| War of the Castilian Succession | |||||||
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 The two primary claimants:Isabella I of Castile andJoanna la Beltraneja | |||||||
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TheWar of the Castilian Succession was the military conflict contested from 1475 to 1479 for thesuccession of theCrown of Castile fought between the supporters ofJoanna 'la Beltraneja', reputed daughter of the late monarchHenry IV of Castile, and those of Henry's half-sister,Isabella, who was ultimately successful.
The war had a marked international character, as Isabella was married toFerdinand,heir apparent to theCrown of Aragon, while Joanna was strategically married to KingAfonso V of Portugal, her uncle, after the suggestion of her supporters. France intervened in support of Portugal, as they were rivals with Aragon for territory inItaly andRoussillon.
Despite a few initial successes by the supporters of Joanna, a lack of military aggressiveness by Afonso V and the stalemate[1] in theBattle of Toro (1476) led to the disintegration of Joanna's alliance and the recognition of Isabella in the Courts of Madrigal-Segovia (April–October 1476):"In 1476, immediately after the indecisive battle of Peleagonzalo [near Toro], Ferdinand and Isabella hailed the result as a great victory and called Courts at Madrigal. The newly gained prestige was used to win municipal support from their allies ..." (Marvin Lunenfeld).[2]
The war between Castile and Portugal alone continued. This included naval warfare in the Atlantic, which became more important: a struggle for maritime access to the wealth ofGuinea (gold and slaves). In 1478, the Portuguese navy defeated the Castilians in the decisiveBattle of Guinea.[3][4][5]
The war concluded in 1479 with theTreaty of Alcáçovas, which recognized Isabella and Ferdinand as sovereigns of Castile and granted Portugal hegemony in the Atlantic, with the exception of theCanary Islands. Joanna lost her right to the throne of Castile and remained in Portugal until her death.
This conflict has also been called theSecond Castilian Civil War, but this name may lead to confusion with theother civil wars that involved Castile in the 14th and 15th centuries. Some authors refer to it as theWar of Portugal; however, this name clearly represents a Castilian point of view and implicitly denies Joanna's claim. At other times the termPeninsular War has been used, but it is easily confused with thePeninsular War of 1808–1814, part of theNapoleonic Wars. Some authors prefer the neutral expressionWar of 1475–1479.
Joanna, born in 1462, was the only child born to KingHenry IV of Castile and was calledPrincess of Asturias asheir presumptive to the throne. A rumour spread that she was not actually the daughter of King Henry but rather ofBeltrán de la Cueva, the alleged lover of Henry's wife,Joan of Portugal. Joanna was thus nicknamed "la Beltraneja", as a mocking reference to her assumed father. Pressure from members of the nobility forced the King to strip her of the title and name his half-brother Alfonso as heir presumptive in 1464.[citation needed]
In 1465, a group of nobility called theLiga Nobiliaria assembled inÁvila and overthrew King Henry, replacing him with Alfonso. That led to a war that ended in 1468 with the natural death of the 14-year-old Alfonso.[citation needed]
Henry IV regained the throne, but the title of heir became disputed between Joanna, his daughter, and Isabella, his half-sister. That was resolved via theTreaty of the Bulls of Guisando, which gave Isabella succession rights but restricted her marriage options. Isabella secretly marriedFerdinand in 1469 at the age of 17, ignoring Henry IV's wishes.[citation needed]
Gradually, the couple gained a larger number of supporters and obtained apapal bull sanctioning their marriage fromPope Sixtus IV in 1472 and gained the support of the powerfulMendoza family in 1473.[citation needed]
When Henry IV died in December 1474, both candidates for the throne were proclaimed Queen of Castile by their respective supporters. Aware of their position of weakness against Isabella's supporters, Joanna's supporters proposed for the 43-year-old KingAfonso V of Portugal, a widower for some 20 years, to marry Joanna, his niece, and assume the throne of Castile with her.[citation needed]
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TheKingdom of France and the Crown of Aragon maintained a long-held rivalry for the control ofRoussillon and, more recently, for hegemony in Italy. In June 1474, French troops invaded Roussillon and the Aragonese were forced to retreat. On the possibility that the heir to the throne of Aragon would also become King of Castile,Louis XI of France officially positioned himself on the side of Joanna and Afonso in September 1475.[citation needed]
France was simultaneously at war with theDuchy of Burgundy. That made Burgundy into theoretical allies of Isabella's supporters, but in practice, it continued its war against France without coordinating their actions with the Isabella alliance.[citation needed]
TheKingdom of England was also briefly at war with France with the disembarkation of KingEdward IV inCalais in June 1475, but by a quick diplomatic response, Louis negotiated peace with Edward and signed theTreaty of Picquigny in August. Edward IV accepted a truce of nine years, in exchange for significant economic compensation, and returned to England.[6]
TheKingdom of Navarre was experiencing an intermittentcivil war, and theMuslim Kingdom of Granada remained neutral despite Portuguese efforts to draw it into the war.[citation needed]
Throughout the 15th century, merchants, explorers, and fishermen of Portugal and Castile had been penetrating further into the Atlantic Ocean. The possession of theCanary Islands was a point of contention between the two Crowns. Later on, the control of commerce with the territories ofGuinea andElmina, rich ingold andenslaved people, grew to a dispute of even greater importance.[citation needed]
During the first half of the century, Castile staged the conquest of a few of the Canary Islands (Lanzarote,Fuerteventura,Hierro, andLa Gomera) by feudal pacts, first withNorman knights and later with Castilian nobles. Portugal opposed Castilian authority on the islands and continued the exploration ofGuinea, with significant commercial benefits.[citation needed]
Beginning in 1452,Pope Nicholas V and his successor,Callixtus III, modified the previous policy of the neutrality of theHoly See and issued a series ofbulls favourable to Portugal. They gave Portugal commercial control and ample religious authority over all of Guinea, and in areas "further beyond". The Holy See did not arbitrate the question of the Canaries, whose conquest had been left relatively suspended. The King of Portugal adopted a freer commercial policy that allowed foreign subjects to trade on the African coasts, in exchange for taxes.[citation needed]
In August 1475, after the start of the war, Isabella claimed that parts of Africa and Guinea belonged to Castile by right and incited Castilian merchants to sail to them. That initiated a naval war in the Atlantic.[citation needed]
In favour of Joanna:
In favour of Isabella:
The Duchy of Burgundy and the Kingdom of England were at war with France in 1475, but they did not coordinate their actions with the supporters of Isabella and so are rarely considered part of the Isabella alliance.
A Portuguese army entered the territory of the Crown of Castile under the command of Afonso V on May 10, 1475, and advanced toPlasencia, where Joanna was expecting him.[9] Joanna and Afonso were proclaimed sovereigns of Castile on May 25 and were married; the required Papal dispensation (Joanna was Afonso's niece) arrived a few months later. From Plasencia, they marched toArévalo, with the intention of heading towardsBurgos. There, Afonso hoped to be able to unite with any troops sent by his ally, Louis XI of France.
The castle of Burgos and the cities of Plasencia and Arévalo were controlled by the Estúñiga family, supporters of Joanna. The city of Burgos, controlled by theFernandez de Velasco family, backed Isabella.
Afonso found fewer supporters in Castile than he expected and changed his plans, preferring to instead consolidate his control in the area closest to Portugal, in particularToro, a city that received him favourably even though the garrison of the castle proclaimed itself loyal to Isabella. Zamora and otherLeonese villages of the lowerDouro also accepted him.
InLa Mancha, Rodrigo Tellez-Giron, the Master of theOrder of Calatrava, supporter of Joanna, conqueredCiudad Real.Rodrigo Manrique, treasurer of that same Order and the Master of theOrder of Santiago, reconquered the city for Isabella.[10]
Ferdinand concentrated an army inTordesillas, and on July 15, he ordered it to march to seek an encounter with Afonso. Four days later, they arrived at Toro, where the King of Portugal avoided direct combat. Ferdinand, lacking the necessary resources for a prolonged siege, was forced to return to Tordesillas and disband his army. The castle of Toro surrendered to Afonso V, who returned to Arévalo to wait for the expected French intervention.
Rodrigo Alfonso Pimentel, Count of Benavente and supporter of Isabella, situated himself with a small force inBaltanás to monitor the Portuguese. He was attacked on November 18, 1475 and was defeated and imprisoned. Even though this victory opened the way to Burgos, Afonso V decided once again to withdraw, now to Zamora. His lack of aggressiveness debilitated the Joanna alliance in Castile, which began to disintegrate.[11]
Supporters of Isabella counterattacked by takingTrujillo and gaining control of the lands of theOrder of Alcántara, a significant portion of those of theOrder of Calatrava, and of theMarquisate of Villena. On December 4, part of the garrison in Zamora rebelled against King Afonso, who was forced to flee to Toro. The Portuguese garrison maintained control of the castle, but the city received Prince Ferdinand the following day.
In January 1476, the castle of Burgos surrendered to Isabella by a pact that avoided reprisals against the defeated.
In February 1476, the Portuguese army, reinforced by troops brought byJohn II of Portugal, son of Afonso V, left its base in Toro and surrounded Ferdinand in Zamora. The siege took a worse toll on the Portuguese than on those under siege because of the Castilian winter, and on March 1, Afonso V withdrew back towards Toro. Ferdinand and his troops launched a pursuit and caught up to the Portuguese oneleague (about 5 km) from Toro,[12] and combat began.
After three hours of fighting interrupted by rain and nightfall, the King of Portugal withdrew toCastronuño with part of his troops. His son, John, remained near Toro, retreating with his army in an organized fashion towards the city and even taking a few enemy prisoners.[11] As summarized by Irish scholarJohn B. Bury: "After nine months, occupied with frontier raids and fruitless negotiations, the Castilian and Portuguese armies met at Toro... and fought an indecisive battle, for while Afonso was beaten and fled, his son John destroyed the forces opposed to him...."[13]
Publicists from both sides claimed victory. Politically, the battle was decisive because subsequently the bulk of the Portuguese troops retreated back to Portugal along with Joanna, whose side now had hardly any troops in Castile.[14]
One of the objectives of Isabella and Ferdinand was to challenge Portugal's monopoly on the rich Atlantic territories of Guinea. The gold and slaves constituted an important source of income which could be used to finance the war, and therefore expeditions to Guinea became a priority for both belligerent sides.
Portuguese ships had transversed the Andalusian coast, apprehending fishing and merchant ships, since the start of the war. To stop this, Isabella and Ferdinand sent fourgalleys under the command ofÁlvaro de la Nava, who stopped the Portuguese incursions and plundered the Portuguese city ofAlcoutim on theGuadiana River.[15]
Sailors fromPalos de la Frontera pillaged the coasts of Guinea.Alfonso de Palencia, official chronicler of Isabella, narrates an expedition in which twocaravels from Palos captured 120 Africans and sold them as slaves. Despite protests by the monarchs, shortly afterwards another fleet of three caravels captured an African king and 140 nobles of his village.[16]
In May 1476, Isabella ordered the liberation of the "King of Guinea" and his entourage.[17] The order was only partly obeyed, as the king was liberated and return to Guinea, but his companions were all sold as slaves.[17]
In 1476, a Portuguese fleet of twenty ships commanded byFernão Gomes set sail towards Guinea to attempt to regain control there.[18] The King of Castile ordered the preparation of a fleet to apprehend the Portuguese and appointedCarlos de Valera to command.[12] He had numerous problems preparing the expedition, because he was opposed by the Marquis of Cadiz, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, and the Estuñiga family.[19]
The preparations were also delayed by a naval battle that took place when the Castilians found out that one or two Portuguese ships with a rich cargo had left the Mediterranean to return to Portugal under the escort of the pirateAlvar Méndez.[20] A fleet of five galleys and five caravels captained byCarlos de Valera andAndrés Sonier intercepted them inSanlúcar de Barrameda, and were victorious after a hard-fought battle.[21]
Valera gathered a fleet of three Basque ships and nine Andalusian caravels[22] (25 caravels according to Palencia), all heavily armed. There was no longer any possibility of intercepting the Portuguese fleet so he decided, after stopping atPorto Santo Island, to head towards the island ofAntónio Noli in theCape Verde archipelago, near the coast of Guinea. They plundered the island and captured António Noli, who then held the territory feudally from the King of Portugal.
They next set sail for the coast of Africa, where they captured two caravels owned by the Marquis of Cadiz containing a shipment of 500 slaves. The sailors from Palos separated themselves from the expedition at this point. They were the most knowledgeable in the maritime navigation of Guinea so Valera returned to Andalusia.[19]
This expedition obtained few economic benefits, as most of the slaves were returned to the Marquis of Cadiz, and Valera was forced to indemnify theDuke of Medina Sidonia for the damages caused on the Island of Noli, which the Duke claimed as his.[19]
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On September 23, 1475, Louis XI of France signed a treaty of alliance with Afonso V of Portugal.[6]
Between March and June 1476, French troops captained byAlain I of Albret tried to cross the border atFuenterrabía but were repelled. Ferdinand took advantage of the situation to secure his position in the unsettled Kingdom of Navarre. In August, negotiations began inTudela, which culminated with the signing of an accord by which the belligerent parties of the Navarrese Civil War put an end to their conflict. Ferdinand obtained the control ofViana,Puente La Reina, and other strongholds, as well as the right to maintain a garrison of 150 lances inPamplona.
Thus, Castile strengthened itself militarily against a possible French penetration into Navarre.[23]
On August 1476, Afonso V of Portugal departed towards France after signing a truce with Isabella and Ferdinand. There he tried to convince Louis XI to involve France to a greater extent in the war. Louis refused, as he was focused on defeating his main enemy,Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.
The King of France sent the fleet of Norman pirateGuillaume Coullon as aid to Portugal. In August 1476, King Afonso sent two Portuguese galleys loaded with soldiers along with the 11 ships of Coullon to come in the aid of the castle ofCeuta. On August 7, this fleet encountered five armed merchant ships from Cadiz heading for England: three Genoese carracks, a galley, and a Flemish vessel. Coullon attempted to capture the merchants through a ploy, but failed, and was forced to engage in combat. The Franco-Portuguese side emerged victorious. Due to the use of incendiary weapons by the French, fire razed two Genoese ships, the Flemish vessel, two Portuguese galleys, and two of Coullon's ships. According to Palencia, some 2,500 French and Portuguese died.[24]
After their strategic victory at the battle of Toro, the repulsion of the French attack, and the truce with Afonso V, Isabella and Ferdinand were in a powerful position to obtain the throne of Castile. Nobles of the Joanna alliance were forced to accept the circumstances and gradually pledged their allegiance to Isabella and Ferdinand. The war was reduced to skirmishes along the Portuguese border and the continuation of the naval war for control of the Atlantic commerce.
Throughout 1476, supporters of Joanna from the nobility continued to submit to Isabella and Ferdinand, particularly those from the Pacheco-Girón lineage:Juan Téllez-Girón and his brotherRodrigo;Luis de Portocarrero; and, in September,the Marquis of Villena.[10]
In November 1476, Isabella's troops captured the castle of Toro. In the following months, they took control of the last bordering localities controlled by the Portuguese and dealt with their adversaries inExtremadura.
In July 1477, Isabella arrived inSeville, the most populous city of Castile, with the objective of asserting her power over the nobility ofAndalusia.
In April 1476, Isabella and Ferdinand gave their first exculpation to theMarquis of Cadiz. He had been regaining power while his rival, theDuke of Medina Sidonia, initially the main Isabella supporter in Andalusia, had been falling into dishonour.[25][page needed] Through skilful negotiations, the Queen managed to take control of the main strongholds of Seville occupied by the Marquis and the Duke and, instead of returning them to their legitimate owners, named others as their heads.
She prohibited both nobles from entering the city of Seville, under the pretext that their simultaneous presence there would risk violent conflicts.[25][page needed] In this way the Duke's political dominance over Seville disappeared, and the city passed into the control of the Crown.
One of the few nobles that refused to submit to the monarchs was MarshallFernán Arias de Saavedra. Isabella's troops laid siege to his fortress atUtrera, and conquered it by assault in March 1478. The defeated suffered harsh repression.[26]
The first son of the monarchs,John of Aragon and Castile, was born in Seville on June 30, 1478, which opened new possibilities for dynastic stability of the Isabellian side.
After his diplomatic failure in France, Afonso V decided to return to Portugal. When he arrived in Portugal in October 1477, he found that his son John had proclaimed himself king. However, John happily received the return of his father and returned the Crown to him immediately.[27]
In 1477, a fleet departed from Andalusia headed for Guinea.[22]
At the beginning of 1478, the monarchs prepared two new expeditions from the port ofSanlúcar de Barrameda, one directed towardsElmina and the other, consisting of at least 35 ships, with the aim of conquering the island ofGran Canaria.
Prince John of Portugal, aware of the Castilian plans, prepared an armada to surprise his enemies in theCanary Islands. The Castilian fleet at Gran Canaria was still disembarking its troops when news arrived that a Portuguese squadron was approaching. The Castilian fleet immediately set sail, leaving 300 Castilian soldiers behind. These troops managed to prevent a Portuguese disembarkation. The detachment was insufficient to conquer the island and was left inactive until Castilian reinforcements arrived on the island the next year.[28]
The other Castilian fleet arrived atElmina and obtained sizeable quantities of gold. The fleet remained stationed there for a few months, under the orders of the commercial representative of the Crown. The Portuguese fleet arrived, and the Castilians were attacked. They were defeated and taken as prisoners toLisbon. According toHernando del Pulgar, the gold King Afonso captured allowed him to relaunch the war on land against Castile.[29] Portuguese sources affirm that both the prisoners and a significant portion of the captured gold were returned to Castile after the signing of peace in 1479.[30]
Towards the end of 1478, before word of the defeat at Elmina arrived in Castile, an embassy from King Louis XI of France offered a peace treaty to Isabella and Ferdinand. It was signed inGuadalupe and included the following clauses:[31]
Towards the end of 1478, some of Joanna's supporters revolted inExtremadura,La Mancha (Marquis of Villena), andGalicia. The Portuguese, reinforced by the naval victory atGuinea, once again intervened in Castile in aid of their allies.
In February 1479, a Portuguese army commanded byGarcia de Meneses, Bishop of Évora, penetrated into Extremadura. His objective was to occupy and reinforce the strongholds ofMérida andMedellín, controlled byBeatriz Pacheco, Countess of Medellin and supporter of Afonso V. According to Palencia, the Portuguese army was composed of about 1,000 Knights (of which 250 were Castilians), plus infantry. 180 Knights of the Order of Santiago marched alongside him, commanded by their treasurer, Alfonso de Monroy.
On February 24, near the hill ofAlbuera, the army was challenged by Isabellian forces commanded byAlonso de Cárdenas, Master of the Order of Santiago. The army consisted of 500 Knights of the Order, 400 Knights of theHermandad (mainly from Seville), and 100 infantrymen. The battle was heavily contested. The Isabellian infantry suffered a severe blow from the Juanist cavalry and became disorganized, but intervention by the Master of Santiago aided the panicked infantry. The Portuguese were forced to retreat, leaving significant spoils of war on the battlefield, as well as around 85 dead Knights. Only 15 Isabellian Knights were killed.[32]
The bulk of the Portuguese army was able to take refuge in Mérida and from there continued its march toMedellín, which they occupied. Supporters of King Ferdinand placed Medellín and Mérida under siege.
ThenuncioJacobo Rondón de Seseña arrived at Castile with notice thatPope Sixtus IV had reversed himself and had annulled the dispensation previously awarded to Afonso V for his marriage to his niece Joanna. This gravely debilitated the legitimacy of the Joannist side and the pretension of the King of Portugal to the throne of Castile.
In February 1479, Isabella and Ferdinand tried to organize a new fleet of about twenty caravels to expel the Portuguese fromElmina.[33] However, they were unable to gather the necessary ships, and afterwards no expeditions of importance were launched up until the peace agreement with Portugal.
In April 1479, King Ferdinand arrived atAlcántara to participate in peace talks organized by Beatrice, daughter of Afonso V and aunt of Isabella of Castile. The negotiations lasted 50 days, but no agreement was reached.
The two sides continued the conflict, trying to better their respective positions in anticipation of new peace negotiations. Isabella and Ferdinand launched an offensive againstAlfonso Carrillo de Acuña, Archbishop of Toledo, who was forced to surrender, which allowed the monarchs to challenge the Marquis of Villena. Meanwhile, the Portuguese garrisons in Extremadura successfully resisted a Castilian siege.
Peace negotiations were restarted in the summer, and an agreement was reached.
The treaty that put an end to the war was signed in the Portuguese city ofAlcáçovas (today inViana do Alentejo) on September 4, 1479. The agreement was ratified by the King of Portugal on September 8, 1479 and by the Monarchs of Castile and Aragon inToledo on March 6, 1480. It is also known as the Treaty of Alcáçovas-Toledo.
In it, Afonso V renounced his aspirations to the throne of Castile, and Isabella and Ferdinand renounced any aspirations to the Portuguese throne. The two Crowns divided their areas of influence in the Atlantic: Portugal gained control of most of the territories, with the exception of the Canary Islands (the islands ofGran Canaria,La Palma andTenerife were yet to be conquered).
Joanna la Beltraneja renounced all her Castilian titles, and was given the option of either marrying the heir of Isabella and Ferdinand,Prince John, or retiring to a convent. Joanna chose to do the latter, although she remained active in politics until her death.
Isabella, Princess of Asturias (1470–1498), daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand, marriedAfonso, Prince of Portugal, the heir to the Portuguese throne; the parents of the bride paid a largedowry that in practice represented war compensation obtained by Portugal.
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