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Philip I, called the Handsome or the Fair, was the first member of the house of Habsburg to be King of Castile.
The son of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I by his first wife Mary, Philip was less than four years old when his mother died, and upon her death, he inherited the greater part of the Duchy of Burgundy and the Burgundian Netherlands as Philip IV. In 1496, his father arranged for him to marry Joanna of Castile, second daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, rulers of Aragon and Castile respectively. Around the same time, Philip's sister Margaret was given in marriage to Joanna's brother John, as part of an agreement between their fathers. Within four years after the wedding, Joanna became heir presumptive to Aragon and Castile, following the deaths of her brother, elder sister and infant nephew during that period. In 1504, aged 27, Philip became king of Castile jure uxoris when his mother-in-law died and Joanna succeeded her. He died only two years later, leaving his wife distraught with grief.
Philip was the first Habsburg monarch in Spain, and is the progenitor of every later monarch of Spain, even up to today. He died before his father, and therefore never inherited his father's territories or became Holy Roman Emperor. However, his son Emperor Charles V eventually united the Habsburg, Burgundian, Castilian, and Aragonese inheritances. Philip holds a special place in Habsburg history because he was the pivot around which the dynasty acquired a large portion of its extensive lands. By inheriting Burgandy from his mother (which included present-day Netherlands, Belgium and parts of France) and by acquiring much of Spain and its possessions in the New World by marriage to Joanna, Philip was instrumental in vastly enhancing the territories of the Habsburgs, and his progeny would dominate European history for the next two centuries.
Philip's wife Joanna was an elder sister to Catherine of Aragon, who married successively the brothers Arthur, Prince of Wales and King Henry VIII of England. However, Philip died before Catherine and Henry were married. He did once visit England, and the young Prince Henry was much impressed with him. Indeed, Henry is said to have regarded Philip as providing a model of leadership towards which he aspired |
