Carlos, Prince of Asturias
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Several of the Carlist pretenders to the Spanish throne were also known as Don Carlos.
| Carlos | |
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| Prince of Asturias | |
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| Portrait by Alonso Sánchez Coello, 1564. | |
| House | House of Habsburg |
| Father | Philip II of Spain |
| Mother | Maria Manuela, Princess of Portugal |
| Born | July 8, 1545 Valladolid, Spain |
| Died | July 24, 1568 (aged 23) |
Carlos, Prince of Asturias (July 8, 1545 – July 24, 1568) was the son of King Philip II of Spain by his first wife Maria Manuela of Portugal, daughter of John III of Portugal.
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[edit] Life
Carlos was born at Valladolid, and his mother died a month after his birth. The young Infante Carlos was delicate and deformed. He grew up proud, willful, and insolent, and soon began to show signs of mental instability as a young adult. Many of his physical and psychological afflictions may stem from the inbreeding common to the House of Habsburg and the royal houses of Portugal and Spain. Carlos had only four great-grandparents instead of the maximum of eight and his parents had the same coefficient of coancestry (1/8) as if they were half siblings. He had only six great-great-grandparents, instead of the maximum 16, his maternal grandmother and his paternal grandfather were brother and sister, his maternal grandfather and his paternal grandmother were also brother and sister, and his two great-grandmothers were sisters.
In 1559, Prince Carlos was betrothed to Elizabeth of Valois, a daughter of King Henry II of France. However, for political reasons, she was wed a few months later to his widowed father. Other brides were then suggested for the prince: Mary Queen of Scots, Marguerite de Valois, another daughter of Henry II of France, and Anna of Austria, a daughter of Philip's cousin Maximilian, who was to later become Philip's fourth wife.
Although Carlos's mental disorder became more acute as he grew older, he was nonetheless recognized in 1560 as the heir to the Castilian throne, and three years later as heir to the crown of Aragon as well.
In 1562, Carlos met with an unspecified accident, rumored to have been a fall down the stairs, which was followed by a serious illness. The accident caused a head injury, after which doctors, including the famed Vesalius, performed trepanation, that is removed a part of skull to allow built-up fluids to drain out.[1] After his recovery, he is said to have become exceedingly wild and unpredictable in his behavior, engaging in violent outbursts and excessive drinking both in public and in private. He took a marked dislike to the Duke of Alba, who became the de facto governor of the Low Countries, a position that had been promised to Carlos. Carlos made several contacts with representative of the Duke of Egmont from the Low countries, who was leading the revolt to the Spanish. He also exhibited a morbid antipathy towards his father, whose murder he supposedly contemplated at one time.
In January 1568, Carlos arranged to flee from Spain and his father's control. However he was placed in solitary confinement by Philip's orders before he could depart, and died in isolation that same year. It was long rumoured that he was poisoned, but there is little evidence to support this claim. It is much more likely that the frail Carlos died of natural causes.
[edit] Ancestors
| Charles, Prince of Asturias | Father: Philip II of Spain |
Paternal Grandfather: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor |
Paternal Great-Grandfather: Philip I of Castile |
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Joanna of Castile |
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| Paternal Grandmother: Isabella of Portugal |
Paternal Great-Grandfather: Manuel I of Portugal |
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| Paternal Great-Grandmother: Maria of Aragon |
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| Mother: Maria Manuela of Portugal |
Maternal Grandfather: John III of Portugal |
Maternal Great-Grandfather: Manuel I of Portugal |
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| Maternal Great-Grandmother: Maria of Aragon |
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| Maternal Grandmother: Catherine of Habsburg |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Philip I of Castile |
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| Maternal Great-Grandmother: Joanna of Castile |
[edit] Legacy
The idea of King Philip confining and murdering his own son later played a minor role in establishing the anti-Spanish Black Legend.
The historical conflict between Carlos and his father formed the basis for the 1787 drama by Friedrich Schiller, which in turn inspired the opera Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi.
The play La vida es sueño, by Spanish playwright Calderón de la Barca, also covers a king jailing his own son.
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[edit] References
- Abstracted from Encyclopedia Britannica 1911 and several other sources.
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- ^ Farquhar, Michael (2001). A Treasure of Royal Scandals, p.176. Penguin Books, New York. ISBN 0739420259.
[edit] External links
- Don Carlos of Spain, the Crown Prince who liked to beat up girls - The Mad Monarchs Series.
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Carlos, Prince of Asturias
Born: July 8 1545 Died: July 24 1568 |
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| Preceded by Prince Philip his father who had ascended the throne |
Prince of Asturias 1556-1568 |
Vacant
Title next held by
Infante Fernando |
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