John, Prince of Asturias

1478 – 1497 · Generation VIII · Prince of Asturias

John (1478 – 1497). Prince of Asturias. Married Margaret in 1497. Only son of the Catholic Monarchs; married Margaret of Austria in 1497 but died within months. Born in Seville during the War of the Castilian Succession, he strengthened his mother’s position as sovereign simply by arriving. Frail from infancy, he was doted on by Isabella, who called him “my angel.” His schooling paired theology under the Dominican Diego de Deza with humanist studies under Peter Martyr d’Anghiera, and he learned to ride, joust and hunt and to play the flute and clavichord; Columbus named Cuba “Isla Juana” in his honour. His marriage formed half of a double alliance agreed at Antwerp in 1495, which also wed his sister Joanna to Philip the Handsome. The couple married in Burgos Cathedral and quickly grew devoted to each other. Too ill to attend his sister Isabella’s wedding, he died at Salamanca in October 1497, possibly of tuberculosis or smallpox. Margaret’s child was stillborn, and after further deaths in the family the Spanish crowns passed through Joanna to the Habsburgs.

Place in the family

John, Prince of Asturias married Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy, an aunt of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

Partners

Married Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy (1480 – 1530) in 1497

Life

1478 — Born
1497 — Married Margaret
1497 — Died