Chapter 9: The beginning of the end (1462-1469)
Chapter 9: The beginning of the end (1462-1469)
King Juan I of Aragon (1373-1419),
father of Alfonso V
Towards the end of his life, the old Aragonese king, Alfonso V, became worried about the friendship of his elder son, Fernando, king of Navarre by right of marriage, with the Castilian king, Enrique II, as he feared that Fernando may change his alliance and move away from his father's policies towards a more pro-French stance. This seemed to come to a head when Fernando's wife, Queen Blanca of Navarre, died in 1468. Without a male son and only a daughter, María (1457 – 1482), who not only was the heir to the Navarrese throne but also the second in line to the Aragonese crown, Fernando was determined by all means to have a male heir and to reinforce his personal alliance with Castille, thus falling into the hands of Juan Pacheco, Marquis of Villena, the strong man of Castile, who played with the Castilian nobility and manipulated their rivalries to reinforce his position. To do so, Fernando was engaged to Enrique's younger sister, Isabel (1451-1504), even if, due to the complicated international situation and Villena's endless plots and tricks, the marriage would only take place in 1470. Thankfully for Alfonso V, France was in no position to cause him further troubles between 1463 and 1466. King Louis XI of France, whose defeat at the hands of Alfonso had weakened his standing among the French nobility, was facing severe troubles with the rebellious League of the Public Weal, led by Louis's own brother Charles, the Duke of Berry, which were made worse by the attempts of Charles, Duke of Burgundy of creating an independent kingdom of his own.
However, the interest of Fernando in the Castilian affairs became distracted by his own troubles in Navarre. When Blanca died, Fernando retained the government of her lands, something that displeased part of the Navarrese nobility. According to the marriage chapters signed by Fernando and Blanca, the rights to the Navarrese crown would pass after her death to their son, but, if she died before her husband without succession, Fernando would leave Navarre because, "as a foreigner", he was excluded to the "succession of the said kingdom". However, before Blanca died, she had her daughter María to be acknowledged as her heir, and thus Fernando remained in Navarre acting as a regent until his daughter came of age. This decision became the source of serious controversies. Luis de Beaumont, count of Lerin, refused to acknowledge Fernando's rights. When his position was not held by the Navarrese parliament, which was also divided about the question, Beaumont withdrew to his lands. Eventually, this question would be the source of serious controversies in the future.
Fernando had further reasons to forget, for a while, the Castilian affairs, when his father made him his co-ruler in 1465. That summer, a rebellion against Fernando erupted in Luxa, a Beaumontese stronghold close to the French border. On August 25, 1466, Fernando marched into Luxa, determined to put an end to the rebellion, and sacked the city, to make an example of its citizens. He also stripped the city of some of its privileges. By then Alfonso V was clearly worried by his bad-tempered son's manners and tried to restrain his behaviour. Villena, meanwhile, used the Navarrese crisis to fuel Beaumont's anger and further troubling Fernando, trusting he would turn to Enrique (and to him) for help. However, by the end of 1466, he had defeated the Beaumonteses without needing Aragonese support. Then, Louis XI of France, after dissolving the League of the Public Weal, prepared himself to go to war with Aragon to recover Occitania and moved closer to Castile. The French-Castilian alliance was signed by Villena and Gaston de Foix Sauveterre (April 12, 1467). However, an unexpected defeat of a Castilian raid against Granada at the hands of Abul-Hassan Ali, who crushed the forces of Luis de Pernia and Rodrigo Ponce de León, son of the Count of Arcos. To counter this, that summer Miguel Lunas de Iranzo launched three attacks against the Muslims while Rodrigo Ponce defeated them in the battle of Madroño (July 11) and Villena's brother, Pedro Girón, conquered Archidona. In August, Juan Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, first Duke of Medina Sidonia, conquered Gibraltar.
This course of events twisted Louis XI's war plans, as the twin pincer movement lost one of his arms before starting. Even then, without Castilian support, the French army moved south to attack Alfonso V., who was walking over thin ice. On September 10, 1467, Galcerán de Requesens, the leader of the Busca, the party of the merchantmen and the craftsmen, was arrested by the Catalan Government, in that moment controlled by the Viga, the party of the aristocracy and big merchantmen, which gave rise to a wave of attacks by the Busca against its rivals, opening a short-lived civil war in Barcelona. In Navarre, the Beaumonteses rose again in rebellion, taking Lumbier and attacking Borja. Alfonso reacted quickly. On November 11, he deposed the Generalitat after accusing accused its leaders of overreaching themselves and replaced them with a moderate government made up by Joan Margrit, bishop of Girona; Manuel de Montsuar, a canon from Lleida; Cosme de Montserrat, bishop of Vic; and Antonio Pere Ferrer, abbot of Montserrat, among many others. However, barely two months later (January 4, 1468), this government was replaced by one made up by Busca, with Francesc Pallarès, Pere Destorrent and Bernat Torró as the most visible and powerful figures of it. The Viga may not like that his rivals were still in power, but at least those were declared royalists and the leaders of the moderate faction of the Busca.
Then the French army made a bold move and, bypassing Montpellier and laid siege to Béziers. In this situation the Aragonese king turned to England for help, but to no avail. Just a small English force led by Edward, earl of March, the elder son of Richard, Duke of York, but it would take some months to reach the frontlines. Meanwhile, Béziers would have to resist on its own. However, to Alfonso's dismay, after only seven days, Béziers surrendered (March 21). Thankfully for Alfonso, the timely arrival of March with his men helped him to raise the siege of Toulouse in May. However, the English help was worth 200, 000 ducats, a payment that hurted badly the Aragoneses treasury. However, the French attack was blunted. Then Alfonso and March forced the French to withdraw from Béziers (April 16) just the French bleeded themselves white in a failed attack against the English garrison of Calais (May 23). However, after defeating the Anglo-Aragonese army in the battle of Pézenas (September 12), Louis XI began the second siege of Toulouse. The fierce defence of its inhabitants and the arrival of an Anglo-Aragonese army with Navarrese reinforcements forced Louis XI to withdraw in late October. Thus, the French king resorted to begin negotiations with the English, playing the Lancasterian side against the Yorkist supporters and attempted to keep Philip III of Burgundy under his thumb. To his credit, the French king managed to turn the international situation in his favour: for the next six years, France was to dominate the European politics as her English rival plunged into chaos. To reinforce this, he crushed the Aragonese army at Minerve (February 28, 1469), where the earl of Pallars was taking prisoner among many other Catalan noblemen. Only the sudden death of Enrique II of Castille (May 19, 1467), which changed the Castilian balance of power; and the crushing defeat suffered by Louis XI of France at the hands of Charles the Bold in the Battle of Montlhéry (July 13, 1469) game a small window of opportunity to Alfonso, who managed to take the war to a peaceful solution even if at the cost of of giving up the Quercy and Rouergue.
This was to be the last political act of Alfonso V of Aragon, as he died two days later (July 13, 1469), in Perpignan.
Alfonso was married for a third time to María de Urgell, a daughter of Jaime III of Urgell. This marriage produced three sons:
King Juan I of Aragon (1373-1419),
father of Alfonso V
Towards the end of his life, the old Aragonese king, Alfonso V, became worried about the friendship of his elder son, Fernando, king of Navarre by right of marriage, with the Castilian king, Enrique II, as he feared that Fernando may change his alliance and move away from his father's policies towards a more pro-French stance. This seemed to come to a head when Fernando's wife, Queen Blanca of Navarre, died in 1468. Without a male son and only a daughter, María (1457 – 1482), who not only was the heir to the Navarrese throne but also the second in line to the Aragonese crown, Fernando was determined by all means to have a male heir and to reinforce his personal alliance with Castille, thus falling into the hands of Juan Pacheco, Marquis of Villena, the strong man of Castile, who played with the Castilian nobility and manipulated their rivalries to reinforce his position. To do so, Fernando was engaged to Enrique's younger sister, Isabel (1451-1504), even if, due to the complicated international situation and Villena's endless plots and tricks, the marriage would only take place in 1470. Thankfully for Alfonso V, France was in no position to cause him further troubles between 1463 and 1466. King Louis XI of France, whose defeat at the hands of Alfonso had weakened his standing among the French nobility, was facing severe troubles with the rebellious League of the Public Weal, led by Louis's own brother Charles, the Duke of Berry, which were made worse by the attempts of Charles, Duke of Burgundy of creating an independent kingdom of his own.
However, the interest of Fernando in the Castilian affairs became distracted by his own troubles in Navarre. When Blanca died, Fernando retained the government of her lands, something that displeased part of the Navarrese nobility. According to the marriage chapters signed by Fernando and Blanca, the rights to the Navarrese crown would pass after her death to their son, but, if she died before her husband without succession, Fernando would leave Navarre because, "as a foreigner", he was excluded to the "succession of the said kingdom". However, before Blanca died, she had her daughter María to be acknowledged as her heir, and thus Fernando remained in Navarre acting as a regent until his daughter came of age. This decision became the source of serious controversies. Luis de Beaumont, count of Lerin, refused to acknowledge Fernando's rights. When his position was not held by the Navarrese parliament, which was also divided about the question, Beaumont withdrew to his lands. Eventually, this question would be the source of serious controversies in the future.
Fernando had further reasons to forget, for a while, the Castilian affairs, when his father made him his co-ruler in 1465. That summer, a rebellion against Fernando erupted in Luxa, a Beaumontese stronghold close to the French border. On August 25, 1466, Fernando marched into Luxa, determined to put an end to the rebellion, and sacked the city, to make an example of its citizens. He also stripped the city of some of its privileges. By then Alfonso V was clearly worried by his bad-tempered son's manners and tried to restrain his behaviour. Villena, meanwhile, used the Navarrese crisis to fuel Beaumont's anger and further troubling Fernando, trusting he would turn to Enrique (and to him) for help. However, by the end of 1466, he had defeated the Beaumonteses without needing Aragonese support. Then, Louis XI of France, after dissolving the League of the Public Weal, prepared himself to go to war with Aragon to recover Occitania and moved closer to Castile. The French-Castilian alliance was signed by Villena and Gaston de Foix Sauveterre (April 12, 1467). However, an unexpected defeat of a Castilian raid against Granada at the hands of Abul-Hassan Ali, who crushed the forces of Luis de Pernia and Rodrigo Ponce de León, son of the Count of Arcos. To counter this, that summer Miguel Lunas de Iranzo launched three attacks against the Muslims while Rodrigo Ponce defeated them in the battle of Madroño (July 11) and Villena's brother, Pedro Girón, conquered Archidona. In August, Juan Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, first Duke of Medina Sidonia, conquered Gibraltar.
This course of events twisted Louis XI's war plans, as the twin pincer movement lost one of his arms before starting. Even then, without Castilian support, the French army moved south to attack Alfonso V., who was walking over thin ice. On September 10, 1467, Galcerán de Requesens, the leader of the Busca, the party of the merchantmen and the craftsmen, was arrested by the Catalan Government, in that moment controlled by the Viga, the party of the aristocracy and big merchantmen, which gave rise to a wave of attacks by the Busca against its rivals, opening a short-lived civil war in Barcelona. In Navarre, the Beaumonteses rose again in rebellion, taking Lumbier and attacking Borja. Alfonso reacted quickly. On November 11, he deposed the Generalitat after accusing accused its leaders of overreaching themselves and replaced them with a moderate government made up by Joan Margrit, bishop of Girona; Manuel de Montsuar, a canon from Lleida; Cosme de Montserrat, bishop of Vic; and Antonio Pere Ferrer, abbot of Montserrat, among many others. However, barely two months later (January 4, 1468), this government was replaced by one made up by Busca, with Francesc Pallarès, Pere Destorrent and Bernat Torró as the most visible and powerful figures of it. The Viga may not like that his rivals were still in power, but at least those were declared royalists and the leaders of the moderate faction of the Busca.
Then the French army made a bold move and, bypassing Montpellier and laid siege to Béziers. In this situation the Aragonese king turned to England for help, but to no avail. Just a small English force led by Edward, earl of March, the elder son of Richard, Duke of York, but it would take some months to reach the frontlines. Meanwhile, Béziers would have to resist on its own. However, to Alfonso's dismay, after only seven days, Béziers surrendered (March 21). Thankfully for Alfonso, the timely arrival of March with his men helped him to raise the siege of Toulouse in May. However, the English help was worth 200, 000 ducats, a payment that hurted badly the Aragoneses treasury. However, the French attack was blunted. Then Alfonso and March forced the French to withdraw from Béziers (April 16) just the French bleeded themselves white in a failed attack against the English garrison of Calais (May 23). However, after defeating the Anglo-Aragonese army in the battle of Pézenas (September 12), Louis XI began the second siege of Toulouse. The fierce defence of its inhabitants and the arrival of an Anglo-Aragonese army with Navarrese reinforcements forced Louis XI to withdraw in late October. Thus, the French king resorted to begin negotiations with the English, playing the Lancasterian side against the Yorkist supporters and attempted to keep Philip III of Burgundy under his thumb. To his credit, the French king managed to turn the international situation in his favour: for the next six years, France was to dominate the European politics as her English rival plunged into chaos. To reinforce this, he crushed the Aragonese army at Minerve (February 28, 1469), where the earl of Pallars was taking prisoner among many other Catalan noblemen. Only the sudden death of Enrique II of Castille (May 19, 1467), which changed the Castilian balance of power; and the crushing defeat suffered by Louis XI of France at the hands of Charles the Bold in the Battle of Montlhéry (July 13, 1469) game a small window of opportunity to Alfonso, who managed to take the war to a peaceful solution even if at the cost of of giving up the Quercy and Rouergue.
This was to be the last political act of Alfonso V of Aragon, as he died two days later (July 13, 1469), in Perpignan.
Alfonso was married for a third time to María de Urgell, a daughter of Jaime III of Urgell. This marriage produced three sons:
- Berenguer (30 September 1417 – 5 February 1434), Prince of Girona
- María (24 April 1420 – 6 May 1422)
- Fernando (10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), king of Navarre and Prince of Girona
- Conrad of Aragon (c. 1420 – 1452), bishop of Valencia;
- Arnau of Aragon (1421–1504), lord of Sabadell, Rubí and Terrassa; he had five children.
- Anna of Aragon (1435 – 1508)
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