Alphonse XI of Castille

Alphonse XI of Castille ( Alfonso XI in Castilian) (born the August 13rd 1311 with Salamanque - died the May 26th 1350 with Gibraltar) was king of Castille and León. Alphonse XI was the son of the king Ferdinand IV (1295 - 1312) and of Constancy of Portugal. Known as " Justicier" ( El Justiciero in Castilian), it was one of the most outstanding Monarque S of the Iberian Moyen-âge by its participation in the Reconquista and its decisions touching with the administrative organization of the kingdom.

Biography

Its father, suddenly patient, dies on September 7th of the year following its birth at the conclusion of a relatively short reign and little shining; its mother dies in November of the same year. Proclaimed king with Jaén at the three months age, it cannot obviously reign and the Régence is ensured by his/her grandmother Maria de Molina until the death of the latter, in 1325, date on which Alphonse XI goes up on the throne and exerts full sound capacity there.

Alphonse XI belongs to the dynasty Castilian known as of Burgundy (connects junior by the Maison of Ivrée). He is the son of Ferdinand IV, the grandson of Sanche IV and the great-grandson of Alphonse X. Though resulting from a prestigious chalk-lining, it belongs to a branch junior by this one, born from the conflicts emerged at the time of the reign of Alphonse Wise the (1252 - 1284). The untimely death of the heir to the throne, Ferdinand of Cerda, in 1275, had indeed sown disorders between two camps. On a side, some supported that to dead Alphonse X, the throne was to return to elder from fire Ferdinand of Cerda. Other, powerful lords had convinced Sanche, the second wire of Alphonse X, that the crown would return to him to dead from his/her father. It is the latter clan which ends up carrying it, in the pain, and after violent fights. At the time of Alphonse XI still, some call into question the legitimacy of this branch, and in particular the very powerful Don Juan Manuel. These disorders calm down only in 1331 with the final renunciation of Alphonse of Cerda.

Meanwhile, it contracts a marriage with Constance of Castille, girl of most powerful of the noble Castilians, Don Juan Manuel (grandson of the king Ferdinand III and nephew of Alphonse X). This union is not consumed and Constancy is repudiated in 1327 and is locked up with the castle of Toro.

In 1328, it marries his/her cousin Marie-Constancy of Portugal, which it gives up two years later to publicly live with its mistress Leonor de Guzmán, heiress of one of the most powerful peerage-book family of Andalusia and downward of Alphonse IX of León. The attitude of Alphonse XI towards his wife causes the anger of her father-in-law, Alphonse IV of Portugal, which declares the war in to him 1336. The two kings will cease the hostilities in 1340 thanks to the diplomatic efforts made by the Pape Benoît XII.

Established to the royal Monastery of mow Huelgas of Burgos in 1331, it devotes the essence of its reign to the hardening of the royal authority and the war against the Moors.

The war against the Moors

The objective of Alphonse XI is the control of the Straits of Gibraltar and to thus avoid with new Moslem troops crossing it. As of 1328, it is combined with the king d' Aragon Alphonse IV in order to profit from the Catalan fleet. The engagements engage as of 1330 and the fate of the weapons is initially rather favorable to the Musulmans which take again Gibraltar, that Castille had conquered in 1309. The end of the war castillano-Portuguese allows the alliance of the two kingdoms starting from 1340 and the Christian coalition gains this same year the decisive victory of the Salado, in spite of a maritime defeat during which the Aragonese fleet is dispersed and the fleet Castilian reduced to five surviving boats.

In 1343, Alphonse XI gains a new victory over banks of the river Palmones which opens to him the road of Algesiras; the city falls in 1344. Gibraltar remains with the hands of the Moors but essence is acquired: the strait is under Castilian control. It is precisely while trying to take the city that Alphonse XI dies of the Peste on May 26th 1350.

Interior policy

The period passing itself of the end of the 13th century to half of the 14th century is particularly disturbed in the kingdom of Castille. Establishment of Sanche IV of Castille in the majority of Alphonse XI, the kingdom knows a series of domestic conflicts, related to more or less problematic successions like the ousting by Sanche IV of its nephew Alphonse of Cerda - which, as an oldest son of Ferdinand of Cerda, would have to succeed his/her grandfather Alphonse X - or the premature disappearance of same Sanche IV and of Ferdinand IV, leaving all two of the too young heirs to reign. These difficult successions leave the free field to the nobility Castilian which operates to confiscate the royal capacity. The protagonists of these conflicts do not hesitate to call upon the close kings (Aragon, Portugal or France) who thus hope to draw some from substantial territorial benefit, the such kingdom of Murcie for Aragon or an extension of the Royaume of Navarre for the Philippe Beautiful the…

The economic situation of the kingdom is difficult. Several bad harvest years impoverish the people considerably, causing famine and increase in mortality. Nonglad to maintain the seditious movements against the royalty, good number of lords are devoted to systematic acts of armed robbery in the campaigns, still adding to the difficulties known by the people.

Alphonse XI endeavors to reform the administrative organization and legal kingdom. The history retains two measurement-headlights of its reign.

As of 1345, it founds a new model of municipal council , composed men of the thirds state chosen by the king on proposal of the cities. The advisers are appointed for lives and must sit two days per week to control the city, with the service of the king and that of the population. The first council is created with Burgos, then are equipped the towns of León, Segovia and Madrid. The system is then established in the whole of the kingdom. The goal of Alphonse XI is to obtain a network of councils on the whole of the territory, supposedly faithful to its function and counterbalancing the capacity of the local nobility.

The second important fact of the reign of Alphonse XI is the publication of the Ordonnance of Alcala, nap legal of 58 laws promulgated in the town of Alcala de Henares. This new legislative Corpus is the fruit of an attempt of unification and clarification of the preexistent local laws. It determines in particular the order of preeminence of different the codes in the kingdom from Castille: initially applies the ordinance of Alcala, then possibly the Fuero Juzgo and finally the Siete Partidas . Lastly, in case of doubt of interpretation or absence of provision on a given subject, the king has faculty to slice. In front of the raised shields of the nobility which intends to preserve privileges and local specificities inherited the tradition and the many negotiations carried out at the time of regencies of Maria de Molina, Alphonse XI is constrained to envisage an application differentiated according to whether one is under direct royal jurisdiction or under jurisdiction seigneuriale.

Descent and succession

From its union with Marie-Constancy of Portugal Pierre I {{er}} is born the future, known as the Cruel one.

Its relation with its favorite Leonor de Guzmán brings many illegitimate children to him:

Alphonse XI forsakes his legitimate wife and his son to devote itself entirely to his illegitimate family, which it richly equips out of grounds, and which is high with a statute close to that of the queen and infant. This situation involves serious rancours at Pierre Ier and his/her mother, who, after the death of the king, show a marked spirit of revenge towards the bastard heirs to the late king. The competitions are translated into fights and will lead to a war open between king Pierre and bastard the Henri de Trastamare, each one being pressed on a camp made up of noble, members of the Clergé, cities, but also of foreign armies (French and English, the conflict of the Guerre One hundred Year old overflowing on this occasion until in the peninsula). Henri carries it and takes the place of the legitimate monarch, assassinated, devoting the new dynasty of Trastamare.

Died

Very implied in the operations of Reconquista, Alphonse XI dies of the Peste on May 26th 1350, at the time of the Siège of Gibraltar. He is buried in the royal vault of the cathedral of Cordoue then transferred in the collegiate church from Hippolyte Saint to Cordoue which he founded in 1340 after the battle of Salado.

Notes & references

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