3-098-597 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Farce of Ávila, c1881. Queen Isabella I of Castile (1451-1504) was the daughter of King John II of Castile and his second wife Isabella of Portugal. Her childhood was spent in Arévalo, but her mother soon began to show signs of mental instability. In 1464, King Henry IV, her half-brother, brought her to his court. However, nobles were plotting to further diminish the power of the legitimate monarch, and a significant event known as the "Farce of Ávila" took place. In a grotesque ceremony, the nobles deposed Henry IV and proclaimed Prince Alfonso King of Castile, claiming that the heir - Juana, daughter of Henry and his second wife, Juana of Portugal - was illegitimate, being the product of the queen's affair with the royal favourite, Beltrán de la Cueva. Isabella's brother Alfonso died of poisoning, but she managed to persuade her half-brother Henry to grant her the title of Princess of Asturias, above that of her niece and goddaughter, Juana la Beltraneja. From Lafuente's "History of Spain": 'Nobles and knights conspired in Ávila, and led by the Archbishop of Toledo Don Alfonso Carrillo, plot the dethronement of King Henry IV, and proclaim as King of Castile the child Prince Alfonso, younger brother of the King.'