Chapter 2 - Triumph at Toro
Note: Finally, after going through a minor 2-week writer’s block while trying to visualize my POD, in addition to starting another semester at college, here is the next chapter. I felt very anxious about writing this chapter, given that this is my first TL. Feel free to give any feedback and suggestions.
Despite the transfer of power to the nobility and the prominent Moroccan conquests he had taken in his reign such as the conquest of Tânger, what Afonso V was mostly known for today was the doubling of Portugal’s size. The origin of Portugal’s last main expansion in mainland continental Europe was the fight for the Castilian throne.
During his reign, Afonso V abandoned the policy of avoiding dynastic interference with its main neighbor to the west, the Kingdom of Castile. The first occurrence happened in 1447 when
Isabel, the daughter of
João, Constable of Portugal and the son of João I; the second one occurring eight years later in 1455 when Afonso’s sister
Joana married the weak King
Enrique IV of Castile. This union produced a daughter who would play a key role in the expansion of the kingdom,
Joana, known as “
a Beltraneja.”
Shortly before his death in 1474, Enrique IV bequeathed his kingdom to Joana and called on Afonso V, who was a widower after the death of his first wife
Isabel of Coimbra, to marry her and assume the Castillan throne. However, Joana’s succession was disputed by Enrique’s sister,
Isabel and her husband
Fernando, the prince of Aragon and heir to the Aragonese throne after his father,
Juan II. Isabel’s supporters believed that Joana was the daughter not of Enrique, but of one Castilian nobleman under the name of
Beltrán de la Cueva, the 1st Duke of Alburquerque.
However, shortly before the invasion of Castile, Afonso V had a different thing in mind: if Portugal wanted to become one of the greatest European powers for centuries to come, it needs to expand with more land and manpower. Under his humanist upbringing, he remembered the genealogy of his predecessors, dating back to the first count of Portugal,
Vímara Peres.
The first
County of Portugal existed from the mid-ninth to the mid-eleventh centuries as a vassal of the Kingdom of
Astúrias and later the Kingdoms of
Galiza and
Leão, until
Nuno Mendes rebelled for greater autonomy in 1071 and became king of both Galiza and Portugal, and then subsequently defeated by his former liege,
Garcia II in the
Battle of Pedroso. The second iteration of the county, which succeeded as the modern-day Kingdom of Portugal was founded by
Henry of Burgundy in 1096, the son-in-law of King
Alfonso VI of León and Castile and the father of the first king of Portugal, Afonso I. Afonso, however, never managed to get back Galiza in order to get support from the crusaders in order to expand Portugal, especially during the
Siege of Lisboa in 1147.
The borders of the second County of Portugal, 1096
Afonso V believed that Portugal would be a very prestigious kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula if he managed to snatch the lands of his former overlords, especially Galiza, which was the main origin of the modern Portuguese state, despite being in the hands of Castile. He then decided to use his claims to Castillan throne as an excuse to push for Portugal’s expansion beyond its current borders, in addition to the justice of his niece’s cause, moved by his honor to uphold the power of the House of Avis and persuaded by Castilian exiles.
With that being said, he entered Castile in May of 1475 as the head of a small army and proceeded to
Palencia. From there, he married Joana and then applied for a Papal dispensation to claim the Castilllan throne. Despite widespread opposition from the Castilian nobility and a lack of aggressiveness by Afonso V, the “Miracle of Lusitania” came a year later on March 1 at the town of Toro in Leão.
Both Joana’s and Isabel’s forces have numbered up to 8,000 men, with a third of them being cavalry. On the Portuguese side, Afonso V led the middle, with Prince
João leading on the left with harquebusiers and most of the cavalry, and the Archbishop of Toledo,
Alfonso Carrillo de Acuña leading the left. On the Castilian side, Fernando led the middle, with the
1st Duke of Alba on his left, and six different divisions under different commanders on his right.
The Battle of Toro, 1476
The battle started when Fernando’s right wing advanced against Prince João, but the elite Portuguese knights were too powerful and soon routed the right flank from the battlefield. In the meantime, the center wing was the focus of the eventual climax of the battle, Fernando closed with Afonso in the center, and two hours into the fighting one of Afonso’s knights stabbed Fernando [1], who eventually died from his injuries a day later. Seeing Fernando lying on the ground, the pandemonium eventually spread to the left wing led by the Duke of Alba and
Cardinal Mendoza, with all hope lost. In the end Afonso’s center finally had the advantage, with his son proved victorious on the left side.
Toro proved to be a major political victory for the House of Avis, with more nobles supporting the cause of Joana. On July 1476, Afonso V of Portugal departed towards France to convince
Louis XI (he already made an alliance in an opportunity to weaken the possibility of a potential union of Castile and Aragon on September 23, 1475) to involve France to a greater extent. Louis then agreed to this deal, sending a small contingent to assist the Portuguese, especially towards Navarre [2]. In the months before Afonso's visit to France, between March and June 1476, French troops captained by
Alain I of Albret crossed the border at
Fuenterrabía, taking advantage of the situation in Navarre with Castile weakened after the death of Fernando at Toro [3]. In the summer of the same year, a large Castilan fleet of 35 ships led by Pedro de Covides was defeated by small Portuguese fleet near Elmina off the Gulf of Guinea [4], giving the Portuguese an advantage over its position in the Atlantic, with a large amount of gold captured by the Portuguese was enough to strengthen Afonso’s position during the war.
Minor skirmishes against Isabel’s forces persisted until January of 1477, when a war-weary Isabel of Castile sued for peace and met with Afonso V in the town of
Mérida in the southern part of the Kingdom of León. The terms of the treaty were [5]:
- Queen Isabel will abdicate the Castilian throne in favour of Joana a Beltraneja as Juana I, and her husband King Afonso V of Portugal jure uxoris as Alfonso XII. Isabel of Castile must also recognize Juana as a legitimate daughter of Henry IV and the rightful Queen of Castile,.
- The Kingdoms of Galicia and León (now Galiza and Leão) are to be transferred to King Afonso V of Portugal's domain, and to be given to Prince João and his son Infante Afonso per line of succession to Afonso V upon his death.
- Isabel's recognition of her own rights as heiress presumptive are to be upheld until Juana has children. Upon Juana I's death, the Castilian succession will go to the offsprings made between Joana and Afonso V.
- The Atlantic territories between both Castile and Portugal are to be shared and their respective spheres of influence are delimited, with Portugal having the upper hand.
- All territories and shores disputed between Portugal and Castile will stay under Portuguese control; Guinea with its gold mines, Madeira, the Açores and Cape Verde. Portugal also won the exclusive right of conquering the Kingdom of Fez.
- Portugal’s rights over the Canary Islands (As Ilhas Canárias) were recognised while Portugal won the exclusive right of navigating, conquering and trading in all the Atlantic Ocean. Consequently, Portugal attained hegemony in the Atlantic not only for its known territories but also for those discovered in the future.
- In addition, Castile must also cede the rock of Gibraltar to Portugal, giving the Kingdom a strategic naval choke point with half the world's seaborne trade passing through the strait. It would eventually become one of the Portuguese Navy’s most important bases
- France and Portugal will guarantee the Kingdom of Navarre
- Castile was given a war compensation (in the form of Afonso’s gold captured from the Castillans in Guinea)
- The supporters of Isabel and Fernando who were taken prisoner by the Portuguese are to be pardoned.
With the treaty ratified, Portugal is now in a bigger position to dominate as one of the main powers in the Iberian peninsula, leaving a weakened Aragon and a rump Castile ruled by Juana I. Isabel and her daughter of the same name,
Isabel fled Castile upon abdication to Palermo, Sicily where Isabel's daughter assumed the Sicilian throne upon Fernando's death, with Isabel herself as the queen dowager [6]. With his new wife Joana, Afonso V spent the last four years of his reign consolidating on Portugal’s new conquests until his death in 1481. Today, he is referred to his sobriquet “
o Lusitano” (The Lusitanian) for doubling the size of Portugal [7].
D. Afonso V “o Lusitano” (r. 1438-1481)
The Kingdom of Portugal and its neighbors after the Treaty of Mérida, 1477. What is not shown is its insular possessions, plus the Canary Islands.
[1] Here's your POD: Ferdinand of Aragon is fatally wounded at the Battle of Toro, leading to an Avis/La Beltraneja victory in the War of Castilian succession, making Portugal a dominant player in the Iberian Peninsula and giving it a stronger starting position for a bigger and stronger Portuguese Empire.
[2] OTL Louis XI refused to intervene further in Castile, as he was focused on defeating his main enemy, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. But again, the victory at Toro changed all of that.
[3] OTL they were repelled, and Ferdinand took advantage of the situation to secure his position Navarre. With Ferdinand defeated at Toro, this is the beginning of a domino effect across Castile.
[4] With Isabel's supporters getting desperate after their defeat at Toro, the
battle occurred 2 years earlier than OTL
[5] Basically a reverse Treaty of Alcáçovas with Portugal gaining the upper hand. Thanks to
@Lusitania for the
suggestion!
[6] Unlike the Aragonese throne, the Sicilian throne allows female inheritance.
[7] OTL Afonso V was known as "
o Africano" (The African) for his conquests in Morocco.