| The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07. |
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| John II, king of Aragón and Sicily |
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| 1397–1479, king of Aragón and Sicily (1458–79), king of Navarre (1425–79), count of Barcelona. He succeeded his brother, Alfonso V, in Aragón, Catalonia, and Sicily and became king of Navarre through his marriage with Blanche, heiress of that kingdom. After Blanche’s death (1442) Navarre was ruled by their son, Charles of Viana, but conflict between father and son plunged Navarre into civil war, and Charles fled to Italy. In 1461 a Catalan uprising forced John to recognize Charles as heir, but Charles died in the same year. John was expelled from Catalonia, and René of Anjou was chosen count of Barcelona. Only in 1472 did John succeed in pacifying Catalonia. At John’s death Navarre passed to the house of Foix through the marriage of John’s daughter Leonor; Aragón, Catalonia, and Sicily passed to his son, Ferdinand II, who as Ferdinand V also became king of Castile. |
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| | | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press. |
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