Treaty of Alcáçovas

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Contract in the Archivo General de Simancas

The Treaty of Alcáçovas in 1479 ended the War of the Castilian Succession, which had been going on since 1474 . The agreement is a complex of four different treaties, in which not only should an end to the war be achieved by eliminating the causes of the war, but also the former good relations between the two empires, Castile and Portugal, should be restored . The first part concerned the delimitation of the spheres of interest of Portugal and Castile in West Africa and the Eastern Atlantic. The other parts contained regulations that were supposed to solve the problems of the inner-Iberian war of succession. They refer to the future of the former pretender to the throne Joanna of Castile , the marriage of the Portuguese Infante Alfons to the Castilian Infanta Isabella and the treatment of the Castilian nobles who supported Joanna of Castile during the War of Succession.

Conclusion of contract

The contract names King Alfonso V and Prince John as contractual partners on the Portuguese side and King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella on the Castilian side . The contractual partners are named in the contract with their full titles of rulers. The title of Ferdinand and Isabella also contains the titles of the Crown of Aragón, but not of the Canary Islands.

From February 20 to 22, 1479, Isabella met in Alcántara with her aunt Beatrix of Portugal, the Duchess of Bragança, sister-in-law of King Alfonso V (King Ferdinand was in Aragon at the time, after the death of his father, John II to take over the government in the lands of the Crown of Aragon.) The two women agreed on the main features of a peace treaty, which should be negotiated by legally qualified representatives of both sides. The negotiations, which dragged on for months, took place in the palace of the Duchess of Bragança in Alcáçovas in Portugal. The negotiators were Rodrigo Maldonado on the Castilian side and Joao da Silveira, Baron von Alvito on the Portuguese side . The plenipotentiaries signed the treaties on September 4, 1479. The Portuguese side ratified the treaties on September 8, the Castilian on March 6, 1480 in Toledo. (This is why the "Treaty of Alcáçovas and Toledo" is sometimes used.)

Content of the contract

In a kind of preamble, the contracting parties renounced all hostilities and claims to rule over territories of the other side.

Agreement on the division of spheres of interest

The rulers of Castile undertake not to restrict their rights either to the current king of Portugal or his son, Prince John, or to any future rulers of Portugal, regardless of what measures they take and neither in Guinea nor on other coasts and islands below the Canary Islands, whether already known or not. This meant that the islands in the Atlantic Ocean were declared a Portuguese area of ​​influence. No person, regardless of their origin, should enter the area from within the control of the Crown of Castile. Were called explicitly Madeira , Porto Santo , desierta , Azores , Flores and the Cape Verde Islands . Exceptions are the rule and the traffic with the Canary Islands , which were also listed in detail ( including La Graciosa ). This excluded Castile from trade in Africa and Guinea. In addition, the rulers of Castile undertook not to interfere in the Portuguese conquests in the kingdom of Fez . The rulers of Castile made this agreement known to the entire territory by writing to all persons and associations that might be affected. This contract is seen as the preliminary stage of the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas .

In the Bull Aeterni regis , Pope Sixtus IV gave his blessing to the content of the agreement on June 21, 1481.

Treaty on the future of Joan of Castile

The representatives of both sides considered the marriage between Johanna and Alfons V to be void as it was not carried out. The Portuguese side suggested that Johanna marry Prince Johann , son of the Castilian side, in due course. Isabella demanded that Johanna either enter a monastery or live under guard in Castile for the rest of her life. The contract then offered Johanna two alternatives: she could spend thirteen years in Portugal under supervision and marry the then 14-year-old Prince Johann, although Johann would have the right to refuse this marriage, or she could enter a monastery in Portugal. Johanna chose the second alternative. She entered Coimbra on November 5, 1479 as a novice in a monastery of the Poor Clares . Since Johanna had to forego all Castilian titles, Alfonso V awarded her in October 1480 the title "Excelente Señora", which the Portuguese Infanta carried.

Contract for the marriage between the Infanta Isabella and the Infante Alfons

Another contract provided for the marriage between the eldest daughter of the Castilian side, Isabella , and the son of the Portuguese side, Alfons. The marriage was concluded in 1490. At the time of marriage, the bride was 20 years old and the groom was 15 years old. Alfons died on July 13, 1491.

Treaty on the pardon of Joan's followers

The last treaty concerned the treatment of those who had supported Johanna and Alfons V. In the treaty it was agreed that they should not face any punishment and that their property and rights of rule should be restored if they were compromised during the war. The Castilian side used this obligation in such a way that they checked the property and the rulership rights of both Joan's supporters and those of their own followers and did not confirm property or claims to power that they believed were unjustified or could not be substantiated.

literature

  • Joseph Perez: Ferdinand and Isabella . Callwey, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0923-2 , pp. 394 (from the French by Antoinette Gittinger).
  • Walther L. Bernecker; Horst Pietschmann: History of Spain - From the early modern era to the present . 4th edition. W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-17-018766-X .

Web links

Commons : Isabella I (Castile)  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walther L. Bernecker; Horst Pietschmann: History of Spain - From the early modern era to the present . 4th edition. W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-17-018766-X , p. 43 .
  2. ↑ Vicente Ángel Álvarez Palenzuela: La guerra civil castellana y el enfrentamiento con Portugal. (1475-1479). Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, accessed October 18, 2014 (Spanish).
  3. ↑ Vicente Ángel Álvarez Palenzuela: La guerra civil castellana y el enfrentamiento con Portugal. (1475-1479). Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, accessed October 18, 2014 (Spanish).
  4. ↑ Joseph Perez: Ferdinand and Isabella . Callwey, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0923-2 , pp. 98 (from the French by Antoinette Gittinger).
  5. ↑ Joseph Perez: Ferdinand and Isabella . Callwey, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0923-2 , pp. 99 (from the French by Antoinette Gittinger).
  6. ↑ Walther L. Bernecker; Horst Pietschmann: History of Spain - From the early modern era to the present . 4th edition. W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-17-018766-X , p. 44 .
  7. ↑ Cesáreo Fernández Duro ,: Traslado de los capítulos del tetradado de paces entre las coronas de Castilla y de Portugal firmado en Toledo a 16 de marzo de 1480, relativos a la posesión y pertenencia de Guinea, costas, mares e islas de África. (pdf) Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes ,, 2007, accessed on November 3, 2014 (Spanish).
  8. ↑ Joseph Perez: Ferdinand and Isabella . Callwey, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0923-2 , pp. 99 (from the French by Antoinette Gittinger).
  9. ↑ Joseph Perez: Ferdinand and Isabella . Callwey, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0923-2 , pp. 394 (from the French by Antoinette Gittinger).
  10. ↑ Joseph Perez: Ferdinand and Isabella . Callwey, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0923-2 , pp. 100 (from the French by Antoinette Gittinger).
  11. ↑ Vicente Ángel Álvarez Palenzuela: La guerra civil castellana y el enfrentamiento con Portugal. (1475-1479). Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, accessed October 18, 2014 (Spanish).
  12. ↑ Joseph Perez: Ferdinand and Isabella . Callwey, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0923-2 , pp. 100 (from the French by Antoinette Gittinger).
  13. ↑ Vicente Ángel Álvarez Palenzuela: La guerra civil castellana y el enfrentamiento con Portugal. (1475-1479). Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, accessed October 18, 2014 (Spanish).