Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan

Who was Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan?

Isabella of Aragon, also known as Isabella of Naples, was the daughter of King Alfonso II of Naples by his wife, Ippolita Maria Sforza. From 1489 to 1494, she was the Duchess consort of Milan, and from 1499 to 1524 the suo jure Duchess of Bari and Princess of Rossano. After her brother Ferdinand II's death, she was the heir of the Brienne claim to the title King of Jerusalem.

She married her first cousin, Gian Galeazzo Sforza, who at the time was the Duke of Milan. However, his uncle Ludovico Sforza was the de facto ruler.

With Gian Galeazzo Sforza she had one son and two daughters:

Francesco, who was taken to France by the French King Louis XII. in 1499,

Bona, who married King Sigismund I of Poland,

Ippolita Maria.

Isabella also outlived Francesco, who was killed in 1512 by falling from his horse. Of her three children, only Bona survived her.

In 2012, anthropologists excavated the body of Isabella of Aragon, and concluded that she had syphilis. Her teeth had a high level of mercury, which was used to treat syphilis, and had given a black color to the tooth enamel, most of which had been removed by abrading. They concluded that she was poisoned by her own medicine.