Its core had been a royal family which, in spite of Isabella’s stern devotion to duty and Ferdinand’s casual infidelities, had been singularly happy and united, gay and carefree, a family in which the children were petted and indulged at least as much as was good for them, and in which the austere gloom of the elder sister had once seemed to strike a discordant note. Some of the gaiety had gone with Joanna, the rest when Juan died. The mood of the somber eldest daughter passed like an inheritance to the mother.
After the delivery of Margaret’s stillborn baby, Isabella gave way to her grief. She withdrew more and more from public appearances. Her health was failing, and she was haunted perhaps by another sense of failure which drove her to long hours of brooding, long fits of weeping, a desperate devotion to prayer and to the offices of the church. Until her death she wore only black, and, under the black robes, the coarse habit of the third order of St. Francis.
Source:
Mattingly, Garrett. “Part I: A Spanish Princess (1485-1509); Chapter 1, Section iv” Catherine of Aragon. New York: Quality Paperback , 1990. 19, 20. Print.
Further Reading:
Isabel I de Castilla / Ysabel I (Isabella I of Castile)
Joanna of Castile and Aragon / Juana la Loca (Joanna the Mad)
Juan (John, Prince of Asturias)
Order of Penance of Saint Francis / Third Order of Saint Francis
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