| Henry II | |
|---|---|
 Depiction of Henry byJaume Serra (c. 1375)[1] | |
| King of Castile andLeón | |
| Reign | 13 March 1366 – 3 April 1367 |
| Coronation | 29 March 1366,Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas |
| Predecessor | Peter |
| Successor | Peter |
| Reign | 23 March 1369 – 29 May 1379 |
| Predecessor | Peter |
| Successor | John I |
| Born | 13 January 1334 Seville |
| Died | 29 May 1379(1379-05-29) (aged 45) Santo Domingo de la Calzada |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | |
| Issue among others... |
|
| House | Ivrea (by birth) Trastámara (founder) |
| Father | Alfonso XI of Castile |
| Mother | Eleanor de Guzmán |
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Henry II (13 January 1334 – 29 May 1379), calledHenry of Trastámara orthe Fratricidal (el Fratricida), was the firstKing of Castile andLeón from theHouse of Trastámara. He became king in 1369 by defeating his half-brotherPeter the Cruel, after numerous rebellions and battles. As king he was involved in theFernandine Wars and theHundred Years' War.
Henry was the fourth of ten illegitimate children of KingAlfonso XI of Castile andEleanor de Guzmán,[2] a great-granddaughter ofAlfonso IX of León. He was born a twin toFadrique Alfonso, Lord of Haro, and 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 inGalicia, and the towns of Cabrera and Ribera, which constituted a large and important heritage in the northwest of 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 a fever in the siege ofGibraltar 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 andSancho staged numerous rebellions against the new king. Also, to strengthen his position and gain allies, Henry marriedJuana Manuel, the daughter ofJuan Manuel, Prince of Villena,adelantado mayor of Murcia and Lord ofVillena, the most prosperous nobleman of the realm. In 1351, the King took counsel fromJuan Alfonso de Alburquerque, María of Portugal's right-hand man. He became convinced that his father's lover was the instigator of the uprisings, so he ordered Eleanor to be incarcerated and finally executed inTalavera de la Reina.
After that, Henry fled to Portugal. He was pardoned by Peter and returned to Castile, then revolted inAsturias in 1352. He reconciled with his brother, only to rebel against him again in a long, intermittent war, which ended with Henry's flight toFrance, where he entered the service ofJohn II of France.
Shortly after, Henry and his men spent time inPeter IV of Aragon's army in their war against Castile (1358). During that conflict, he was defeated and held prisoner inNájera (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 theCastilian Civil War. The attack combined Henry's Castillian allies, the Aragonese and the French (a company ofBertrand du Guesclin's mercenaries, expelled by Peter of Castile, who had taken refuge inGuyenne). Henry was proclaimed king in Calahorra (1366).[3] In return, he had to reward his allies with titles and riches for the help they had provided. This earned him the nicknameel de las mercedes ("mercedes" being Spanish for "mercies").
Peter of Castile fled north toBordeaux, the capital of the English dominions in France, whereEdward, 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,[4] on 3 April 1367 an Anglo-Gascon army, led by Edward and his younger brother,John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, met the Castilian forces (supported by French mercenaries under Bertrand du Guesclin). Peter then defeated Henry in theBattle of Nájera, but Henry escaped[5] and returned to France under the protection ofCharles 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 atPeyrepertuse Castle. Then, with the help of many Castilian rebels and Bertrand du Guesclin's Frenchmen, they defeated Peter at theBattle of Montiel on 14 March 1369.[6] Henry killed "the Cruel King", now a prisoner, with his own hand.[7] 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 defeatFerdinand I of Portugal. He embarked on the threeFerdinand Wars. Ferdinand's main ally in these wars wasJohn of Gaunt, the husband of Peter's daughterConstance. Henry was allied withCharles V of France. He put the Castilian navy at Charles' disposal and they played a key part in thesiege ofLa Rochelle, and theBattle of La Rochelle where the admiralAmbrosio Boccanegra completely defeated the English side.
Henry recompensed his allies, but he still had to defend his interests in the kingdom of Castile and León. Consequently, he denied theKing of Aragon the territories that he had promised him in the difficult times.
Henry then went to war againstPortugal andEngland in theHundred Years' War. For most of his reign he had to fight off the attempts ofJohn of Gaunt, the son ofEdward III of England, to claim the Castilian throne in right of Constance. In his domestic policy he started to rebuild the kingdom, sped up the transformation of the royal administration; and held numerous courts. He also permanently set up theLordship of Biscay after the death of his brotherTello. In foreign policy, he favoured France overEngland.
He died on 29 May 1379 inSanto Domingo de la Calzada. His sonJohn I of Castile succeeded him on the throne.
Henry was as hostile to the Jews as Peter had been friendly.[8] In order to pay Bertrand du Guesclin's mercenaries, he imposed a war contribution of twenty thousand gold doubloons on the already heavily oppressed community of Toledo. He 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 the taxes".[9]
The demands of the Cortes in Toro (1369) and 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 Christian debtors repay only two-thirds of the principal for short loans. Shortly before his death, Henry declared that Jews should no longer be permitted to hold public office.[9]
Henry was potentially the first ruler since the Visigothic KingErgica to implementanti-Jewish policies in theIberian Peninsula.[citation needed]
After Henry's death, his body was transported toBurgos, then toValladolid, then finally toToledo where he was buried in Capilla de los Reyes Nuevos de Toledo[10] His remains are still there today. His grave is in the choir stalls at one side of the church and it is in thePlateresque 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:[11]
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 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 a recumbent lion.
The king's entrails are buried in theCathedral of Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
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On 27 July 1350, Henry marriedJuana Manuel, the daughter ofJuan 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:[12]
By the end of his reign, he bore the titles of the King of Castile, Toledo, León, Galicia, Sevilla, Córdoba, Murcia, Jaén, the Algarve and Lord of Molina.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Henry II of Castile Cadet branch of theHouse of Ivrea Born: 13 January 1334 Died: 29 May 1379 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | King of Castile andLeón 1366–1367 | Succeeded by |
| King of Castile andLeón 1369–1379 | Succeeded by | |
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