Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias

Ferdinand
Prince of Asturias; Archduke of Austria; Infante of Spain

c. 1575 portrait of Ferdinand and his pet bird by Sánchez Coello.
Born (1571-12-04)4 December 1571
Madrid, Spain
Died 18 October 1578(1578-10-18) (aged 6)
Madrid, Spain
Burial El Escorial
House Habsburg
Father Philip II of Spain
Mother Anna of Austria
Religion Roman Catholicism

Ferdinand of Austria, Infante of Spain, Prince of Asturias (December 4, 1571 in Madrid – October 18, 1578 in Madrid), son of Philip II of Spain and his fourth wife Anna of Austria.

The Succession

Ferdinand was the second son born to Philip. He was preceded by Don Carlos, who was born to Phillip's first wife Maria Emanuela of Portugal. But by the time Ferdinand was born in 1571, his older brother, mentally unstable and unfit for government, had been dead for three years.

For Philip the illness and death of his firstborn were a source of great concern in regard to the succession. After Don Carlos, he had not had other sons by either of his following two marriages, but only two daughters from the third wife, Elisabeth of Valois, who had then died in childbirth just like Maria Emanuela (his second wife Mary I of England died childless): Isabella Clara Eugenia and Catherine Michelle.

To thank God for the birth of the long-awaited son, prisoners were released - as commemorated in Titian's painting, Philip II Offering Don Fernando to Victory.

Paternal Affection

After Ferdinand, four more children were born: Carlos Lorenzo in 1573, Diego in 1575, Philip in 1578 and Maria in 1580. Due to their parents' government commitments, but also the habits of the era, the children lived and grew upaway from their parents. Furthermore, Philip and Anna's awareness of the very high infant mortality rate of the time, may have created a sort of indifference to their children.

In spite of the Black Legend in which Philip was portrayed as a monster, he was a very caring and affectionate father. He bought dolls, miniatures and toys for his children, and during his stay in Portugal between 1581-82, he wrote to the older girls regularly in letters still preserved, to enquire after their health and education. When he returned from Portugal, he brought many candies and jams with him.

Illness and Death

In the summer of 1575, while he was in the town of Galapagar, Ferdinand became seriously ill with dysentery. The doctors found themselves unable to agree on the best treatment to be administered, and the king, who was in Madrid and kept constantly updated on his condition, advised that his son eat tortillas. Slowly he recovered but then relapsed three days later and died. He was six years old.

The title Prince of Asturias was then passed to his younger brother Diego, but four years later he died of smallpox.

His younger brother, Phillip, the Infante Felipe, was the only one of Anna's children to survive infancy, and in 1598, he succeed his father as Philip III of Spain.

Ancestry

Preceded by
Charles		 Prince of Asturias
1571–1578 		Succeeded by
Diego


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