The Matrilineal House of Lara

If you scroll down to my post on lines of succession, you will find the definition of enatic to be thus:

Enatic primogeniture is just the opposite of agnatic primogeniture; it only allows females, and bans males.

Just read the definition of agnatic primogeniture and switch genders. I'll elaborate only in saying that the throne passes to the daughter, if none a sister, if none an aunt, if none an aunt's daughter, if none a great-aunt, and so on. Not even a son's daughter would be eligible.

The Matrilineal House of Lara is group of people who are matrilineal descendants (children of daughters of daughters of daughters) of Juana Núñez de Lara, or in English Joan Noonyez of Lara. Practically every European royal is descended from her, and a bunch of II monarchs: Maximillian II and Ferdinand II of Austria, Henry II of France, Catherine II of Russia, and a few boring Is and IVs in Victoria of Britain and Phillip IV of Spain, are descended from her in the female line.

The female line starts with a Spanish noble woman Juana herself, 1286–1351, who was a member of the Paternal House of Lara. It died out with the death of her brother 1315, leaving the family's wealth to Juana's son with the exact same name but for "Juan" instead of "Juana".

But who cares about her son? After all, the matriline traces through the three daughters she had besides. They were,

• Blanca (1311–1347), who died before Juana did,
• Maria (1315–1379), whose only daughter became a nun,
• Marguerite (1319–1373), who became a nun herself.

Okay. A dynasty sprung from these three daughters? It doesn't look like a matriline comes from any of them, unless nuns have children.

As it turns out, Blanca had two children before she died. The younger was a daughter, named Juana Manuel, who lived 1339–1381.

Through those three generations, the MHL (that's what I'm going to call the matrilineal house of Lara) rose through the ranks. I'll show you how through this family tree:

Berengaria                      Castilian Monarch

)-------.                       Member of MHL

Urraca  Ferdinand III

|       )-----------.

Diego   Alfonso X   |

|       )---------  |  ------------.

Teresa  Ferdinand   |              Sancho IV

|       |           |              |

Juana = Ferdinand   Manuel         Ferdinand IV

      |             |              |

      Blanche   =   John Manuel    Alfonso XI

                |                  |

                Juana Manuel   =   Henry II

Juana was born a great-great non-male-line granddaughter of a queen - something you would expect from any old noble. But when she married a male-line grandson of a king, it made her daughter part of the ruling dynasty (albeit in a distant branch). The situation wasn't worsened when Blanche also married a king's male-line grandson, putting her daughter into a junior branch of the dynasty. The MHL was at it's peak when Juana married a member of the senior branch of a dynasty: in fact, the king's eldest son. Technically Henry wasn't part of the dynasty at all, as he was illegitimate, but that didn't stop him from usurping the throne and becoming Henry II of Castile.

(By the way, back then Spain wasn't one country; Castile and Aragon united to form Spain through the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand, the investors in Columbus' expedition. Both were descended from Juana Núñez.)

Juana Manuel and Henry II had a son and daughter, Juan (John) and Leanor (Eleanor). John went on to become King of Castile. As usual for princesses, Eleanor (1363–1415) went on to marry some foreign guy; in this case, Charles III of Navarre (which was a little country stuck between modern Spain and France).

Eleanor and Charles had eight children, six of whom were daughters. Only four of their children survived to marriage, and only three ever had children. Those three were daughters. They were:

• Blanche (1387–1441), who married John II of Aragon (the other part of Spain)
• Beatrix (1392–1415), who married James II, Count of La Marche
• Isabella (1395–1435), who married John IV of Armagnac

From each of them sprung the Aragon, La Marche, and Armagnac branches of the MHL. I'll tell you their histories in 2-3-1 order.

The La Marche branch didn't last long. Beatrix and James had three daughters, and only one of them ever married. She, Eleanor, married in fact the brother of Isabella's husband, and among three children only one was a daughter. That daughter, Bonne, never married and didn't outlive her mother, who died 1464 along with the La Marche branch. Indeed, no person is alive today who can trace descent to Beatrix.

The Armagnac branch didn't have the same fate, as Henry IV of France descends from Isabella and John, and he has several descendants today. Isabella also had three daughters, but this time each of them had children. The eldest, Marie, had one daughter through her husband John II of Alençon, who married but had no children. The second, Eleanor, had one daughter as well, whose only daughter had no children, bringing the Armagnac branch to end in 1537. The third, Isabelle, produced three children, of whom only one was a daughter who grew up only to have a son. That son's only known descendants are those of Emmanuel of Crussol, 11th duke of Uzès.

Both the branches of La Marche and Armagnac have been dead for centuries. The Aragon branch, however, still exists today.

Blanche, the Aragon branch (also called main line) founder, became Queen of Navarre upon her father's death. (Cognatic primogeniture was used, she was the eldest daughter, and her brothers all died young. See my post on order of succession). She and John II of Aragon had three non-infant-dying children. They were:

• Charles (1421–1461)
• Blanche (1424–1464)
• Eleanor (1426–1479)

Upon Blanche Sr.'s death, Charles was made king, while his father John reigned de facto. Upon Charles' childless death, his sister Blanche Jr. got the title while John continued to exercise the power. Upon Blanche Jr.'s childless death, John became de jure king, and upon his death Eleanor became queen for only two weeks before her death.

Before she died, she had ten children through her husband Gaston IV, Count of Foix, those daughters who had children of their own listed here:

• Mary (1452–1467), married William VIII of Montferrat
• Margaret (1453–1486), married Francis II of Brittany
• Joan (1454–1476), married her mother's cousin John V of Armagnac
• Catherine (1455–1494), married her second cousin Gaston II of Foix-Candale

From them descend the Montferrat, Brittany, and Foix-Candale branches (Joan and John's only child died in infancy).

Giovanna of Montferrat
and a sister

Any member of the Montferrat branch hasn't been mentioned since 1522, so we can assume it's dead. It was formed by the marriage of Mary and William, which produced several daughters. Only one of them is known to have married, this being Giovanna to Ludovico II of Saluzzo. He and Giovanna had two daughters themselves, only one of them living past two: Margherita, who married twice but through neither husband had children. Her will is dated 1522, and with her death the main line of the MHL died out.

The Brittany branch didn't do so bad. Brittany was a powerful duchy, so Margaret and Francis' only daughter to marry, Anne (1477–1514), was Charles VIII of France's best choice for a bride. The two had no children, so the throne passed to Charles' father's second cousin, Louis XII, who also married Anne. The couple had two infancy-surviving children, Claude and Renée, both girls.

Claude (1499–1524) also married a king of France, Francis I, so we shall call her branch the Franco-Brittany branch. Claude and Francis had three children to survive until marriage: Henry, Madeleine, and Margaret. Madeleine never had children, and Margaret's only child was a son. Her death in 1574 made the Franco-Brittany branch extinct, though through her son we have the female-preference primogeniture heirs.

Anna was the ancestor
of the dukes of Savoy

The younger daughter of Anne of Brittany, Renée (1510–1575), did not marry a king like her mother and sister. Instead, she married the Duke of Ferrera, Ercole II, and had three daughters by him. Only one, Anna, ever married, and her two daughters died young, knocking the Este-Brittany branch and the Brittany branch as a whole extinct in 1607.

The Montferrat Branch, extinct 1522. The Brittany Branch, extinct 1607. When is the Foix-Candale branch extinct, 1692? As it turns out, members of it still live today, so I'm going to save all that new exciting stuff for the next post. While you wait, you can always look it this lovely little outline of what's been covered so far:

• The Trunk: Juana Núñez → Blanche de la Cerda → Juana Manuel → Eleanore of Castile
• Aragon Branch: Blanche I of Navarre → Eleanor of Navarre
• Montferrat Branch: Mary of Navarre → Giovanna of Montferrat → Margherita of Saluzzo, extinct after1522
• Brittany Branch: Margaret of Navarre → Anne of Brittany
• Franco-Brittany Branch: Claude of France → Margaret of France, extinct 1574
• Este-Brittany Branch: Renée of France → Anna of Este, extinct 1607
• Foix Candale Branch: I can't tell you yet!
• La Marche Branch: Beatrix → Eleanore → Bonne, extinct 1464
• Armagnac Branch: Isabella → Eleanor → Joan → Francoise, extinct 1537