Charles, Prince of Viana

Charles IV
King of Navarre
Reign 1441–1461
de jure only
Predecessor Blanche I and John II
Successor Blanche II
Born (1421-05-29)29 May 1421
Peñafiel
Died 23 September 1461(1461-09-23) (aged 40)
Barcelona
Spouse Agnes of Cleves
House Trastámara
Father John II of Aragon
Mother Blanche I of Navarre
Religion Roman Catholicism

Charles, Prince of Viana (Basque: Karlos IV) (29 May 1421 – 23 September 1461), sometimes called Charles IV of Navarre, was the son of King John II of Aragon and Queen Blanche I of Navarre.

Background

His mother was the daughter and heiress of Charles III, King of Navarre. Both his grandfather Charles and his mother, who ruled over Navarre from 1425 to 1441, had bequeathed this kingdom to Charles, whose right had also been recognized by the Cortes; but when Blanche died in 1441 her husband John seized the kingdom to the exclusion of his son.

Marriage

The Prince of Viana was married in Olite (Navarre) on 30 September 1439, taking as his wife Agnes of Cleves (1422–1446), the daughter of Adolph I, Duke of Cleves and Mary of Burgundy; sister of Philip III "the Good", Duke of Burgundy. Agnes died, childless, on 6 April 1448, eight years after her marriage to Charles, aged only about twenty-six. After her death, the prince took a mistress, Brianda de Vaca, and by her had an illegitimate son, born about 1449. He wished to remarry, and a possibility which was canvassed was a match with Isabella of Scotland (1426–1494), the widow of Francis I, Duke of Brittany, after he died on 18 July 1450, but this was opposed by Charles VII of France.

A match was then agreed between Charles and the Infanta Catherine of Portugal (1436–1463), daughter of King Edward I, but the marriage was delayed and had not taken place when Charles died in 1461. Charles left three illegitimate children by three different mistresses:

  1. Anna, Countess of Medinaceli
  2. Philip, Archbishop of Palermo
  3. John, Bishop of Huesca

Clashes with his father

The ill-feeling between father and son was increased when in 1447 John took for his second wife Juana Enriquez, a Castilian noblewoman (of a bastard cadet line from Castilian kings), who soon bore him a son, afterwards Ferdinand II of Aragon, and who regarded her stepson as an interloper. When Joanna began to interfere in the internal affairs of Navarre, a civil war broke out, and in 1452 Charles, although aided by King John II of Castile, was defeated and taken prisoner. Released upon promising not to take the kingly title until after his father's death, the prince, again unsuccessful in an appeal to arms, took refuge in Naples with King Alfonso V of Aragon. In 1458 Alfonso died and John became king of Aragon, while Charles was offered the crowns of Naples and Sicily. He declined these proposals, and having been reconciled with his father returned to Navarre in 1459. Aspiring to marry Isabella of Castile, he was then thrown into prison by his father, and the Catalans rose in his favor. This insurrection soon became general and John was obliged to yield. He released his son, and recognized him as perpetual governor of Catalonia, and heir to the kingdom.

Death and legacy

Soon afterwards, however, on 23 September 1461, the prince died at Barcelona, not without a suspicion that he had been poisoned by his stepmother, Joanna Enriquez.

Charles was a cultured and amiable prince, fond of music and literature. He translated Aristotle's Ethics into Aragonese, a work first published at Zaragoza in 1509, and wrote a chronicle of the kings of Navarre, Cronica de los reyes de Navarra.

Ancestry

External links

Charles, Prince of Viana
Born: 29 May 1421 Died: 23 September 1461
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Blanche I
De Jure King of Navarre,
Crown withheld by John II

De Jure 14411461,
never gained real power
Succeeded by
Blanche II
Spanish nobility
New creation Prince of Viana
14231441
Succeeded by
Eleanor
Vacant
Title last held by
Alfonso V
Prince of Girona and Count of Cervera
14581461
Succeeded by
Ferdinand II
Preceded by
John II
Duke of Gandía
14391461

Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "article name needed". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

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