Aragon and Castile

Although Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile were married, their two kingdoms did not become one. Sure, they worked in concert and agreed on many policies, but when Isabella died on 26 November 1504, her will did not leave Castile to her husband. Instead, it went (in proper succession, one would say), to their daughter Joanna, later called "the Mad."

Ferdinand and Isabella had son born before Joanna, John, but he had died a few years earlier. Joanna was next in line, although Isabella was concerned that despite her extensive education she might not be suited to the task, nor would her husband, Philip the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy and Archduke of the Netherlands. (The illustration is their marriage contract.) Philip was happy to become King of Castile, but his father-in-law took issue with that.

Ferdinand had been named in Isabella's will as potential regent for Castile if ever Joanna were absent from the country or unable to rule, or if she decided she did not want to be queen. Ferdinand, however, wanted more. He minted coins in Castile imprinted with "Ferdinand and Joanna, King and Queen of Castile, León and Aragon." In 1505 he convinced the Castilian Court that Joanna was unable to govern due to infirmities, and they named Ferdinand her guardian and the governor of the kingdom. Joanna's husband took umbrage at this, and so he minted coins imprinted with "Philip and Joanna, King and Queen of Castile, Léon and Archdukes of Austria."

Philip agreed that Ferdinand would be regent of Castile during the times when Philip and his queen traveled to Philip's Netherlands.

Ferdinand, concerned that without another heir he might see Aragon go to Joanna and Philip,  decided he needed a second wife who might produce an heir who could inherit both kingdoms. He married the 17-year-old Ursula Germaine of Foix by proxy on 19 October 1505. Ferdinand was 53. They did not meet until 18 March 1506, where (we are told) the marriage was consummated.

This made France and Aragon closer politically, but Castile saw Ferdinand's re-marriage as a betrayal of the beloved Isabella.

Philip died on 25 September 1506, and Ferdinand was named regent, since Joanna was deemed unfit to rule.

Germaine bore a son on 3 May 1509, but he died shortly after.

Ferdinand died on 23 January 1516, leaving Syracuse, Sicily, several towns in Catalonia, and a town in Naples to his widow, and leaving her in the care of his grandson by Joanna and Philip, Archduke Charles of the Netherlands. Charles moved to Castile in 1517, and Germaine moved to Castile from Aragon to be near him. Germaine went with Charles in 1519 to Aragon where he was crowned as Ferdinand's successor.

In the original post on Ferdinand I mentioned that there was some controversy over his father naming him the heir when Ferdinand was only nine years old. Let's get back to that story (and an earlier time; stretching into 16th-century affairs seems strange to me, given the name of this blog), and see what that was about.

Ferdinand II of Aragon

Ferdinand II of Aragon had many more titles. Throughout his 63 years (10 March 1452 - 23 January 1516) he was not only king of Aragon, Majorca, Sardinia, Valencia, and Count of Barcelona, he also gained the titles King of Castile and León (as Ferdinand V), King of Sicily, King of Naples (as Ferdinand III), and King of Navarre (as Ferdinand I)!

He was the son of John II of Aragon and his second wife, Juana Enríquez, who was Castilian. When Ferdinand was nine years old, his father named him his heir apparent and governor of all John's lands and kingdoms. (This was despite an older son Charles, but that's another story.)

In October 1469 he married his second cousin, Isabella I of Castile, with a prenuptial agreement, (allegedly) the motto tanto monta, monta tanto, translated as "They amount to the same, the same they amount to." The point was that they treated each other as equals. The truth is that this was a purely political arrangement. Aragon longed to reconnect to Castile, and Isabella needed strong support to gain the throne of Castile when its ruler, her half-brother Henry IV of Castile (called "the Impotent") eventually died (which he did in 1474).

They did have several children, however, including Catalina, born in 1485 and later known as Catherine of Aragon, first wife of King Henry VIII of England. Other of their children became Queens of Portugal, Prince of Asturia, Archbishop of Zaragoza, and Queen of Castile and Aragon.

Ferdinand's father died in 1479, and Castile and Aragon were now united in some measure (the legal merging of the two into "Spain" took place in the early 18th century). The couple set about starting to Christianize the parts of the Iberian Peninsula over which they had any influence. The goal was to eliminate Muslims and Jews, leading to what was called the Reconquista. The conversion of Jews and Muslims in this part of the world has been recently discussed.

The final step in making their territory solely Christian was The Alhambra Decree in 1492, ordering all Jews to depart, convert, or be executed.

When Isabella died, Ferdinand lost all influence on Castile, because it passed into other hands. I'll explain that tomorrow.

The Moriscos of Spain

Twelfth-century Castilian texts see the word morisco as an adjective for Moorish people, and used it to refer to Muslims in general. Medieval Castilians used it to mean a Muslim or an Arabic speaker when talking about a Muslim convert to Christianity, as opposed to a Jewish convert. This was more convenient than the other way we see them described: nuevos christianos convertidos de moros, "new Christians, converted from Moors."

(In early—and perhaps still—Spanish-speakers such as the slavery-era southeastern United States, Morisco was a pejorative term used for the offspring of a Spaniard and a mulatto, the offspring of a Spaniard and a person with at least some African ancestry.)

1492 was a turning point for the Iberian Peninsula. It was the year Ferdinand and Isabella expelled all Jews from their kingdoms. It was also the year that the last Muslim kingdom on the peninsula, the Emirate of Granada, surrendered and was annexed to Castile. Although the Treaty of Granada allowed them to remain Muslim, efforts to convert the Muslim population to Christianity led to rebellions. The rebellions, in turn, led to suppression and the usual choice: accept conversion, leave the country, or be killed. Departure from the country was not economically feasible for many, and the former population of Granada essentially became Christian en masse in 1502. (The illustration is from the 1520s, showing conversion of Muslims in Granada.)

As we saw in yesterday's post, conversion to Christianity did not mean cultural parity with those born Christian. The Moriscos maintained the same clothing, cuisine, and culture, and of course secretly practiced their original Faith. This lasted for a couple generations, until in 1567 the Pragmatica of King Philip II of Spain ordered them to abandon their clothing and customs and language. This led to revolts, which led to expelling all Moriscos from Granada, forcing 80,000-90,000 people to spread out to other towns across Castile.

Granada had been the largest Muslim population on the peninsula. With their mass conversion, the new largest Muslim population was that of the Kingdom of Valencia, part of Aragon (Ferdinand II's domain). Valencia allowed Muslims to practice their religion and follow their own legal system. Unfortunately, a 1520s Revolt of the Brotherhoods that originally had nothing to do with religion affected them and took on an anti-Islam facet, with killings and forced conversions to follow.

One of the rulers heavily involved in forcing the Iberian Peninsula to become wholly Christian was Ferdinand II of Aragon. It is usually his queen, Isabella, who gets all the attention, but we should give him his due and take a look at his career. We'll start that tomorrow.

The Spanish Inquisition

While the Roman Catholic Church established the Inquisition in the 12th century to root out heresy, etc., some countries felt the need to create their own versions. In 1478, Isabella I of Castile and her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon, created their own that would not be controlled by the popes: the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. We know it as the Spanish Inquisition.

Spain had a slightly different situation than much of Western Europe, because historically it had a large Muslim and Jewish population. Ferdinand and Isabella would eventually release the Alhambra Decree in 1492 (yes, the same year Isabella financed Columbus' travels), requiring all non-Christians to convert or leave the country on pain of death. There were two terms for these converts. Conversos were Jews who converted to Christianity. Moriscos, from the word for "Moorish," were converted Muslims.

Prior to 1492, however, there was still a desire to ensure that converts from Judaism and Islam to Christianity were sincere, but after 1492 the job of the Spanish Inquisition became more widespread and intense, since so many who could not afford to leave the country converted under duress.

Besides heresy and apostasy ("backsliding" to your previous beliefs), the Spanish Inquisition went after witchcraft, blasphemy, bigamy, sodomy, Protestantism (when it came along later), and even Christian mystics (called alumbrados, "illuminati").

It was a Dominican, Fray Alonso de Ojeda, who convinced Isabella that there were "Crypto-Jews" in Andalusia: Jews who had converted but practiced Judaism in secret. This was confirmed by Isabella and Ferdinand's confessor, Tomás de Torquemada (a name that became synonymous with torture). The Spanish Inquisition held its first investigations in late 1480, and had a result by 6 February 1481, when six people were burned alive in public, a practice known as auto da fé, a Portuguese phrase meaning "act of faith." (The illustration shows an auto da fé in the public marketplace.)

Not all subjects were executed. Public flogging, imprisonment, and exile were also used, as well as being force to serve as a galley-slave, forced to row on the royal ships. There were also monetary fines. "Surviving" the investigation did not mean resuming life as you knew it: you and your descendants were prohibited from certain high-level professions like doctor and tax-collector.

If you were a good and faithful converso or a morisco, however, you were probably safe, right? Hmm, tomorrow let's see how converts were actually treated by society.

(By the way, everybody expected the Spanish Inquisition! The Inquisition protocol was to send you a message saying to be available for interrogation.)

The Pope and Dracula

Pope Pius II (18 October 1405 - 14 August 1464) was very busy, looking for political alliances and ways to expand his authority.

It wasn't all politics: in 1461 he canonized Saint Catherine of Siena. Much of the rest of his energy was put into more worldly actions, however, even if they had religious goals.

One of his first actions in 1458 was to make an alliance with Ferdinand II of Aragon who was pressing a claim to Naples (Naples was being contested between the House of Aragon and the House of Anjou.) In 1461, however, he persuaded King Louis XI of France to abolish something called the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, established in 1438 that required a Church Council every ten years that had power to overrule the papacy in France. Louis thought that, in turn, Pius would support him in the Naples question, but Pius stood by his alliance with Ferdinand and Louis reinstated the Pragmatic Sanction again.

He tried to mediate between the two sides of the Thirteen Years' War between Poland and the Teutonic Knights. Failing to bring them to agreement, he declared both groups anathema.

When Duke Sigismund arrested Nicholas of Cusa (when he was bishop of Brixen) for attempting reforms and reclaiming lost diocesan revenue, Pius excommunicated Sigismund.

He was very concerned about the Turks, who had come as far west as they ever had in 1453 with the taking of Constantinople. He convened a congress in Mantua in 1459 to arrange a new Crusade against the Turks. The attempt failed; Christendom did not rise to the occasion. He did, however, inspire a prince of Wallachia, a province in Romania, to mount a war against Sultan Mehmed II of Turkey. That prince was named Vlad Tsepes, also known as Vlad III, or Vlad the Impaler, but whose other nickname came down to modern times as a famous literary figure: Dracula.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about how Dracula tried to save Christendom from infidels.

Isabella of Castile

Wedding portrait of Isabella and Ferdinand (1469)

Everyone knows about Isabella of Castile and how she financed Columbus' excursion to discover a new route to Asia. Recent posts on this blog have revealed her anti-semitism. There was a long road, however, before she reached the events of 1492.

She was born on 22 April 1451, and there was never any speculation that she might one day rule Castile. She had an older half-brother, Henry, who was 26 when Isabella was born. When Henry succeeded their father (John II of Castile) in 1454, Isabella and a younger brother, Alfonso, were sent with their mother to live in a run-down castle in another region, away from the capital. Despite the simple accommodations, Isabella was raised by her mother to be educated and devout. In 1462, Isabella and Alfonso were brought back to the royal palace in Segovia. Isabella was put in the queen's household where her education became more extensive.

When Alfonso died in 1468 (probably from plague), Isabella inherited his possessions. Castilian nobles wanted to use Isabella as a fiscal point to dethrone Henry, but Isabella wasn't having it. She negotiated a settlement with Henry: she would not become a threat to his throne, he would name her heir-presumptive. Moreover, he would not force her into a political marriage of which she did not approve, but she would not marry without his consent.

Years earlier, at the age of 6, she had been betrothed to Ferdinand, son of the king of Navarre. Ferdinand's father and Isabella's brother were trying to make a firm alliance between their two countries, but their relationship did not last. Years later, however, after numerous other potential betrothals in which Isabella invoked her old agreement to avoid a forced marriage, she contacted Ferdinand secretly and expressed her wish to marry him.

There was a problem with consanguinity, the two being second cousins, but a papal bull from Pius II—thanks to the efforts of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (later Pope Alexander VI)—gave them a dispensation. Isabella, on the pretense of visiting her brother's tomb, left Henry's court. Meanwhile, Ferdinand crossed into Castile while in disguise. The two met up at the town of Valladolid.* Having successfully outmaneuvered her brother, the pair were wed on 19 October 1469. Isabella was 18, Ferdinand was 17.

*They later made valladolid their capital city. Christopher Columbus died there.

Running to Portugal

The Inquisition in Portigal [source]

When the Alhambra Decree gave Jews the choice of converting to Christianity or leaving the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, tens of thousands—there are no accurate estimates; they vary between 130,000 and 800,000—began the search for a new home. Fortunately, shelter was closer than expected for some.

Portugal had experienced an on-again/off-again anti-Semitism. Many Jews who fled to Portugal wound up being persecuted or imprisoned under King John II (1455 - 1495), but King Alfonso V (1432 - 1481) had appointed a Jew as his treasurer. His successor, King Manuel I, was a very religious man, building religious buildings and trying to round up a Crusade against the Turks, but he was friendly to the Jews and released them from prison. Things seemed to be looking up.

Manuel had ambitions, however, that put his future at odds with his past as a tolerant ruler. Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon had a daughter, the Infanta Isabella. Through her parents, she was the heir to Castile and Aragon. A marriage between Manuel and Isabella would unite most of the Iberian Peninsula, and their children would rule a large part of Europe and be allied to even more of Europe.*

Ferdinand and Isabella, however, would never allow their daughter to marry the monarch of a land that allowed Jews. A contract was written up for the marriage; one of its stipulations was that the Jews of Portugal would no longer be tolerated. Four years after the Edict of Expulsion sent Jews migrating to Portugal, Portugal in 1496 decreed that all Jews had to convert to Christianity or leave Portugal by October of 1497. (This edict applied to Muslims as well.)

The tide had turned for Jews in Portugal. Thousands fled to Amsterdam, Constantinople, France and Morocco; even to the New World. Not all left, which led to the Lisbon Massacre in 1506, when up to 2000 Jews (or people perceived to be Jews) were tortured and burned at the stake by a Catholic mob. Thirty years later, the Inquisition came to Portugal, creating more risks for anyone not seen to adhere strictly to Roman Catholicism.

If the Jews were supposed to be expelled, how was it that the Lisbon Massacre seemed like a good idea? That would be because there was a third, unofficial option between expulsion and conversion. We will look at the Marranos tomorrow.

*Her sister was Catherine of Aragon, King Henry VIII's first wife.

The Alhambra Decree

[source]

There is an ethnic subdivision of Jews called Sephardic Jews. "Sephardic" comes from the Hebrew Sepharad, which referred to Hispania. More specifically, Sephardic Jews are those descended from Jews who lived in Spain in the 15th century. They migrated from the Middle East to The Iberian Peninsula/Sepharad/Hispania/Spain/ about 1000 CE.

Several weeks ago, the government of Spain passed a law that allows Sephardic Jews—no matter where they live, no matter in what country they currently have citizenship—to receive dual citizenship for the asking. Wherever they live now, they could receive Spanish citizenship without having to renounce citizenship elsewhere or even move to Spain. The reason, as explained in a recent  article in The Economist, is "righting an historical wrong."

The "historical wrong" was the Alhambra Decree.

The Alhambra Decree was issued on 31 March 1492 by the rulers of the majority of the Iberian Peninsula. (The peninsula comprised Portugal, Castile, Granada, Aragon, Navarre.) Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon ordered the expulsion of all Jews from their two kingdoms. The deadline for departure was 31 July 1492.*

Like England in an earlier century, a choice was offered: you may convert to Christianity and stay, or remain Jewish and leave, taking your possessions with you (except for gold, silver, currency, arms or horses). Refusing these choices meant immediate execution, and a non-Jew who aided a Jew through hiding him would suffer the loss of all property and privileges.

The Alhambra Decree, also known as the Edict of Expulsion, was formally revoked by Spain on 16 December 1968, as a result of reforms that came from the Second Vatican Council.

Where did the Jews go? What were their choices for a new homeland? There were a few options, some close by. But that's a topic for another day.

*Columbus departed on his maiden voyage across the Atlantic on 3 August, a mere four days after the Expulsion deadline.