Manuel appreciated her pious nature, treated her with respect and awarded her with expensive clothes and jewelry during her pregnancies. Queen Maria was not described as politically active, though chronicles praised her for occasionally persuading her husband to an act of mercy. She was, however, somewhat involved in religious politics. She supported King Manuel's religious-imperial project, including the plan to conquer the Mamluk's realm, destroy Mecca and Medina and reconquer Christian holy places such as Jerusalem. She co-founded the Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon. During her life in Portugal, Maria was almost continually pregnant. Normally, she had but a few months pause between a delivery and her next pregnancy. This state of affairs resulted in a continual deterioration of her health and after the delivery of 1516, she was reportedly exhausted to a point that she was also temporarily mentally confused before she recuperated. She died in Lisbon on 7 March 1517, and was buried at the Jerónimos Monastery of Belém. She died as a result of her last pregnancy. Legacy In 1580, the dynastic links from the marriage led to a succession crisis in Portugal that made her grandson Philip II of Spain king of Portugal as Philip I of Portugal. Ancestry Children Her marriage with Manuel produced the following children: Her widowed husband later married a third time, in 1518, also this time from her family: Maria's niece Eleanor of Austria. Notes References Sources Serrano, Joana Bouza. Maria de Castela (1482–1517): uma rainha do Renascimento. In: As avis: as grandes rainhas que partilharam o trono de Portugal na segunda dinastia. 2ª ed. Lisboa: A Esfera dos Livros, 2009 |- 1482 births 1517 deaths Portuguese queens consort Aragonese infantas Castilian infantas Maria Maria Spanish Roman Catholics Portuguese Roman Catholics Spanish people of Italian descent Spanish people of Portuguese descent Spanish people of English descent Spanish people of French descent 15th-century Spanish people 16th-century Spanish people 15th-century Portuguese people 16th-century Portuguese people 15th-century Spanish women 16th-century Spanish women 15th-century Portuguese women 16th-century Portuguese women Deaths in childbirth Daughters of kings