So here we go...I'll be starting this TL soon. It will begin with the birth of Infante Juan and the Castilian Civil War. Be on the lookout!
La generación magnífica//The Magnificent Generation - A Catholic Monarchs TL
- Thread starter HortenseMancini
- Start date
I: A Prince is Born
A Prince is Born
1470-1478
Coat of arms of the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand
II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile.
"May this prince, gifted to us by God, be greater than all his fathers before him."
Supposed quote by Fernando of Aragon on the birth of his son Infante Juan.
1470-1478
Coat of arms of the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand
II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile.
"May this prince, gifted to us by God, be greater than all his fathers before him."
Supposed quote by Fernando of Aragon on the birth of his son Infante Juan.
The year is 1470. Isabel of Castile, the wife of Fernando of Aragon and claimant to the throne of Castile, is pregnant with her first child. She enters into confinement at Duenas in Palencia by the end of August, and in late October she gives birth there to a son, Infante Juan of Castile and Aragon. From the start, he is a robust and promising child. The infant prince’s birth is greeted with jubilance by almost everyone in both Castile and Aragon, but especially in Aragon. Fernando, the proud father, orders the streets of Zaragoza, Aragon’s capital, to flow with wine and his father, King Juan, orders the construction of a new monastery dedicated to St. John the Baptist.
One person who is not happy (well...if she could understand the consequences, of course) is Isabel’s young niece, Infanta Juana, called La Beltraneja due to her supposed fathering by the Duke of Albuquerque, Beltrán de la Cueva. Juana had been elevated by her father (and Isabel’s half-brother) King Henry to the title Princess of Asturias some years previously. Of course, this didn’t go over well at the time and hasn’t gone better since then. The Castilian court generally accepts that Princess Juana is illegitimate. Not only that, but she is still a mere child of eight while Isabel, her main rival, is a grown woman who now has a healthy baby boy of her own in the cradle.
In the wake of her son’s birth, Isabel’s relationship with King Henry grows more tense than ever. The King still has not forgiven Isabel for marrying Fernando without his approval, and for opposing the rights of his supposed daughter to the Castilian throne. Even so, in 1472 Henry attempts to mend fences and keep peace by arranging for the betrothal of little Infante Juan to La Beltraneja. That the infanta is eight years older than her prospective husband and also his first cousin is seen as being of little importance. The King of Aragon and his son protest this arrangement hotly, but accept it in the end as they are unwilling to upset the possibility of a union between Aragon and the (larger, more prosperous) Castile.
Things come to a head in Castile when King Henry dies in 1474. Isabel and Fernando waste little time in rebuking the engagement of their son to La Beltraneja. After all, the heir of Castile and Aragon is much too great a prize for the illegitimate daughter of a jumped up noble. Meanwhile, Henry’s widow and the mother of La Beltraneja, Juana of Portugal, gets in contact with her brother, King Afonso, and prepares to defend her daughter’s supposed claim to Castile. Right from the start, though, things generally don’t go well for the Dowager Queen and her daughter. Grandées, both secular and ecclesiastical, flock to Isabel and Fernando.
Sensing that they are at a disadvantage, La Beltraneja and her mother reach out to Portugal, where Dowager Queen Juana’s brother Afonso is king. Afonso, alarmed by the prospect of a union between Castile and Aragon, is willing to back up his niece’s claim with an army. Being a widower of over twenty years, he also decides to marry the girl, though she is barely thirteen. Meanwhile, Isabel and Fernando are themselves preparing for war. Isabel remains as determined as ever to secure the throne of Castile, and her resolve is no doubt further steeled by her desire to leave something behind for little Juan.
Afonso invades Castile at the first opportunity he could, in April 1475. He intends to take the town of Burgos, where he would be crowned with his wife-niece, but Burgos is held by supporters of Isabel and Fernando and Afonso’s expected support from the French king, Louis XI, never arrives. From that point on, Afonso is reduced to a small area of occupation close to the Portuguese border. Following the Battle of Toro in 1476, the Portuguese forces in favor of La Beltraneja had been forced out of Castile, and the Cortes had recognized Isabel and Fernando as Queen and King. Isabel and Fernando quickly work to neutralize Afonso. They realize that the Luso-French alliance will be short-lived, as l’Universelle Aragne has other interests, and make peace with France by 1476. The Isabellian cause is also helped when Pope Sixtus eventually revokes the dispensation for the marriage of Afonso V and La Beltraneja, invalidating the Portuguese king’s claim to Castile.
The Castilians fare less well in the naval portion of the war. They were unable to break Portuguese control of the Atlantic coast of northern Africa but they evade complete defeat. Notably, the Portuguese are prevented from disembarking onto the Canary Islands and fail to capture a Castilian fleet heavily laden with gold at Elmina, off the coast of present day Ghana [1]. Fernando and Isabel breath a sigh of relief, as the Castilian gold could easily have reinvigorated the Portuguese war effort. As it stands, by early 1478 the Portuguese have lost the jure uxoris claim to Castile, control approximately nothing in the way of Castilian territory, and have no significant allies in Castile or otherwise, with the French having made their peace with Isabel and Fernando.
By spring 1478, the Portuguese are forced to the negotiating table and a deal is hammered out between Isabel and La Beltraneja, represented by Isabel’s aunt Beatriz, Duchess of Viseu. The treaty of Alcáçovas, signed in September 1478, sees a number of significant changes. First and foremost, the marriage of La Beltraneja and her Portuguese uncle was to be annulled and the disgraced infanta’s rights to Castile formally surrendered before she enters a nunnery. Secondly, Afonso V’s only grandson, Prince Afonso [2], was to be married to the newborn Infanta Isabel [3], the only daughter of Isabel and Fernando, with the dowry of Infanta Isabel serving as reparations of a sort to Portugal. And among other things, there is the transfer of territory in the Atlantic Ocean, with Castile gaining, once and for all, the Canary Islands and Madeira [4].
[1] I actually don’t know if Ghana would exist as a country - and contain the city of Elmina - ITTL but we’re gonna go with it.
[2] Born as IOTL in 1475.
[3] Born in June 1478 as cognate of OTL Prince Juan.
[4] Castile is able to wring Portugal for more than they could IOTL since the war went more decisively in their favor.
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Isn’t she his cousin? Also, does this timeline mean less updates for your Margaret of Austria TL?
I like that one, but this seem interesting too!I will hopefully be updating that one as well! And yes, you're right, Juana is his cousin. I'm not sure what I thinking there haha.Isn’t she his cousin? Also, does this timeline mean less updates for your Margaret of Austria TL?
Well then this TL is gonna be for you! The Habsburgs could only dream of touching Spain lol
No, they will not. ATL Juan III of Spain will marry Catherine of Navarre here, right? That would free Catherine’s OTL husband, John d’Albret for Anne of Brittany (so they will be engaged early and then married). Jean’s father Alain was a close ally of Francis II of Brittany and a match between their heirs would be quite logical (and would be tolerated by the French court)
If Anna and John have ony female heirs, thought, she could marry Phillip of Burgundy son.
Oh yes, Brittany will be safely independent at least for another generation or two. But I make no promises regarding the more distant future of this TL. A Habsburg husband (a younger son, preferably) would be a natural choice for a Breton heiress who wants to protect her duchy from French aggression. I have nothing planned yet on that front though.
In the future an union between Burgundy and Brittany is absolutely possible and pretty likely if we have an heiress on either side, that is guaranteed
Ok, while I work on the next update, I have a query for the folks who may be watching this thread: Infante Alfonso, the third son ITTL of Fernando and Isabel born in 1482, needs a wife. Right now, I have two main options. One is Juana Folch de Cardona y Manrique de Lara, heiress to the Duke of Cardona born 1490. The other is Isabel de Aragón y Portugal, daughter of Fernando II's cousin Enrique de Aragón born 1491. She's not an heiress but she has Castilian and Aragonese royal blood and her dad is pretty tight with King Fernando. I'm thinking that Juana might be the better option though, since she will bring a title to her marriage. Does that seem reasonable? Thoughts?
Most likely, unless they worry that the royal blood might become the focus for rebellious nobles, etc... They need to provide for their younger sons without diminishing Juan's patrimony too much. Heiresses ate a good way of doing that. Edward III pulled the same trick with his own younger sons.
I think Juana would probably be the best option, as @FalconHonour said it's a good way of providing for the younger sons without having to actually give them an appandage. Also, I think that Ferdinand will likely be secure enough so that he does not need to appease his cousin, he has both his forces, and that of his wife to quell any rebellion. I really like your idea of switching things around like this and giving Ferdinand and Isabella more than one son.
Juana gets my vote for Infante Alfonso. And the youngest son, otl Catherine, should go into the church. Archbishop of Toledo or Granada.
So, assuming that there will be no daughters other than Isabella for Ferdinand and Isabella, who will Arthur Prince of Wales marry(Assuming that the Tudors come to power) Margaret of Austria may be a good choice prestige wise, but I'm not sure if Maximilian would be willing to ship his daughter off to marry into a new dynasty, and there's the fact that she'll be considered too old to marry him. Would Germaine of Foix perhaps work as a way of securing good relations with the French, as she was the niece of OTL Louis XII of France?
This seems like a great start!
Juan is certainly marrying Catherine of Navarre in this universe if Fernando has his way. And I'm guessing Afonso of Portugal's early death might be butterflied away, given the fact it was completely accidental.
I also wonder who Margaret and Philip of Austria-Burgundy will be marrying in this TL. And Arthur Tudor, who has been robbed of his bride as well.
Anyways, I'm loving this already. Can't wait to see more of it!
Juan is certainly marrying Catherine of Navarre in this universe if Fernando has his way. And I'm guessing Afonso of Portugal's early death might be butterflied away, given the fact it was completely accidental.
I also wonder who Margaret and Philip of Austria-Burgundy will be marrying in this TL. And Arthur Tudor, who has been robbed of his bride as well.
Anyways, I'm loving this already. Can't wait to see more of it!