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Marinhos: Legacy of Miguel da Paz


This is the timeline I am writing with focus on the Portuguese united Iberia by Miguel da Paz but he is not the main POD, the POD is on 1450 AD so Lancastrians survive in this TL for a while.


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Isabella and Ferdinand
When Alfonso V died in 1458, all of his territories, including the island of Sicily, were left to his brother John II. John now had a stronger position than every before and no longer needed the security of Henry's friendship. Henry was now in need of a new alliance. He saw the change for this much needed new friendship in Charles IV of Navarre, another son of John II of Aragon. Charles was constantly in dispute with his father and because of this he secretly entered into an alliance with Henry IV of Castile. A major part of the alliance was that a marriage was to be arranged between Charles and Isabel. The fact that Isabel was only ten years old and Charles was nearly forty was never considered an issue. When John II learned of this arranged marriage he was outraged. Isabel was had been destined for his favorite son, Ferdinand, and in his eyes this alliance was still valid. John II had his son Charles thrown in prison with charges of plotting against his father's life and the marriage never came to be.

In 1464 an attempt was made to marry Isabel to Alfonso V of Portugal, Henry's brother-in-law. Through the medium of the Queen and Count of Ledesma, a Portuguese alliance was made. Isabel, however, was weary of the marriage and refused to consent.

A civil war broke out in Castile over King Henry's inability to act as sovereign. Henry now needed a quick way to please the rebels of the kingdom. As part of an agreement to restore peace, Isabel was to be betrothed to Pedro Giron, Maestre de Calatrava and brother to the King’s favorite Don Juan Pacheco. In return the Master would pay into the ompoverished royal treasury an enourmous sum of money. Seeing little other choice to find the peace he desperately needed, Henry agreed to the marriage. Isabel was aghast and prayed to God for the marriage to never come to pass. Her prayers were answered when Don Pedro suddenly fell ill and died while on his way to meet his fiancée.

When Henry recognized Isabel as his heir on 19 September 1468, he also promised that his sister should not but compelled to marry against her will, while she in return agreed to obtain his consent. It seemed that finally the years of failed attempts at political marriages were over. There was talk of a marriage to a brother of Edward IV of England but this alliance was never seriously considered. Once again in 1468, a marriage proposal arrived from Alfonso V of Portugal. Going against his promises made in September, Henry tried to make the marriage a reality. If Isabel married Alfonso, Henry's daughter Joanna would marry Alfonso's son John II and thus, after the death of the old king, John and Juana could inherit Portugal and Castile.[ Isabella refused and made a secret promise to marry her cousin and very first betroth, Ferdinand of Aragon.

After this failed attempt Henry once again went against his promises and tried to marry Isabel to Louis XI’s brother Charles, Duke of Berry. In Henry's eyes this alliance would cement the frienship of Castile and France as well as remove Isabel from Castilian affairs. Isabel once again refused the proposal. Meanwhile John II of Aragon negotiated in secret with Isabel a wedding to his son Ferdinand.

On 18 October 1469, the formal betrothal took place. Because Isabel and Ferdinand were second cousins they stood within the the prohibited degrees of consanguinity and the marriage would not be legal unless a dispensation from the Pope was granted. With the help of Rodrigo Borgia (later Alexander VI) Isabel and Ferdinand were presented with a supposed Papal Bull by Pius II authorizing Ferdinand to marry within the third degree of consanguinity, making their marriage legal. Isabel escaped the court of Henry with the excuse of visiting her brother Alfonso's tomb in Ávila. Ferdinand, on the other hand, crossed Castile in secret disguised as a merchant. Finally, on 19 October 1469 they married in the Palacio de los Vivero in the city of Valladolid.
Isabel’s reign was off to a rocky start from the very beginning. Because of her brother's choice to name Isabel as his successor, when she ascended to the throne in 1474, there were already several plots against her. The Marquis of Villena and his followers maintained that the Infanta Joanna, daughter of Henry VI, was the rightful queen. Shortly after the Marquis made his claim, a long time supporter of Isabel, the Archbishop of Toledo left court to plot with his great-nephew the Marquis. The Archbishop and Marquis made plans to have the Infanta Joanna marry her uncle, King Alfonso V of Portugal and invade Castile to claim the throne for themselves.

In May of 1475, Alfonso and his army crossed into Spain and advanced to Palsencia and here he married the young Joanna. A long and bloody war for the Castilian succession took place hereafter. The war went back and forth for almost a year until March of 1476 when the Battle of Toro took place. It was here that Isabel’s husband Ferdinand and his army made such a victory that it was clear that Isabel’s Spain was going to win the war. Although Isabel’s side had gained a great victory, the war drug on for another three years.

In August of the same year, Isabel proved her abilities as a powerful ruler on her own. A rebellion broke out in Segovia and Isabel rode out to suppress it, as her husband was off fighting at the time. Going against the better judgment of her male advisors, Isabel rode by herself into the city to negotiate with the rebels. She was successful and the rebellion was quickly brought to an end. Two years later, Isabel also secured her place as ruler a bit more with the birth of her son John, Prince of Asturias on June 30, 1478. To many, the presence of a male heir legitimized her place as ruler. The war with Portugal did not officially end until September of 1479. At this time, four separate treaties were signed at Alcáçovas. Under these treaties Portugal abandoned all claims to Castile Isabel and Ferdinand agreed to pardon all rebellious subjects who had supported Joanna and Alfonzo. Isabel had proven herself to be a fighter and tough monarch from the start. Now that she had succeeded in securing her place on the Castilian throne, she could now begin to make the reforms that the kingdom desperately needed.


At the end of the Reconquista, only Granada was left for Isabel and Ferdinand to conquer. The Emirate of Granada had been held by the Muslim Nasrid emirate since the mid-thirteenth century. Protected by natural barriers and fortified towns, it had withstood the long process of the reconquista. On 1 February 1482, the king and queen reached Medina del Campo and this is generally considered the beginning of the war for Grandada. While Isabel's and Ferdinand's involvement in the war was apparent from the start, Granada's leadership was divided and never able to present united front. However, it still took ten years to conquer Granada, culminating in 1492.

The Spanish monarchs recruited soldiers from many European countries and improved their artillery with the latest and best cannons. Systematically, they proceeded to take the kingdom piece by piece. In 1485 they laid siege to Ronda, which surrendered after only a fortnight due to extensive bombardment. The following year, Loja was taken, and again Muhammad XII was captured and released. One year later, with the fall of Málaga, the western part of the Muslim Nasrid kingdom had fallen into Spanish hands. The eastern province succumbed after the fall of Baza in 1489. The siege of Granada began in the spring of 1491 and at the end of the year, Muhammad XII surrendered. On 2 January 1492 Isabella and Ferdinand entered Granada to receive the keys of the city and the principal mosque was reconsecrated as a church. The Treaty of Granada signed later that year was to assure religious rights to the Muslims, which did not last.


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