First civil war of Castille

The First civil war of Castille opposed the partisans of Pierre I {{er}} of Castille, said Pierre Cruel the , with those of Henri de Trastamare his half-brother.

Causes of the conflict

Crisis of feudality

The civil war started by João Afonso de Albuquerqu is the logical consequence of the opposition, during the reign of Alphonse XI between two parties at the court of Castille: one directed by the queen Marie of Portugal, the other by the appointed mistress of the monarch, Leonor de Guzmán, downward of the king Alphonse IX of León and which gave the sovereign not less than 10 children, of which Henri de Trastamare. There is in backdrop, the Guerre one hundred year old which is much more than one simple Franco-Anglais conflict. The medieval company are in crisis and through all Europe reformers and conservatives are opposed: Etienne Marcel, Jacob Van Artevelde, the Civil war between Armagnacs and Burgundian or the Great Schism of Occident is some of the many examples of this opposition. The conflict, sometimes presented like a war of succession, exceeds the simple competition of two applicants to the throne. The rebellion of Henri de Trastamare is viable only by the support of the nobility Castilian, whose Pierre the Cruel one tends to want to cut down the advantages and especially the political weight. This objective alliance of the bastard son and the nobility is well perceived by the people as an obstacle erected to the laws that Pierre Ier made vote by the the Cortes of Valladolid in 1352, which support the trade and the craft industry as well as the safety of the people. These people do not spare his support to him and qualify king de Castille of Justicier and not of Cruel like his enemies. Pierre 1st is the reformer here and is supported besides by the English or Charles de Navarre which also fitted in this political line.

In Tolède, capital of Castille, Pierre 1st represses the plotters then it enters in war against Aragon and makes assassinate two of his/her half-brothers. Pierre the Dispenser of justice consequently becomes Pierre the Cruel one. On the other hand, Henri de Trastamare fought already at the side of Valois in particular in Languedoc, and profits from a strong support for the court of king de France. Henri already supported king d' Aragon Pierre IV the Ceremonious one in his war against the kingdom of Castille and, in 1363, the two men sign the treaty of Binéfar: the Aragonese sovereign supports Henri in his claims with the throne of Castille and must recover n the other hand the kingdom of Murcie.

Beyond the family and personal considerations, the interest of Charles V is limpid. For the future reconquest of the territories yielded to the English under the terms of the Treated of Brétigny - a third of the kingdom of France -, the king wants to prevent that the English has an ally on the southern border of the kingdom, and to make it replace by a allied solid which will be able desired time to make weigh a threat on the principality of Aquitaine. The English who cannot start the hostilities under penalty of losing the benefit of the treaty, the king of France to the advantage of the initiative, but do not have of them the average materials, the country being devastated by the companies and being bled by the exorbitant ransom of Jean the Good. To remake a financial health it is necessary to get rid of the companies of truck drivers who block all the commercial axes and pressurize the population of all that she could have given in taxes to the state. Avignon being threatened and being held to ransom by the companies, the pope sees of an good eye the project of crusade in Spain proposed by Charles. The official objective is the following: to carry out a crusade against the emirate of Cordoue, it is necessary for that to pass by Castille. The pope is not easily deceived, but his interests convergent with those of Charles V: it is necessary to get rid of the companies. He thus finances forwarding. Charles the Bad one authorizes the passage of this army, which crosses the collar of Roncevaux in February 1367. Henri II of Castille bars to him the road with Nájera and delivers combat to the English archers against the opinion of Bertrand of Guesclin on April 3rd, 1367. The army of Henri knows a severe defeat; of Guesclin prisoner is made, Henri must again flee in France and Pierre the Cruel one takes again the capacity.

Return and victory of Henri II of Castille

Prince Noir takes his districts in Burgos and awaits his reward. Its troops, little accustomed to the rigorous climate of the area, suffer from the cold, the malaria and dysentery. Mow to wait, Prince Noir ends up turning over in Guyenne, without to have obtained its had. Pierre the Cruel one, supported by the king of Grenade besieges Cordoue, in vain. Henri benefits from the situation to reform an army in addition to the Pyrenees, the king Charles V, by the Traité Acute-Dead, again placing at his disposal the Large companies ordered by of Guesclin.

The troops of Henri quickly conquer the kingdoms of Castille and of León and as of April 1367 put the seat in front of Tolède. The seat lasts 9 months, during which Henri II signs with France the Traité of Tolède, which engages it with a durable peace as of its final accession with the throne of Castille. Pierre the Cruel one arrives at the help of Tolède with an army primarily made up of Moors and Juifs. He faces his half-brother with Campo de Calatrava (Castille it Manche) and there undergoes a door demolished the March 13rd 1367. He takes refuge in the castle of Montiel with some faithful.

Pierre the Cruel one tries to bribe of Guesclin which seems to favorably accommodate its proposal but which actually informs Henri. Put in presence one of the other, the two half-brothers start a combat with the body-with-body. Pierre the Cruel one seems to carry it until the intervention of of Guesclin which allows the victory of Henri and the execution of Pierre Ier of the own hand of this last.

Henri becomes definitively new king de Castille under the name of Henri II, and kingdom crowns it passes with the hands of the Maison of Ivrée to those of the house of Trastamare. Bertrand of Guesclin is made Connétable of France by Charles V with the return of this equipped in Castille.

Consequences

The consequences of the civil war of Castille are heavy for the actors of the Guerre One hundred Year old.

See also: War One hundred Year old, Charles V of France

Charles V made finance most of the effort of war by the pope and benefitted from the time saved by occupying the English in Spain, to start again the saving in his kingdom finally removed from the companies.

The Prince Noir, returns to him victorious but ruined of Castille and cannot balance its troops: it must thus raise taxes on its duchy of Aquitaine which it directs in principality. Certain lords accepted only unwillingly the change of suzerainty imposed by the Traité of Brétigny and in particular Jean of Armagnac which was close to Jean the Good. This dispatch cost, the reappearance in Languedoc of companies of truck drivers laid off by Prince Noir and the incapacity of this last to come to them to assistance encourage Jean of Armagnac to call some in Charles V. While agreeing to answer its call, the December 3rd 1368, Charles V makes act of sovereignty on the Guyenne. It opens the door with the rallying of the grounds granted the English with the Traité of Brétigny: the reconquest is carried out largely by the reversal of the towns of Aquitaine often monnayé against promises of lighter taxation. The debt of Prince Noir poses a real logistic problem: because of the calls Gascon, the tax returns badly and it does not have any more the means of assembling an army to be opposed to the French. Edouard III thus sends 130.000 books tournaments to him. But the Parliament balks to pay for Guyenne which seems to cost more than it does not pay. It ends up authorizing to it only after acceptance that it is not obligatory any more to make forward wool by Calais (the tax on wool is the main income of the crown at the time). The king of England east far from having financial means of Charles V. the Parliament gives him only the means of a war financed by plundering the more so as the ride of the duke of Lancaster towards Harfleur in 1369 is a relative success. Charles V, can balance standing armies equipped to him for a war with seat and the English go beings subjected to a permanent pressure on all fronts during years.

In addition, France has from now on an ally with the head of the kingdom of Castille, which appears decisive at the time of the Bataille of the La Rochelle, during which the English fleet is destroyed by alliance free-Castilian the June 22nd 1372. Deprived of logistical support, the fortified towns yielded by the treaty of Brétigny fall the ones after the others: Between 1369 and 1375, the French take again to the English the near total made concessions and grounds had by the enemy before even the beginning of the war, except for Calais, Cherbourg, Brest, Bordeaux, Bayonne, and of some fortresses in the Massif Central.

Charles de Navarre seeing itself taken between Castille pro-Frenchwoman and the projection of the French reconquète in Guyenne, take the initiative and negotiates peace with Charles V since 1371, closing the door with English in Normandy.

Historical considerations and nuances

Julio Valdeán Baruque, large Spanish medievist, comments in his article

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