Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal

Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal Facts

Known for: Habsburg queen, regent of Portugal for her grandson
Dates: January 14, 1507 - February 12, 1578

Mother: Joanna of Castile (1479 - 1555), daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand V of Aragon.

Father: Philip I of Castile (1478 - 1506), whose father was Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and whose mother, Mary of Burgundy, brought her lands including the Netherlands to that marriage and to Habsburg rule.

Siblings:

• Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Portugal (1498 - 1558)
• Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500 - 1558)
• Isabella of Austria, Queen of Denmark (1501 - 1526)
• Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (1503 - 1558)
• Mary of Austria, Queen of Hungary (1505 - 1558)

Husband: John III of Portugal (1502 - 1557), married February 10, 1525.

• His mother was Maria of Castile, sister of Joanna of Castile and another daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand V of Aragon, making John a first cousin of Catherine.
• His father was Manuel I of Portugal. Manuel's parents were first cousins: both his grandfathers were sons of John I of Portugal and Philippa of Lancaster, a daughter of England's John of Gaunt.

More Family Connections:

• Queen Isabella I of Castile, grandmother of both Catherine of Austria and her husband John III of Portugal, was the granddaughter of Catherine of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt of England by his second wife, Constance of Castile. Isabella was also the great-granddaughter of Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt by his first wife, Blanche of Lancaster.
• Catherine's paternal grandfather Maximilian I was also descended from John of Gaunt and Philippa of Lancaster.
• Both Catherine's mother and father were descendents of Ferdinand I of Aragon and his wife, Eleanor of Albuquerque.

Children and Grandchildren:

Catherine and John had nine children; only two survived to adulthood. Both married double first cousins. Catherine had two grandsons, Carlos of Spain and Sebastian of Portugal; neither had children.

• Maria Manuela of Portugal (October 15, 1527 - August 12, 1545) married Philip II of Spain (May 21, 1527 - September 13, 1598), son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who was also Charles I of Spain. Philip was part of the House of Habsburg. Maria and Philip were double first cousins, and there were other cousin relationships in their heritage. Maria and Philip had one child, Carlos Prince of Asturias, and Maria Manuela died soon after his birth. Carlos (July 8, 1545 - July 24, 1568) was the designated heir of his father, Philip of Spain, but had mental and physical problems. His father imprisoned him in 1568 in solitary confinement, where Carlos died.
• John (João) Manuel, Prince of Portugal (June 3, 1537 - January 2, 1554) married the Infanta Joan of Spain (June 24, 1535 - September 7, 1573). John and Joan were double first cousins. John and Joan's son, Sebastian, was born on January 20, 1554, just weeks after his father's death from what may have been diabetes or tuberculosis. Joan left Portugal almost immediately to serve as regent in Spain first for brother, Philip II. Sebastian never married, though marriages were proposed with Margaret of Valois (who married Henry of Navarre), Elisabeth of Habsburg (both a first and second cousin), and Isabella Clara Eugenia (a first cousin), daughter of Phillip II of Spain. Sebastian died on a crusade in Morocco, without marrying and without having children. The brother of his grandfather John III (Catherine's husband) succeeded Sebastian as Henry of Portugal.

Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal Biography:

Catherine, one of the daughters of Joanna of Castile (Juana the Mad) and Philip of Habsburg, was named for her mother's sister, Catherine of Aragon, wife of England's King Henry VIII. Joanna's marriage to Philip brought Spain and Spanish lands in the New World under Habsburg rule.

Philip's sister, Margaret of Austria, cared for Catherine's five oldest siblings; Catherine, born posthumously, stayed with her mother even during Joanna's imprisonment.

Catherine married her first cousin, John III of Portugal, when she was eighteen years old. They had only two children who survived to adulthood.

Their daughter, Maria Manuela, married Philip II of Spain, her double first cousin; when she died shortly after giving birth to their son, the Infante Carlos, Philip married Catherine's first cousin, Queen Mary I of England. Philip married twice more: Elizabeth of France and then Anne of Austria (Catherine of Austria's grand-niece). Maria's son, the Infante Carlos, had psychological and physical problems and died after his father imprisoned him in solitary confinement.

Catherine and John's son, John Manuel of Portugal, married his double first cousin, Joan of Spain. Their son, Sebastian, was born in 1554, shortly after John Manuel died. Sebastian's mother left to serve as regent in Spain for her father and then brother. Because Sebastian inherited his grandfather's crown as king of Portugal when John III died in 1557, but Sebastian was still very young, Catherine served as his regent from 1557 to 1562. Then her husband's brother, Henry, served as Sebastian's regent until he came of age.

Catherine lived to be 71 years old, dying on February 12, 1578. In August of that year, Sebastian died on a crusade in Morocco before he could marry and have children, and Henry, John III's brother, succeeded as king.

The level of intermarrying among the Habsburgs and, to a lesser extent, the other royal families is highlighted by the family trees for Sebastian of Portugal and Carlos of Spain. Sebastian and Carlos, who were first cousins to each other, had only four great-grandparents (instead of the usual eight) and only six great-great-grandparents (instead of the usual 16).

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