Marina+A.+(2ºD)

toc By Marina Arshava The Knigths (2ºD) media type="custom" key="25274920"

Spain
Spain is a country located on Europe, mainly in the Iberean peninsula. Two archipelagos belong to Spain: The Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands. Also two autonomous cities located on the north of Africa: Ceuta and Melilla. It has a extension of 504 645 km2 and it's te fourth largest country in Europe. Spain borders the Cantabrian Sea, France and Andorra on the north; the Mediterranean Sea on the East; it borders the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean on the south, separeted by the straigth of Gibraltar; and borders Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean on the West. Madrid is the capital city and the largest in the country with 605.77 km2 The name came from the latin word Hispania. It was how te romans called the Iberian peninsula. The country has three types of climate: Mediterranean, oceanic and semiarid. Spain is considered a multilingüal country. Spanish (or Castillian) is considered the official. Other co-official languages are the Basque (Euskera), Catalan, Valencian and Galician.

Isabel Clara Eugenia: Biography
Isabel Clara Eugenia (or Isabella Clara Eugenia), born in the year 1566 in Segovia, was the __infant__ __of Spain and Portugal__ by birth. She also was the __sovereign of The Spanish Netherlands in the Low__ __Countries__ with her husband Albert VII of Austria. //Isabel Clara Eugenia//

//**Family**//
She was the first daughter of __Philip II of Spain and Elizabeth of Valoirs__. Her paternal grandparents were Charles I of Spain and V of the Holy Roman Empire and Isabella of Portugal. Her maternal grandparents were Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici'. //Philip II of Spain Isabel de Valois//

Isabel had an elder half-brother, Charles, that his father had with his first wife, María Manuela of Portugal. Charles was the heir, but with his bad relationship with Philip II and his illnesses, his expectations as king were not fullfiled.

Her father, in his third marriage had two daughters: she, Isabel Clara Eugenia and a year later Catalina Micaela. They grew up together and beloved by their father and their __stepmother Ana of Austria__, Philip's fourth wife. Philip had 5 children with Ana: Fernando, Carlos Lorenzo, Diego Felix, Philip and Maria. All of them died at early age except Philip, his heir. //Isabel Clara Eugenia and Catalina Micaela//

Isabel was the most loved by her father as she could help him with his work, reviewing and translating from Italian to Castilian documents for his father. She remained near and helped him when he was ill of gout until his dead in 1598.

At the age of two, Isabel was promised to marry Rudolf II but 20 years later he declared that he hadn't any intentions to marry anybody. At the end, she married __Albert VII of Austria.__ __She never had children because she was infertile.__

**//Candidate for the throne of France//**
After her __uncle, Henry III of France__, was assasinated in the year 1589, Philip the second claimed the throne for Isabel. However, she had __no right__ to this claime since France was under the __Salic Law__, which forbade succession in the female line. Finally, the Huguenot leader, Henry of Navarre, was crowned king of France in 1594 insted of her.

**//Spanish Netherlands//**
Isabel's father decided to __cede her the Spanish Netherlands__ on condition that she married her __cousin Archduke Albert of Austria__, the youngest brother of her first fiancé Rudolf II. In the year 1599, at the age of 33, she married him. They ruled together. Their reign is a key period in the Spanish Netherlands. After four years of war, it brought a pediod of needed peace and a stability to the economy. Philip II wanted her to be the sovereign because he made an __agreement__ with the calvinists of the Low Countries: if the new sovereigns __had childrens, they could be independent__. __If not, they would__ __be his subjects again.__ As Isabel Clara Eugenia was __infertile__, they became subjects of the Spanish Monarchy again.

//Isabel Clara Eugenia and Albert VII of Austria. Jeton with portraits of Isabel Clara Eugenia and AlbertVII of Austria.//

//Last years//
When Albert died in the year 1621, Isabel joined the Third Order of St Francis and was appointed the Governor of the Netherlands on benhalf of the king of Spain. She was succeeded as Governor by Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, the third son of her half-brother Philip III of Spain. She died in the year 1633, with 67 years old, in Brusseles.

//Isabel Clara Eugenia as a nun, 1625//

**//You can also see://**
http://internationalmonarchism.blogspot.com.es/2008/10/forgotten-infantas-isabella-clara.html

Isabel Clara Eugenia: Voki
media type="custom" key="25899318"

Isabel Clara Eugenia: Prezi
media type="custom" key="25915610"

Isabel Clara Eugenia: Dipity
media type="custom" key="26083136"