John II of Aragon

King of Aragon from 1458 to 1479

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John II

John as a Knight of the Golden Fleece
Miniature from the southern Netherlands, 1473

King of Aragon

(more...)

Reign| 27 June 1458 – 20 January 1479
Predecessor| Alfonso V
Successor| Ferdinand II
King of Sicily
Reign| 27 June 1458 – 1468
Predecessor| Alfonso V
Successor| Ferdinand II
King of Navarre
Reign| 8 September 1425 – 20 January 1479
Predecessor| Charles III
Successor| Eleanor
Co-ruler| Blanche I (until 1441)
Contenders| Charles IV (1441–1461)
Blanche II (1461–1464)

Born| 29 June 1398
Medina del Campo
Died| 20 January 1479(1479-01-20) (aged 80)
Barcelona
Burial|

Poblet Monastery

Spouses|

Blanche I of Navarre

(m. 1420; died 1441)​

Juana Enríquez

(m. 1447; died 1468)​

Issue
Detail|

* Charles IV, King of Navarre
* Blanche II, Queen of Navarre
* Eleanor, Queen of Navarre
* Ferdinand II, King of Aragon
* Joanna, Queen of Naples
* Illegitimate:
Alfonso, Duke of Villahermosa
* John, Archbishop of Zaragoza

House| Trastámara
Father| Ferdinand I of Aragon
Mother| Eleanor of Alburquerque

John II (Spanish: Juan II, Catalan: Joan II, Aragonese: Chuan II and Basque: Joanes II; 29 June 1398 – 20 January 1479), called the Great (el Gran) or the Faithless (el Sense Fe),[1] was King of Aragon from 1458 until his death in 1479. As the husband of Queen Blanche I of Navarre, he was King of Navarre from 1425 to 1479. John was also King of Sicily from 1458 to 1468.

## Biography

[edit]

A Sicilian–Athenian–Neopatrian carlino of John II.

John was born at Medina del Campo (in the Crown of Castile), the son of King Ferdinand I of Aragon[2] and Eleanor of Alburquerque.[3] In his youth he was one of the infantes (princes) of Aragon who took part in the dissensions of Castile during the minority and reign of John II of Castile. Until middle life he was also lieutenant-general in Aragon for his brother and predecessor Alfonso V, whose reign was mainly spent in Italy.[4] In his old age he was preoccupied by incessant conflicts with his Aragonese and Catalan subjects, with Louis XI of France, and in preparing the way for the marriage of his son Ferdinand with Isabella I of Castile which brought about the union of the crowns of Aragon and Castile and which was to create the Monarchy of Spain. His troubles with his subjects were closely connected with tragic dissensions within his own family.[5]

John was first married to Blanche I of Navarre of the House of Évreux.[4] In 1432, John II appointed Juan Vélaz de Medrano, Lord of Igúzquiza and Learza, as his royal chamberlain, a position he had previously held under Blanche's late father, Charles III of Navarre. By right of Blanche he became king of Navarre, and on her death in 1441 he was left in possession of the kingdom for his lifetime. But one son, Charles, given the title "Prince of Viana" as heir of Navarre, had been born of the marriage. John quickly came to regard this son with jealousy. After his second marriage, to Juana Enríquez, it grew into absolute hatred, being encouraged by Juana. John tried to deprive his son of his constitutional right to act as lieutenant-general of Aragon during his father's absence. Charles's cause was taken up by the Aragonese, however, and the king's attempt to make his second wife lieutenant-general was set aside.[5]

There followed the long Navarrese Civil War, with alternations of success and defeat, ending only with the death of the prince of Viana, possibly by poison administered by his father in 1461.[6] The institutions of the Principality of Catalonia, who had adopted the cause of Charles and who had grievances of their own, called in a succession of foreign pretenders in the ten years' Catalan Civil War. John spent his last years contending with them. He was forced to pawn Roussillon, his Catalan possession on the north-east of the Pyrenees, to King Louis XI of France, who refused to part with it.[5]

In his old age John was blinded by cataracts, but recovered his eyesight with an operation (couching) conducted by his physician Abiathar Crescas, a Jew. The Catalan revolt was pacified in 1472, but until his death in 1479 John carried on a war, in which he was generally unfortunate, with his neighbor the French king. He was succeeded by Ferdinand, his son by his second marriage, who was already married to Isabella I of Castile.[5] With his death and son's accession to the throne of Aragon, the unification of the realms of Spain under one royal house began in earnest.

## Marriages and issue

[edit]

From his first marriage to Blanche of Navarre, John had the following children:

* Charles, Prince of Viana (1421–1461),[4] married Agnes of Cleves (1422–1448), no legitimate issue.
* Joanna of Navarre (1423 - 22 August 1425)
* Blanche II of Navarre (1424–1464), married Henry, Prince of Asturias, no issue.
* Eleanor of Navarre[7] (1426-1479),[4] married Gaston IV, Count of Foix (1422–1472), had issue.

A ducat with John II's effigy

From his second marriage to Juana Enríquez, John had the following children:

* Ferdinand II of Aragon[7] (1452-1516). Married Isabella I of Castile.
* Joanna of Aragon (1455–1517). Married Ferdinand I of Naples.

Illegitimate children:

* Alfonso de Aragón y de Escobar (1417-1495), Duke of Villahermosa
* Juan de Aragón (1440–1475), Archbishop of Zaragoza
* Felipe de Carrayos del Radona (Phillipe del Radona)[citation needed]

## Ancestors

[edit]

Ancestors of John II of Aragon[8]

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 8\. Henry II of Castile

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

| 4\. John I of Castile|

|  |  |
| 9\. Juana Manuel

| 2\. Ferdinand I of Aragon|

|  |  |  |  |
| 10\. Peter IV of Aragon

| 5\. Eleanor of Aragon|

|  |  |
| 11\. Eleanor of Sicily

| 1\. John II of Aragon|
|  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 12\. Alfonso XI of Castile

| 6\. Sancho Alfonso|

|  |  |
| 13\. Leonor de Guzmán

| 3\. Eleanor of Alburquerque|

|  |  |  |  |
| 14\. Peter I of Portugal

| 7\. Beatrice of Portugal|

|  |  |
| 15\. Inês de Castro

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |

## See also

[edit]

* Castilian Civil War of 1437–1445

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Ruiz 2007, p. ?.
2. ^ Woodacre 2013, p. 91.
3. ^ Earenfight 2015, p. 143.
4. ^ a b c d Scofield 1923, p. 235.
5. ^ a b c d Chisholm 1911.
6. ^ Livermore 1966, p. 120.
7. ^ a b Merriman 1918, p. 61.
8. ^ de Sousa, Antonio Caetano (1735). Historia genealogica da casa real portugueza [Genealogical History of the Royal House of Portugal] (in Portuguese). Vol. 2\. Lisboa Occidental. p. 497.

## Sources

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John II of Aragon.

* Earenfight, Theresa (2015). "Trastamara Kings, Queens, and the Gender Dynamics of Monarchy". In Todesca, James (ed.). The Emergence of León-Castile c.1065-1500: Essays Presented to J.F. O'Callaghan. Ashgate. pp. 141–160.
* Livermore, H. V. (1966). A New History of Portugal (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.120
* Merriman, Roger Bigelow (1918). The Rise of the Spanish Empire in the Old and in the New. Vol. 2\. The Macmillan Company.
* Ruiz, Teófilo F. (2007). Spain's centuries of crisis: 1300–1474. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-2789-9.
* Scofield, Cora Louise (1923). The Life and Reign of Edward the Fourth, King of England and of France, and Ireland. Vol. 1\. Longmans, Green, and Co.
* Woodacre, Elena (2013). The Queens Regnant of Navarre: Succession, Politics, and Partnership, 1274–1512. Palgrave Macmillan.
* Rivadeneyra. "Cronicas de los reyes de Castilla," Biblioteca de autores espanoles, vols. Ixvi, Ixviii. Madrid, 1845.
* Zurita, G. Anales de Aragon. Saragossa, 1610.[title incomplete][volume & issue needed]
* Prescott W. H. History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. 1854.
* This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "John II.". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 440.

## External links

[edit]

John II of Aragon

House of Trastámara

Born: 29 June 1397 Died: 20 January 1479

Regnal titles
Preceded by

Alfonso the Magnanimous

|  King of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca,
Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica;
Count of Barcelona
1458–1479

1458-1468 (Sicily)

| Succeeded by

Ferdinand the Catholic

Count of Roussillon and Cerdagne
1458–1462  | Succeeded by

Louis the Prudent

Preceded by

Charles III

|  King of Navarre (jure uxoris)
1425–1441
with Blanche I | Succeeded by

Charles IV
de jure

King of Navarre de facto
withholding the crown from
Charles IV and Blanche II
1441–1479  | Succeeded by

Eleanor

Spanish nobility
Vacant

Title last held by

Martin of Aragon |  Duke of Montblanc
1415–1458  | Succeeded by

Ferdinand II of Aragon

Preceded by

James II of Urgell

|  Lord of Balaguer
1418–1458
Preceded by

Hugh of Cardona

|  Duke of Gandia
1433–1439  | Succeeded by

Charles of Viana

* v
* t
* e

Infantes of Aragon

1st generation|

* Sancho I

2nd generation|

* Peter I
* Alfonso I
* Ramiro II

4th generation|

* Ramon/Alfonso II
* Peter, Count of Cerdanya/Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Provence
* Sancho, Count of Provence

5th generation|

* Peter II
* Alfonso II, Count of Provence

6th generation|

* James I

7th generation|

* Peter III
* James II of Majorca
* Sancho

8th generation|

* Alfonso III
* James II
* Frederick III of Sicily
* Sancho of Majorca 1
* Ferdinand, Viscount of Aumelas 1

9th generation|

* Alfonso IV
* Peter II of Sicily 2
* Manfred, Duke of Athens and Neopatria 2
* William II, Duke of Athens and Neopatria 2
* John, Duke of Randazzo 2
* James III of Majorca 1

10th generation|

* Peter IV
* James I, Count of Urgell
* Louis of Sicily 2
* Frederick IV of Sicily 2
* Frederick I, Duke of Athens and Neopatria 2
* James IV of Majorca 1

11th generation|

* John I
* Martin
* Peter II, Count of Urgell

12th generation|

* Martin I of Sicily
* James II, Count of Urgell

13th generation|

* Peter
* Martin

14th generation|

* Alfonso V
* John II
* Henry, Duke of Villena
* Peter, Count of Alburquerque

15th generation|

* Charles, Prince of Viana
* Ferdinand II

16th generation|

* John, Prince of Asturias

17th generation|

* Charles I of Spain
* Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

* 1 also a prince of Majorca
* 2 also a prince of Sicily

* v
* t
* e

Monarchs of Aragon

House of Jiménez|

* Ramiro I
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House of Barcelona|

* Alfonso II
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House of Trastámara|

* Ferdinand I
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* John II
* Ferdinand II
* Joanna

House of Habsburg|

* Charles I
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House of Bourbon|

* Philip IV

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* Íñigo Arista
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* Sancho I
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* Theobald I
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House of Capet|

* Philip IF
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* Charles IF
* Joan II

House of Évreux|

* Philip III
* Charles II
* Charles III
* Blanche I

House of Trastámara|

* John IIA
* Charles IV
* Blanche II
* Eleanor

House of Foix|

* Francis Phoebus
* Catherine

House of Albret|

* John III

House of Albret \- Lower Navarre|

* Henry II
* Joan III

House of Bourbon \- Lower Navarre|

* Antoine
* Henry IIIF
* Louis IIF
* Louis IIIF
* Louis IVF
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House of Trastámara \- Upper Navarre|

* Ferdinand IA
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House of Habsburg \- Upper Navarre|

* Charles IVS
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* Charles VS

House of Bourbon \- Upper Navarre|

* Philip VIIS
* Louis IIS
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* Charles VIS
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* Isabella IS

AAlso King of Aragon. FAlso King of France. SAlso King/Queen of Spain.

* v
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County of Sicily (1071–1130)|

* Roger I
* Simon
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Kingdom of Sicily (1130–1816)|

* Roger II
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