The Five Iberian Crowns Trivia Quiz

Answer: Felipe II Habsburg of Spain

At the time of his death, Felipe II of Spain ruled most of the Iberian Peninsula. He inherited Castile, Leon and Aragon from his father, Emperor Charles V, however Felipe took Portugal by conquest and ruled it under the name of Felipe I of Portugal.

Answer: Portugal

Felipe II's first marriage was to Princess Maria de Bourgogne Avis of Portugal, his first cousin on both sides. They were married on 12 November 1543 in Salamanca when they were both 16. They had one child, Infanta Prince Don Carlos Habsburg, born 8 July 1545; however he died when he was 23.

Answer: Henrique I

The Cardinal King was not meant to rule at all and only came to the throne after the death of his great-nephew, Sebastian I. However, upon the death of Henrique I, there were many contenders for the throne including Felipe II of Spain whose mother was Princess Isabella, the daughter of Manuel I. Felipe won out and the next two Spanish kings also ruled the newly conquered kingdom Portugal rebelled and installed a junior royal branch on their throne.

Answer: Henri IV of France

Prince Enrique of Navarre was the son of Queen Joanna III de Albert of Navarre and Count Antoine I de la Marche de Bourbon of Vendome and was born on 13 December 1553 in Navarre, France. When his mother was murdered on 9 June 1572, he succeeded as Enrique III.

He was also the heir to the French throne upon the death of Henry III's younger brother and Enrique was the only male member of the dynasty left. In order to bridge a religious gap, Enrique III was married to Henry III's sister, Margaret. After the French King's death, Enrique became Henri IV of France.

Answer: Jimeno, Carcassone, Trastamara

The House of Jimeno ruled Aragon from 1035 under Sancho III the Great till 1147 under Petronella I, who married Count Raymond IV Carcassone of Barcelona. The House of Carcassone ruled from 1147 under Alfonso II the Chaste to 1410 under Martin I the Humane, whose sister married Juan I Trastamara of Castile and Leon.

The House of Trastamara ruled from 1410 under Fernando I the Just to 1516 under Ferdinand II, the husband of Isabella I of Castile, father of Juana the Mad and grandfather of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

Answer: Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon

It was under their rule that Columbus discovered America and the Spanish Inquisition began to torture Spain. Their contemporary monarchs included Henry VII of England and Louis XII of France.

Answer: The Capets of France

The first Henriques king was Alfonso I the Conqueror, born on 25 July 1110 in Guimares, Portugal. His parents were Infante Princess Teresa Jimeno of Castile and Leon and his father was Duke Henri I Capet of Burgundy. Henri was the great-grandson of King Robert I Capet of France.

Answer: Uncle and niece

The Habsburgs seems to have this nasty habit of marrying their cousins, but they can be far worse as in marrying their nieces. Yes, this practice of incest was rife within the Houses of Habsburg as well as the houses of Braganca, Avis, Savoie and Bourbon. Out of the five children this marriage produced only two lived long enough to be married and only one of them had children.

Their only living son, Carlos II, was physically so deformed that his tounge could not stay within his mouth and he died childless, making way for the Spanish War of Succession.

Answer: Sebastian I of Portugal

King Sebastian I Avis of Portugal was born on 20 January 1554 in Lisbon, Portugal to Infante Princess Juana Habsburg of Spain, who had lost her husband, Prince Joao Avis of Portugal, only two weeks before the birth. With the death of his grandfather, Joao III of Portugal, Sebastian was king at the tender age of three. Upon reaching his majority, Sebastian led the Portuguese forces into Morocco and was either killed or executed on 4 August 1578.

The other interesting fact is that his parents were first cousins, on both sides.

He only had two sets of great-grandparents!

Answer: Carlos I

The eldest son of Felipe I of Castile and Juana the Mad, Charles' more famous quote was 'I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse'. The ruler of the Netherlands in 1506, the king of Spain in 1516 and Holy Roman Emperor in 1519, Charles' empire was the jewel of the Habsburg crown.