Segovia Treaty

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The Treaty of Segovia was a document in which the royal couple Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand V of Castile laid the foundations for their future common government on January 15, 1475. The agreement came about through a decision made by the Archbishop of Toledo Alfonso Carrillo and Cardinal Pedro González de Mendoza . This agreement was not just a private agreement, it gained public significance through the signing of a large number of grandees of the kingdoms of the Crown of Castile and its confirmation by the Cortes of Castile.

prehistory

Treaty of Segovia in the Archivo General de Simancas
Ferdinand and Isabella
kings of Castile and Aragon

Cervera contracts

After the death of her younger brother Alfonso of Castile , Isabella had moved to the first place in the line of succession in Castile, although this line of succession was controversial. In September 1468, King John II of Aragon started negotiations with Isabella. A marriage should be agreed between her and Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Aragon. These negotiations took place without Isabella's older brother, Henry IV of Castile, being informed. Heinrich had other marriage plans for his sister.

At the beginning of 1469, the future spouses agreed on the content of the marriage contracts. Some sections dealt with the supply of Isabella in the time before the accession to the throne. Other sections related to the policy to be pursued later: Ferdinand undertakes to wage war against the infidel Moors (hacer guerra a los moros). Ferdinand promised to speak justice, to preserve the freedom of the churches and the prerogatives of the cities of Castile and not to sign any laws, edicts or orders without the consent of his wife. The granting of acts of grace and the receipt of oaths of loyalty and homage were reserved for her. She was responsible for the proposals for the filling of bishoprics and positions of grand masters of the knightly orders, priories, fortress commanders and chairmen of the city councils (corregidores) and other public offices. Furthermore, Ferdinand was not allowed to leave Castile to wage war or to make peace without the consent of his wife.

The contracts were signed by Ferdinand in Cervera in March 1469, seven months before the marriage.

Marriage

On October 19, 1469, Isabella and Ferdinand were married in Valladolid . This happened against the will of King Henry IV. Since Isabella and Ferdinand were close relatives (their grandfathers Heinrich III. Of Castile and Ferdinand I of Aragon were brothers) a papal dispensation was a prerequisite for the legality of the marriage. This dispensation was issued in December 1471 by Pope Sixtus IV with retroactive effect. From this point on there was no longer any doubt about the legality of the connection between Isabella and Ferdinand. The couple stayed mainly in Castile in the following period. Ferdinand traveled several times to Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia to provide military support for his father and to carry out political negotiations and the like. A. with the papal envoy Roderic Llançol i de Borja (who later became Alexander VI ) and Castilian nobles from Valencia .

Isabella takes over government

On the night of December 11-12, 1474, King Henry IV of Castile died in Madrid . Isabella, who received news of her brother's death in Segovia , had a funeral mass held for him on December 12th . The very next day she was proclaimed queen in Segovia. She publicly took her king's oath and asked the cities represented in the Cortes to swear allegiance to her in writing. (In Castile the kings were not crowned.) The designation in all pronouncements was: Isabella, Queen of Castile; Ferdinand, her rightful husband . Isabella acted very quickly to get a head start on her possible opponent, her niece Johanna . So she did not wait for her husband Ferdinand to arrive in Segovia. At that time he was staying in the realms of the Crown of Aragon to hold Cortes there in Saragossa and to support his father (he was over 75 years old and almost blind at the time) in the military defense against French attacks in Roussillon .

Ferdinand's solemn entry into Segovia took place on January 2nd, 1475. Under a canopy , accompanied by the Archbishop of Toledo and Cardinal Mendoza, he swore to preserve the privileges and freedoms of the city as he rode into the city at the gate of Saint Martin. Ferdinand then went to the cathedral to pray and take his oath again. Then he went to the royal palace where his wife was waiting for him.

Contract negotiations

It was obvious that after Ferdinand's royal reception in the city, the couple had to come to an agreement about the position Ferdinand and Isabella held and what the legal basis for exercising their respective state authority was. There were different opinions about the status of King Ferdinand. The formulation that Isabella had used in the proclamation seemed to indicate to Ferdinand too much that he should only play the role of a prince consort. In order not to let this problem become a personal dispute between the couple, they agreed that the Archbishop of Toledo and Cardinal Mendoza should make a decision to which they both wanted to submit. The two church princes oriented themselves on the one hand to historical precedents, but on the other hand to what had already been agreed in the Cervera treaties and should therefore be indisputable. On January 15, 1475, they presented their decision. Isabella and Ferdinand declared their agreement and swore to observe the regulations in their future actions. Isabella made it clear that the regulations were not about Ferdinand's original rights, but about an assignment of the rights she was entitled to to him. In accordance with this legal situation, when Isabella died in 1504, Ferdinand immediately renounced the title and rights of King of Castile and continued the business of government as regent for his daughter Queen Joan I of Castile, who was not in the country .

The deed was not only signed by Isabella and Ferdinand as contracting parties, but also by the authors, Cardinal Mendoza and the Archbishop of Toledo. A large number of the Grandees of Castile present in Segovia took note of the treaty and confirmed this by their signature. The Cortes of Castile also ratified the agreement.

content

  • Title management : The king and queen are named in all public documents and publications, on coins and seals. The king's name precedes that of the queen, but the coat of arms of Castile and León precedes that of Sicily and Aragon.
  • Tributes : They are paid exclusively to the queen as she is the owner of the crown.
  • State revenue of Castile : from them the state obligations are paid. The rest is used in agreement with the queen and the king.
  • State revenue of Aragon and Sicily : The same procedure is used as for the state revenue of Castile.
  • Management of the royal property : the queen appoints accountants and treasurers and makes payments in Castile. However, the king can freely dispose of the funds Isabella makes available.
  • Gracious grace and offices : they are the Queen's business
  • Grand master offices and ecclesiastical dignitaries : they are proposed together according to the wishes of the queen.
  • Jurisprudence : It happens together when both spouses are in the same place. If they are separate everyone takes care of the area in which he is located. In other cases, a council body to be formed will decide.
  • Occupation of the local administrations of the cities : This happens according to the same procedure as the case law. The king has the same powers as the queen.

Nothing was agreed on the significant extraordinary revenues, nor on foreign policy and warfare. There is also no reference to a division of tasks in the contract.

Further development

On April 28, 1475, during the war against Portugal , the Queen gave her husband power of attorney authorizing him to carry out all governmental acts on her behalf. In the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon, in which Ferdinand was proclaimed king after the death of his father John II in January 1479, only Ferdinand was entitled to rule. That is why Ferdinand dictated an order in Catalayud on April 14, 1481, in which he appointed his wife co-regent, governor and general administrator in all kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon. But Isabella practically never intervened actively in Aragonese affairs.

literature

  • Joseph Perez: Ferdinand and Isabella . Callwey, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0923-2 (from the French by Antoinette Gittinger).
  • Luis Suárez Fernández: La conquista del trono (=  Forjadores de história ). Ediciones Rialp, SA, Madrid 1989, ISBN 84-321-2476-1 (Spanish).
  • Jaime Vicens Vives: Historia crítica de la vida y reinado de Fernando II de Aragón . Ed .: IFC-Cortes de Aragón (=  Colección Historiadores de Aragón . No. 3 ). Institución "Fernando el Católico", Zaragoza 2006, ISBN 84-7820-882-8 (Spanish, dpz.es [PDF; accessed on February 8, 2016]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The name for this agreement is not uniform in either German or Spanish literature. Joseph Perez: Agreement , Walther L. Bernecker: Arbitration , Luis Suárez Fernandez: Sentencia arbitral (= arbitral award ), Jaime Vicens Vives and María Isabel del Val Valdivieso: Concordia (= arbitration agreement )
  2. ↑ a b c d Jaime Vicens Vives: Historia crítica de la vida y reinado de Fernando II de Aragón . Ed .: IFC-Cortes de Aragón (=  Colección Historiadores de Aragón . No. 3 ). Institución "Fernando el Católico", Zaragoza 2006, ISBN 84-7820-882-8 , p. 401 (Spanish, dpz.es [PDF; accessed February 8, 2016]).
  3. ^ Luis Suárez Fernandez: Isabel I, Reina . Editorial Ariel, Barcelona 2000, ISBN 84-344-6620-1 , p. 54 (Spanish).
  4. ^ Luis Suárez Fernández: La conquista del trono (=  Forjadores de história ). Ediciones Rialp, SA, Madrid 1989, ISBN 84-321-2476-1 , pp. 32 (Spanish).
  5. ↑ Jaime Vicens Vives: Historia crítica de la vida y reinado de Fernando II de Aragón . Ed .: IFC-Cortes de Aragón (=  Colección Historiadores de Aragón . No. 3 ). Institución "Fernando el Católico", Zaragoza 2006, ISBN 84-7820-882-8 , p. 248 f . (Spanish, dpz.es [PDF; accessed on February 8, 2016]).
  6. ↑ Joseph Perez: Ferdinand and Isabella . Callwey, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0923-2 , pp. 81 (from the French by Antoinette Gittinger).
  7. ↑ Jaime Vicens Vives: Historia crítica de la vida y reinado de Fernando II de Aragón . Ed .: IFC-Cortes de Aragón (=  Colección Historiadores de Aragón . No. 3 ). Institución "Fernando el Católico", Zaragoza 2006, ISBN 84-7820-882-8 , p. 398 (Spanish, dpz.es [PDF; accessed February 8, 2016]).
  8. ↑ María Isabel del Val Valdivieso: Isabel I de Castilla . (1551-1504). Ed .: Cristina Segura Graiño (=  Biblioteca de mujeres ). 1st edition. Ediciones del Orto, Madrid 2004, ISBN 84-7923-344-3 , pp. 25 (Spanish).
  9. ↑ Luis Suárez Fernández: El Camino hacia Europa (=  Forjadores de história ). Ediciones Rialp, SA, Madrid 1990, ISBN 84-321-2589-X , p. 345 (Spanish).
  10. ^ Luis Suárez Fernández: La conquista del trono (=  Forjadores de história ). Ediciones Rialp, SA, Madrid 1989, ISBN 84-321-2476-1 , pp. 86 (Spanish).
  11. ^ Ana Belén Sánchez Prieto: La Intitulación Diplomática de los Reyes Católicos. (PDF) Un Programa y una Lección de Historia. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, accessed October 20, 2014 (Spanish).