King Ferdinand Research Paper

In 1469 King Ferdinand II of Aragon married Queen Isabella I of Castile. Together they had a daughter named Joanna I of Castile. King Ferdinand then overthrew and conquered the Kingdom of Granada, doing so King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella united the three kingdoms of Aragon, Castile and Granada into one called España or Spain in English. Queen Isabella died and King Ferdinand passed on the crown to Joanna. Joanna’s husband Philip I of Castile desperately wanted the spanish crown and therefore proclaimed Joanna as mad and incapable of ruling over Spain, Philip became King Regent. Soon Phillip died of fever and was only king for a few short months. Joanna who was declared insane was not popular with the people of Spain, consequently the

throne was passed to her son Charles I of spain. Charles was not born or raised in Spain, his Aunt Margaret of Austria raised him furthermore, as well as being the King of Spain, Charles was the Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria. Considering Charles was the first King directly coming from the correct bloodline he is commonly known as the first King of Spain. His reign marked the start of the Spanish “Golden Age”
Charles was not popular with the people of Spain, given he barely spoke their language and was foreign born and raised.

Charles married his cousin Isabella of Portugal, uniting the kingdoms as one with their son Philip II of Spain and Philip I of Portugal. Though Philip was one of the best kings Spain has ever known he had a great deal of trouble with marriage. His first marriage to his cousin Maria of Portugal ended quickly after she died giving birth to their son who died as well. His second marriage was to Mary I of England in attempts to uniting England and Spain she too died. His third marriage was Elizabeth of Valois (daughter of King Henry II of France), when war broke out between France and Spain their relationship suffered although Elizabeth had two daughters with Phillip named Isabella and Catherine. His fourth and final marriage was to Anna of Austria also known as his niece. With her he had Philip III (Philip II of portugal) his only surviving son. When King Philip II died his son Philip III became king. Philip III married his cousin, Margaret the Archduchess of Austria. Philip spent a mass of Spain’s money entertaining himself, seeming not to notice the debt Spain was sinking deeply into. Therefore when King Philip III died and his son Philip IV became king Spain rejoiced. Spain was not handled to Philip in it’s best form, Portugal was unhappy and was attempting to succeed as well as Catalonia. Philip achieved in keeping Catalonia but failed to keep Portugal, thus ending Spain’s “Golden age” and decline from world power. Buckling under pressure Philip died leaving his four year old son Charles II to be king. Charles was disabled and often ill as a result of inbreeding. When Charles died childless, ending the Habsburg lineage the throne passed to his grandnephew Philip V. When Charles died he left all of his dominion to Philip including Spain, Spanish America, Spanish Netherlands and parts of Italy. Philip was the grandson of Queen

Therese of France, consequently citizens questioned his right to the Spanish throne. When King Louis XIV of France also included Philip in his lineage war broke out in Spain. The next person in line for the throne was the Archduke of Austria desperately wanted the throne to himself so with his limited evidence he attempted to persuade the people of Spain to declare him the ruler. Eventually Philip V was declared king of spain, thus starting the house of bourbon.
A consequence of becoming King for Philip was having to give up the Spanish Netherland and Italian territories. Philip’s first wife was Maria of Savoy but she died, leaving him to marry Italian Isabella Farnese who greatly wanted territory in Italy for their two sons. Unfortunately this caused a war between Spain, Austria, France and England. Philippe abdicated in favor of his son Luis I, when Louis died seven months later Philip became king again. Philip was losing his sanity, leaving his wife in control of public affairs during his last years of reigning. When Philip V died his son Ferdinand VI became king. Ferdinand acquired a love for the arts, creating the Academy of San Fernando. King Ferdinand VI married but had no children, when he died his half brother Charles III became king. Charles was already the king of Naples, though he resigned leaving the throne to his son Ferdinand I. While reigning over Spain he strengthen the growing country, in the process of doing this Charles lost Florida to England. When Charles died the throne passed to his son Charles IV was not popular with the people of spain, lacking leadership qualities. Consequently when the Spanish people turned against him favor of his son Ferdinand VII, Charles turned to his then friend and ally, Napoleon. Napoleon seized the opportunity and threw both Charles and his son Ferdinand in a french prison, leaving his brother Joseph I of France King of Spain. Ferdinand then spent this rest of his life in exile from Spain. Napoleon released Ferdinand and soon Ferdinand became king of Spain. Ferdinand attempted to regain Spanish territory in America but was unsuccessful. Ferdinand married three times but had no success in the children aspect. Success was finally found in his fourth marriage to Maria Christina and together they had Isabel II. Unfortunately under the House of Bourbon women were not allowed to rule. Three years later when Ferdinand was upon his deathbed Maria Christina convinced him to do away with the old salic law stating women could not be in charge. Ferdinand was able to declare Maria Christina as Queen regent until Isabel was of age. This plan was successful when with the help of liberal spaniards Isabel II became Queen of Spain. Sacrifices were made, including a war turning the conservative Spaniards against the liberal Spaniards. The war ironically ended with the liberals overthrowing Isabel in favor of the Italian Amadeo I. Amadeo had no direct ties to the Spanish bloodline, it was no surprise when he abdicated and a spanish republic was formed. The republic was unsuccessful, only lasting two years. Monarchy in Spain was restored when Isabel’s son Alfonso XII became king. Alfonso’s reign was fairly calm, the only major issue he dealt with was ending the civil war started by the liberals and conservatives. When Alfonso XII died the throne passed down to his son Alfonso XIII. When the throne was passed to Alfonso XIII he was still in the womb because his father had died before he was born. Later Alfonso abdicated when anti-monarchists won local elections. Thus the second spanish republic was founded, the span of this republic was similar to the latter and ended when fascist dictator Francisco Franco took over Spain. Eventually Francisco gave the throne back to Alfonso XIII’s grandson Juan Carlos I. Purposely skipping over Juan of Barcelona the rightful heir to the Spanish throne. Fransisco believed that Juan was to liberal and thought Juan Carlos would lead an authoritarian regime similar to himself, fortunately for Spain he did not. Around the time Juan Carlos was born Spain became a democracy, Juan Carlos is the grandson of the last Spanish king Alfonso XIII. In 2014 Juan Carlos signed his abdication bill announcing his son Felipe VI king with his daughter Leonor in line for the throne.