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
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