'El Imperio Espanol Mundial'

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).
 
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Good stuff.

Bt does this mean no more Gorby?:(

Thanks.

No, this was something I thought about and began while I was taking a break from Gorbachev Mk II. I will be still focusing on the other timeline, but wanted to see if I could try my hand at an area of history with which I am relatively unfamiliar. BTW, GM2 was updated last night.

Comments are very welcome.
 
Hello LacheyS

Still rereading Gorbachev MK2 (a lot of real life lately).

This new project seems very interesting, I will try also to put an eye on this TL also.

I don't know if you know people's chronology but it could be of help for you (a detailed chronology of the history of the world)

http://www.enotes.com/peoples-chronology/year-1383

Also there is another spanish web about a chronology of the world that could be useful for you (not in english, but well using the translators of Internet I think more or less you could understand it).

http://www.uv.es/ivorra/Historia/SXIV/1380.htm

I expect to help you more in this TL (if the real life lets me)

Best regards

Iñaki
 
The "Granadan" Crusade

As the 1380's came to an end, King John fell ill. He wrote to Pope Clement VII in Avignon, seeking his aid and was advised his ill health was due to an accumulation of sin which threatened his admission to Heaven in the after-life. The pontiff determined that it was the King's duty to carry out the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela as penance, in order that he might be forgiven and healed. Rejecting the advice of his doctors, King John made the journey, praying at the shrine believed to hold the bones of St James the Apostle in 1389. Afterwards, the King, who spent a number of months in Galicia being nursed by his wife Queen Eleanor, claimed to have been miraculously healed by the saint.

A further sign of divine blessing came in 1392, when an Aragonese cardinal was elected as Pope Benedict XIII. At this time, a series of antipopes were ruling in the city of Rome, "captured" by the Neapolitan monarchy, in what history records as the Western Schism. Benedict looked kindly upon the loyalty of his Iberian servants and was a strong supporter of the Reconquista of the peninsula. In the way stood the Emirate of Granada, the last of the Muslim states surviving since the golden age of Islam.

The Treaty of Calais (1396) was a major boost to the standing of Benedict XIII. As part of the peace agreement between King Richard II of England and the French regent, Philip the Bold, which recognised the then borders of both countries, England abandoned its support of the Roman antipope, Boniface IX, in return for a recognition of its claim to the independent territory of Leinster. Seeking further distinguishment from his Roman opponent (and favour from his homeland), Pope Benedict reversed the declaration of a crusade against the Ottoman Empire and instead declared Morocco as the target for Christian expansion.

For the fortunate King John, the crusade was both an opportunity to provide a further service in gratitude for his miracle and a chance to finally absorb the Granadan emirate, a vassal state since 1238. He declared war on Morocco on 4 March, 1397, and demanded that the Nasrid emir provide troops for the campaign. Emir Muhammed VII's unwillingness to cooperate was a violation of his oath as a vassal and justified Castile's action. John also had a personal reason for wishing to eradicate the Granadans: they had supported his brother, Peter, during the Castilian Civil War (1366-69).

The Granadan Crusade was of the great crusades authorised by the Papacy and officially lasted for twenty-three years. However, in reality, it fell into two parts. The first part of the crusade, begun by King John, focused on eliminating the Iberian holdings of the emirate. It ended on 3 February, 1403, when the fortress-palace of Alhambra was surrendered. The second part of the crusade was delayed by the Iberian Wars and the resultant instability. It involved a siege lasting from 1417 to 1419 of the last Granadan enclave, the city of Cueta on the coast of North Africa.

King John did not live to see the final victory. He passed away in Toledo on 10 September, 1398, and was succeeded his eldest son, Henry III.
 
I can only imagine with DREAD at the horrors that will be commited upon the poor natives of the NewWorld once Spain gets around to finding them.:eek:

This will prove to be EPIC.:D(evil grin)
 
Hello LacheyS

Still rereading Gorbachev MK2 (a lot of real life lately).

This new project seems very interesting, I will try also to put an eye on this TL also.

I don't know if you know people's chronology but it could be of help for you (a detailed chronology of the history of the world)

http://www.enotes.com/peoples-chronology/year-1383

Also there is another spanish web about a chronology of the world that could be useful for you (not in english, but well using the translators of Internet I think more or less you could understand it).

http://www.uv.es/ivorra/Historia/SXIV/1380.htm

I expect to help you more in this TL (if the real life lets me)

Best regards

Iñaki

Glad to have a Spanish expert on board.
 
This POD sounds a lot like Tony Jones's PODs, it is a relatively minor thing that will lead to very big changes in the future.

Looking good so far, but I really don't know much about Spain or Iberia for that matter during this time period, so I can't really help.
 
This POD sounds a lot like Tony Jones's PODs, it is a relatively minor thing that will lead to very big changes in the future.

Looking good so far, but I really don't know much about Spain or Iberia for that matter during this time period, so I can't really help.

I'm planning for a relatively weak butterfly net on this one and the changes are hinted at in the title, which I hope is a translation that says "Spanish Empire World". I don't know Tony Jones' work, but if you can direct me, I would be interested in having a read.

Thanks for the comments and I hope that you enjoy future installments of the timeline. I am currently researching about a century ahead of installments, so they should be coming on a more regular basis than my ASB timeline.
 
I can only imagine with DREAD at the horrors that will be commited upon the poor natives of the NewWorld once Spain gets around to finding them.:eek:

This will prove to be EPIC.:D(evil grin)

The three expeditions of the now world-famous explorer, Fadrique Cortes, will commence until October, 1455. In my research, which is now up to 1488, the Spanish have still not made any expeditions into the interior of the New World. The only civilisation with which they have made contact are the Muscogee. Through them, they are familiar with the Cherokee.
 
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I ask myself wat consecuences will have all this in Aragon, this could butterfly all the Compromise of Caspe, could be in TTL The House of Barcelona lasts more reigning (although it seems that eventually if this happens or not Aragon will form part of the Kingdom of Spain in 1465).
 
Hm, looks really interesting.

About the title, if you want to say "Spanish Empire World", that doesn't really work in Spanish... You'd have to say "El Mundo del Imperio Espanol", the world of the Spanish Empire. If you want to say "the Worldwide Spanish Empire", then you'd have to put "El Imperio Espanol Mundial".
 
Hm, looks really interesting.

About the title, if you want to say "Spanish Empire World", that doesn't really work in Spanish... You'd have to say "El Mundo del Imperio Espanol", the world of the Spanish Empire. If you want to say "the Worldwide Spanish Empire", then you'd have to put "El Imperio Espanol Mundial".

Appreciate your advice. Title has been updated accordingly.
 
A map which is very rough indeed.

Iberian Peninsula (1398).png
 
A New King

Born in Burgos on 4 October, 1379, Henry III was the son of King John I (1358-1398) and Eleanor of Aragon (1358-1417). One of five children, he spent his youth in the Castilian capital, Toledo, where he was educated by his father's confessor, Pedro Enrique Alcala. At the age of eleven, he was betrothed to the three-year-old Blanche of Navarre, his first cousin through the marriage of father's sister to King Charles III and, at that time, the second in line to her father's throne. They were married in Toledo in 1398, only weeks before the death of his father; the groom was eighteen and the bride was eleven.

King Henry carried forward his father's crusade in Granada, participating with his father-in-law and his younger brother, Ferdinand (b. 1380). However, the early days of his reign were marked with sadness on both sides of the marriage: Ferdinand died from a fall from his horse during the campaign against the Muslims in 1400 without offspring, while the Queen's brother, Prince Charles of Viana, also died young in 1402. The couple's first child, a daughter, was stillborn in 1403 and a second child, Prince Henry, died in infancy in 1405. They were finally successful in 1408, when the Queen gave birth to a daughter, Maria, but her death ten years later would leave the couple without offspring.

The king's lack of success in childbearing was somewhat compensated for his victories on the field of battle. In 1402, Emir Muhammed VII fled his capital for Ceuta and the Castilian nation incorporated his former provinces. His former servants rebelled intermittently over the coming three years, but ultimately the rebellions came to naught and the Emir was trapped in his North African enclave. His Moroccan allies were too involved in their own internal power struggles to be of any further assistance.

The Aragonese Succession War

In 1409, King Martin I of Aragon died without a legitimate heir. Inside the kingdom, a claim was made by Count James of Urgell. Externally, a claim was made Queen Beatrice of Portugal on behalf of her 14-year-old son and heir, John, and by King Henry on behalf of his brother, the 20-year-old Alfonso.

The Count won the support of Pope Benedict XIII, who had recently been returned to Rome by Aragonese forces and who was eager to ensure his homeland did not fall under the control of another power. Philip the Bold, eager to contain the power of the Duke of Orleans, backed the Castilian claimant and England's King Richard II, sensing an opportunity to deal himself back into Continental politics, backed Portugal.

Negotiations over the vacant throne dragged on without compromise until May, 1410, when the thinning patience on all sides tipped over into war.
 
Originally posted by LacheyS
Ferdinand died from a fall from his horse during the campaign against the Muslims in 1400 without offspring

An this is the end of OTL Ferdinand (Fernando) of Antequera the man that in OTL was the king chosen by the Compromise of Caspe


Originally posted by LacheyS
In 1409, King Martin I of Aragon died without a legitimate heir. Inside the kingdom, a claim was made by Count James of Urgell. Externally, a claim was made Queen Beatrice of Portugal on behalf of her 14-year-old son and heir, John, and by King Henry on behalf of his brother, the 20-year-old Alfonso.

The Count won the support of Pope Benedict XIII, who had recently been returned to Rome by Aragonese forces and who was eager to ensure his homeland did not fall under the control of another power. Philip the Bold, eager to contain the power of the Duke of Orleans, backed the Castilian claimant and England's King Richard II, sensing an opportunity to deal himself back into Continental politics, backed Portugal.

Negotiations over the vacant throne dragged on without compromise until May, 1410, when the thinning patience on all sides tipped over into war.

Jaume of Urgell seems have played better cards in TTL, Aragon was in fact a confederation of three different political entities: the kingdom of Aragon, the kingdom of Valencia and the principality of Catalunya (Catalonia en english) each of these entities had his own privileges and the king of Aragon, Valencia and Count of Barcelona knew that had to make oath of respect the laws of each of these entities.

So a civil war would be a civil war in these three political entities (also the Balearic Islands would be affected and other mediterranean possesions of the Crown of Aragon principally the kingdom of Sicily but the principal fight would be for control and get the best supports in these three political entities: Aragon,Valencia and Catalonia).

Jaume of Urgell in OTL had a good amount of supporters in Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia.

It will be interesting to see how in TTL the things develop.
 
An this is the end of OTL Ferdinand (Fernando) of Antequera the man that in OTL was the king chosen by the Compromise of Caspe

Jaume of Urgell seems have played better cards in TTL, Aragon was in fact a confederation of three different political entities: the kingdom of Aragon, the kingdom of Valencia and the principality of Catalunya (Catalonia en english) each of these entities had his own privileges and the king of Aragon, Valencia and Count of Barcelona knew that had to make oath of respect the laws of each of these entities.

So a civil war would be a civil war in these three political entities (also the Balearic Islands would be affected and other mediterranean possesions of the Crown of Aragon principally the kingdom of Sicily but the principal fight would be for control and get the best supports in these three political entities: Aragon,Valencia and Catalonia).

Jaume of Urgell in OTL had a good amount of supporters in Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia.

It will be interesting to see how in TTL the things develop.

There are two people contesting this succession who were not born in our timeline. Alfonso, the younger brother of the King of Castile, is the result of Eleanor of Aragon living longer and is the claimant of the Tratsmara Dynasty. John, the Portuguese heir, was also never born in OTL. He represents the Burgundy-Orleans Dynasty. Of course, Jaume of Urgell is the captain of the House of Barcelona.

The unproductive marriage of Henry III and Blanche will, I think, prove interesting in the future.

So the War of Castilian Succession will involve:

Castile/France
Portugal/England
Aragon/The Papal States

There will also be an attempt by others to take advantage of the chaos, primarily Ladislas, King of Naples, who has opportunities for expansion, both to the north and the south, the former as an enemy of Pope Benedict XIII, who he had opposed and the latter to take advantage of the end of the dynastic line in Sicily.
 
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