Ferdinand II of Aragon (as a Catalan: Ferran II , in Castilian: Fernando II ), (March 10th 1452 with Saragossa - January 23rd 1516 with Madrigalejo), known as Ferdinand the Catholic , was,

• King de Castille and León of 1474 with 1504 (By marriage, under the name of Ferdinand V )
• King d' Aragon, of Valence, Majorque and Sicily and count de Barcelone of 1479 with 1516 (of its own boss)
• Count de Roussillon and of Cerdagne of 1493 with 1516
• King of Deux-Siciles in 1504.

Biography

Wire of the king Jean II of Aragon (1398-1479) and his second wife Jeanne Enríquez (1425-1468), Ferdinand became the heir to the possession of the Couronne of Aragon with died of his/her half-brother Charles prince de Viane in 1461.

The October 14th 1469, it married future the Isabelle Ire of Castille (1451-1504). Together they carried out a civil war aiming at dispossessing the niece of Isabelle, '' Jeanne Beltraneja '' (1462-1530). Demolished Jeanne Beltraneja with Battle of Toro (1476).

In 1474, Isabelle arrived at the throne of Castille. Died of Jean II in 1479, Ferdinand reached the throne of the Couronne of Aragon and the two monarchs reigned together, even if the two crowns remained separate.

In 1479, it inherited the States of his/her father, and thus joins together under its laws almost all the Spain.

Ferdinand and Isabelle followed a coercive policy religious by reorganizing in 1481 the court of the Inquisition, the expulsion of the Jews not converted into 1492 towards the Ottoman Empire and the conquest of the Royaume of Grenade the same year, which was worth to them to be seen decreeing the title of Kings Catholiques by the Pape Alexandre VI. In parallel, they prepared the Spanish expansion by the support brought to forwardings of Christophe Colomb. It accommodated Christophe Colomb who discovered and occupied on his behalf the Nouveau World.

Ferdinand, while at the same time it had received the counties of Roussillon and of Cerdagne of Charles VIII for price of its non-intervention in the Guerres of Italy, conquered the Royaume of Naples in 1504 dispossessing thus his/her cousin Frederic.

In 1504 Isabelle died, which made of Ferdinand the regent of the crown of Castille in the name of his/her daughter '' Jeanne Insane the ''. But it ran up against the hostility of the nobility Castilian which him subsitua the husband of Jeanne, the archduke '' Philippe the Beautiful ''. With died of this one in 1506, Ferdinand took again the reins of Castille, this time in the name of its grandson the future Charles Quint. German Remarié in 1505 with of Foix, it annexed on its behalf the south of the Navarre in 1512.

With its death in 1516 it left an immense empire to its grandson Charles Quint, first true king d' Espagne.

Ferdinand V raised Spain at the most point of power, increases the royal power, lowered the large ones and returned to the laws all their force; moreover, it deserved the nickname of Catholique by its heat to fight the Infidels; but one reproaches him his fickleness and his cheating, which were worth also the nickname to him of Rusé : he was played of the bona fide of Charles VIII and Louis XII, and showed sometimes their ally and sometimes their enemy. He was skilfully assisted in his companies by his minister, the cardinal Ximénès, and in his conquests by his general Gonzalve de Cordoue.

Play of alliances

Ferdinand sought by all the means to insulate France expantionnist. It desired to consolidate its alliance with Maximilien Ier, emperor of the Saint Worsens, by the means of a double marriage. It gave his daughter Jeanne to Philippe (1496), while his/her son Jean, the potential heir to the two crowns, was married in Margarette (1497). Alas, Jean died without descent the same year. Ferdinand restores also bonds with Portugal by giving his/her daughter Isabelle, with infant Alfonse. This one died quickly. The widow was remariée at once with the new king Manuel Ier. But Isabelle died in layer in 1498, and her son in 1500. Ferdinand gives to king Manuel his last daughter, Marie. Finally Catherine wife Arthur Tudor, heir to the crown of England, then, with died of this one, his/her Henri brother, future Henri VIII.

This policy of unions will be shown not very effective. Worse of all Jean, heir to the two crowns of Castille and Aragon dies without descent. The new heiress, Jeanne, started to give signs of mental failure. However, the drama for Castille was the death of Isabelle in 1504. It was also a drama for Ferdinand, but rather from a political point of view. Because the two kingdoms were always independent by the existence of two separate thrones. Ferdinand was named regent, but Philippe, his son-in-law, claimed the kingdom. This last obtained win. It was named Philippe I of Castille with Jeanne for queen. Philippe died in 1506. Jeanne lost the head definitively of it (from where her nickname of Jeanne the Insane one). Ferdinand was recalled as regent of Charles, his grandson, who was high in Brussels.

While seeking to insulate France, Ferdinand was in spite of him the instigator of worst scenarios: the put hand of Habsgbourg, abroad, on Spain.

After the death of Isabelle, Ferdinand asked for the hand of Beltraneja, widow of Alphonse V of Portugal, in the hope to reconquer the throne of Castille. But she refused. Perhaps because of the old resentment which it dedicated to Isabelle, the usurping one. Ferdinand turned then to a French princess, Germaine of Foix, in order to weaken the future dominant position of Habsgbourg in Europe by a bringing together with France. A last blow dealt by fate, this happy time, gave without blow to férir Navarre in growing old Ferdinand (1512). With his death, its grandson, future emperor of the Saint Worsens Germanic inherited all the kingdoms gathered by his grandfather and his father as well as enormous oceanic empire.

The complicated and hazardous play of matrimonial alliances gathered Espagnes. The bringing together with Portugal had however failed. It was done by the force under the reign of Philippe II at the end of XVI S.

Descent

Of its union with Isabelle, Ferdinand had 5 children:

• Jean († 1497

• Isabelle d' Aragon, wife of Alphonse, infant of Portugal, then of the king of Portugal Manual Ier, his/her cousin.
• Jeanne Anger of Spain, known as Jeanne Insane the , heiress of the kingdoms of Castille, then of Aragon, and mother of Charles Quint
• Marie d' Aragon, second wife, after her Isabelle sister, of the king of Portugal Manual Ier
• Catherine d' Aragon, wife of Arthur Tudor, heir to the crown of England, then of his/her brother, future Henri VIII and mother of Marie I {{Re}} of England.

Simple: Ferdinand II off Aragon

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