POD: Queen Consort Eleanor, daughter of King Peter IV of Aragon and wife of King John I of Castile, recuperates from her illness in 1382. As a result, King John is unable to seek marriage elsewhere.
The Unification of the Iberian Peninsula Begins (1383 - 1417)
Introduction: The Iberian Wars
The death of King Ferdinand I of Portugal in 1383 left the nation without a male heir. Ferdinand had constantly shifted his alliances between various European princes as a husband for his nine-year-old daughter, Beatrice, but, at the time of his death, no formal agreement had been reached and the throne was left to the Regency of his wife. At the time of the king's death, the most likely candidates for marriage was Edward of Norwich, son of the Duke of York and cousin to King Richard II of England, and Louis of Orleans, brother of King Charles VI of France.
However, the Portuguese nobility were not enthused about the regent, Leonor Telles des Menezes. Firstly, she was popularly regarded as an adulteress for seducing the former monarch when he was betrothed to another and she married to another man. Secondly, the royal bed was barely cool before she brought her favourite, the Count of Ourem, to fill the vacant side.
Two pretenders existed for the throne. John, Duke of Valencia, was the illegitimate half-brother of the deceased King and a favourite of the Castilian monarch who shared his name. The other candidate, another half brother styled as John, Master of Aviz, was popular among those aristocrats who opposed any rule by the new Queen.
Within six weeks of the death of Ferdinand, the Portuguese were forced to declare their loyalties. The demands from France and England, both of whom claimed that they had been promised the hand of the new Queen and who also claimed a cause for war if they were denied, placed exceptional stresses on the new privy council. King John I of Castile threatened to intervene to secure the stability of the peninsula. On 12 December, 1383, it was announced that Queen Beatrice would marry Edward of Norwich.
At this time, the kingdoms of France and England were engaged in the second phase of their prolonged war. They had regularly engaged in the Iberian peninsula, the most recent case being the 1370 coup d'etat which had installed the Tratsamara Dynasty on the Castilian throne. The French regent, Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, took the refusal of his nephew's marriage proposal as the cause for war. He activated the French alliance with Castile, who immediately mobilised his forces for action.
The First Castilian-Portuguese War
There was little doubt as the superiority of the Castilian forces. Within four months, the Castilian army had sieged many of the key cities of Portugal, including the capital city of Lisbon.
In England, the regent John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, already had a claim to the Castilian throne through his marriage to Infanta Constance, the daughter of the deposed former monarch of Castile and Leon. Declaring his support for an independent Portugal, John of Gaunt agreed to levy troops to end the Castilian regency. It was clear, however, that it would be over a year before the English could have forces in theatre and it allowed the Castilian Army considerable time to wreak havoc.
In April, 1384, in a stand-off in Alentejo, the Portuguese general Dom Nuno Alvares Pereira was soundly defeated and taken prisoner by enemy forces. Deprived of their leading general and their major cities blockaded, Portugal surrendered its capital on 3 August. Leonor Telles des Menezes was deposed and sent to a convent. King John declared the Duke of Valencia as the new Regent.
The arrival of an English expeditionary force in April, 1385 did nothing to change the ultimate outcome. Later in the month, the new Regent convened the Cortes. They recognised Beatrice as Queen, established a marriage contract with Louis of Orleans to be consumated in three years, recognised the Duke of Valencia as regent until that time and ceded the largely neglected province of Tras-os-Montes, centred on the city of Braganca, as a duchy to Castile.
Effects of the War
The war solidified Castilian influence over Portugal and left the English without any allies on the Continent until the 1450's. The setbacks England would experience here and elsewhere focused its search for security to the north and east, contributing directly to the elimination of Scots independence within the coming decades. It also led to an expansion of English influence in Ireland beyond the Pale so that over the next century, the entire island outside Tyrone came under the direct rule of London.
For the Iberian peninsula, it marked the beginning of the unification of the fractured states into the Kingdom of Spain (1465).
The Unification of the Iberian Peninsula Begins (1383 - 1417)
Introduction: The Iberian Wars
The death of King Ferdinand I of Portugal in 1383 left the nation without a male heir. Ferdinand had constantly shifted his alliances between various European princes as a husband for his nine-year-old daughter, Beatrice, but, at the time of his death, no formal agreement had been reached and the throne was left to the Regency of his wife. At the time of the king's death, the most likely candidates for marriage was Edward of Norwich, son of the Duke of York and cousin to King Richard II of England, and Louis of Orleans, brother of King Charles VI of France.
However, the Portuguese nobility were not enthused about the regent, Leonor Telles des Menezes. Firstly, she was popularly regarded as an adulteress for seducing the former monarch when he was betrothed to another and she married to another man. Secondly, the royal bed was barely cool before she brought her favourite, the Count of Ourem, to fill the vacant side.
Two pretenders existed for the throne. John, Duke of Valencia, was the illegitimate half-brother of the deceased King and a favourite of the Castilian monarch who shared his name. The other candidate, another half brother styled as John, Master of Aviz, was popular among those aristocrats who opposed any rule by the new Queen.
Within six weeks of the death of Ferdinand, the Portuguese were forced to declare their loyalties. The demands from France and England, both of whom claimed that they had been promised the hand of the new Queen and who also claimed a cause for war if they were denied, placed exceptional stresses on the new privy council. King John I of Castile threatened to intervene to secure the stability of the peninsula. On 12 December, 1383, it was announced that Queen Beatrice would marry Edward of Norwich.
At this time, the kingdoms of France and England were engaged in the second phase of their prolonged war. They had regularly engaged in the Iberian peninsula, the most recent case being the 1370 coup d'etat which had installed the Tratsamara Dynasty on the Castilian throne. The French regent, Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, took the refusal of his nephew's marriage proposal as the cause for war. He activated the French alliance with Castile, who immediately mobilised his forces for action.
The First Castilian-Portuguese War
There was little doubt as the superiority of the Castilian forces. Within four months, the Castilian army had sieged many of the key cities of Portugal, including the capital city of Lisbon.
In England, the regent John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, already had a claim to the Castilian throne through his marriage to Infanta Constance, the daughter of the deposed former monarch of Castile and Leon. Declaring his support for an independent Portugal, John of Gaunt agreed to levy troops to end the Castilian regency. It was clear, however, that it would be over a year before the English could have forces in theatre and it allowed the Castilian Army considerable time to wreak havoc.
In April, 1384, in a stand-off in Alentejo, the Portuguese general Dom Nuno Alvares Pereira was soundly defeated and taken prisoner by enemy forces. Deprived of their leading general and their major cities blockaded, Portugal surrendered its capital on 3 August. Leonor Telles des Menezes was deposed and sent to a convent. King John declared the Duke of Valencia as the new Regent.
The arrival of an English expeditionary force in April, 1385 did nothing to change the ultimate outcome. Later in the month, the new Regent convened the Cortes. They recognised Beatrice as Queen, established a marriage contract with Louis of Orleans to be consumated in three years, recognised the Duke of Valencia as regent until that time and ceded the largely neglected province of Tras-os-Montes, centred on the city of Braganca, as a duchy to Castile.
Effects of the War
The war solidified Castilian influence over Portugal and left the English without any allies on the Continent until the 1450's. The setbacks England would experience here and elsewhere focused its search for security to the north and east, contributing directly to the elimination of Scots independence within the coming decades. It also led to an expansion of English influence in Ireland beyond the Pale so that over the next century, the entire island outside Tyrone came under the direct rule of London.
For the Iberian peninsula, it marked the beginning of the unification of the fractured states into the Kingdom of Spain (1465).
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