Luis de la Cerda

Coat of arms of the House de la Cerda

Luis de la Cerda also called Luis de España (* 1291 in France; † July 5, 1348 in Lamotte-du-Rhône ) was a nobleman from the house of "de La Cerda", a side line of the Castilian royal family. He was Count of Talmont from 1338 and Admiral of France from 1340 to 1341 . 1344 awarded Pope Clement VI. him the Principality of the Happy Isles as a fiefdom of the Holy See .

origin

Luis de la Cerda was the third son of Alfons de la Cerda, called el Desheredado (the disinherited). Alfonso's father was Ferdinand de la Cerda, the eldest son of King Alfonso X of Castile. After Ferdinand died at the age of 20, the second eldest son of King Alfonso X, Sancho , became heir to the throne. The eldest son's children were excluded from the line of succession. Blanche , Ferdinand's widow, fled to France with her children Alfons and Ferdinand .

ancestors

Pedigree of Luis the la Cerda

Alfonso X (Castile) (1221–1284)                       Ferdinand de la Cerda (1255-1275)                             Violante of Aragón (1236-1301)                       Alfons de la Cerda (1270-1333)                                   Louis IX (France) (1214-1270)                       Blanche of France (1253-1323)                             Margaret of Provence (1221–1295)                       Luis the la Cerda                                         Amauri de Narbonne (1210-1270)                       Aimery IV of Narbonne (1245-1299)                             Philippa d'Anduze * approx. 1215                       Mafalda of Narbonne (1275-1348)                                   Roger IV (Foix) (1210-1265)                       Sibylle de Foix * approx. 1245                             Brunissende of Cardona (1220–1289)

Life

Luis de la Cerda was raised at the French royal court. Presumably he went to Spain in 1303 or 1304. In 1306 he married Leonor Pérez de Guzmán y Coronel, daughter of the hero of Tarifa known for his heroic struggle against the infidels. Alonso Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno . Until 1312 Luis de la Cerda probably lived in Sanlúcar de Barrameda and Medina-Sidonia on the estates of his wife and father-in-law. In 1331 his father Alfons el Desheredado renounced King Alfonso XI. of Castile on his claim to the throne. When Luis de la Cerda returned to France in 1339, King Philip VI granted . him a number of possessions, which were combined to form the county of Talmont . On March 13, 1341 Luis de la Cerda was appointed Admiral of France . He held this office until December 28, 1342. In the War of the Breton Succession , Luis de la Cerda fought on the side of France.

Prince of the Happy Isles

In 1344 Luis de la Cerda was one of King Philip VI's envoys . of France with Pope Clement VI. in Avignon . They should persuade the Pope to further mediate between England and France in the War of the Breton Succession .

During his stay in Avignon, Luis de la Cerda convinced Pope Clement VI. of the fact that it was in the interests of Christianity to proselytize the Happy Islands, which had been newly discovered in the Atlantic, and to commission a Christian prince with this task, who should also exercise the government as the Pope's fief.

It seems certain that Luis de la Cerda knew the reports of the Genoese navigator Niccoloso da Recco, who in 1341 on behalf of the Portuguese King Alfonso IV with two ships and a crew composed of Florentine, Genoese, Castilian and Portuguese sailors Headed for the Canary Islands and lived there for five months.

On November 15, 1344, a solemn consistory took place in Avignon , attended by 26 cardinals , various bishops , all important persons of the papal court and the envoys of foreign rulers. There the Pope read the bull Tuae devotionis sinceritas , the founding document for the Principality of the Happy Islands as a papal fiefdom. On November 28, 1344 Luis de la Cerda swore his feudal oath and received a crown and a scepter from the hand of the Pope as symbols of his state and sovereignty over the Happy Islands.

The bull contained the restriction that the rights would be transferred on condition that the rights of other Christian princes would not be impaired. Special information about the appointment was given to the rulers of all Christian states. You have been asked to support Luis de la Cerda.

The King of Castile and the King of Portugal protested against the assignment of the islands to Luis de la Cerda. The protests did not question the pope's fundamental right to give lands in which unbelievers live to Christian rulers. Rather, the protest referred to the clause that the granting of fiefs only applies if the rights of other Christian princes are not affected.

The King of Castile, Alfonso XI. , answered the Pope on March 13, 1345. He thanked the prince, his relative, for the grace that had been granted. He referred to the efforts that his ancestors had made in many struggles to spread the faith in Africa and thus justified that Castile had a claim to the countries to be converted in Africa. The protest of King Alfonso IV of Portugal was much more massive. In the letter of February 15, 1345, the monarch made his claims to the Canary Islands clearly clear to the Pope on the grounds that the first discoverers of these islands were Portuguese.

The other rulers to whom the Pope turned also showed little enthusiasm for the conquest of the Canary Islands. On December 23, 1344, the government of Genoa allowed Luis de la Cerda to take various individually listed weapons with him from Genoa. The Dauphin von Viennois promised to build a fleet of 12 transport ships and six galleys. It is very likely that this treaty was terminated as part of the Dauphin's other obligations.

King Peter IV of Aragon, to whose domain the Kingdom of Mallorca also belonged, was inclined to participate in the company and met personally with Luis de la Cerda in Catalonia in the Poblet Monastery to discuss the basics of an effective cooperation. He promised galleys to support the company that Luis could pick up from the island of Sardinia with the equipment.

It is certain that the Prince of the Happy Isles never reached his principality. There are three opinions among historians about what prevented him from doing so: first, the early death of the prince, second, the war between England and France, and third, that the Castilian court caused the Pope to withdraw the concessions made to Luis de la Cerda.

There are reports that suggest that Luis de la Cerda probably died on August 20, 1346 in the Battle of Crécy . Other documents give as the date of death July 5, 1348, 1349 or 1350 in Lamotte-du-Rhône.

Marriage and offspring

In 1306 Luis de la Cerda and Leonor Pérez de Guzmán y Coronel married. The daughter of Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán (1256–1309) and María Alonso Coronel (1267–1330) the first parents of the House of Medina-Sidonia . Three children survived from this marriage:

• Luis de la Cerda y Pérez de Guzmán (1325–1383) Titular Prince of the Happy Isles and Count of Talmont
• Juan de la Cerda y Pérez de Guzmán (1327–1357) Lord of El Puerto de Santa María and Lord of Gibraleón .
• Isabel de la Cerda y Pérez de Guzmán (1322-1382) was married in first marriage to Rodrigo Alvarez de Asturias († 1334), señor de Gijón, de Trastamara, y Noroña, Adelantado Mayor de León y Asturias, in second marriage to Rodrigo Pérez Ponce de León († 1354) señor de la Puebla de Asturias, de Cangas y de Tineo and in third marriage with Bernal de Foix (1331-1391) Count of Medinaceli. They became the first parents of the dukes of Medinaceli .

In his second marriage, Luis de la Cerda married Guiote d'Uzès in 1346, the daughter of Robert Vizconde d'Uzés and his wife, Countess Guiote de Pesquières. The marriage remained childless.

literature

• Antonio Rumeu de Armas: El obispado de Telde . Misioneros mallorquines y catalanes en el Atlántico. Ed .: Ayuntamiento de Telde Gobierno de Canarias. 2nd Edition. Gobierno de Canarias, Madrid, Telde 1986, ISBN 84-505-3921-8 (Spanish).

• Buenaventura Bonnet Reverón: Don Luis de la Cerda, Príncipe de la Fortuna . In: El museo canario . No. 19-20 , 1958, pp. 43-104 (Spanish, unirioja.es [accessed July 14, 2016]).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Telesforo Trueba y Cossío: Don Alonso Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno . In: Al Qantir: Monographs and documents sobre la historia de Tarifa . No. 15 , 2013, p. 167–188 (Spanish, unirioja.es [accessed July 14, 2016]).
2. ↑ Buenaventura Bonnet Reverón: Don Luis de la Cerda, Principe de la Fortuna . In: El museo canario . No. 19-20 , 1958, pp. 51 (Spanish, unirioja.es [accessed July 14, 2016]).
3. ↑ Buenaventura Bonnet Reverón: Don Luis de la Cerda, Principe de la Fortuna . In: El museo canario . No. 19-20 , 1958, pp. 99 (Spanish, unirioja.es [accessed July 14, 2016]).
4. ↑ Antonio Rumeu de Armas: El obispado de Telde . Misioneros mallorquines y catalanes en el Atlántico. Ed .: Ayuntamiento de Telde Gobierno de Canarias. 2nd Edition. Gobierno de Canarias, Madrid, Telde 1986, ISBN 84-505-3921-8 , pp. 49 (Spanish).
5. ↑ Buenaventura Bonnet Reverón: Don Luis de la Cerda, Principe de la Fortuna . In: El museo canario . No. 19-20 , 1958, pp. 65 (Spanish, unirioja.es [accessed July 14, 2016]).
6. ↑ Antonio Rumeu de Armas: El obispado de Telde . Misioneros mallorquines y catalanes en el Atlántico. Ed .: Ayuntamiento de Telde Gobierno de Canarias. 2nd Edition. Gobierno de Canarias, Madrid, Telde 1986, ISBN 84-505-3921-8 , pp. 50 (Spanish).
7. ↑ Buenaventura Bonnet Reverón: Don Luis de la Cerda, Principe de la Fortuna . In: El museo canario . No. 19-20 , 1958, pp. 69 (Spanish, unirioja.es [accessed July 14, 2016]).
8. ↑ Buenaventura Bonnet Reverón: Don Luis de la Cerda, Principe de la Fortuna . In: El museo canario . No. 19-20 , 1958, pp. 73 (Spanish, unirioja.es [accessed July 14, 2016]).
9. ↑ Buenaventura Bonnet Reverón: Don Luis de la Cerda, Principe de la Fortuna . In: El museo canario . No. 19-20 , 1958, pp. 80 (Spanish, unirioja.es [accessed July 14, 2016]).