Description
The Von Habsburg sisters were a vital part of expanding Holy Roman Emperor Charles V’s power base. As his sisters, they were under Charles’ thumb and had to follow whatever orders he gave them. However, without his sisters, Charles arguably would not have been able to hold power and influence in France, the Low Countries, Bohemia and Hungary, Milan, Denmark, the German Palatine, Portugal, or Lorraine anywhere near as well. Charles relied on his sisters for administrative and emotional support, too. To give one early example: after his ascension to the Spanish thrones of Castile and Aragon, negotiations for Charles's marriage began, with the Castilian nobles expressing their wishes for him to marry his first cousin Isabella of Portugal, the daughter of King Manuel I of Portugal and Charles's aunt Maria of Aragon. The 18-year-old Charles was in no hurry to marry, so sent his sister Eleonore to marry Isabella's widowed father, Manuel I. She had no choice in this - but Charles' powerbase in Spain was secured. In the tumultuous years of Ottoman aggression and the rise of Protestantism, these women played key roles in European politics - as two queens of Portugal, queen of France, queen of Denmark and queen of Hungary, how could they not?