WI: A Personal Union Between Castile and Aquitaine

Inspired by the thread on Eleanor of Aquitaine having a different husband where some people mentioned a Castilian match. What if Eleanor had married a Prince of Castile who then inherited that throne? Obviously this does not mean that Castile will hold on to Aquitaine permanently since Castilian sons often divided up territories. But what impact would holding on to Aquitaine for a generation or two, maybe even three, have on the Reconquista and Castile’s power projections in Iberia? Would they be too distracted in France?
 
For reference, around the time that Eleanor was the heiress of her father, Castile looked like this:

shepherd-c-082-083.jpg
 
As I mentioned in that thread the problem is Navarre, and to a lesser extent, Aragon.
A more interesting take might be to have her brother live, her marriage to Louis go as OTL, she marries Ferdinand of Leonand produces an alt Alfonso of Leon who then claims Aquitaine after the death of his childless cousin c1198.

In any case I suspect continuing engagement north would leave the Reconquista of the early 1200s to Portugal and Aragon.
Whilst Castile-Leon would get back in again I suspect Seville is Portuguese and Murcia Aragonese.
Granada/Andalucia might remain far longer if not divided between them.
 
Inspired by the thread on Eleanor of Aquitaine having a different husband where some people mentioned a Castilian match. What if Eleanor had married a Prince of Castile who then inherited that throne? Obviously this does not mean that Castile will hold on to Aquitaine permanently since Castilian sons often divided up territories. But what impact would holding on to Aquitaine for a generation or two, maybe even three, have on the Reconquista and Castile’s power projections in Iberia? Would they be too distracted in France?

Given the distances, any Aquitaine/Castile union is likely to end as did Aragon/Provence : a junior line holding the lesser fiefdom, with the kingly line as overlord.
 
Given the distances, any Aquitaine/Castile union is likely to end as did Aragon/Provence : a junior line holding the lesser fiefdom, with the kingly line as overlord.

The Aquitaine inheritance would be far closer to Castile than Provence to Aragon, though. While Navarre is in the way by land, by sea the distance isn’t that bad.
 
One thing that i just thought of is that post inheritance and PU, Castile can claim to have restored the Visigothic Kingdom of Toulouse, which, at its greatest extent, included Aquitaine.

Visigothic_Kingdom.png
 
The Aquitaine inheritance would be far closer to Castile than Provence to Aragon, though. While Navarre is in the way by land, by sea the distance isn’t that bad.

Barcelona is closer to Marseilles than Santander is to Bordeaux... and the Biscay Bay is notoriously dangerous.
 
Barcelona is closer to Marseilles than Santander is to Bordeaux... and the Biscay Bay is notoriously dangerous.

Maybe we just see Castile trying harder to acquire claims to Navarre? Eventually the territories probably split though. We could end up with a larger Navarre if a Castilla-Navarra split happened with Navarra taking Vasconia?
 
Maybe we just see Castile trying harder to acquire claims to Navarre? Eventually the territories probably split though. We could end up with a larger Navarre if a Castilla-Navarra split happened with Navarra taking Vasconia?
Everithing is possible with the right PoD, but one cannot simply assume Castile would annex Navarre as a direct consequence of Aquitaine PU.
 
Everithing is possible with the right PoD, but one cannot simply assume Castile would annex Navarre as a direct consequence of Aquitaine PU.

True. In OTL Castile and Aragon competed over Navarre though so it would make sense that Castile would still attempt to gain Navarre if they surrounded it on two sides
 
Top