*Entry* **Ferdinand II of Aragon (1479–1516)**

**Marta Serrano-Coll**

> Department of History and Art History, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 43003 Tarragona, Spain; marta.serrano@urv.cat

**Abstract:** Ferdinand II king of Aragon (1479–1516). He was the fourth king of the Trastámara dynasty, which had first come to power after the Compromise of Caspe, reached after Martin I died with no living descendants in 1410. Although in terms of artistic patronage Ferdinand II was not as active as his wife Elisabeth I, he was still aware that the wise use of artistic commissions in reinforcing ideas and concepts favourable to the institution of the monarchy. He is a highly important figure in the history of Spain because, along with Elisabeth, he was one of the Catholic Monarchs and thus represents a new conception of power based on their joint governance, a fact that is reflected in the iconography found in his artistic commissions across all genres. All of the images are evidence of how King Ferdinand, at the end of the Middle Ages, wanted to be recognised by his subjects, who also used his image for legitimising and propagandistic purposes. Nobody else in the history of the Hispanic kingdoms had their image represented so many times and on such diverse occasions as did the Catholic Monarchs.

**Keywords:** royal images; royal iconography; kings of Aragon; crown of Aragon; Fernando II of Aragon

#### **1. Introduction to the Reign of Ferdinand II**

Ferdinand II was not destined to be king, he was born after the second marriage of Johan II of Aragon (1458–1479) to Juana Enriquez, and was the king's second son. The crown should have gone to Charles, Prince of Viana and son of Blanche of Navarra. However, the clashes and hostilities convulsing the kingdom meant that the Aragonese Cortes of 1461 decided that the second son should succeed to the throne. The climate remained convulsive until the death of Johan II, when Ferdinand was unanimously accepted. All of his subjects, including the Catalans, pinned their hopes on him.

On 5 March 1469 Elisabeth, who had been proclaimed heir to the crown of Castile in the Treaty of Toros de Guisando, signed the Capitulations of Cervera, which meant she entered into a marriage agreemen<sup>t</sup> with the heir of Aragon, Ferdinand. Together and as equals their reign was to be one of the most important in the history of Spain and would mark the future of the peninsular kingdoms. Ferdinand's concern for the defence of Christianity was internationally recognised; he was commemorated as "Ferdinand, the Catholic King, propagator of the Christian empire", in the inscription accompanying his wreathed portrayal in the Vatican *stanzas* painted by the famous Rafael.

Under the Catholic Monarchs Spanish national unity was still *de facto* rather than *de jure*; nevertheless, their reign was central to the history of Spain and the creation of the modern nation (on just the subject of his kingdom, see [1–6]). The death of Ferdinand II ushered in a new era in the history of the kingdom of Aragon with the accession of Charles I of Spain and V of Germany, a member of the Habsburg dynasty who assumed the governmen<sup>t</sup> of Castile, Navarre and Aragon and came to personify one of the most powerful kingdoms in modern times.

**Citation:** Serrano-Coll, M. Ferdinand II of Aragon (1479–1516). *Encyclopedia* **2021**, *1*, 1182–1191. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/encyclopedia1040089

Academic Editor: Mirko Vagnoni

Received: 27 August 2021 Accepted: 21 October 2021 Published: 5 November 2021

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#### **2. Character, Appearance and Artistic Patronage**

We do not have in-depth knowledge of the king's character and appearance despite the information provided by chroniclers and travellers who alluded to him. Perhaps Hernando del Pulgar's physical description is the most accurate: "he was a man of medium height, well-proportioned in his limbs, in the features of his well-composed face, his eyes smiling, his hair tight and smooth [...]. His speech was even, neither hurried nor too slow. He was of good understanding and very temperate in eating and drinking, and in the movements of his person [...] neither anger nor pleasure altered him [...]. He was a grea<sup>t</sup> hunter of birds, and a man of good effort and a hard worker in war [...]. And he had a singular grace that anyone who spoke with him immediately esteemed him and wished to serve him [...]" [7].

He was seduced by pieces of jewellery, especially if they had diamonds and rubies. Some of these pieces were made by famous silversmiths, the records showing that there were as many as eight in his service, one of whom was Jewish [8]. He enjoyed showing off his jewellery and on one occasion he even survived an attack in Barcelona on 7 December 1492 because the width of his necklace prevented the knife of his would-be assassin, Joan de Canyamàs, from penetrating deep enough to kill him. The episode was recorded in the margin of two pages of the *Dietari del Consell de la Ciutat de Barcelona* (Arxiu Històric de la Ciutat, Barcelona. Ms. A-359), perhaps by the scribe Marc Bosquets, who details the event and the punishment suffered by the attacker [9] (authorship proposed by [10]; analysis of drawings in [11]). It is surprising to learn that he was illiterate, although as a Renaissance prince he did much to promote culture, as did his wife Elisabeth. It is said that he inspired Machiavelli's work "The Prince" (among others, [12]).

Both Ferdinand and Elisabeth exploited the royal image and increased its prestige through court ceremonials, panegyrics, and iconography, for which they used novel, rich and varied artistic forms which were open to Renaissance trends, although without excluding the late Gothic, Islamic and *Mudejar* styles, which persisted in architecture, objects and everyday settings. Their image proliferated in various media, accompanied by extensive inscriptions, heraldry, and the use of devices such as the yoke and arrows to allude to the names of the monarchs, and the Gordian knot, related to the motto of *tanto monta* that summed up the equality between them as heads of government. Ferdinand II was aware that art was the most visible sign of his power and he always commissioned works in conjunction with his wife, to the extent that once he was widowed, he continued with the works they had planned or begun. He should be considered one of the grea<sup>t</sup> patrons of the Hispanic Middle Ages, and although he was served by artists of lesser status than those who worked for his wife, one can still find renowned names such as the painters Tomás Giner, Miguel Ximénez and Hernando del Rincón, the silversmith Jaume Aymerich, the miniaturist Alonso Ximènez and the sculptors Gil Morlanes and Domenico Fancelli (the following studies by Joaquín Yarza are essential reading [13–17]).

#### **3. Elements of a Legal Nature: Coins and Seals**
