Lecture 2 - The Infanta Isabella: My Favourite Nun

It was an accident of birth which prevented Philip II of Spain's eldest surviving, and most intelligent child, the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, from ruling all the Spanish Habsburg lands on her father's death in 1598, First, she was a girl and second, she had a much younger half-brother, the future Philip III, one of the dynasty's least inspiring monarchs. The Infanta was the eldest child of Philip's third wife, Elizabeth of Valois. Trusted by her father due to her innate abilities and appetite for hard work, on her marriage to her cousin, the Archduke Albert of Austria, she was given the Spanish Netherlands to govern, with her husband granted co-equal powers. They initiated a period of temporary peace, which led to a flourishing of the arts, not least when Rubens was appointed their court painter. This remarkable artist also worked for the couple as a diplomat which saw him shuttle between Brussels, Madrid, Paris and London, with the stunning Banqueting House ceiling paintings in London the most tangible result of his mission. Widowed in 1621, the Infanta took minor Holy Orders and donned her nun's habit, ruling alone until just before her death in 1633.