John II (Castile)

medieval portrait of Johann II.

Gil de Siloe - double tomb of John II of Castile and Isabellas of Portugal in the Cartuja de Miraflores near Burgos

John II of Castile (March 6, 1405 in Toro , † July 20, 1454 in Valladolid ) was King of Castile and León from 1406 until his death .

Life

Johann was the son of Heinrich III. and his wife Katharina von Lancaster , daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and Constance of Castile . He followed his father on December 25, 1406 at the age of 22 months. When he was a minor, his mother and uncle Ferdinand , then Duke of Peñafiel , ran the affairs of state. This double reign turned out to be very conflictual and split the country into two camps. After Ferdinand died in 1416 and Catherine in 1418, the Archbishop of Toledo , Sancho de Rojas , got the king declared of legal age in 1419 on the occasion of his marriage to Mary of Aragon and officially assumed power.

From the beginning, his reign was marked by confrontation with the local nobility. His opponents also included his uncle's sons, the Infantes de Aragón , including John of Aragon , King of Navarre since 1425 . It was not until 1430 that he succeeded in asserting himself against Ferdinand's sons with the help of Álvaro de Luna . After Johann's victory against the Emirate of Granada in the Battle of La Higueruela (1431), a short-term peace was confirmed by the marriage of John's son Heinrich to Bianca of Navarra (also called Blanka of Aragon), the daughter of his rival. However, this marriage was never consummated and was later dissolved. It was not until 1445 that de Luna achieved a decisive victory, which, however, only briefly ended the throne disputes and uprisings between the various aristocratic parties.

Despite his reign of 49 years, John was a weak king who was under the influence of his favorite Álvaro de Luna; its influence ended when Johann's second wife Isabella, the daughter of John of Portugal , supported a conspiracy to overthrow him, in which John of Aragon was probably also involved. In 1453 de Luna was executed. Johann died a year later, leaving a torn and financially ruined country.

progeny

First marriage to Maria von Aragon (1396–1445), daughter of Ferdinand I of Aragón :

• Henry IV. The Inept (born January 5, 1425 - † December 11, 1474)

Second marriage to Isabella of Portugal (1428–1496) :

• Isabella (* April 22, 1451; † 26 November 1504), as Isabella the Catholic went down in history
• Alfons (November 1453 - July 5, 1468)

literature

• Ludwig Vones: Johann II . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 5, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-7608-8905-0 , column 500 f.

Web links

Commons : John II (Castile)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Mary of Trastámara and Lancaster	Prince of Asturias 1405－1406	Catherine of Trastámara and Trastámara
Henry III.	King of Castile and León 1406–1454	Henry IV.