latristereina:Katherine had been born six years later, on December 16, 1485, in the Archbishop of To
latristereina:Katherine had been born six years later, on December 16, 1485, in the Archbishop of Toledo’s castle in Alcalá de Hénares, a town about twenty miles from Madrid, her birth coinciding with a convenient lull in the wars against the Moors. Although known to us as Katherine, a name she was given after Isabella’s grandmother, the daughter of the English duke, John of Gaunt, she was always called Catalina within her birth family. She inherited her mother’s fair coloring, but her features were more sensitive than Isabella’s, her lips more yielding, the set of her jaw less pronounced, her “sweet face” suggesting a submissive, compliant nature. Appearances are often deceptive.The children would have been left in no doubt that suffering was an inevitable part of life and should be borne with stoicism, even with willing acceptance. And yet their early lives were not unhappy or filled with care. There was music and dancing, and there were presents. For the Christmas of the year when Granada fell, Ferdinand had taken time off from the Reconquista to choose dolls to delight his daughters. The little girls were even given dolls’ clothes in which to dress them. A much-cherished gift for the Catholic Monarchs’ son, Juan, was the chess set that he kept in his bath “room. And the children were often allowed the sweetmeats they so clearly relished; they could gorge on rose-flavored syrup, on quince jelly, on aniseed balls, on lemon blossom candy. And their clothes were splendid too, for upon such matters were royal houses judged. Cloth from Flanders and from England was imported; there were velvets and silks; there were pretty ribbons; there was coral; there were hoops for farthingales; there were hats; there were fur-lined cloaks. Even the mules that they rode were equipped with silk and brocade to adorn saddles and girths. Every luxury that money could buy was lavished upon the children. An awareness of human tribulation and the importance of repentance and redemption did not preclude parental indulgence.- Julia Fox, Sister Queens -- source link
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