Misplaced Pages

#268731

51-519: They were an illegitimate cadet line of the House of Burgundy who acceded to power in Castile in 1369 as a result of the victory of Henry of Trastámara over his half-brother Peter I in the 1351–1369 Castilian Civil War , in which the nobility , and, to a lesser extent, the clergy had played a decisive role in favour of the former. After the succession crisis induced in the neighbouring Crown of Aragon by

102-508: A battlefield for nobles to gain power and political influence. In 1420, just two years after coming to power, John was kidnapped by his cousin Infante Henry. Henry ruled on John's behalf for much of the year until John was able to escape because of the help of his friend, and eventual royal favorite, Álvaro de Luna , who was known as Don Alvaro. In 1429, Alfonso V ordered the Infantes to lead

153-662: A coalition led by Henry of Trastámara (for whom Peter's half siblings derived their surname) in 1356. Peter again defeated his rivals at Nájera in 1360 and had his half brothers Juan and Pedro executed. Having been protected by Aragon, Henry was forced to flee to France when the Castilian crown signed a peace treaty with Aragon in 1360. Gaining support throughout Castile because of his relation to Alfonso XI and Peter's continuous military escapades, Henry built an alliance with Aragon and France, including mercenaries led by French constable Bertram Du Guesclin for another attempt at

204-438: A common way of keeping the family's wealth intact and reducing familial disputes, it did so at the expense of younger sons and their descendants. Both before and after a state legal default of inheritance by primogeniture, younger brothers sometimes vied with older brothers to be chosen as their father's heir or, after the choice was made, sought to usurp the elder's birthright. In such cases, primary responsibility for promoting

255-537: A fever in the siege of Gibraltar in March, 1350. They pushed Eleanor, her sons and their supporters aside, and Henry and his brothers fled and scattered. They were fearful of what their brother, King Peter, could do to them. The late king had not even been buried. Although Eleanor and her sons reached an agreement with Peter to live peacefully in his court, the situation remained unstable. Henry and his brothers Fadrique, Tello and Sancho staged numerous rebellions against

306-488: A joint attack on Castile. Now John II's constable, Don Alvaro, agreed to a basically victorious truce, as the Aragonese branch of Trastámaras was removed from Castile. John II's authority continued to decline following this military engagement, and he eventually ceded all power to Don Alvaro, who created an oligarchy of nobles. Don Alvaro lost this power in 1439 to a nobility which was allied with Alfonso V, and in 1443, John II

357-492: A month later. Amidst the struggle to settle the ensuing claims to the throne, Henry's wife Joan became pregnant again while being held as a hostage of a noble family. This sign of misbehavior further weakened her daughter Princess Joan's claim to the throne, and paved the way for Henry's half-sister Isabella to take power. The Treaty of the Bulls of Guisando was signed in 1468 and named Isabella heir to Henry's throne, as she and

408-593: A profession such as law, religion, academia, military service or government office. Some cadet branches came to inherit the crown of the senior line, e.g. the Bourbon Counts of Vendôme mounted the throne of France (after civil war) in 1593; the House of Savoy-Carignan succeeded to the kingdoms of Sardinia (1831) and Italy (1861); the Counts Palatine of Zweibrücken obtained the Palatine Electorate of

459-469: A recumbent lion. The king's entrails are buried in the Cathedral of Santo Domingo de la Calzada . On 27 July 1350, Henry married Juana Manuel , the daughter of Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena , head of a younger branch of the royal house of Castile. They had three children: He had several children outside wedlock, some of which he mentioned in his will dated 29 May 1374: By the end of his reign, he bore

510-547: A small appenage ) to pass on to future generations of descendants. In families and cultures in which that was not the custom or law, such as the feudal Holy Roman Empire , the equal distribution of the family's holdings among male members was eventually apt to so fragment the inheritance as to render it too small to sustain the descendants at the socio-economic level of their forefather. Moreover, brothers and their descendants sometimes quarreled over their allocations, or even became estranged. While agnatic primogeniture became

561-583: A war contribution of twenty thousand gold doubloons on the already heavily oppressed community of Toledo, and issued an order to take all the Jews of Toledo as prisoners, to give them neither food nor drink, and if they still refused to raise this enormous sum, to sell their property, both movable and immovable, at auction. Nonetheless, he was compelled, owing to his financial straits, to have recourse to Jewish financiers. He made Don Joseph Pichon his chief tax-collector ( contador major ), and appointed several Jews farmers of

SECTION 10

#1732877243269

612-641: Is in the Plateresque style. The box is adorned with the shields of Castille and León, and the lower interior part has three panels decorated with trophies. There are two cherubs over the panels, holding the cartouche on which the king's epitaph is displayed. The inscription translates to: Here lies the most adventurous and noble knight and king, the sweetly remembered Don Henry, son of the late noble king Don Alfonso, who came from Benmarin and ended his life in Santo Domingo de la Calzada, he just died gloriously on

663-594: The House of Trastámara . He became king in 1369 by defeating his half-brother Peter the Cruel , after numerous rebellions and battles. As king he was involved in the Fernandine Wars and the Hundred Years' War . Henry was the fourth of ten illegitimate children of King Alfonso XI of Castile and Eleanor de Guzmán , a great-granddaughter of Alfonso IX of León . He was born a twin to Fadrique Alfonso, Lord of Haro , and

714-414: The male-line descendants of a monarch 's or patriarch 's younger sons ( cadets ). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia , the family's major assets ( realm , titles , fiefs , property and income) have historically been passed from a father to his firstborn son in what is known as primogeniture ; younger sons, the cadets, inherited less wealth and authority (such as

765-498: The ongoing economic and social crisis , which had its climax in the 1391 pogroms . Upon the death of the Castilian King Alfonso XI in 1350, his eldest son, Peter, took control of the Castilian throne as Peter I of Castile . Peter was born to Alfonso and his wife, Maria of Portugal, but Alfonso lived out a long and public affair with Eleanor of Guzman . Alfonso's illegitimate children by Eleanor, known collectively as

816-580: The Aragonese and the French (a company of Bertrand du Guesclin 's mercenaries, expelled by Peter of Castile, who had taken refuge in Guyenne ). Henry was proclaimed king in Calahorra (1366). In return, he had to reward his allies with titles and riches for the help they had provided. This earned him the nickname el de las mercedes ("mercedes being Spanish for "mercies"). Peter of Castile fled north to Bordeaux ,

867-648: The Castilian crown in 1365. Peter gained the support of Edward the Black Prince , heir to the English throne and son of Edward III of England , to help defend his crown with the promise of territorial gains. On 13 April 1367, Peter and Edward's forces strongly defeated the armies of Francs, Aragonese, and Castilians led by Henry and captured Bertram Du Guesclin. As Edward fell ill, and sick with Peter's attempts to get Edward's prisoners executed, and perhaps with Peter's delay or failure to fulfill his promises of land to England,

918-552: The Castilian forces (supported by French mercenaries under Bertrand du Guesclin). Peter then defeated Henry in the Battle of Nájera , but Henry escaped and returned to France under the protection of Charles V of France . King Peter and Prince Edward parted ways over the funding of the expedition, and the Black Prince returned to Bordeaux, having contracted an illness on this expedition that would ail him until his death in 1376. They reorganised their army at Peyrepertuse Castle. Then, with

969-693: The Plantagenets withdrew from their direct battlefield support of the Castilian Crown to the new front in Gascony opened to the French. In March 1369, with the continued support of France and Aragon, and growing support in important cities in parts of Castile, Henry's forces again invaded the Castilian Crown's realm and checked Peter's army. Henry of Trastámara himself was responsible for the death of his brother, Peter I of Castile. Following his killing of his half brother, Peter I, Henry of Trastámara took control of

1020-658: The Rhine (1799) and the Kingdom of Bavaria (1806); and a deposed Duke of Nassau was restored to sovereignty in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (1890). In other cases, a junior branch came to eclipse more senior lines in rank and power, e.g. the Electors and Kings of Saxony who were a younger branch of the House of Wettin than the Grand Dukes of Saxe-Weimar . A still more junior branch of

1071-479: The Trastámaras, immediately became rivals of the newly crowned Peter. Because of a personal history, including political murders, his enemies quickly nicknamed him Peter the Cruel. Also increasing the hostilities between Peter and his half brothers was the act of Peter's mother taking the opportunity of his power to have Eleanor of Guzman arrested and executed. Peter first resisted an attempt at his crown by defeating

SECTION 20

#1732877243269

1122-578: The Wettins , headed by the rulers of the small Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , would, through diplomacy or marriage in the 19th and 20th centuries, obtain or consort and sire the royal crowns of, successively, Belgium , Portugal , Bulgaria and the Commonwealth realms . Also, marriage to cadet males of the Houses of Oldenburg (Holstein-Gottorp), Polignac , and Bourbon-Parma brought those dynasties patrilineally to

1173-506: The XXX day of May, in the year of our saviour Jesus Christ MCCCLXXIX. There is a recumbent statue of Henry II on top of the tomb. It is made from polychromed alabaster. It depicts the king wearing his royal robes, with his sword in his left hand and his girdle decorated with the lions of Castile. His right hand holds the sceptre, the upper end of which rests on three pillows that support the monarch's head. The king wears slippers and his feet rest on

1224-481: The basis of this marriage, John made an unsuccessful claim to the throne of Portugal upon Ferdinand I's death in 1383, a move that possibly could have led to the unification of all of the Iberian Peninsula. John died very unexpectedly in 1390. Upon his untimely death, John's eldest son Henry came to the throne as Henry III, at the very young age of twelve. He waited only two years to independently take control of

1275-452: The capital of the English dominions in France, where Edward, the Black Prince held court. Edward agreed to help Peter recover his throne. Despite the fact that the army suffered so badly from dysentery that it is said that one out of every five Englishmen would not return home, on 3 April 1367 an Anglo-Gascon army, led by Edward and his younger brother, John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , met

1326-553: The crown of Castile as Henry II . Under Henry, a new nobility rose in prominence to gain land grants of large estates and vast royal privileges. The public rise of this new class of nobles caused discontent and instability in Castile. This class of nobility was driven by their desire to reclaim family holdings and was generally compelled to use any means necessary. Despite the instability, Henry's forces were able to withstand Portuguese, Navarrese , and Granadian attempts to invade and take control of Castile. Henry made an agreement with

1377-624: The death of Martin of Aragon without a legitimate heir, the 1412 Compromise of Caspe installed a member of the house of Trastámara, Ferdinand of Antequera , as monarch. After the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs (both members of the house of Trastámara), Castile and Aragon came to be ruled under a dynastic union , even if a conflict, the War of the Castilian Succession , was waged between Aragon-supported and Portugal-supported parties over

1428-448: The family's prestige, aggrandizement, and fortune fell upon the senior branch for future generations. A cadet, having less means, was not expected to produce a family. If a cadet chose to raise a family, its members were expected to maintain the family's social status by avoiding derogation , but could pursue endeavors too demeaning or too risky for the senior branch, such as emigration to another sovereign's realm, engagement in commerce, or

1479-497: The help of Aragon, which made her queen and united the Crowns of Aragon and Castile. Monarchs of Castile:   ; monarchs of Aragon:   ; monarchs of Navarre:   ; monarchs of Castile & Aragon (i.e. Spain):   ; monarchs of Naples only:   ; —————— legitimate children — — — marriage ........................ liaison and illegitimate children Cadet branch A cadet branch consists of

1530-486: The help of many Castilian rebels and Bertrand du Guesclin's Frenchmen, they defeated Peter at the Battle of Montiel on 14 March 1369. Henry killed "the Cruel King", now a prisoner, with his own hand. This definitively won him the Castilian throne and the name of Henry II. Before being consolidated in his throne and being able to hand on power to his son John, Henry had to defeat Ferdinand I of Portugal . He embarked on

1581-484: The kingdom of Castile and León. Consequently, he denied the King of Aragon the territories that he had promised him in the difficult times. Henry then went to war against Portugal and England in the Hundred Years' War . For most of his reign he had to fight off the attempts of John of Gaunt , a son of Edward III of England , to claim the Castilian throne in right of Constance. In his domestic policy he started to rebuild

House of Trastámara - Misplaced Pages Continue

1632-591: The kingdom, sped up the transformation of the royal administration; and held numerous courts. He also permanently set up the Lordship of Biscay after the death of his brother Tello . In foreign policy, he favoured France over England . He died on 29 May 1379 in Santo Domingo de la Calzada . His son John I of Castile succeeded him on the throne. Henry was as hostile to the Jews as Peter had been friendly. In order to pay Bertrand du Guesclin's mercenaries, he imposed

1683-459: The new king. Also, to strengthen his position and gain allies, Henry married Juana Manuel , the daughter of Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena , adelantado mayor of Murcia and Lord of Villena , the most prosperous nobleman of the realm. In 1351, the King took counsel from Juan Alfonso de Alburquerque , María of Portugal's right-hand man. He became convinced that his father's lover was the instigator of

1734-428: The nobles renewed their allegiance to Henry in return. A quick marriage for Isabella was a condition of the agreement, but Henry objected to her 1469 marriage to Ferdinand, who was the King of Sicily and the heir to the Aragonese throne, as a breach of the pact. He once again named his daughter Joanna as his heir, and a civil war ensued throughout the next decade. Isabella's military factions were eventually victorious with

1785-408: The peninsula. It made him the head of the new Trastámara dynasty, arising from the main branch of Burgundy-Ivrea. While Alfonso XI lived, his lover Eleanor gave a great many titles and privileges to their sons. This caused discontent among many of the noblemen and in particular the queen, Maria of Portugal , and her son, Peter . They had a chance for revenge when Alfonso XI died unexpectedly from

1836-579: The ruler of Aragon, Peter IV, to have their children wed. Henry's son, John, was married to Peter IV's daughter, Eleanor, on 18 June 1375. This marriage by Henry's son would eventually put the Trastámaras in control of both Castile and Aragon, comprising a majority of the Iberian Peninsula. After giving birth to three children, Eleanor died in 1382, after only seven years of marriage. Upon Henry II's death in 1379, his son John came to power as John I of Castile. During his reign, John took Beatrice , daughter of King Ferdinand I of Portugal , as his second wife. On

1887-603: The taxes. The demands of the Cortes in Toro (1369) and in Burgos (1374 and 1377) against the Jews harmonized perfectly with Henry's inclinations. He ordered the Jews to wear the humiliating badge, and forbade them to use Christian names. He further ordered that for short loans Christian debtors should repay only two-thirds of the principal. Shortly before his death Henry declared that Jews should no longer be permitted to hold public office. Henry

1938-469: The three Ferdinand Wars . Ferdinand's main ally in these wars was John of Gaunt , the husband of Peter's daughter Constance . Henry was allied with Charles V of France . He put the Castilian navy at Charles' disposal and they played a key part in the siege of La Rochelle , and the Battle of La Rochelle where the admiral Ambrosio Boccanegra completely defeated the English side. Henry recompensed his allies, but he still had to defend his interests in

1989-570: The throne in 1393 at only fourteen, amidst a great deal of violence being carried out against Jews throughout Castile. Among the young king's accomplishments was his taking of control of the Canary Islands, providing Castile with a holding in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1406, amidst an invasion by Granada's forces in Murcia, Henry died while planning a response at the age of 27. John II, Henry III's son,

2040-525: The throne of Castile, which was ensuingly confirmed to Queen Isabella . The dynasty was replaced by the House of Habsburg upon the effective enthronement of Charles V as king of Castile and Aragon in 1516, even though his allegedly mentally incompetent and imprisoned mother Joanna lived until 1555. The resulting dynastic change saw a radicalization of the antisemitic sentiment in Castile, converging religious doctrinal anti-Judaism, aristocratic political antisemitism, and popular antisemitism exacerbated by

2091-476: The thrones of Russia , Monaco , and Luxembourg, respectively. The Dutch royal house has, at different times, been a cadet branch of Mecklenburg and Lippe(-Biesterfeld). In the Commonwealth realms, the male-line descendants of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh are cadet members of the House of Glücksburg . It was a risk that cadet branches maintaining legal heirs could sink in status because shrunken wealth that

House of Trastámara - Misplaced Pages Continue

2142-711: The uprisings, so he ordered Eleanor to be incarcerated and finally executed in Talavera de la Reina . After that, Henry fled to Portugal. He was pardoned by Pedro and returned to Castile, then revolted in Asturias in 1352. He reconciled with his brother, only to rebel against him again in a long, intermittent war, which ended with Henry's flight to France , where he entered the service of John II of France . Shortly after, Henry and his men spent time in Peter IV of Aragon 's army in their war against Castile (1358). During that conflict, he

2193-400: Was an unpopular ruler, in part because of his taste for Moorish fashion and his disagreement with military engagement with Granada. He was married at the age of 15 in 1440 to John II of Aragon's daughter, Blanche. John II had succeeded to the throne of Aragon upon the death of his brother Alfonso V of Aragon . This marriage failed, however, as a result of Henry's inability to consummate it. He

2244-513: Was defeated and held prisoner in Nájera (1360). He was liberated (with the help of Juan Ramírez de Arellano, among others) and exiled himself to France once more. Then Peter IV of Aragon attacked Castile again. Henry agreed to help him on condition that he would lend his support to destroying his half-brother. This became the Castilian Civil War . The attack combined Henry's Castillian allies,

2295-536: Was left as the only heir upon Henry's death in 1406, but he was only two years old. Henry's brother, Ferdinand , served as regent, along with John's mother, Catherine of Lancaster . During his time as regent, Ferdinand was chosen as the ruler of Aragon, due to his maternal relation to the Aragonese throne through the Compromise of Caspe in 1412. The Trastámaras now ruled in both the realms of Castile and Aragon. John II came to power upon his mother's death in 1418. He

2346-646: Was now a cousin to the King of Aragon, as Alfonso ascended to the throne upon Ferdinand I's death. John married Maria, the sister of Alfonso V of Aragon . Alfonso himself had already married John's sister, Maria, making the two rulers both cousins and brothers-in-law twice over. John II was now also a cousin and brother-in-law to Alfonso's brothers John and Henry , known collectively as the Infantes of Aragon , who had been given large amounts of land in Castile while their father worked as regent during John II's childhood. John II lacked widespread authority, and Castile became

2397-454: Was once again captured by Infante John of Aragon, throwing Castile into near anarchy. This confusion was settled in 1445, when a group of nobles favoring the monarchy, led by Don Alvaro, won a battle at Olmedo. Infante Henry was killed as a result of this battle. In 1453, Don Álvaro was publicly beheaded for charges of tyranny. In July of the following year, John II died, and his son Henry became King Henry IV of Castile. Henry IV of Castile

2448-577: Was potentially the first ruler since the Visigothic King Ergica to implement anti- Jewish policies in the Iberian Peninsula . After Henry's death, his body was transported to Burgos , then to Valladolid , then finally to Toledo where he was buried in Capilla de los Reyes Nuevos de Toledo His remains are still there today. His grave is in the choir stalls at one side of the church and it

2499-461: Was remarried in 1455 to Joanna of Portugal . Queen Joanna gave birth to Princess Joanna in 1462, and she was recognized by the Cortes as Henry's legitimate successor. In 1464, charges were raised by powerful noble families that Princess Joan was the daughter of one of Henry's favourites, The 1st Duke of Alburquerque . These powerful noble families eventually forced Henry IV to hand over power to his brother Alfonso in 1465, but Alfonso suddenly died

2550-451: Was the first boy born to the couple that survived to adulthood. At birth, he was adopted by Rodrigo Álvarez de las Asturias. Rodrigo died the following year and Henry inherited his lordship of Noreña. His father later made him Count of Trastámara and lord over Lemos and Sarria in Galicia , and the towns of Cabrera and Ribera, which constituted a large and important heritage in the northwest of

2601-467: Was too meagre to survive the shifting political upheavals (legal mechanisms in factionalism or revolution of attainder , capital offences and show trials ) as much as unpopularity or distance from the reigning line. Henry II of Castile Henry II (13 January 1334 – 29 May 1379), called Henry of Trastámara or the Fratricidal ( el Fratricida ), was the first King of Castile and León from

SECTION 50

#1732877243269
#268731