Trumpets of War
However, this dream imagined by many monarchs in the different kingdoms that made up the Iberian peninsula had been about to break in the summer of 1500, and even almost degenerate into open warfare, and all for a childhood disease that untimely nearly take the life of the young heir to the thrones of Castile, Aragon and Portugal.
As mentioned earlier, Queen Isabella I of Castile longed personally educate her grandson, the only memory she had of her eldest daughter. Therefore, the very young Michael began to live in Granada, next to his maternal grandmother and numerous counselors and educators who would serve in future to become a worthy heir to his father and his maternal grandparents.
However, there Prince Michael suffered a serious childhood illness (some historians say it was the flu while others say that it was product of tuberculosis) that alarmed everyone. The child's death was as likely to Philip the Fair, upon hearing rumors of the illness of Michael, said his wife Joanna should be the legitimate heir to the thrones of Castile and Aragon, not even waiting for the heir's death.
Therefore, the Catholic Kings, scandalized by the reaction of his son-in-law (consented by his daughter Joana, who was beginning to draw some further evidence of insanity), agreed to an urgent wedding of her third daughter, Princess Mary, with the King Manuel I of Portugal, agreeing on a secret chapter of marriage, in case of death of young Prince Michael, who would inherit the inheritance rights of Castile and Aragon were the sons of this new marriage, resolutely ignoring the rights of Juana and their descendants claiming their mental problems and the likely incompatibility of joining the Castilian and Aragonese crowns with the imperial crown (remember that Philip the Fair was the eldest son of Emperor Maximilian I).
Thus, King Manuel I married her sister-in-law Mary on 15 August, 1500, whose marriage would give a total of 10 children, but none would inherit the throne, as Prince Michael then recovered completely and can live a long life that led to the unification Spain's total in a single monarch.
However, the events of that summer of 1500 had their impact on foreign policy in Europe. In order to go better in the international situation at that time, we should look to events that occurred earlier in Italy.
Believing have neutralized Ferdinand by the Treaty of Barcelona (1493), after the death of Ferdinand I of Naples (1494), Charles VIII of France tries to obtain for himself, waving his relations with René of Anjou, the sovereignty of that kingdom. With no access Pope Alexander VI to crown, decided to satisfy their claims by military: In a swift campaign, in which Venice and the Papacy only oppose him, his armies run throughout the Italian peninsula and occupied Naples.
In April 1495 a so-called League of Venice (Milan, Venice, the Holy Roman Empire, Castile-Aragon and the Papal States) to fight the invader.
The Battle of Fornovo (July 6, 1495) ended without a clear military victory, but after it Charles VIII had to evacuate its troops from northern Italy. In the south, outnumbered and thus trying to avoid a major confrontation in the open with them, the Great Captain (Gonzalo Fernández de Cordoba) managed not to be expelled from the peninsula by the French. However, contrary to his opinion, his superior Ferdinand II of Naples (Ferdinand II of Aragon's cousin) was forced to do battle with him at Seminara (June 28, 1495), where they were defeated by Béraud Stuart.
The Spanish continued to resist and after receiving reinforcements went on the offensive and took several strongholds north of Stuart his position with the bulk of his army. Meanwhile Ferdinand II of Naples, using a popular uprising to get Gilbert of Montpensier corralling two castles of Naples, and then evict you. Ferdinand II of Aragon opened another front in the Pyrenees with France, so that the diverted troops and resources towards it. Great Captain's victory in Cosenza further tightened the siege on Montpensier, who stationed his men in Atella. The Allies took the fort in July 1496, and France remained thereafter at a distinct disadvantage.
The last major military events of the war were the Spanish conquests and Diano Guglielma Rocca in 1497. On August 4, 1498 Ferdinand the Catolic signed with Louis XII, Charles VIII's successor, the Treaty of Marcoussis, thereby finally ending the conflict.
However, the new French king, Louis XII, following the policy of his predecessor, continued to claim the duchy of Milan and Naples. With the intention of occupying northern Italy covenanted by military alliances with the Republic of Venice, which was offered in exchange for their help Cremona, and Alexander VI and his son Cesare Borgia, who gave lands in the Romagna. In August 1499 a French army crossed the Alps and marched on Milanese, under the rule of Duke Ludovico Sforza. In the French military superiority, he left Milan, which was occupied by Gian Giacomo Trivulzio commanding the troops of Louis XII.
Sforza sought the help of the Bajazet, the Turkish Sultan (already dealt with before Venice), and recruited an army of Swiss mercenaries in January to get back the principal cities of the duchy, but in April he was betrayed by the Swiss troops at Novara being caught like his brother Ascanio. Meanwhile, Cesare Borgia, meanwhile, took Imola, Forli, Rimini, Pesaro and Faenza in Romagna, with the passivity or the wisdom of small neighboring states, fearful of the coalition fighting against Franco-Venetian-papal.
Conquered the northern peninsula and before attacking Naples, Louis XII sought an alliance with the only military power capable of slowing their advance southward. Thus, in November 1500 signed by King Ferdinand II of Aragon the treaty of Granada, which both agreed to divide the kingdom of Naples: the south would be for the Crown of Aragon and the north of France. In March 1501, the Gran Capitan's troops occupied Calabria and Puglia, and in the summer following the French advanced from the north and conquered Genoa after taking Abruzzo and Labor. Frederick I of Naples, without money or army after the last war, was unable to contain the spread of both contestants, in October was deposed and his kingdom divided between Aragon and France.
However, soon arose between France and Aragon disagreements over the terms of the partition: the possession of the central provinces of Naples had not been specified in the treaty of Granada. In the fighting that followed, the Great Captain's troops soundly defeated the French in 1503 during the battles of Ruvo, Seminara, Cerignola and Garigliano. Finally, in 1504 Louis XII gave all of Naples to Ferdinand of Aragon by the Treaty of Lyon.
However, the signing of this treaty would be the last victory which would have the Queen Isabella I of Castile. On 26 November 1504, after a long agony due to uterine cancer who suffered, she died at the Royal Palace of Medina del Campo, with her husband and her beloved grandson and heir, a young Prince Michael of only 6 years old.
However, the Queen had thought of everything and had established a clear determination of how things should be developed after her death.
Thus, the young Prince Michael would become the new king of Castile as Michael I, but due to their status as minor, the Regency would go to her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon (who since Isabella became queen of Castile, also became king of Castile and Ferdinand V of Castile), and his faithful confessor and adviser, Cardinal Cisneros. The regency acting under the supreme direction of Fernando, but the daily activity of this would be exercised by Cardinal Cisneros, except in matters of foreign policy, where the Catholic King would have carte blanche.
The will also ruled that the Regency would last until the 15th birthday of Michael I (23 August, 1513), and in case of premature death of the young king, without leaving any offspring, Michael I would be succeeded by his half-brothers, sons of Manuel I of Portugal and his aunt Mary, respecting the capitulation of the marriage of both, ignoring the rights of Philip the Fair's wife, Princess Joanna.
However, the last will of Isabella I of Castile also provided a strange term for everyone, and especially for his grandson Michael: The young Michael, when age had to marry, should marry with Anne of Navarre, the woman with more rights to inherit the throne of Navarre, to finally unite all the kingdoms that formed Spain.
In the last months of life of the Catholic Queen, she and her husband had negotiated with the Navarre's kings (Catherine I of Navarre and her husband, John III) to establish a framework for both parties. The problem was that Navarre had become an essential issue for the Franco-Spanish confrontations and each side sought to gain the trust of Navarre to his side.
However, for the Navarrese was stronger than the veiled threats of King Ferdinand to invade their kingdom, so I finally remembered a future marriage between Prince Michael (b. 1498) and Princess Anne of Navarre (born 1492), also established an alliance between two kingdoms, over the next 15 years.
Thus, young Michael could claim in the future, when deemed appropriate, the legitimate rights of his wife, since she was the Catalina I of Navarre's eldest daughter, uniting a totally Spain. This will also further graced with the Emperor Maximilian I (who saw with alarm the sympathy that his own son, Philip the Fair, was with France, his worst enemy, since his Duchy of Burgundy) and Henry VII of England, who was also at odds with the French.
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