![]() ![]() Ferdinand and Isabella, meanwhile, had already begun, in 1481, to arrange marriages for their son and daughters in order to raise the prestige of their Castilian and Aragonese monarchies in Europe. ![]() Like his predecessors, the new and insecure Tudor monarch needed Spanish friendship, although relations between the two countries had never been entirely untroubled. The notion of a marriage between Catalina and the heir to the English throne, Arthur, prince of Wales (born on 19 September 1486), seems to have originated in the mind of Arthur's father, Henry VII, when the princess was only two. In addition to her acquisition of the domestic arts thought suitable for a princess, Catalina's skill in Latin, and knowledge of classical and vernacular literature, brought her the admiration of the Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives and of Erasmus of Rotterdam, who regarded her as a model of Christian womanhood. In accordance with the principles of Spanish scholarship in the period, emphasis was placed on Latin, as well as modern languages, but always within a Catholic Christian context, based on the Bible and liturgical texts. The team of scholars chosen by Isabella and Ferdinand to educate their children included the notable Dominican reformer Pascual de Ampudia, his fellow Dominican Andrés de Morales, and, in the case of Catalina, the Italian humanist brothers Alessandro and Antonio Geraldini. Isabella was especially conscious of her own educational limitations (she learned Latin only as an adult) and was especially insistent on a proper education for her daughters. Along with her older sisters, Catalina received an education fitting for one who was intended for marriage with foreign rulers, bearing children for them and thus linking Castile and Aragon to neighbouring powers by ties of blood as well as friendship. ![]() The pomegranate (‘Granada apple’, in Castilian granada) later became her personal emblem, ironically symbolizing fertility. As a small child she was present at the ceremonial conquest of the capital of the former Nasrid kingdom, on 2 January 1492. A contemporary chronicler, Alfonso de Palencia, commented that they would have preferred a son, as they feared the consequences of depending for the future of their dynasty on the life and health of their male heir, the Infante Juan, and on the fecundity of their daughters, Isabella, Juana, Maria, and now Catalina.ĭuring her early years Catalina followed her parents, and in particular her mother, in their travels through large parts of Spain, as the war against the Muslim emirate of Granada continued. Both her parents were descended from Enrique II of Castile, the founder of the Trastamaran dynasty. The youngest daughter of the ‘Catholic monarchs’, Ferdinand of Aragon (1452–1516) and Isabella of Castile (1451–1504), she was named after Isabella's grandmother Catalina, or Katherine, of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt and his second wife, Constanza, and wife of Enrique III of Castile. ![]()
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