Daughters of Spain
Maria was the fourth child and third surviving daughter of the Catholic monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand. She was born in Córdoba on June 29, 1482; her twin did not survive the birth.
Much like her older sisters, she was given a thorough education, not only in household tasks typical for women of the time but also in arithmetic, Latin, several other languages, history, philosophy, and the classics.
As a princess of Spain, she was in a position to not only give but also to bring great political gain and influence through marriage. She was considered a good match for King James IV of Scotland. The marriage discussions came at the same time as her younger sister Katherine’s marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales, was being planned. There had been a plan for the two sisters to keep the peace between Scotland and England through marriage. The plan did not come to fruition.
After the death of her eldest sister, Isabella, her widower, Manuel I of Portugal, sought to reignite the peace and prosperity between Portugal and Spain by suing for the hand of Maria.
They were married in Alcácer do Sal on October 30, 1500, and together they had ten children. Those who reached adulthood were: John, Isabella, Beatrice, Luis, Ferdinand, Afonso, Henry, and Duarte.
She was described as pale and thin, quiet and morose, with a very serious character to her personality. Despite being queen of one of the richest royal courts in Europe at the time, she did not play any significant role as an individual. She devoted her time to sewing, pious devotion, and supervising the education of her children in accordance with the principles of her parents.
King Manuel appreciated her pious nature and treated her with respect, rewarding her with expensive clothes and jewellery during her pregnancies.
While not politically active, she was involved in religious politics. She supported her husband’s religious projects, such as reconquering Jerusalem.
For almost the entirety of her married life, she was continually pregnant, with only a few months of pause between a delivery and her next pregnancy. Due to this, her health deteriorated, and she became very frail. Extremely weak and exhausted, she became temporarily mentally confused in 1516 before recuperating.
She died in Lisbon on March 7, 1517, after the birth of her last child, who also died shortly after birth.
A stained-glass window in the High Chapel of the Church of Saint Mary of Victory depicts Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugal.
Sources:
Spain: July 1498, 21–31″. Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 1, 1485–1509, ed. G.A. Bergenroth
Education and Women in the Early Modern Hispanic World, Elizabeth Teresa Howe
