Germaine of Foix

Ursula Germaine of Foix was born around 1488, possibly in Mazères, Kingdom of France. Her father was John of Foix, Count of Étampes and Viscount of Narbonne, and her mother was Marie de Orléans, the sister of Louis XII of France. Germaine had one sibling, a younger brother, Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours, who was an acclaimed military commander in the Italian Wars. Germaine's paternal grandmother, Queen Leonor of Navarra, was the older sister of Ferdinand the Catholic King, so Germaine was the great-niece of her future husband. Although part of the royal house of Navarre, she spent her childhood in association with the French monarchy.[1]

A 19th or early 20th century depiction of a scene from the revolt by Marcelino de Unceta.

In 1523, Charles appointed the couple viceroys of Valencia.[1] In this position, Germaine had to solve the problem of the 1519–1523 Revolt of the Brotherhoods (Catalan: Revolta de les Germanies), an anti-monarchist, anti-feudal autonomist revolt of artisan guilds ("germanies"), inspired by the Italian republics.[1] She imposed harsh punishments on participants, known as agermanats, and is thought to have signed the execution warrants of 100 former rebels. This was the opposite of the more lenient approach of her predecessor, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Count of Melito and Lemus (1469–1536), who had worked for reconciliation. In December 1524, Germaine signed a pardon that officially ended the persecution of all agermanats, but fines imposed on guilds and guild-aligned cities would take many years to pay.

Depiction of her third husband, the Duke of Calabria.

Germaine's second marriage was unhappy and abusive, Johann being a violent person engaging in various forms of debauchery. They had no children, and he died in 1525.[1] Germaine remarried a year later, in August 1526 in Seville to Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria (1488–1550), the eldest son of Frederick IV, the deposed king of Naples. The couple were patrons of literature and music at their court. The poets Juan Fernández de Heredia (circa 1310 – 1396), Luis de Milán (circa 1500 – circa 1561), and Baltasar de Romaní (circa 1485 – 1547) were among their protégés. They also collected Greek and Latin codices.[1] Germaine worked towards the gradual integration of Valencia into Castile-dominated Spain. It has been suggested by Valencian historians that Germaine's move to Valencia was the first step towards the degradation of the reputation of the Valencian language, as the higher classes started using Castilian Spanish instead of their first language to please her.

Germaine died on 15 October 1536 in Llíria, Valencia, at the age of 48, probably due to an edema caused by obesity. She was buried in the Monasterio de San Miguel de los Reyes ("Saint Michael of the Kings Monastery"), which she had founded. Her third husband survived her by 14 years and remained Viceroy of Valencia until his death in 1550. He remarried to a widow, Mencía de Mendoza (1508–1554) in 1541 with whom he continued his patronage of arts.[1]

In her will, Germaine de Foix included a major legacy:[13][14]

Item, we bequeath and leave the string of 133 large pearls, which is the best that we possess, to the Most Serene Infanta Isabel of Castile, daughter of His Majesty the emperor, my son and my lord, on account of the great love that we feel for His Highness.

A few days after Germaine's death, Duke Calabria sent a copy of the will to Empress Isabella with a cover letter noting "that Your Majesty can see the bequest of pearls that she left to the Most Serene Infanta."[13]

In 1998, Jaime Salazar used the will and cover letter to suggest the possibility that Infanta Isabel of Castile was the daughter of Germaine and Charles V. Historian Manuel Fernández Álvarez agreed with this interpretation[15] but did not provide any further evidence.[13]

The claim was controversial and other historians have not accepted their interpretation. In her biography Germana de Foix (2003), Rosa Rios Lloret points out that the will shows that Charles had a daughter named Isabel but does not name her mother. Jaime de Salazar y Acha states that "the recent theory that Queen Germana left illegitimate offspring is completely unfounded."[1]

In his 2019 biography of Charles V, Geoffrey Parker demonstrates that in Valencia the emperor's daughter, Maria was known as Isabel. Parker states, "the emperor did not sire a daughter named Isabel; neither with Queen Germaine nor with anyone else."[13]

• By her first husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452–1516), whom she married in 1505 or 1506:
  • John, Prince of Girona (born and died 3 May 1509), who died a few hours after his birth;

• 
  Coat of arms as queen consort and queen dowager (1505–1519)
• 
  Coat of arms after her second marriage (1519-1536)

• Lynch, John (1964). Spain under the Habsburgs. Vol. (vol. 1). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 40.
• Marino, Nancy F. (1992). "The Literary Court in Valencia, 1526-36". Hispanófila (104): 1–15. ISSN 0018-2206. JSTOR 43808291.
• Parker, Geoffrey (2019). Emperor : A New Life of Charles V. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300196528.
• Abernethy, Susan. "Germaine de Foix, Queen of Aragon, Naples, Sardinia, Navarre and Sicily and Vicereine of Valencia". Academia.edu.