Isabel de Valois (Elisabeth de Valois), Queen of Spain

[umigon]

Clara was the Saint of the day (Saint Claire of Assisi, 12th August) and Eugenia was to say thanks to Saint Eugene. Isabel de Valois had prayed to him so that he made her be succesfully pregnant. Nine months after this prayer she gave birth to her first daughter. We must remember that she was desperate for children after 5 years of marriage and an only pregnancy which ended in the miscarriage of twin daughters. Saint Eugene gave her what she asked for, so she put his name to her first daughter! Isabel, her first name, was chosen by Felipe to honour his wife, but Isabel (de Valois) said it was a posthumous tribute to Felipe's mother, Isabel of Portugal.

[isabel]

Dear Umigon, thanks for explaining the myth of the love story between Don Carlos and Isabel de Valois.

[aron]

Did Queen Isabel have any stillborn sons or sons who died young? Any miscarriages?

Yes:

August 12, 1564: She miscarried twin girls of three moths of pregnancy.

October 3, 1568: She gave birth to a baby girl of five months of pregnancy. The baby was born alive and was quickly baptised with the name Juana. She died only an hour and a half after. Isabel died the same day.

Isabel also had a miscarriage in 1562, almost bled to death by the Spanish doctors. An Italian doctor saved her.

[umigon]

The miscarriage was in 1564. There was a rumour of Isabel having a miscarriage in 1562, but Antonio Martínez Llamas demonstrated in his book "Isabel de Valois, reina de España", that the queen's first pregnancy was in 1564, twin sisters, that nearly cause Isabel's death.

[Eric_Lowe]

There was also a legend that Philip II poisoned her to get her out of the way. I personally do not believe it, although enough people did to be included in books.

[umigon]

It was protestant black press that, sadly, some people still believe today. But Isabel having an affair with Don Carlos, and Felipe posioning Don Carlos and Isabel, absolutely false. These were rumours invented by agents of the Prince of Orange and Elizabeth Tudor, nothing to do with what actually happened.

[Eric_Lowe]

I think that Isabel of Valois did pity the poor young man, but I don't think she was in love with Don Carlos. (although I greatly enjoyed the Shiller play when it was performed in London in May this year). However I do think that she must be intimitated by her elderly husband, who piety was foreign to her who grew up in the gaiety of her father court (her sister-in-law, Mary of Scotland never did, and tried to recreate that atmosphere though unsucessfully in Scotland).

[umigon]

When Isabel arrived to the Spanish Court Felipe wasn't as severe and austere as he would become after Carlos and Isabel's deaths. Felipe loved to dance and Isabel, although she was intimidated by him at first, learnt to love him. Felipe and Isabel were one of the happiest couples in Spanish Royalty.

[Prince_Lieven]

What was Felipe's relationship with his mother-in-law, and brothers and sisters-in-law. I mean, I doubt they met very much, but did they correspond?

[umigon]

Felipe had an intense correspondence with Catherine of Medici, although they never met in person. He was always trying to convince her that she should erradicate protestantism from France. She always tried to convince him that she was committed to the Catholic cause. They never trusted each other, but the letters they exchanged concerning Felipe and Isabel's daughters are really touching on both sides.

[Prince_Lieven]

Catherine probably never met her Spanish grandchildren, did she?

[Prince_Lieven]

BTW, Felipe and Isabel's daughter Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia was serioulsy considered as a potential claimant to the throne of England in the late 1500s to the early 1600s. Elizabeth I had still not named her heir. Felipe II was doubly descended from John of Gaunt's two 'royal marriages' - to Blanche of Lancaster and Constanza of Castile. His son, Felipe III, knew that he would never be accepted as a claimant, so he put forward Isabella's claims. I think that in 1601 or 1602 he formally declared his support for her claim in the Cortes. Supporters of Isabella in England were called 'Infantists'.

[umigon]

Catherine probably never met her Spanish grandchildren, did she?

Nope, although she would have loved it. When Catalina Micaela married the Duke of Savoy and was going to live there, she had to cross France. Catherine organised a journey to meet her granddaughter, but the difficult situation in which the country was prevented her from the journey... A year later, when Catalina gave birth to her first son, Filippo Emanuele, Catherine wrote in a letter to Felipe: "Imagine my joy, as I have become a great-grandmother for the first time. I will try to visit your daughter and her son this year or the next one. In your next letter, please, talk me more about my dear Catalina Micaela." Sadly, she could never make that journey!

[umigon]

BTW, Felipe and Isabel's daughter Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia was serioulsy considered as a potential claimant to the throne of England in the late 1500s to the early 1600s. Elizabeth I had still not named her heir. Felipe II was doubly descended from John of Gaunt's two 'royal marriages' - to Blanche of Lancaster and Constanza of Castile. His son, Felipe III, knew that he would never be accepted as a claimant, so he put forward Isabella's claims. I think that in 1601 or 1602 he formally declared his support for her claim in the Cortes. Supporters of Isabella in England were called 'Infantists'.

I've also heard something about this, but I don't think either Felipe III or Elizabeth Tudor ever took Isabel Clara Eugenia as a serious claimant...

[Prince_Lieven]

Well, Elizabeth certainly did, but Felipe must have had a reason for declaring his support for her in front of the Cortes.