After the forest of Foixà: a new beginning for the House of Barcelona
- Thread starter Kurt_Steiner
- Start date
Charles is going to be busy, so it's possible that he looks for partners to keep Francis at bay. However, what has he to offer them?
The fugger coffers are going to look like a joke if the riches of the Birú are in Spanish hands. And the English are on the way to get the monopoly of the Aztec Empire, so... Charñes can be interesting as a way to keep the Ottomans under a keeping eye... and to threaten the French. Well, the Empire can be of some use, indeed.
Chapter 24: The madness of king Eduardo (1535-1556)
Chapter 24: The madness of king Eduardo (1535-1556)
By 1530 Eduardo I of Hispania was one of the most powerful men in the world. Just a few months later he was a broken man. Married with Anne of Shrewsbury since 1515, when Anne was just 9 years old, the couple had been blessed with two healthy sons, Alfonso (b. in September 20, 1521), Eduardo (b. in November 18, 1526) and Jaime (October 12, 1527), and two lovely girls, Ana (b. in June 28, 1524) and Ermesenda (b. in July 2,1527). A third girl, Margarita (b. in April 23, 1528), came as a surprise as the last childbirth had been very hard for the queen and the doctors claimed that she could not bore more children. Then, as if to defy fate, the royal family was blessed with another boy, Enrique (b. in March 17, 1530).
Then the house of cards came crushing down. Queen Anne became very ill after the last childbirth and it was thought that she would not survive. Heartbroken, Eduardo I was migthly relieved when the queen slowly began to recover by the end of the summer. Then, as the first leaves of autumm bregan to fall, Alfonso died. The cause of his death, according to the chronicles, was "a malign vapour which proceeded from the air." The king almost lost his mind due to this loss. Alfonso was his most beloved son and, to make it worse, Enrique died on Christmas Eve, 1530.
Eduardo I was 31 years old by then. The loss of his two sons was to hit him hard, even if it took some time for its effects to be noticed. Eduardo may have had a first and brief episode of his illness in 1535, when, for two weeks, the king suddenly suffered from an acute loss of interest in the kingly matters. A temporary regency council was established with Berenguer, fourth Duke of Lucena (1495-1555). Eduardo recovered, though, and resumed his rule as if nothing had happened. However, in November of 1540, he became seriously deranged, sometimes unable or unwilling to speak for many hours. His doctors were largely at a loss to explain his illness, and spurious stories about his condition spread, such as the claim that he shook hands with a dog in the mistaken belief that it was the King of France.
In the reconvened Parliament of the Hispanic kingdoms, a struggle took place over the terms of a regency during the King's incapacity. While it was agreed that it would be most reasonable for Lucena to act as regent, Joan Folch, third Duke of Cardona (1543-1564) and head of the Catalan party on the Parliament, suggested, to the consternation of Gastón de la Cerda (1488-1544), third Duke of Medinacelli, that it was the absolute right of Lucena to act on his ill cousin's behalf with full powers. De la Cerda, head of the Castilian party, feared that Lucena would becomf to powerful once he was empowered and argued that it was for Parliament to nominate a regent, and wanted to restrict the regent's authority. In February 1541, Lucena was named to act as regent by the Parliament. Then, suddenly, Eduardo I recovered.
In late 1553, King Eduardo suffered a relapse into his mental disorder and became dangerously ill. Apparently, the malady had been triggered by stress over the death of his youngest and favourite daughter, Princess Margarita. Again,Lucena acted as regent for the remainder of the King's life. Despite signs of a recovery in May 1554, by the end of the year Eduardo I had become permanently insane, and lived in seclusion at Tordesillas until his death, in 1556.
By 1530 Eduardo I of Hispania was one of the most powerful men in the world. Just a few months later he was a broken man. Married with Anne of Shrewsbury since 1515, when Anne was just 9 years old, the couple had been blessed with two healthy sons, Alfonso (b. in September 20, 1521), Eduardo (b. in November 18, 1526) and Jaime (October 12, 1527), and two lovely girls, Ana (b. in June 28, 1524) and Ermesenda (b. in July 2,1527). A third girl, Margarita (b. in April 23, 1528), came as a surprise as the last childbirth had been very hard for the queen and the doctors claimed that she could not bore more children. Then, as if to defy fate, the royal family was blessed with another boy, Enrique (b. in March 17, 1530).
Then the house of cards came crushing down. Queen Anne became very ill after the last childbirth and it was thought that she would not survive. Heartbroken, Eduardo I was migthly relieved when the queen slowly began to recover by the end of the summer. Then, as the first leaves of autumm bregan to fall, Alfonso died. The cause of his death, according to the chronicles, was "a malign vapour which proceeded from the air." The king almost lost his mind due to this loss. Alfonso was his most beloved son and, to make it worse, Enrique died on Christmas Eve, 1530.
Eduardo I was 31 years old by then. The loss of his two sons was to hit him hard, even if it took some time for its effects to be noticed. Eduardo may have had a first and brief episode of his illness in 1535, when, for two weeks, the king suddenly suffered from an acute loss of interest in the kingly matters. A temporary regency council was established with Berenguer, fourth Duke of Lucena (1495-1555). Eduardo recovered, though, and resumed his rule as if nothing had happened. However, in November of 1540, he became seriously deranged, sometimes unable or unwilling to speak for many hours. His doctors were largely at a loss to explain his illness, and spurious stories about his condition spread, such as the claim that he shook hands with a dog in the mistaken belief that it was the King of France.
In the reconvened Parliament of the Hispanic kingdoms, a struggle took place over the terms of a regency during the King's incapacity. While it was agreed that it would be most reasonable for Lucena to act as regent, Joan Folch, third Duke of Cardona (1543-1564) and head of the Catalan party on the Parliament, suggested, to the consternation of Gastón de la Cerda (1488-1544), third Duke of Medinacelli, that it was the absolute right of Lucena to act on his ill cousin's behalf with full powers. De la Cerda, head of the Castilian party, feared that Lucena would becomf to powerful once he was empowered and argued that it was for Parliament to nominate a regent, and wanted to restrict the regent's authority. In February 1541, Lucena was named to act as regent by the Parliament. Then, suddenly, Eduardo I recovered.
In late 1553, King Eduardo suffered a relapse into his mental disorder and became dangerously ill. Apparently, the malady had been triggered by stress over the death of his youngest and favourite daughter, Princess Margarita. Again,Lucena acted as regent for the remainder of the King's life. Despite signs of a recovery in May 1554, by the end of the year Eduardo I had become permanently insane, and lived in seclusion at Tordesillas until his death, in 1556.
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Indeed. Let's see what the end of his reign has in store for us...
Chapter 25: Towards the East.
Chapter 25: Towards the East.
While the War of the First Coalition had been going on, Francis I of France had funded the small Hispanic Reformist faction. While he hoped that they would become a thorn on Eduardo's side, this action was to have terrible effects upon his kingdom, as while the Hispanic Reformist faction proved too small to threaten the Hispanic internal peace, once the war ended and the repression upon them relaxed, their cultural links with his French brethren were to give way to an sudden expansion of the Reformists ideas in France.
In truth, the Hispanic Reformists not only played an insignificant role during the war or even in Hispanic politics, but also were a pawn in the hands of the Dukes of Alba and Medinaceli, who had introduced several spies in the Reformist ranks and used them to further increase their influence upon the king, whose mistrust of the Reformists was a hardly kept secret. However the influence of Alfonso de Fonseca y Ulloa, archbishop of Toledo (1476-1534) slowly eroded the prejudice of the king, who in 1526, had already written a long letter to the Pope asking for a deep reform of the Catholic Church. The silence of Clement VII and Paul III over the question only helped to sour the already tense relations of Eduardo I with Rome. The controversy raised by Juan de Vergara (1492-1557), who stressed the primacy of scripture and emphasised preaching over the Eucharist, reduced thus to be but a memorial, further worsened the Hispanic standing in Rome, as de Vergara was not arrested and Eduardo was quite unwilling to allow the Inquisition to act if it was not under royal control.
The Catholic reaction was led by Pedro de Lerma (1461-1541), who called for a return ad fontes ("back to the sources") of Christian faith—the scriptures as understood through textual and linguistic scholarship—and wanted to have the Bible translated in the vernacular languages. Hispanic humanists criticised the so-called superstitious practices and clerical corruption, while emphasising inward piety over religious ritual. By the 1530s a number of prominent preachers insisted on the responsibility of the individual as the key element to develop a relationship with God, independent of an established clergy. This was too much for Paul III to send a delegation in 1534 to Toledo to settle the question for once and all. Alonso Manrique de Lara (1471-1578), archbishop of Sevilla, further embroiled the situation when he criticized in his sermons the priesthood and called for reform of the Church. He gained a large following. De Lara's preaching focused on condemning clerical corruption and clerical hierarchy, and there is no evidence that he subscribed to Lutheran teachings, but the senior papal legate, Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, called him a heretic and denounced him as such in a fiery speech in the cathedral of Sevilla. However, Ciocchi del Monte was extremely unpopular, and he had to flee the city because he feared that he would be assassinated. Once in Rome, he repeated his charges of heresy against Eduardo I, but, with Germany almost lost to Luther, Paul III hushed down Ciocchi del Monte's claims and attempted, once more, to bring back the Hispanic to his senses and to do so the bishop of Cordoba, Juan Álvarez de Toledo (1488-1557), was selected to replace Ciocchi del Monte. However, Álvarez de Toledo would fare no better than his predecessor even if he managed to reduce much of the anger caused by his unruly predecessor. However, with the temporary illness of the king of 1535, all the Papal efforts came to nothing. Even worse, once recovered, the king paid little attention to the Pope and turned his eyes to Pizarro's deeds in the New World.
In addition to this, a new surge of interest in North Africa further distracted the king from the religious question. After the failed attempts of Afonso V of Portugal to expand into Morocco that were crushed in the disasters of Tanger (1437) and Arzilla (1471), North Africa had laid more or less forgotten until the Aragonese explorers Pere Margarit and Miguel Ballester surveyed the Moroccan Atlantic coast in the late 15th century. Thus, after recovering Melilla in 1495 and establishing a small colony, Margarit moved West and conquered Castellet (1) in April 1496 as the Wattasid rule imploded once more when the Marinid attempted to recover his lost power. Thus, by the late 15th century, the Kingdom of Fez was too weak to face the Portuguese, Castilian and Aragonese onslaughts. Two years later, the Aragonese Parliaments had approved the royal petition for the enlargement of Melilla, the conquest of Ceuta (1500), which had been briefly held by the Portuguese from 1415 to 1438. and the creation of two new advanced settlements (Anfa and Azamor) in the Sahara and a smaller one further south called Nova Tortosa (3), from where they began to explore the area (April, 1502).
The African quest would be resumed in 1507. with Joan d’Agramunt's explorations of the coast of West Africa and reached the Golf de Montserrat (4) by December 1507, and, in 1510, he reached Calicut, Jaime VI of Aragon and I of Castile became persuaded of the excellent trade potential of Calicut, and new expeditions departed. More pressing matter closer to home brought back the Aragonese attention to North Africa, as in 1516 the three Reis brothers had captured Algiers from the Castilians and eventually assumed control over the city and surrounding region, forcing the previous ruler, Abu Hamo Musa III, to flee. In spite of its best efforts, the Castilian Crown proved to be utterly unable to recover Algiers. Then, in May 1518, Eduardo I of Aragon and I of Castile conquered Oran and then attacked the Reis brothers at Tlemcen, where Oruç and Isha were slain in the battle. The arrival of Ottoman reinforcements brought an uneasy stalemate. After Hungary was crushed by the Ottomans in the battle of Mohacs (August 1526) and King Louis II of Hungary killed in the disaster, the Emperor was forced to turn his attention to the Balkans once more. Meanwhile, the Second Armada to India had finally opened the trade routes and the Hispanics took control of the entrances to the Indian Ocean after conquering Ormuz and Socotra in 1522 and fortresses were built in the island of Mozambique and Mombasa, on the Kenyan coast. Madagascar was partly explored and the Hispanic treasury began to notice it just in time. However, Suleiman the Magnificent, after the defeat of his European campaign, turned his attention to Ormuz. However, it would take almost a decade to the Ottomans to move forwards to that part of the world.
(1) OTL Alcazarseguer
(2) OTL Newfoundland
(3) OTL Dakar
(4) OTL Walvis Bay
While the War of the First Coalition had been going on, Francis I of France had funded the small Hispanic Reformist faction. While he hoped that they would become a thorn on Eduardo's side, this action was to have terrible effects upon his kingdom, as while the Hispanic Reformist faction proved too small to threaten the Hispanic internal peace, once the war ended and the repression upon them relaxed, their cultural links with his French brethren were to give way to an sudden expansion of the Reformists ideas in France.
In truth, the Hispanic Reformists not only played an insignificant role during the war or even in Hispanic politics, but also were a pawn in the hands of the Dukes of Alba and Medinaceli, who had introduced several spies in the Reformist ranks and used them to further increase their influence upon the king, whose mistrust of the Reformists was a hardly kept secret. However the influence of Alfonso de Fonseca y Ulloa, archbishop of Toledo (1476-1534) slowly eroded the prejudice of the king, who in 1526, had already written a long letter to the Pope asking for a deep reform of the Catholic Church. The silence of Clement VII and Paul III over the question only helped to sour the already tense relations of Eduardo I with Rome. The controversy raised by Juan de Vergara (1492-1557), who stressed the primacy of scripture and emphasised preaching over the Eucharist, reduced thus to be but a memorial, further worsened the Hispanic standing in Rome, as de Vergara was not arrested and Eduardo was quite unwilling to allow the Inquisition to act if it was not under royal control.
The Catholic reaction was led by Pedro de Lerma (1461-1541), who called for a return ad fontes ("back to the sources") of Christian faith—the scriptures as understood through textual and linguistic scholarship—and wanted to have the Bible translated in the vernacular languages. Hispanic humanists criticised the so-called superstitious practices and clerical corruption, while emphasising inward piety over religious ritual. By the 1530s a number of prominent preachers insisted on the responsibility of the individual as the key element to develop a relationship with God, independent of an established clergy. This was too much for Paul III to send a delegation in 1534 to Toledo to settle the question for once and all. Alonso Manrique de Lara (1471-1578), archbishop of Sevilla, further embroiled the situation when he criticized in his sermons the priesthood and called for reform of the Church. He gained a large following. De Lara's preaching focused on condemning clerical corruption and clerical hierarchy, and there is no evidence that he subscribed to Lutheran teachings, but the senior papal legate, Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, called him a heretic and denounced him as such in a fiery speech in the cathedral of Sevilla. However, Ciocchi del Monte was extremely unpopular, and he had to flee the city because he feared that he would be assassinated. Once in Rome, he repeated his charges of heresy against Eduardo I, but, with Germany almost lost to Luther, Paul III hushed down Ciocchi del Monte's claims and attempted, once more, to bring back the Hispanic to his senses and to do so the bishop of Cordoba, Juan Álvarez de Toledo (1488-1557), was selected to replace Ciocchi del Monte. However, Álvarez de Toledo would fare no better than his predecessor even if he managed to reduce much of the anger caused by his unruly predecessor. However, with the temporary illness of the king of 1535, all the Papal efforts came to nothing. Even worse, once recovered, the king paid little attention to the Pope and turned his eyes to Pizarro's deeds in the New World.
In addition to this, a new surge of interest in North Africa further distracted the king from the religious question. After the failed attempts of Afonso V of Portugal to expand into Morocco that were crushed in the disasters of Tanger (1437) and Arzilla (1471), North Africa had laid more or less forgotten until the Aragonese explorers Pere Margarit and Miguel Ballester surveyed the Moroccan Atlantic coast in the late 15th century. Thus, after recovering Melilla in 1495 and establishing a small colony, Margarit moved West and conquered Castellet (1) in April 1496 as the Wattasid rule imploded once more when the Marinid attempted to recover his lost power. Thus, by the late 15th century, the Kingdom of Fez was too weak to face the Portuguese, Castilian and Aragonese onslaughts. Two years later, the Aragonese Parliaments had approved the royal petition for the enlargement of Melilla, the conquest of Ceuta (1500), which had been briefly held by the Portuguese from 1415 to 1438. and the creation of two new advanced settlements (Anfa and Azamor) in the Sahara and a smaller one further south called Nova Tortosa (3), from where they began to explore the area (April, 1502).
The African quest would be resumed in 1507. with Joan d’Agramunt's explorations of the coast of West Africa and reached the Golf de Montserrat (4) by December 1507, and, in 1510, he reached Calicut, Jaime VI of Aragon and I of Castile became persuaded of the excellent trade potential of Calicut, and new expeditions departed. More pressing matter closer to home brought back the Aragonese attention to North Africa, as in 1516 the three Reis brothers had captured Algiers from the Castilians and eventually assumed control over the city and surrounding region, forcing the previous ruler, Abu Hamo Musa III, to flee. In spite of its best efforts, the Castilian Crown proved to be utterly unable to recover Algiers. Then, in May 1518, Eduardo I of Aragon and I of Castile conquered Oran and then attacked the Reis brothers at Tlemcen, where Oruç and Isha were slain in the battle. The arrival of Ottoman reinforcements brought an uneasy stalemate. After Hungary was crushed by the Ottomans in the battle of Mohacs (August 1526) and King Louis II of Hungary killed in the disaster, the Emperor was forced to turn his attention to the Balkans once more. Meanwhile, the Second Armada to India had finally opened the trade routes and the Hispanics took control of the entrances to the Indian Ocean after conquering Ormuz and Socotra in 1522 and fortresses were built in the island of Mozambique and Mombasa, on the Kenyan coast. Madagascar was partly explored and the Hispanic treasury began to notice it just in time. However, Suleiman the Magnificent, after the defeat of his European campaign, turned his attention to Ormuz. However, it would take almost a decade to the Ottomans to move forwards to that part of the world.
(1) OTL Alcazarseguer
(2) OTL Newfoundland
(3) OTL Dakar
(4) OTL Walvis Bay
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I'm tempted to make any tense moment with Rome end up with a sack 😂
Chapter 26: Conquest and reformation (1535-1550)
Chapter 26: Conquest and reformation (1535-1550)
The Hispanic explorers and traders in India soon found himself in direct competition with the Portuguese, who had arrived to the subcontinent in 1498. Determined to show the Portuguese that they had not the upper hand, Joan d’Agramunt allied himself with the Zamorin of Kozhikode (Calicut) in his war against the pro-Portugese Maharaja of Kochi. To add more complication, the Hispanic found that they were not only competing against the Portuguese in their exploration of the African coast south of Cape Bojador, but also with Swedes, Danish, Dutch, English, and French traders, attracted by the boom of the Atlantic slave trade in this area. The Portuguese discovery of the Congo River in 1539 would trap the Lusitan interest there, leaving the Hispanic explorers with a competitor less to care. In 1536 Juan Martín de Ampués, from Zaragoza, departed en route to India via Egypt and Yemen. After reaching India in 1538, Martín de Ampués also visited Madagascar. By then, the Hispanic traders began take part and to fully profit from the infamous Atlantic slave trade, exporting around 450 slaves annually. By 1550 the number of slaves exported to America rose to 800.
Between 1510 and 1540 seven Hispanic expeditions departed to India. All in all, 80 ships and departed to India and 10 were lost but, by 1532, the Hispanic explorers had established several outposts on the southwestern Indian coast and this led Eduardo I to name Jerónimo Ortal as the first Hispanic Viceroy of India. Ortal wasted no time and, instead of following the old game of pushing Kochi against Calicut and viceversa, he used the ships he had taken with him to India to hunt and destroy the fleet of the Zamorin. He also established friendly relations with the ruler of Cannanore, The Zamorin attempted to take revenge with a new fleet. Thus, with 200 ships equipped with cannons manufactured with the help of two Milanese craftmen and manned by Hindu, Arab, and Turkish crews, he attacked Ortal in March 1533. Ortal was victorious in a sea battle off Anjediva Island and the Zamaorin lost a few dozen ships for none of the Aragonese, This victory reinforced the growing control of the spices market by the Hispanics, something that deeply worried Suleiman the Magnificent, who soon turned his attention to India. The Hispanic expansion would be stopped at Colombo, when a new ruler, hostile to the Europeans, refused first to have deals with them and then attacked the foreign traders, leading to the First Hispanic Expedition to Colombo (1535).
In America, Pizarro had met the two pretenders to the Incan throne, Atahualpa and Huascar. Initially, Pizarro seemed to be neutral in their war and contented himself to watch and make business with both sides, until his deals with both pretenders grew and he found backing one or the other depending on who had made the higher bid. Eventually, Huascar had Atahualpa killed in 1532, but the late pretender was replaced by one of his generals, Chalcuchímac, and the war went on, this time with Pizarro clearling support Chalcuchímac. Eventually, Huascar was soundly defeated in 1533 and fled, but Chalcuchímac proved to be a bad ruler and rebellions soon broke in 1536 in the north of the country. By 1537 Huascar was back and the war entered into another phase. Eventually, Pizarro got tired of the mistakesof Chalcuchímac and changed sides. In 1538 was defeated and killed, and his successor, Quisquis, simply fled. However, Pizarro was no more lucky with Huascar, who proved to be an even less capable ruler and, in spite of the support, Huascar was defeated and killed by Quisquis in 1539. For the moment, Quisquis ruled over a devastated Incan Empire with the support of Pizarro.
Meawnhile, at home, Eduardo I and, in due time, Berenguer, fourth Duke of Lucena, were finding unexpected troubles with the religious debate. Under the influence of French reformers like Jacques Lefèvre and Guillaume Briçonnet, Bernat de Casanova (1494-1553), recently appointed bishop of Girona, formed the so-called Circle of Girona, with the aim of improving the quality of preaching and religious life in general. Among them was Guillem Buixadò (1468-1540), an Humanist and a Royal librarian. De Casanova began to be noticed with his emphasis on the literal interpretation of the Bible. The revival of classical learning also seemed to conspire against the established religion and soon the royal court seemed to be divided among religious reformers and intelectual heathens. By the 1540s a strong group of Reformers began to be noticed in Barcelona and Valencia: Hugo Centelles (1494–1541), Martín Blasco (1491–1551), Guillermo Coll (1488–1551), Juan Odria (1492–1541), and Guillermo Ferrer (1489–1565). While from diverse academic backgrounds, their work already contained key themes within Reformed theology, some of them already mentioned: the priority of scripture as a source of authority and salvation to be by grace alone while recting the doctrine of unconditional election. However. they kept the role of the Eucharist, in spite of the evident infliuence of Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon over them. The doctrine of justification by faith alone was a direct inheritance from Luther. These beliefs were formed into one consistent creed, which would shape the future definition of the Reformed faith in Hispania.
Soon they were joined by Juan Castán (1509–1564) and Héctor Camarena (1504–1575), a clear sign that the religious reform had began to spread in Aragon; Roberto Brunet (1497–1563) and Pere Martir (1500–1562) in Majorca, and Andreu Horta (1511–1564) in Murcia. An interesting fact: while Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion was one of the most influential works among the Valencian Reformers, it was less popular in Catalonia and Aragon. This fact demonstrates the diversity as well as unity in early Reformed theology, giving it a stability that enabled it to spread rapidly throughout the East of Hispania. It would spread thought the Reformed missionary work in Navarre by the 1560s. Eduardo I would not live to see those changes, though.
The Hispanic explorers and traders in India soon found himself in direct competition with the Portuguese, who had arrived to the subcontinent in 1498. Determined to show the Portuguese that they had not the upper hand, Joan d’Agramunt allied himself with the Zamorin of Kozhikode (Calicut) in his war against the pro-Portugese Maharaja of Kochi. To add more complication, the Hispanic found that they were not only competing against the Portuguese in their exploration of the African coast south of Cape Bojador, but also with Swedes, Danish, Dutch, English, and French traders, attracted by the boom of the Atlantic slave trade in this area. The Portuguese discovery of the Congo River in 1539 would trap the Lusitan interest there, leaving the Hispanic explorers with a competitor less to care. In 1536 Juan Martín de Ampués, from Zaragoza, departed en route to India via Egypt and Yemen. After reaching India in 1538, Martín de Ampués also visited Madagascar. By then, the Hispanic traders began take part and to fully profit from the infamous Atlantic slave trade, exporting around 450 slaves annually. By 1550 the number of slaves exported to America rose to 800.
Between 1510 and 1540 seven Hispanic expeditions departed to India. All in all, 80 ships and departed to India and 10 were lost but, by 1532, the Hispanic explorers had established several outposts on the southwestern Indian coast and this led Eduardo I to name Jerónimo Ortal as the first Hispanic Viceroy of India. Ortal wasted no time and, instead of following the old game of pushing Kochi against Calicut and viceversa, he used the ships he had taken with him to India to hunt and destroy the fleet of the Zamorin. He also established friendly relations with the ruler of Cannanore, The Zamorin attempted to take revenge with a new fleet. Thus, with 200 ships equipped with cannons manufactured with the help of two Milanese craftmen and manned by Hindu, Arab, and Turkish crews, he attacked Ortal in March 1533. Ortal was victorious in a sea battle off Anjediva Island and the Zamaorin lost a few dozen ships for none of the Aragonese, This victory reinforced the growing control of the spices market by the Hispanics, something that deeply worried Suleiman the Magnificent, who soon turned his attention to India. The Hispanic expansion would be stopped at Colombo, when a new ruler, hostile to the Europeans, refused first to have deals with them and then attacked the foreign traders, leading to the First Hispanic Expedition to Colombo (1535).
In America, Pizarro had met the two pretenders to the Incan throne, Atahualpa and Huascar. Initially, Pizarro seemed to be neutral in their war and contented himself to watch and make business with both sides, until his deals with both pretenders grew and he found backing one or the other depending on who had made the higher bid. Eventually, Huascar had Atahualpa killed in 1532, but the late pretender was replaced by one of his generals, Chalcuchímac, and the war went on, this time with Pizarro clearling support Chalcuchímac. Eventually, Huascar was soundly defeated in 1533 and fled, but Chalcuchímac proved to be a bad ruler and rebellions soon broke in 1536 in the north of the country. By 1537 Huascar was back and the war entered into another phase. Eventually, Pizarro got tired of the mistakesof Chalcuchímac and changed sides. In 1538 was defeated and killed, and his successor, Quisquis, simply fled. However, Pizarro was no more lucky with Huascar, who proved to be an even less capable ruler and, in spite of the support, Huascar was defeated and killed by Quisquis in 1539. For the moment, Quisquis ruled over a devastated Incan Empire with the support of Pizarro.
Meawnhile, at home, Eduardo I and, in due time, Berenguer, fourth Duke of Lucena, were finding unexpected troubles with the religious debate. Under the influence of French reformers like Jacques Lefèvre and Guillaume Briçonnet, Bernat de Casanova (1494-1553), recently appointed bishop of Girona, formed the so-called Circle of Girona, with the aim of improving the quality of preaching and religious life in general. Among them was Guillem Buixadò (1468-1540), an Humanist and a Royal librarian. De Casanova began to be noticed with his emphasis on the literal interpretation of the Bible. The revival of classical learning also seemed to conspire against the established religion and soon the royal court seemed to be divided among religious reformers and intelectual heathens. By the 1540s a strong group of Reformers began to be noticed in Barcelona and Valencia: Hugo Centelles (1494–1541), Martín Blasco (1491–1551), Guillermo Coll (1488–1551), Juan Odria (1492–1541), and Guillermo Ferrer (1489–1565). While from diverse academic backgrounds, their work already contained key themes within Reformed theology, some of them already mentioned: the priority of scripture as a source of authority and salvation to be by grace alone while recting the doctrine of unconditional election. However. they kept the role of the Eucharist, in spite of the evident infliuence of Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon over them. The doctrine of justification by faith alone was a direct inheritance from Luther. These beliefs were formed into one consistent creed, which would shape the future definition of the Reformed faith in Hispania.
Soon they were joined by Juan Castán (1509–1564) and Héctor Camarena (1504–1575), a clear sign that the religious reform had began to spread in Aragon; Roberto Brunet (1497–1563) and Pere Martir (1500–1562) in Majorca, and Andreu Horta (1511–1564) in Murcia. An interesting fact: while Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion was one of the most influential works among the Valencian Reformers, it was less popular in Catalonia and Aragon. This fact demonstrates the diversity as well as unity in early Reformed theology, giving it a stability that enabled it to spread rapidly throughout the East of Hispania. It would spread thought the Reformed missionary work in Navarre by the 1560s. Eduardo I would not live to see those changes, though.
The Hispanic effort is going slowly but it's beginning to gather some speed...
A bit of a spoiler
The change will be, after some headaches, a positive thing for Hispania
Chapter 27: The Laws of Toledo and the Aragonese gambit (1537-1541)
Chapter 27: The Laws of Toledo and the Aragonese gambit (1537-1541)
The death of Edward V (1470-1533) brought some uneasiness in the Hispanic chancillery about the inclinations of the new king. Richard III, the second son of the late king, had not been prepared to be king but the unexpected death of older brother Edward in 1523 had propelled him first to become the new Prince of Wales and then to the throne. What annoyed most his Hispanic ally is that, during this youth, Richard III had given little signs of being a ruler half as mighty as his father. Ironically, today Richard III is most remembered by his role in the English acquisition of Burgundy. It would take place in 1552, after the death of the last Duke, Charles III. Richard had pushed to have his younger grandson Edward, the future Edward VI, to be married to Jeanne, the only daughter of the Duke. Then, as Walter Scott wrote in his opening of "The Life of Edward VI", the death of her brother, Jean, signaled "the end of the dance macabre that placed a crown on Edward's unwilling head".
In Hispania, through the sheer will of Eduardo I, the Parliaments of his kingdoms passed the so-called Laws of Toledo (1537), which reinforced the primacy of the Catholic church and introduced the first translation of the Bible into the vernacular languages of the Hispanic Empire, which followed the tradition set by the Castilian translation of the 13th century, the Biblia alfonsina (Alphonsine Bible, 1260-1280) and of the Biblia de Montjuich (translated in 1287 following a French version). The Laws of Toledo, however. still allowed for Reformed practices such as Crucifixes, and quietly reformed the use of Indulgences and the like, suppressed the office of quaestores and reserved the collection of alms to a special chapter within the Hispanic Catholic church, setting a model that would be followed by the Council of Trent (1535-1553).
However. the Laws of Toledo were not well taken by the extremist factions of both Catholics and Reformers. From 1538 and 1543 all monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in Aragon suffered repeated attacks by bands of fanatic Reformers that were determined to bring down the "politeist Papists". This wave of attacks would reach the high water mark in 1540, something that forced the king to send not only the Duke of Alba as governor of the Aragonese kingdoms but also to accept the intervention of the Inquisition in that part of the Hispanic Empire, even if Eduardo I and the Parliaments kept a strict eye on the acts of the Inquisitors. Eventually, what brought down the defeat of those "faudits"₁ was the crushing of the gang led by the so-called "Perot Testa de Ferro"₂. Perot, who had thirty men with him, had been terrorizing Vic and burning churches there, was ambushed by the Duke of Alba. Even if Perot was killed in the fight, Alba was able to capture his second in command, Tomás de Banyuls, and three of his men, who would be tried in executed by hanging in Vic in the late winter of 1541.
The Toledo Laws were improved and expanded in its edition of 1540, but in the Aragonese Parliament of 1541 there was a widespread claim for wider rights for the Reformed faith. In fact, from 1535 to 1543, around 6,000 Aragonese Reformers had left their country to settle in the New World, as the Laws of Toledo were applied there with more laxitude. This emigration caused a change in the Aragonese institutions. Until then, the King ruled his lands relying mostly in Aragonese and Valencian noblemen who led his armies and directed the administration and the diplomacy. This was deeply resented in Catalonia, as they felt ignored. However, the emigration of so many inhabitants and the fears of a renewed French threat led to a volte de face in the Aragon, as the Valencian statesmen turned to their Catalan counterparts for support, as they correctly guessed that a French threat against Italy would be as dangerous for them as for Catalonia. At the same time, the Aragonese, seeing this, offered a new share of power to the Catalan in exchange for economic support to defend Navarre against a French invasion. Thus the Catalan Parliament, the Consell de Cent, was able to end the Aragonese-Valencian supremacy in exchange of their support. From then on, Aragon found itself needing either the Catalan or Valencia support for their affairs while their counterparts, sharing a common interest in Italy, remained closely linked. The king's counsellors were mainly Aragonese and Valencian, with an increasing number of Catalan joining their ranks as the Aragonese power eclipsed within the Crown. Furthermore, the Catalans still controlled the Council of State.
Then, Eduardo I recovered from his illness and returned to rule by himself.
₁ - ITL, a lost Catalan word that means "false, liar, unrealiable".
₂ - Peter, the Iron Head.
The death of Edward V (1470-1533) brought some uneasiness in the Hispanic chancillery about the inclinations of the new king. Richard III, the second son of the late king, had not been prepared to be king but the unexpected death of older brother Edward in 1523 had propelled him first to become the new Prince of Wales and then to the throne. What annoyed most his Hispanic ally is that, during this youth, Richard III had given little signs of being a ruler half as mighty as his father. Ironically, today Richard III is most remembered by his role in the English acquisition of Burgundy. It would take place in 1552, after the death of the last Duke, Charles III. Richard had pushed to have his younger grandson Edward, the future Edward VI, to be married to Jeanne, the only daughter of the Duke. Then, as Walter Scott wrote in his opening of "The Life of Edward VI", the death of her brother, Jean, signaled "the end of the dance macabre that placed a crown on Edward's unwilling head".
In Hispania, through the sheer will of Eduardo I, the Parliaments of his kingdoms passed the so-called Laws of Toledo (1537), which reinforced the primacy of the Catholic church and introduced the first translation of the Bible into the vernacular languages of the Hispanic Empire, which followed the tradition set by the Castilian translation of the 13th century, the Biblia alfonsina (Alphonsine Bible, 1260-1280) and of the Biblia de Montjuich (translated in 1287 following a French version). The Laws of Toledo, however. still allowed for Reformed practices such as Crucifixes, and quietly reformed the use of Indulgences and the like, suppressed the office of quaestores and reserved the collection of alms to a special chapter within the Hispanic Catholic church, setting a model that would be followed by the Council of Trent (1535-1553).
However. the Laws of Toledo were not well taken by the extremist factions of both Catholics and Reformers. From 1538 and 1543 all monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in Aragon suffered repeated attacks by bands of fanatic Reformers that were determined to bring down the "politeist Papists". This wave of attacks would reach the high water mark in 1540, something that forced the king to send not only the Duke of Alba as governor of the Aragonese kingdoms but also to accept the intervention of the Inquisition in that part of the Hispanic Empire, even if Eduardo I and the Parliaments kept a strict eye on the acts of the Inquisitors. Eventually, what brought down the defeat of those "faudits"₁ was the crushing of the gang led by the so-called "Perot Testa de Ferro"₂. Perot, who had thirty men with him, had been terrorizing Vic and burning churches there, was ambushed by the Duke of Alba. Even if Perot was killed in the fight, Alba was able to capture his second in command, Tomás de Banyuls, and three of his men, who would be tried in executed by hanging in Vic in the late winter of 1541.
The Toledo Laws were improved and expanded in its edition of 1540, but in the Aragonese Parliament of 1541 there was a widespread claim for wider rights for the Reformed faith. In fact, from 1535 to 1543, around 6,000 Aragonese Reformers had left their country to settle in the New World, as the Laws of Toledo were applied there with more laxitude. This emigration caused a change in the Aragonese institutions. Until then, the King ruled his lands relying mostly in Aragonese and Valencian noblemen who led his armies and directed the administration and the diplomacy. This was deeply resented in Catalonia, as they felt ignored. However, the emigration of so many inhabitants and the fears of a renewed French threat led to a volte de face in the Aragon, as the Valencian statesmen turned to their Catalan counterparts for support, as they correctly guessed that a French threat against Italy would be as dangerous for them as for Catalonia. At the same time, the Aragonese, seeing this, offered a new share of power to the Catalan in exchange for economic support to defend Navarre against a French invasion. Thus the Catalan Parliament, the Consell de Cent, was able to end the Aragonese-Valencian supremacy in exchange of their support. From then on, Aragon found itself needing either the Catalan or Valencia support for their affairs while their counterparts, sharing a common interest in Italy, remained closely linked. The king's counsellors were mainly Aragonese and Valencian, with an increasing number of Catalan joining their ranks as the Aragonese power eclipsed within the Crown. Furthermore, the Catalans still controlled the Council of State.
Then, Eduardo I recovered from his illness and returned to rule by himself.
₁ - ITL, a lost Catalan word that means "false, liar, unrealiable".
₂ - Peter, the Iron Head.
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Chapter 28: The Aragonese troubles (1541-1544)
Chapter 28: The Aragonese troubles (1541-1544)
The religious question was beginning to become worrysome for Eduardo I. With the north of Aragon (mainly the northern provinces of Aragon and Catalonia plus Barcelona) particularly resolute in their Reformed ideas and the south devoted to Catholicism (but for the big Reformed community of the city of Valencia), the king felt as sitting on a powder keg each time he went to the Eastern part of his kingdoms. The religious divide had given space for a new dispute between the two main factions in the Catalan parliament, la Biga and La Busca, which were, also, divided among religious lines, with a strong Reformed faction in the Biga centered around the urban oligarchy and some merchants, and a deeply traditionalist Catholic wing in the small artisans of la Busca. This would explode in the 1542 Rebellion.
For the causes of the rebellion we must instead look in the control exercised by the Biga over the Catalan Parliament. As the small merchants of the Busca pushed to keep most of the Catalan trade centered in the old trade centers of Flanders and the Eastern Mediterranean, part of the Biga had began to look to the New World as a source of endless wealth. This different vision just added to the religious differences. Around the winter of 1541, Pedro Martínez de Luna, count of Morata, viceroy of Eduardo I in Catalonia, reported to the king that there was a widespread resentment among part of the Aragonese oligarchy about the "new ways" of the Reformers that "not only threatened the moral chore of the kindgoms but also its wealthy". Even if Morata clearly sided with those who looked to the New World as the future of the kingdom, it is clear by his reports that, by the Spring of1542, that he was clearly worried by a rising conspiracy among the Busca to replace the members of the Biga in the Generaliltat; furthermore, the plotters also planned to replaced Morata with Martín de Gurrea y Aragón, duke of Villahermosa and earl of Ribagorza, a relative of the king as his grandmother Blanca was the younger daugher of Jaime IV of Aragon; Martín, however, was not aware of the plot to make his viceroy and supported Morata when he moved against the conspiracy. In April 1542 a warrant for the arrest of Miquel Puig and Jaume Caçador, the main leaders of the conspiracy, was dispatched to Barcelona, for Jeroni de Requesens, head of the Catalan Generalitat, to arrest them both. However, what happened next is not clear, but what we know that Puig and Caçador disappeared and a riot caused by the search of their houses led to a violent attack against the residences of some Reformed merchants carried out by angered Catholics that accused the Reformers of planning a massacre of the leading Catholic leaders. It is difficult today to determine the exact chronology of events, or to know the precise moment the killing began, but by the end of April 28, around 50 Reformers had been killed in Barcelona. Soon the riots extended to Tarragona, Lleida, Cervera and Girona
What followed was the royal reaction. All through Summer 1542, royal agents arrested the leaders of the revolt and incarcerated them. All in all, 300 reformed were killed during those violent days and the king fumed at what he considered a violation of an agreement that he had given his support, the Toledo Laws, Even if most of the rebels
received a pardon, their main leaders were no so lucky and many were given long sentences, but only two were executed. However, the king refrained his anger and, in the case of the noblemen, their sons were allowed to inherit. The only real change in Catalonia was that Pere Galès, a wealthy tradesman and a moderate Reformer from Ulldecona, became temporary president of the Generalitat until 1545, after being appointed by the king to restore law and order. However, aware that the increasing size of his domains, Eduardo I decided to resort a new form of direct rule over Aragon, an independent power which had genuine control of the kingdoms without being compromised by the internecine squabbles. The solution was to put have reigns of power held by a trusted and talented member of the ruling dynasty. Thus, Felipe of Palma, 3rd Duke of Palma, was chosen for the job in 1544.
A side effect of the rebellion was a new ordinance of the clergy. The active role of some Catholic priests during the rebellion led to a new Ordinance which was presented in the Aragonese Parliaments in 1543. This law gave more power to the king in religious matters, as any priest that broke the law would be persecuted by the secular officials of the king. The case would be no longer refered to Rome. It was another step to put the power of the Church under royal control. Using this new settlement, the royal justices would strip 100 priests of their rights to minister over the next decade due to what was deemed unloyal attitudes and were replaced by scions of noble houses. further bringing the Catholic Church under royal control, much to the horror of the Reformer faith, which for the moment, remained free from restrictions due to the still fragmentary organization.
Felipe of Palma, 3rd Duke of Palma
(1519-1556)
The religious question was beginning to become worrysome for Eduardo I. With the north of Aragon (mainly the northern provinces of Aragon and Catalonia plus Barcelona) particularly resolute in their Reformed ideas and the south devoted to Catholicism (but for the big Reformed community of the city of Valencia), the king felt as sitting on a powder keg each time he went to the Eastern part of his kingdoms. The religious divide had given space for a new dispute between the two main factions in the Catalan parliament, la Biga and La Busca, which were, also, divided among religious lines, with a strong Reformed faction in the Biga centered around the urban oligarchy and some merchants, and a deeply traditionalist Catholic wing in the small artisans of la Busca. This would explode in the 1542 Rebellion.
For the causes of the rebellion we must instead look in the control exercised by the Biga over the Catalan Parliament. As the small merchants of the Busca pushed to keep most of the Catalan trade centered in the old trade centers of Flanders and the Eastern Mediterranean, part of the Biga had began to look to the New World as a source of endless wealth. This different vision just added to the religious differences. Around the winter of 1541, Pedro Martínez de Luna, count of Morata, viceroy of Eduardo I in Catalonia, reported to the king that there was a widespread resentment among part of the Aragonese oligarchy about the "new ways" of the Reformers that "not only threatened the moral chore of the kindgoms but also its wealthy". Even if Morata clearly sided with those who looked to the New World as the future of the kingdom, it is clear by his reports that, by the Spring of1542, that he was clearly worried by a rising conspiracy among the Busca to replace the members of the Biga in the Generaliltat; furthermore, the plotters also planned to replaced Morata with Martín de Gurrea y Aragón, duke of Villahermosa and earl of Ribagorza, a relative of the king as his grandmother Blanca was the younger daugher of Jaime IV of Aragon; Martín, however, was not aware of the plot to make his viceroy and supported Morata when he moved against the conspiracy. In April 1542 a warrant for the arrest of Miquel Puig and Jaume Caçador, the main leaders of the conspiracy, was dispatched to Barcelona, for Jeroni de Requesens, head of the Catalan Generalitat, to arrest them both. However, what happened next is not clear, but what we know that Puig and Caçador disappeared and a riot caused by the search of their houses led to a violent attack against the residences of some Reformed merchants carried out by angered Catholics that accused the Reformers of planning a massacre of the leading Catholic leaders. It is difficult today to determine the exact chronology of events, or to know the precise moment the killing began, but by the end of April 28, around 50 Reformers had been killed in Barcelona. Soon the riots extended to Tarragona, Lleida, Cervera and Girona
What followed was the royal reaction. All through Summer 1542, royal agents arrested the leaders of the revolt and incarcerated them. All in all, 300 reformed were killed during those violent days and the king fumed at what he considered a violation of an agreement that he had given his support, the Toledo Laws, Even if most of the rebels
received a pardon, their main leaders were no so lucky and many were given long sentences, but only two were executed. However, the king refrained his anger and, in the case of the noblemen, their sons were allowed to inherit. The only real change in Catalonia was that Pere Galès, a wealthy tradesman and a moderate Reformer from Ulldecona, became temporary president of the Generalitat until 1545, after being appointed by the king to restore law and order. However, aware that the increasing size of his domains, Eduardo I decided to resort a new form of direct rule over Aragon, an independent power which had genuine control of the kingdoms without being compromised by the internecine squabbles. The solution was to put have reigns of power held by a trusted and talented member of the ruling dynasty. Thus, Felipe of Palma, 3rd Duke of Palma, was chosen for the job in 1544.
A side effect of the rebellion was a new ordinance of the clergy. The active role of some Catholic priests during the rebellion led to a new Ordinance which was presented in the Aragonese Parliaments in 1543. This law gave more power to the king in religious matters, as any priest that broke the law would be persecuted by the secular officials of the king. The case would be no longer refered to Rome. It was another step to put the power of the Church under royal control. Using this new settlement, the royal justices would strip 100 priests of their rights to minister over the next decade due to what was deemed unloyal attitudes and were replaced by scions of noble houses. further bringing the Catholic Church under royal control, much to the horror of the Reformer faith, which for the moment, remained free from restrictions due to the still fragmentary organization.
Felipe of Palma, 3rd Duke of Palma
(1519-1556)
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