Alonso of Aragon

Alonso de Aragón or also Alfonso de Aragón (Cervera, 1470-Lécera, February 24, 1520) was an Aragonese prelate who held the posts of Archbishop of Zaragoza, Archbishop of Valencia and Viceroy of Aragon. He was the natural son of King Ferdinand the Catholic and Aldonza Ruiz de Ivorra, an Aragonese noblewoman, belonging to the houses of the lords of Portell and Les Fenolleres, in the town of Cervera.

Alonso de Aragón stood out more on the political level than on the ecclesiastical, since his religious career was nothing more than the continuity of the Aragonese Church being governed by a member of the royal house. Thus, on the death of the Archbishop of Zaragoza, Juan de Aragón, illegitimate son of King Juan II, he proposed that his five-year-old grandson succeed him, but due to his young age and the opposition of the Holy See to the control policy of the Aragonese Church of that king, Pope Sixtus IV, appointed the Valencian Ausias Despuig. However, the pressures continued and, after Despuig's resignation, the pope confirmed Alonso as archbishop three years later, in 1478.

In 1507 he was appointed lieutenant general of the king in the kingdom of Naples, replacing Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba.

In 1512 he commanded the troops that surrounded and surrendered the city of Tudela in the Conquest of Navarre by the Crown of Aragon, when neither the Cortes of Aragón nor the city of Zaragoza had yet authorized it.

When his father died in 1516, in the will, he remained as Lieutenant General of Aragon, with the other territories of the Aragonese Crown, until the arrival of his nephew Carlos as Governor General of Queen Juana; but this will was not accepted by the Aragonese institutions, and the power vacuum was corrected in November 1518 with the oath of privileges of Carlos I, as king in his name and in that of his mother Juana. Done which, he confirmed Alonso as lieutenant general until his death.

As Archbishop of Zaragoza, Alonso carried out important works in the Cathedral of Zaragoza (La Seo del Salvador), where his remains rest.

Offspring

With Ana de Gurrea (1470-1527) he seems to have had no fewer than seven children:

• John (1498-25 November 1530). He was appointed Archbishop of Zaragoza on March 28, 1520 with twenty-two years of age.

• Hernando (25 July 1498-29 January 1575). Named archbishop of Zaragoza on May 21, 1539 and viceroy of Aragon (1566-1575).
• Antonio, (1552), Mr. Quinto.

• Juana (m. 1520), married in Valladolid on 31 January 1509 with Juan de Borja and Enríquez de Luna, III Duke of Gandía, and was mother on 28 October 1510 of the famous Jesuit San Francisco de Borja, IV Duke of Gandía.

• Martin, Mr. Argavieso (Huesca). Married with Juana de la Cavallería, of the remarkable family De la Cavallería, of converse financials of Judaism, strongly imbricated with the administration of the Aragonese kings.

• Alfonso (m. 1552) Abbot of Montearagón Castle.

• Ana, wife of Alonso Pérez de Guzmán and Pérez de Guzmán, “El Mentecato” and “El Impotente” (m. 1549), V duque de Medina Sidonia; and also married to his brother, Juan Alonso Pérez de Guzmán and Pérez de Guzmán (1503-1558), VI Duke of Medina Sidonia, with strong financial and fishing interests (atunes des desecados or “mojama”).

Predecessor: Fernando II de Aragón	Virrey de Aragón 1517-1520	Successor: Juan V de Lanuza
Predecessor: Ausias Despuig	Archbishop of Zaragoza 1478-1520	Successor: Juan de Aragón
Predecessor: Pedro Luis de Borja Llançol de Romaní	Archbishop of Valencia 1512-1520	Successor: Érard de La Marck