Castilian Monarchy

15 Century
th

HIST 3141
2021
 Castilian Monarchs
• Juan II (1406 – 1454)
• Came of age 1419. Accesion of a minor.
• Great Nobles exploited the minority. (Privileges and Governmental positions)
• Juan II married Maria of Aragon in 1420 (sister of the infantes)
• Attempted to cool the problems with the Tastamara relation in Aragon (1412 --)
and many who stayed in Castile
• Juan II and Maria of Aragon had a son – Enrique – in 1425.
• Battle of Higueruela 1431 – defeated but did not conquer Granada
• 20,000 Gold Doblas (about 225 pounds) per year
Castilian Monarchs
• Prince Enrique (age 15) was married in 1440 to Princess Blanca of
Navarre (heiress to the Kingdom)
• Their 11 year marriage was childless
• The Marriage was dissolved by Annulment – Enrique claimed that they
had never consummated the marriage. (Obvious why they did not have
children)
• Blanca did not contest the annulment
• When she died (childless) her Will left everything to Enrique.
Castilian Monarch
• Juan II (r. 1419 – 1454)
• Wife Maria of Aragon died in 1445.
• Same year of the Battle of Olmedo; when the infantes suffered a
crushing defeat.
• The infantes had cost Juan II much time and energy.
• In 1447 married Isabel of Portugal
• Juan and Isabel had two children.
• Isabel (1451) and Alfonso (1453). Alfonso was second in line for the
throne.
• 1453 had Alvaro de Luna executed (charged with bewitching the King)
• 1454 Juan II died.
Iberian Peninsula – 15th Century
Castilian Monarch
• Prince Enrique (age 15) was married in 1440 to Princess Blanca of
Navarre (heiress to the Kingdom). Marriage annulled in 1451.

• Enrique IV took the throne in 1454 (age 29) (til 1474)

• Same year he married Juana of Portugal
• They went a long time without an heir – rumours about King being
impotent or having a different sexual preference. Remember marriage
to Blanca of Navarre.
• Finally in 1462 – a daughter – Juana
• Castilian Nobility recognized Juana as Princess of Castile
Castilian Monarch
• Enrique IV and his administration
• Attempted to strengthen his royal position
• Gave High Nobility some agreements and favors for:
• Professionalize the royal administration (using university educated men
rather than members of the high nobility)
• Increased the power of the corregidores – royal representatives who
participated in the town governments.
• Established a rural police force – Hermandad.
• Made favorable policies to woolen textile industry – helping many towns.
• These actions strengthened the relation between the Crown and urban
areas.
• Attempt was to try to counterbalance the power of the high nobility.
Castilian Monarch
• Enrique IV and his relation with the Church
• Sought and received Papal permission to begin an Inquisition in Castile.
• Many town councils also favored this policy (control Jewish financiers
and businessmen)
 Castilian Monarch
• Some High Nobility disagreed with the expanded power that Enrique IV had been able
to assemble.
• Focused specifically at the daughter – Juana (born 1462)
• The “Aragonese contingent” – infantes – challenged if she was a “legitimate heir”
(questioning Enrique’s ability to have children) They sought more favoritism and
privileges.
• The infantes rallied around a new royal candidate – Alfonso (son by Isabel of Portugal)
• They would begin rumours that Juana was NOT Enrique’s daughter, but had been sired
by royal confidant – Beltran de la Cueva – who was honored with a title as Duke
shortly after the birth of Juana
• These Nobles called her Juana “La Beltraneja”
• They also questioned if Enrique was a good Christian, saying that he favored Jews and
Muslims
Castilian Monarch
• Castilian Nobility was notoriously fissiparous.
• Rebel Nobles against Enrique IV
• In 1465 they held a ceremony in Avila
• Officially they announced that Enrique was “dethroned” amd
• 11 year old Alfonso was named as his replacement
• Although the act was ceremonious, it showed the extent of
the competition between these Nobles and Enrique
• Alfonso died in July 1468 from an Intestinal disorder
• This left these rebel Nobles without a leader
 Castilian Monarch
• The struggle between the Nobility and Enrique was not over
• Castile seemed at the point of a revolt – and Isabel seized the opportunity
• Isabel met with her half-brother Enrique IV
• She had already collected the support of a group of High Noblemen
• Isabel offered a solution to stop the revolt
• Her price was to be the heir to the throne; instead of Juana
• This would mean that Enrique would have to disown his daughter
• Enrique, on “pragmatic grounds”, decided that ending the revolt was worth the
price of making Isabel the rightful heir to the Throne.
• Enrique did force Isabel to accept that she would not marry without his
permission
• Allowing him to indirectly control the young heiress.
Castilian Monarch
• Isabel had her own Agenda
• She organized her Court and aligned with a group of Nobles
• She also avoided Enrique’s attempts to select her future husband from
among his supporters
• Isabel decided to marry her cousin, Fernando – son of Joan II of Aragon
and heir to the throne
• In 1469 they married in secret in Valladolid
• She did not have Enrique IV’s permission
• This revoked the agreement and
• Enrique disowned Isabel in 1470 and recognized Juana as the legal heir
Castilian Monarch
• Prince Ferdinand and father Joan II had close ties to the infantes of
Aragon and Castile. This would be one base of support for Isabel.
• Other Castilian Nobles “bartered” their support for seeking favors
• 1473 – Isabel reached out to her half-brother and invited him to
lunch and negotiations on how to resolve the situation. Also
allowing him to meet her husband – Fernando of Aragon.
(Uncontested heir of Aragon)
• Shortly after the meal Enrique fell ill. (Some historians suggest that
he may have been poisoned – arsenic)
• Enrique never “fully recovered” and would die the following year.
Castilian Monarch – 1474 Crisis of Succession
• Enrique’s daughter – Juana – had a “significant amount of support” in
Castile among the Nobility (strongest in the south). She also was
supported by the King of Portugal Afonso V, who was her betrothed.
• Isabel could also count on a significant amount of support from Castilian
Nobles and the weight of Aragonese power.
• Textbook author notes the “Irony” of Isabel having to fight Portugal for
her throne. Isabel had strong ties to the Portuguese royal family both
through her mother and grandmother (whose brother-in-law was Henry
the Navigator). Isabel’s grandmother had also played a role in arranging
the marriage between Enrique and Juana of Portugal It is also believed
that Portuguese was probably Isabel’s first language.
Castilian Monarch
• 1474 – 1479 Castilian Civil Struggle: Juana versus Isabel
• On December 13, 1474 Isabel was crowned Queen in Segovia
• This Castilian competition was complicated by foreign invasions
• Portugal’s army led by Afonso V invaded in the spring of 1475.
• Shortly after French troops invaded from the North.
• Some of the Castilian Nobility backed Afonso as King of Castile.
• March 1476 – Battle of Toro – Afonso’s troops were defeated by Isabel’s
troops (organized and led by Fernando) Fernando had his first military
leadership in 1465 against a group of Aragon rebels.
• By the end of 1476 most Nobles submitted to Isabel
Castilian Monarch – Civil Struggle
• 1476 – Isabel was in a dominant position as she moved her pacification
southward.
• Moorish King of Granada was asked for a renewal of tribute – paria.
• Abu Hasan (1464 – 1482) aggressively replied “we no longer mint gold,
only steel”
• 1477 Isabel stayed in Seville where friar Alonso de Hojeda presented the
great extent of heresy in the region. Convinced her of the need for the
Inquisition.
• June 1478 Isabel gave birth to an heir – Juan
• In October (1478) France made peace
• September 1479 Treaty of Alcacovas brought peace between Castile and
Portugal. It also officially renounced Portugal’s rights to the Canary
Islands.
• Civil War effectively came to an end.
Aragon Monarch
• January 1479 Joan II of Aragon died
• Ferdinand became the King of Aragon
• September 1479 the Peace of Alcacovas was signed
• 1480 – Juana “La Beltranja” retired to a convent in Portugal
• Afonso V ended the engagement, as Juana no longer had a claim to
Castile’s Throne.
• However, Juana continued to claim she was Queen of Castile until her
death in 1530.
Castilian / Aragon Monarchies
• 1475 Agreement on how to share governance
• Union of the Crowns was a “Dyarchy” – where each principality remained
autonomous and distinct with its own separate administration.
• Isabel had exclusive rights to to grant gifts and favors in Castile.
• Fernando did not have a disputed succession, faced no opposition to the Crown
of Aragon. Did not need to concede any real powers to Isabel.

• United only by the common diplomatic and military policies of the two rulers.
Relations with the Pope
• Close relations, especially after 1479 and Isabel’s victory in the Civil War
• They will negotiate their rights and responsibilities
• Isabel (Castile) and Fernando (Aragon) will be given the right to appoint
their own Bishops and Archbishops
• They will vow to continue the fight to extend the Church – Muslims
• Continue the confrontation against the Muslims in Granada
• They will secure the rights to collect income from papal bulls to help pay
expenses of the crusade against the Muslims
 Conquest of Granada
• “most important war fought by the Catholic Monarchs”
• 1482 – 1492 on and off for ten years
• Very difficult terrain, which gave the advantage to the protector
• Very costly war and will take a full-scale effort
• Aims: 1) Add Granada to their realms; 2) harness Noble
ambitions; 3) Place Noble energies against an external enemy
(not Monarchy)
• Excuse: Border skirmish – December 1481 Moors seized the
frontier town of Alhama. Christians retake the city in February
1482.
• Beginning of a long and arduous war across mountainous terrain.
Conquest of Granada 1482 - 1492
• Papal support to collect funds, but not a Crusade
• Crusade would have implied the calling of foreign forces to aid in the fight
• This is a war of Castile with the support of Aragon.
• Kingdom of Granada 1350 – 1460 (85 years of peace and 25 of war) This
was a relatively peaceful neighbor for Castile. Annual payment of paria of
gold was important to Castilian Monarchy. But remember they refused to
pay (Isabel in 1476) during the Civil War.
• Granada’s internal struggles. King Abu Hasan ruled from 1464 – 1482.
Then began the power struggle between his son (Muhammed XII – known
as Boabdil in Spain) who ruled from 1483, and again 1487 - 1491 and his
brother who took the title of Muhammed XIII who ruled from 1483 – 1485.
 Conquest of Granada 1482 - 1492
• After a long and arduous war across mountainous terrain, the Christian
troops finally gained control.
• In November 1491 King Boabdil agreed to end hostilities
• In the first week of 1492 the Alhambra Palace was surrendered, and the
Catholic Monarchs entered the city of Granada
• Terms of Surrender (quite lenient)
• Granada Muslims were free to leave for North Africa. If they stayed, they
could keep their property and religion, but must obey the laws of Castile.
(this toleration of Muslim religion was short lived)
• 1499 Catholic Monarchs ordered all Muslims in Castile and Aragon – except
in Valencia – had to convert to Christianity or leave Spain.
• Moriscos – converted Muslims – had an uneasy relationship with the Old
Christian community.
Castile and Expansion
• September 1479 Treaty of Alcacovas brought peace between Castile
and Portugal. It also officially renounced Portugal’s rights to the
Canary Islands.
• Canary Island – “Dragon’s Blood” extracted from bark and leaves
• Used to dye cloth red
• Sugar Cane production (Gomera and La Palma)
• Began in second half of 15th century. Expansion in early years of 16th
century. First water mill “engenho” built in 1511. By 1520 – 64 Mills.
Canary Islands
Isabel’s other Expansion Concerns
• Expansion of Atlantic Trade
• Construyó un nuevo puerto en la Bahía de Cádiz, Puerto Real
• Adquirió el pueblo de Palos de la Frontera para acceso a las Islas
Canarias
• Funding 4 Voyages by Christopher Columbus
• 1502 – Voyage of Nicolas de Ovando with 30 Ships to take position as
Governor of Hispaniola
• Casa de Contratacion (House of Trade) established in Seville in 1503