Prince Philip of Austria, Duke of Burgundy (Spain)
Philip the Handsome (Felipe el Hermoso) was born on July 22, 1478 to Emperor Maximilian of the Holy Roman Empire and Mary of Burgundy. Upon the death of his mother, he succeeded to her Burgundian possessions.
A period of turmoil ensued, which witnessed sporadic hostilities between the large towns of Flanders and the supporters of Maximilian. Young Philip was caught and briefly sequestered as part of the Flemish campaign to support their claims for greater autonomy. But soon both sides came to terms in the Peace of Senlis in 1493, which smoothed over the internal power struggle by agreeing to make Philip prince in the following year.
On October 20, 1496, he married Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. The marriage was one of a set of family alliances, mainly designed to strengthen against growing French power. Philip's sister Margaret married Juan, Prince of Asturias, the only son of Ferdinand and Isabella and successor to the unified crowns of Castile and Aragon. At the time of her marriage to Philip, Juana was third in line to the throne after Juan and elder sister Isabella.
However Juan died soon after his marriage to Margeret. The new heir was Infanta Isabella, who was married to Manuel I of Portugal. Isabella died giving birth to a son, Miguel, who was the heir of the united thrones of Castile, Aragon and Portugal. Miguel, however, died a few days after his birth, leaving Juana as the heir of the Castilian and Aragonese Crowns.
Because Ferdinand could still have male heirs (should he survive his wife and remarry), the Cortes of Aragon refused to recognize Juana and Philip as the heirs presumptive to the Kingdom of Aragon. In Castile, however, the succession was clear. At this point, the issue of Juana's mental incompetence moved to the centre of the political stage, since it was clear that Philip and his Burgundian entourage would be the real power-holders in the country.
When Isabella died, Ferdinand endeavored to lay hands on the regency of Castile, but the nobles forced him to withdraw. Philip was summoned to Spain, where he was recognized as king. Father and son-in-law mediated under Cardinal Cisneros at Remesal, the only result of which was an indecent family quarrel, in which Ferdinand professed to defend the interests of his daughter, who he said was imprisoned by her husband (as some historians argue, this claim might have had basis).
Although Philip and Joanna had 6 children (Charles, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, Eleanor, Queen Consort first to Manuel I of Portugal and secondly to Francis I of France, Isabella, Queen Consort of Christian II of Denmark, Mary, Queen Consort of Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia and Catherine, Queen Consort of John III of Portugal), their life together was rendered extremely unhappy by his infidelity and by her jealousy, which, working on a neurotic temperament, furthered her insanity.
A civil war would probably have broken out between them but Philip, who had only been in Spain long enough to prove his incapacity, died suddenly, apparently of typhoid fever, on September 25, 1506. His wife refused for long to allow his body to be buried or to part from it.
Prince Francis of Spain (Spain)
Francis was born on May 13, 1822 to Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain and Princess Luisa of the Two Sicilies. His parents were second cousins both from maternal and paternal lines.
Francis married his second cousin Isabella on October 10, 1846. Twelve children were born of the marriage, of which four reached adulthood: Alfonso XII of Spain, Isabel, Princess of Asturias, who parried her parents’ second cousin Prince Gajetan, Infanta Maria, who married her first cousin Prince Louis Ferdinand of Bavaria, and Infanta Eulalia, who married her first cousin don Antonio de Orléans y Borbón, Infante of Spain.
Both during Francis’ lifetime and later there has been considerable speculation that some or all of Isabella's children were not fathered by Francis, along with rumours that he was homosexual or had physical impediments.
Starting in 1864, Francis acted as president of the Spanish Privy Council (Consejo del Reino). In 1868 he went into exile with his wife in France. They were amicably separated and, with time, became good friends, which they had certainly not been while she was Queen regnant. In exile, Francis adopted the incognito title of Count of Moratalla. The 1874 restoration placed his son Alfonso XII on the throne.
Francis took up residence at the château of Épinay-sur-Seine, France, in 1881 and died there in 1902. The castle is currently the Épinay-sur-Seine city hall.
Gaston IV, Count de Foix (Navarre)
Gaston, Count de Foix, Viscount of Bearn founded a brief-ruling dynastic house of the Kingdom of Navarre. He was born on November 27, 1422 to John I of Foix-Grailly and Joan d’Albret. His maternal grandparents were Charles d'Albret, Constable of France and co-commander of the French army at the Battle of Agincourt where he was killed, and his wife Marie de Sully.
At the age of 14 Gaston married Infanta Leonor, daughter of John II and Blanche I of Navarre. Leonor had few chances to become a Queen: her father was a younger son and brother of the Kings of Aragon, her mother was the daughter of King Charles III of Navarre and Infanta Eleanor of Castile and had an older sister. Leonor herself had an older brother Charles and an older sister, Blanca. However, Leonor’s father usurped the throne of Navarre (the rightful heir was Leonor’s elder sister), to which he added the Throne of Aragon in 1458 (his older brother died without issues).
After the deaths of Leonor’s older brother and sister Charles and Blanca, Charles promised the Throne of Navarre to Leonor and her husband, if they remained loyal to him, which they promised (and fulfilled their promise). Although Gaston died before his father-in-law, years before his death Gaston was a co-ruler for John II. The brief reign of Leonor didn’t mark any substantial changes or important events. The few years Leonor reigned, she reigned in peace.
Gaston and Leonor had 8 children, including Gaston V de Foix, who was to become the father of Catherine of Navarre, and Margaret de Foix, who would become the mother of Anne of Brittany.
Jean d’Albret (Navarre)
Jean was born in 1469 to Lord Alain I d’Albret and Francoise of Châtillon-Limoges. When he was 15, he married Catherine, Countess of Foix. Catherine was not expected to become Queen, since she had an elder brother. But upon his death in 1483, she was proclaimed Queen of Navarre and Jean became King Consort of Navarre. Jean and Catherine were parents to 13 children.
Ferdinand II of Aragon disputed lands in Navarre on the ground that his second wife was Germaine de Foix, a cousin of Queen Catherine. The following campaign was disastrous and Ferdinand easily defeated the army of Navarre, lead by Jean d’Albret. Navarre south of the Pyrenees was annexed by the victorious Ferdinand and remained a domain of the Kings of Spain, who also bore the title of Kings of Navarre, until 1833, when it was completely integrated into Spain.
Lower Navarre remained with John and his successors as Kings of Navarre, increasingly under French influence. After King Henry of Navarre had mounted the French throne in 1589, he and his successors styled themselves Kings of France and Navarre until the French Revolution merged Lower Navarre with France.
Antoine de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme (Navarre)
Antoine de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme was head of the House of Bourbon and King-consort of Navarre. He was born on April 22, 1518 to Charles de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme and Francoise d'Alencon. His younger brother was Prince Louis de Conde.
On October 20, 1548 Antoine married Jeanne d’Albret, Queen of Navarre and became King Consort of Navarre, Count of Foix, of Bigorre, of Armagnac, or Perigord and Viscount of Bearn. The Kingdom of Navarre had been occupied by the Spanish since 1512, and Antoine tried to re-establish it. He was an ambitious man and was ready to do anything to achieve his goals: his lack of real religious conviction and reconversion to Catholicism separated him from his wife, who was a devoted Protestant (Huguenot). Allying himself with Catherine de’ Medici, he was named Lieutenant General of France. When his wife allowed the Huguenots to sack the chapel of Vendôme and the churches of the town in 1562, he threatened to send her to a convent. She took refuge in Béarn.
Antoine was vain and unstable. He often disappointed his followers and was manipulated by his superiors and out-witted by his adversaries. He had no relationships with his children, who were deeply devoted to their mother, Jeanne. By the time of his death in 1562 (during a siege to Rouen, he was mortally wounded), he hadn’t seen his children for several years.
Antoine and Jeanne were parents to 6 children, among them future Henry IV, King of France and Navarre, and Catherine of Navarre, Duchess of Lorraine, who married Henry I, Duke of Lorraine in 1599.