to the sidelines by her mother-in-law, because Isabella's actions arguably demonstrated her continuing wish to act and to be seen as queen. The delay in arranging Philippa's coronation, quite plausibly, was a result of Isabella's unwillingness to cede queenship to her."

Understanding this subtle opposition between the two parties, we comprehend that 

"Philippa appears to have prioritised the role of intercessor, which was a shrewd political move on her behalf given the widespread discontent that had enveloped England during the final years of Edward II's reign and the minority of Edward III as a result of unpopular political, financial and diplomatic policies."

It must be remembered that by the long period of which Philippa reigned as consort of a warrior king as Edward III, a document concerning the main characteristics and the role of a queen should be was released, regarding good manners and contempt behaviour towards the king and the country she expects to serve, to prevent women as Eleanor of Aquitaine and Isabella of France to go too far as to bring chaos into a world which was already preserved with the natural order according to the will of God.

Whether was the case, it is noticed that by

"exercising influence in her household management, and [...] interceding for those who found themselves in a difficult situation -including her mother-in-law- Philippa conformed to contemporary expectations of queenship and how the incumbent was expected to make use of her resources and influence associated with the office in a manner that redounded to the 'oneure' of her husband,"

Following thus the coronation of Philippa as Queen of England on 4 March 1330 at Westminster Abbey, it was when she embraced the role of the interceding queen, as we have already mentioned it, but in careful grounds, returning the good graces to the queenship by using kindness and good heart on behalf of the English subjects to calm the Plantagenet temper of her husband in difficult times, thus winning England's heart.

In domestic matters, after her coronation, to be precisely three months later, she gave birth to the first of almost 15 children. His name was Edward and he would be the father of the illfated Richard II and after his precocious death regarded as the "Black Prince". Then he would be joined by Isabella, who was claimed to be Edward III's favourite daughter; Joan, the favourite of her mother; Lionel, the favourite son of Philippa and who would later be entitled as the first duke of Clarence; John, duke of Lancaster; Edmund, first duke of York; Mary, duchess of Brittany; Margaret, Countess of Pembroke; and Thomas, first duke of Gloucester. She had also ensured that her children, to whom she was very devoted to and breastfed all of them herself, were well educated.

She was also "put in charge of his younger sister Eleanor", responsible for the children's household and looking after their states as well as hers despite being of short money due to Edward's constantly spending as he went to wars. Over that matter, as a wife, Philippa was very successful. And as a queen too as one situation below describes the moment she pledged for the king's mercy for the English's subjects:

"She began working on bringing over weaving tradesmen from her home country to begin creating an industry in Norwich, England. Philippa's mothet traveled to England for a visit and Edward put on a tournament with all the splendors of chivalry. A wooden tower had been erected for the ladies to watch. As the tournament began, Philippa stood to greet Edward and his knights and the scaffolding gave way with all the ladies falling. No one was hurt but the builders of the scaffold were called forward to answer for their work. Edward was furious. Before he could proclaim the punishment for the men, Philippa came forward on her knees and begged for mercy. The King granted her wish and no punishment was given. It was one of the first of many times Philippa would calm the [...] temper of her husband."

She also followed King Edward on his campaigns and held regency  in the country during his absence. Philippa could attend all the expectations regarding the roles of a queen during the medieval days and would go beyond them. In one of the times Edward III was not present in his realm,

"during Edward's Crécy campaign in 1346, for example, while her six-year-old son Lionel was technically "guardian of the realm", Philippa was acting as regent--when the Scottish king took advantage of the English king's absence to raid in England, Philippa headed north, rallying her English soldiers by riding among them."

She also

"went from rank to rank and encouraged her troops, giving them and their cause to God in hopes of victory. The English longbow men did indeed win a victory over the Scots. She again rode on her white charger to meet the victorious troops."

In another occasion, when she was following one of her husband's incursions in the War of the Hundred Years against France, she "persuaded her husband to spare the lives of the Burghers of Calais, whom he had planned to execute as an example to the townspeople following his successful siege of that city."

As a queen, Philipp was also a patron of arts, music and education, and sponsored Geoffrey Chaucer. Also, the "Queen's College" at Oxford was founded on her honour. She was also responsible for the establishment of a small colony of Flemish weavers at Norwich and "showed an active interest in the weaving trade by repeated visits to the town. She also encouraged coal-mining on her estates in Tynedale."

Queen Philippa's health began to deteriorate probably as the result of giving labour too many times amongst other reasons before dying of an illness that was probably edema at the Windsor Castle on 15 August 1369 and her funeral happened on 29 January 1370. She was probably 55 years old and is buried at Westminster Abbey.

Having the English queenship restaured to the good odds under her reign as English consort, Philippa would be a model to be followed by her sucessors such as Anne of Bohemia and, perhaps, Joanna of Navarre. The good ways she worked upon next to a warrior king by having gentleness as weapon set the praises of how a medieval queen should be, unlike some of her predecessors who used their power as queens to seize to achieve their personal achievements. Unlike them, she sought the peace of a realm after a bloody coup d'état and managed to undermine the rule of Isabella of France to certain extent.

"As Thomas Walsingham confirmed, she was a 'most noble woman and most constant lvoer of the English.' At a time when foreign-born consorts could attract criticism for their entourages [...] it is striking that this was not the case for Philippa."

Bibliography:

-https://www.history.ac.uk/richardII/philippa.html

-http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/royals/edward-iii

-http://www.medievalists.net/2013/10/philippa-of-hainault-queen-of-england/

-http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/blog/posts/a-letter-from-philippa-of-hainault-to-her-sister/¹

-http://www.ask-a-badass.com/home/2016/3/25/philippa

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippa_of_Hainault

-http://www.medievalists.net/2017/03/intercession-motherhood-queenships-philippa-hainault-anne-bohemia/

-http://www.monstrousregimentofwomen.com/2015/03/philippa-of-hainault-productive-and.html

Isabel Clara Eugenia of Spain and The Spanish Rule in Low Countries. (1566-1633)

Isabel Clara Eugenia, a Spanish Infanta, is the subject of our blog today. As the daughter of Philip II of Spain and Elisabeth de Valois, this half-french blood princess, granddaughter of powerful monarchs that marked the politics of 16th century, would not be so much different than her ancestors in terms of politics and culture. As a proeminent figure of her time, in days where women as Catherine de' Médici, Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I of England swiftly marked the female rule in a male world, Isabel is treated as footnote, which is very unfair considering that, in this same world where these said women had given new shapes to queenship, Isabel was no different in such terms, despite not being queen herself. So today we attempt to enlight the historical person that was Isabel and her contributions to the 16th and 17th centuries' Renaissance, specially to the Low Countries.

For a starter, this infanta, sometimes spelled Isabella in English language, was born Isabel Clara Eugenia on the 12th day of August 1566. She was the first child of Philip II of Spain with his third consort, the french princess Élisabeth de Valois. Philip II of Spain, it must be remembered, was the son of the powerful Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and his consort, Isabella of Portugal. They were, in turn, both grandchildren of the Catholic sovereigns that united Spain: Isabel of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon. On the mother's side, Isabella descended of the powerful Catherine de' Medici and Henri II of France, who was the second son of François I of France. François I had inherited the French throne upon the death of Louis XII who left no male heirs, and was the rival of his contemporary King Henry VIII of England. Élisabeth de Valois, who was François I's granddaughter, upon her marriage to Phillip II of Spain, renounced her claims to the French throne, which would later be a problem to Philip and his daughter, Isabel, as we will see later onwards. 

Philip II was, before marrying princess Élisabeth, the husband of Queen Mary I of England, with whom he had no surviving heirs and whose marriage was, to certain extant, troublesome. His first marriage was to his first cousin Maria Manuela of Portugal by whom he had a male heir already, the very complicated Don Carlos Prince of Asturias. However, his third marriage was a success in terms of sentimentalism and politics and upon Isabel's birth in 1566, he was "reportedly overjoyed at her birth and declared himself to be happier on the occasion than he would have been at the birth of a son."

Isabel's birth would be followed by one of another sister, Catherine Michelle (later duchess of Savoy), before one of a stillborn son, which culminated in the death of princess Élisabeth at a young age. Together with Catherine, they would be very well educated according to the Renaissance education, but we know very little of it. The results of it can be seen laterwards, since

"Isabella was [...] the only person whom Philip permitted to help him with his work, sorting his papers and translating Italian documents into the Spanish language for him. Isabella remained close to her father until his death on 13 September 1598, and served as his primary caretaker during the last three years of his life, when he was plagued by gout and frequent illness."

It is pointless to sublime that Isabel's relationship with her father was one of a very devouted daughter to a very devouted father, but this was not a common rule for this sort of relationship in those days, when royal children were raised apart of their royal parents. But Philip II favoured his relationship with Isabel and Catherine the most, even when his fourth wife gave him the expected male heir, the future Philip III. 

This good relationship with his daughter reflects in most of Isabel's life. For the start, when Isabel was betrothed since 1568 to the son of Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, and he decided, after 20 years of waiting on her part, to call it off, he sought first the hand of Charles duke of Guise, whose family was not only tied to Mary Queen of Scots on her mother's side, but was very powerful inside the french court. This choice, however, is explained by politics as well once Isabel, as the daughter of a french princess and consequently, granddaughter of King Henri II, had a strong claim to France's crown. Why would the Spanish king push it to his daughter? We can have a better comprehension of the situation as a whole in the following paragraph:

"After her uncle, Henry III of France, was assassinated by the fanatical young monk Jacques Clément on 2 August 1589, Philip II claimed the French crown on behalf of Isabella Clara Eugenia despite France's Salic Law which forbade cognatic succession. However, the Parlement de Paris, in power of the Catholic party, gave verdict that Isabella Clara Eugenia was the "legitimate sovereign" of France. The Huguenot leader, Henry III of Navarre, the rightful King of France by traditional French inheritance laws, ultimately made good his claim to the throne, converted to Catholicism and was crowned in 1594."

That is why

"In 1590-1593, when Philip vainly pressed Isabel's claim to the French throne, he considered Charles, duke of Guise (1571-1640) for her hand before settling on Archduke Ernst of Habsburg (1553-1595), who was appointed governor-general of the revolt-torn Netherlands in 1593. Ernst died in 1595, and in 1597, Philip decided that Isabel would marry Ernst's brother, Cardinal-Archduke Albert, who had succeded Ernst in the Netherlands, and arranged the necessary dispensations with Rome."

At a late age for marriage in consideration for the period where, by 33, princesses were grandmothers in most cases, Isabel was settled to Albert VII, the cardinal-archduke of Austria. Together, they would rule jointly over Netherlands as their sovereign, but if "either died childless, the Netherlands would return to the Spanish crown."

What are the consequences of Isabel's rule alongside her husband to Netherlands, who spent four decades in a struggle for it's independency against the Spanish crown and was strongly identified to the Protestant religion? A spanish ruler was certainly not welcomed in a country where the anti-Spain sentiments were strong. Yet, it is said that the period known as Golden Age of Netherland bloomed under Isabel's joinly reign with her husband, so we can state that:

"After four decades of war, it brought a period of much-needed peace and stability to the economy of the Southern Netherlands. In addition to economic prosperity, the actions of the two rulers stimulated the growth of a separate South Netherlandish identity. The two rulers consolidated the authority of the House of Habsburg over the territory of the Southern Netherlands and largely succeeded in reconciling previous anti-Spanish sentiments."

And:

"The visual arts, with the baroque popularized in the wake of the Counter-Reformation, was the perfect tool. Thus Isabella and her husband stimulated the growth of this artistic movement, which resulted in the creation of the Flemish Baroque painting."

Indeed, she did not rule alone, it's true, but as female in a world dominated by men, culture and patronage were good weapons she used well after the troubling years that wars between Spain and Netherlands had caused in the latter. Of her temper and personality, we do not know, but she was conscious of her duty and would perform it well. Remaining letters written by Isabel still survive, however, so there is a good possibility of making an attempt to comprehend her as person, as woman and as female governor of the Netherlands.

After her husband's death in 1621, Isabel "joined the Secular Franciscan Order and was appointed Governor of the Netherlands on behalf of the king of Spain. She was succeeded as Governor by Cardinal Infante Ferdinand of Austria, the third son of her half-brother Philip III of Spain in 1633". She lived with her aunt Empress Maria at the nunnery, where she died in 1633.

Unfortunately, the details of politics escape us and we can only speculate based on what led us to write this post about Isabel. Also, it is important to point out that we have preferred to spell her name as written in Spanish language, not translating to Isabella as the sources here used did.

We cannot tell for certain what were the causes of Isabel's death, but that she was, if compared to Elizabeth I of England's reign and that of her grandmother's in France as the regent for her nephews, a quiet governess and therefore not well looked after is a great injustice to her figure. Isabel was an active patroness of many painters and constantly defended not only art but culture, barroque as mentioned, in order to bring out the best of Netherlands. Whilst it is known that a woman on power, in particularly considering those days of the 16th and 17th centuries, had to masculize herself to be acknowledged and respected as sovereign, those who did so more quietly are cast out of historiography for apparently not presenting as interesting for not being a tragic character or a great deal of heroine who learned to tame the social rules that were shaped by religion and the common sense that put women as inferior to men.

Isabel was, as such, a woman of her days but the way she managed to rule a country on behalf of Spain and drawing to certain extant peace between former enemies should give a credit to her character as ruler. Her story is tragic in it's own way, but, like of her contemporaries, filled with overcoming. She is as strong as her ancestors who share with her this name, and it is only fair that she is remembered for using culture to her favour, as a good skill in diplomacy.

Bibliography:

-http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/i/isabel_clara.htm

-http://internationalmonarchism.blogspot.com.br/2008/10/forgotten-infantas-isabella-clara.html

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Clara_Eugenia

-http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/isabel-clara-eugenia-and-albert-habsburg-isabel-clara-eugenia-1566-1633-albert-habsburg-1559-1621