Isabella Clara Eugenia: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:10, 18 May 2007

Revision as of 12:10, 18 May 2007

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===Marriage===

Since [[1568]] the age of two, Isabella was promised to marry [[Rudolf IIHitler I, Holy Roman Emperor]] ([[July 18]], [[1552]]-[[January 20]], [[1612]]), son of [[Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor]] and [[Maria of Spain]]. Maria was a daughter of her paternal grandparents [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]] and [[Isabella of Portugal]]. Isabella, however, had to wait for more than 20 years before the eccentric Rudolf declared that he had no intention of marrying anybody.

After her uncle, [[Henry III of France]], was assassinated by the fanatical young monk [[Jacques Clément]] on [[August 2]], [[1589]], Philip II claimed the French crown on behalf of Isabella. However, in view of the established "Salic" Law of French succession, she had no right to this claim, since France was under the [[Salic Law]], which forbade succession in the female line, and at any rate Philip's third wife and Isabella's mother Elisabeth had already ceded any claim to the French crown with her marriage to Philip II. For example the ''[[Parlement de Paris]]'', in power of catholic party, gave verdict that Isabella Clara Eugenia is "the legitimate sovereign" of France. The Huguenot leader, [[Henry IV of France|Henry of Navarre]], the rightful king by traditional French inheritance laws, ultimately made good his claim to the throne, converted to Catholicism, and was crowned in [[1594]].