Treaty of Villafáfila

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The Treaty of Villafáfila ( Spanish Concordia de Villafáfila ) was signed on June 27, 1506 by King Ferdinand II of Aragon in Villafáfila and on June 28, 1506 by his son-in-law King Philip of Castile in Benavente . The treaty ended the dispute between the two parties over government power in the lands of the Crown of Castile . This agreement is the last international treaty concluded between the rulers of the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon as independent rulers. The treaty ended the de facto personal union between the kingdoms of the Crown of Castile and the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon for the time being.

Background of the contrast between Ferdinand and Philipp

Treaty of Villafáfila Execution of King Ferdinand
Treaty of Villafáfila executed by King Philip

The argument between Ferdinand and his son-in-law Philipp cannot be reduced to tensions in the personal relationships between his son-in-law and father-in-law. The conflict had international implications for Castile, which saw its unity with Aragon in danger. The Netherlands saw their position vis-à-vis France at risk. In Castilian domestic politics, Ferdinand stood for a strong position of the crown against the high nobility. Philip, on the other hand, was ready to grant the nobility greater rights of participation. On the other hand, there were fears that Philip, who himself did not speak Castilian, would fill important posts with foreigners.

Succession to the throne in Castile

When Isabella and Ferdinand took over government in Castile in 1474, their only child, Isabella, became heir to the throne. After the birth of the male descendant John of Aragón and Castile , he succeeded the throne in 1478. After his death in 1497, the Infanta Isabella became heir to the throne again until her death in 1498. She was followed by her son Miguel da Paz , who died in 1500 at the age of less than two years. The next person to succeed the Crown of Castile as heiress of the lands was Joan , the third child of the Catholic Kings. She was married to Philip the Fair . Philipp was the only son of the Emperor Maximilian . He ruled as Duke of Burgundy in the lands of the House of Burgundy, inherited from his mother Mary of Burgundy . In 1502 Johanna and Philip visited Spain and were sworn in as heir to the throne by the Castilian Cortes in Toledo on May 22nd. The swearing in by the Aragonese Cortes in Saragossa took place on October 27, 1502. On October 12, 1504, about a month before her death, Queen Isabella signed the final version of her will. Isabella installed her daughter Johanna as heir to the kingdoms of the Crown of Castile. If Johanna cannot take over government affairs because of her absence or for other reasons, your father Ferdinand should act as regent.

Course of events after the death of Queen Isabella

Queen Isabella died on November 26, 1504 . Ferdinand had Johanna, who had returned to the Burgundian Netherlands in May 1504 , proclaimed queen in Medina del Campo and took over the reign in her name. In January 1505 Ferdinand summoned the Cortes to Toro in the name of Johannas. There Johanna was recognized in absentia as the heiress and owner of the Crown of Castile and Philip as her rightful husband. Ferdinand was confirmed in his position as regent (gobernador perpetuo). Since Johanna was not in Castile, a regent had to work for her. The Cortes refused to declare Johanna generally incapable of government. Official letters from the Crown of Castile were only issued in the name of Queen Johanna and were signed by her father King Ferdinand (of Aragon etc.). Philipp was not satisfied with this development. He wanted to be recognized not only as a prince consort, but as an equal king of Castile. The formula for the name of the new royal couple, which the Cortes of Toro used when taking the oath on Joan, was also used in Isabella's proclamation as Queen of Castile: Joanna (or Isabella) heiress and owner of the crown of Castile and Philip (or . Ferdinand) as her rightful husband. Ferdinand's almost equal participation in government was regulated between the spouses by the Treaty of Segovia .

In October 1505, Ferdinand married Germaine de Foix , a niece of King Louis XII, in a marriage ceremony . of France (Germaine was also the granddaughter of Ferdinand's half-sister Eleanor.) The marriage was actually concluded on March 22, 1506. This marriage was rejected in Castile because the birth of male offspring from this marriage would annul the personal union between the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon.

Philip's ambassadors, who negotiated with Ferdinand's representatives in Salamanca , reached an agreement in November 1505 that took Philip a step further on the path to recognition as the ruling king. The "Concordia de Salamanca", which was signed on November 24, 1505, provided for a joint government by Johanna and Philip as owners of the crown. Ferdinand was to receive half of the royal income as lifelong regent (gobernador). In addition, there was a regulation with regard to the filling of management positions and the income of the Spanish knightly orders .

In order to pursue his cause personally and to secure the support of the Castilian nobility, Philip intended to travel to Castile with Johanna. During their first visit to Spain (1501/1502) they were able to use the safe land route through France from the Netherlands. This was given to them in 1505 by Louis XII. denied. After Johanna had given birth to her fifth child, Maria, on September 17, 1505 in Brussels , Philip wanted to travel by sea to Spain with a large court like a King of Castile, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy etc. The weather conditions allowed a fleet of around 40 ships to leave on January 10, 1506. After three days with favorable winds, the fleet reached the exit of the English Channel. During the night a storm arose which lasted two days and dispersed the fleet. Much of the fleet reached Falmouth harbor. The ship the monarchs were on reached Portland Bay. During the stay in England the fleet was repaired. Philip held talks with King Henry VII. Johanna had the opportunity to see her sister Katharina, who was married to the heir to the throne, who later became Henry VIII. When the weather allowed it on April 23, 1506, the fleet lifted anchor after a stay of more than three months. The fleet kept course for La Coruña , this port was officially headed to visit the grave of the apostle James in Santiago de Compostela as thanks for the rescue from distress at sea . The ships needed barely four days to get from England to La Coruña. On the night of April 26th, Philip went ashore. He tried to postpone the meeting with Ferdinand as far as possible in order to secure the support of the Castilian nobles in personal conversations. He tried to get her on his side through gifts, concessions, and promises. He was so successful in this process that only a few grandees remained on Ferdinand's side , especially Archbishop Cisneros , the Duke of Alba and the Count of Cifuentes.

Meeting of Ferdinand and Philipp

Ferdinand and Philip approached each other on the border between Galicia and Castile. After ambassadors had established contact between the parties and negotiations had begun, Ferdinand and Philipp met on June 20, 1506 near the town of Remesal in the open field. Philip was accompanied by about a thousand armed Flemings and also by Spanish nobles who had joined him after his arrival in La Coruña. Ferdinand appeared with about two hundred people from his court and high nobility from his kingdoms. Johanna did not attend the meeting.

During the negotiations, Ferdinand lived outside of Villafáfila in a villa belonging to the Order of Santiago, of which he was the Grand Master. Johanna and Philipp were guests of Alonso Pimentel y Pacheco, the 5th Count of Benavente (Zamora) , who organized various festivals in Benavente in their honor.

Content of the contract

The contract was negotiated on the part of Philip through Juan Manuel de Villena de la Vega and Juan de Luxemburgo, Señor de Wilt, on Ferdinand's side through Archbishop Cisneros. They commuted back and forth between Benavente and Villafáfila every day in order to coordinate the results of the negotiations with the respective king. Ferdinand gave up from the start. He asked Cisneros to negotiate an agreement that was nothing more than a surrender.

The agreement consists of an introduction, ten sections and the confirmations. At the beginning of the text of the treaty, Philip is referred to as: Philip by the grace of God King of Castile, León, Granada etc. Crown Prince (Príncipe) of Aragon and the two Sicilies etc. Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy and Brabant etc. Count of Flanders and Tyrol etc .

Ferdinand is referred to as: Ferdinand, by the grace of God, King of Aragon, the two Sicilies, Jerusalem, Valencia, Mallorca, Sardinia, Corsica, Count of Barcelona, ​​Duke of Athens and Neopatria, Count of Rossellon and Cerdaña , Margrave of Orestan and of Gociano. (Ferdinand only held the titles of the Crown of Aragon.)

The contract was written in the Castilian language and both kings signed with the signature customary for kings in Castile: Yo el Rey (I the King)

  • King Ferdinand expressly renounced rule over the lands of the Crown of Castile in favor of Philip and Johannas. In the event of the death, illness or other inability of Queen Joanna to exercise the government, this task should pass to Philip. Ferdinand assumed that the countries would be better governed by his children alone than by all three together.
  • Ferdinand's right to half the income from the rich in America was recognized. Ferdinand kept the entire rule and the income of the grand master dignities of the knightly orders of Calatrava , Alcántara and Santiagoorden .
  • A vote was agreed between the ambassadors of both kings to the Holy See . These should work towards the fact that the Holy Father left the administration of the possessions of the knightly orders to Ferdinand during his lifetime and to the Crown of Castile after his death.
  • It was agreed to conclude a treaty on peace, friendship, alliance of unity and eternal friendship between the two kings, in which both kings pledged to help and defend each other in order to maintain peace in their respective countries, including Flanders and Naples.
  • Mutual diplomatic assistance to the Holy Father was agreed upon in all matters concerning both crowns, such that it was known in Rome and throughout the world that there was a connection between them.
  • It was agreed that if a subject on either side should violate this treaty, he should be punished by the respective king.
  • They also promised to support each other in the tasks that Queen Isabella had assigned the heirs in her will: The fight against the infidels with staff, equipment and ships at the expense of those who claimed the help.
  • It was agreed that the servants of the two kings should be regarded by both as good and faithful servants, who should not be harmed and who should not be persecuted.
  • The priority that this contract has over all previous and future contracts and agreements is determined.
  • In order to give more weight to this agreement, a swearing-in should be undertaken before the representatives of the Cortes who would meet in Valladolid in the next few days.

The treaty had a secret annex in which both sides stated that Queen Joan could not take over the government because of her illnesses and passions (enfermedades y pasiones).

The contract was signed on June 27, 1506 by Ferdinand II of Aragon in Villafáfila and on June 28, 1506 by his son-in-law Philip the Fair in Benavente.

Events after the conclusion of the contract

In front of some witnesses who had his full confidence, Ferdinand signed a secret protest. He concluded the agreement against his will, just to avoid a civil war. Therefore, according to his conscience, he considers the contract void.

Philip took over the government and fulfilled a large part of the promises he had made to the Castilian nobles in order to obtain their support. u. A. Andres Cabrera, the Marquis of Moya, who had given Isabella the state treasure of her late brother Heinrich when she took over the government, was expelled from the Alcázar of Segovia as commandant and replaced by Juan Manuel de Villena de la Vega . Juan Manuel was Philip's negotiator when the Villafáfila contract was signed. Contrary to the demands of the Cortes, the Simancas fortress was given to a Flemish man, the Lord of Chaulx. Cardinal Cisneros, presumably with Ferdinand's approval, became a member of King Philip's newly formed Privy Council.

Philipp and Johanna traveled to Valladolid. The Cortes of Castile met there. Philipp tried again to have the Cortes declare Johanna incapable of governing. The high nobility, led by Admiral Enríquez, a relative of the Queen, refused to declare her incapable of government after talking to Johanna. The representatives of the cities said the same. On July 12th, the Cortes Johanna swore allegiance to the queen as the owner and Philip as the true and rightful master ("verdadero y legítimo señor") because he was her rightful husband. The Cortes referred to the resolutions from 1502 and 1505.

Philipp died on September 25, 1506 in Burgos . Cardinal Cisneros immediately convened a provisional government in which the most important nobles of Castile were involved. He could not prevent two parties from forming: as in ancient times, the members of the Velasco , Mendoza and Enríquez de Alvarez de Toledo families defended the authority of the monarchy. They demanded the immediate return to the provisions of the will of the late Queen Isabella and thus to Ferdinand's reign. Representatives of the Manrique, Pacheco and Pimentel families strove to proclaim the son Johannas and Philipps, Karl, to be king and to transfer the regency to his grandfather Maximilian . Basically, Philip's death in Castile did not result in any fundamental formal change in the ruling power. Johanna had been proclaimed queen and not declared incapable of government. So she was still formally and for the first time actually ruling queen of the lands of the Crown of Castile. Her first decision as an independent queen was to withdraw all orders that Philip had issued during his short reign.

At the time of Philip's death, Ferdinand was at sea in the Mediterranean. He received news of Philip's death on October 5, 1506 in Portofino . In a letter, Cardinal Cisneros urged him to return to Castile without wasting a minute. But Ferdinand didn't seem to think so urgently. He had gone to Italy with the intention of permanently connecting Naples with the Crown of Aragon. He didn't want to be dissuaded from that. After Ferdinand had clarified the affairs in Naples, he went to Spain on June 4, 1507 with Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba y Aguilar, who had been replaced there from his offices . He paid a visit to Pope Julius II and met Louis XII in Savona . On July 25, Ferdinand went ashore in Valencia. Johanna was in Hornillos de Cerrato at this time. She came a little towards her father. They met in Tórtoles on August 29, 1507, more than ten months after the death of Philip, who stank in a box in Johanna's luggage. Johanna looked dejected. All she wanted was for her father to regain power in Castile. There was no explanation of her inability to govern, government documents that did not bear her name were never circulated, yet Ferdinand acted as the true King of Castile until his death.

literature

  • Elías Rodríguez Rodríguez: La Concordia de Villafáfila - 27 de junio de 1506 . In: Studia Zamorensia . No. 5 , 1999, p. 109–154 (Spanish, dialnet.unirioja.es [accessed January 20, 2016]).
  • Luis Suárez Fernández: El Camino hacia Europa (=  Forjadores de história ). Ediciones Rialp, SA, Madrid 1990, ISBN 84-321-2589-X , p. 363 (Spanish).

Web links

  • Miguel Angel Zalama Rodríguez: Colón y Juana I. Los viajes por mar de la reina entre España y los Países Bajos . In: Revista de estudios colombinos . No. 5 , 2009, p. 41–52 (Spanish, dialnet.unirioja.es [accessed January 20, 2016]).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Elías Rodríguez Rodríguez: La Concordia de Villafáfila - 27 de junio de 1506 . In: Studia Zamorensia . No. 5 , 1999, p. 125 (Spanish, dialnet.unirioja.es [accessed January 20, 2016]).
  2. ↑ a b c d e Luis Suárez Fernández: El Camino hacia Europa (=  Forjadores de história ). Ediciones Rialp, SA, Madrid 1990, ISBN 84-321-2589-X , p. 348 (Spanish).
  3. ↑ a b Elías Rodríguez Rodríguez: La Concordia de Villafáfila - 27 de junio de 1506 . In: Studia Zamorensia . No. 5 , 1999, p. 111 (Spanish, dialnet.unirioja.es [accessed January 20, 2016]).
  4. ↑ Carmen Morte García: El viaje de los príncipes de Castilla y Aragón a Zaragoza in 1502 . In: Miguel Angel Zalama Rodríguez (ed.): Juana I en Tordesillas: su mundo, su entorno . Grupo Página, Valladolid 2010, ISBN 978-84-932810-8-3 , p. 46 (Spanish, arteysociedad.blogs.uva.es [accessed January 16, 2016]).
  5. ^ Luis Suárez Fernández: Análisis del Testamento de Isabel la Católica. Historiadores Histéricos, November 19, 2008, accessed October 11, 2015 (Spanish).
  6. ↑ Testamento de Isabel la Católica Testamento de Isabel la Católica
  7. ↑ Luis Suárez Fernández: El Camino hacia Europa (=  Forjadores de história ). Ediciones Rialp, SA, Madrid 1990, ISBN 84-321-2589-X , p. 345 (Spanish).
  8. ↑ Joseph Perez: Ferdinand and Isabella . Callwey, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0923-2 , pp. 314 (from the French by Antoinette Gittinger).
  9. ↑ "Doña Juana, por la gracia de Dios, reyna de Castilla, de Leon, de Granada, de Toledo, de Galizia, de Sevilla, de Cordoba, de Murçia, de Jaen, de los Algarves, de Algeçiras, de Gibraltar, de las Yslas de Canaria, señora de Viscaya e de Molina, prinçesa de Aragon e de Sicilia, archiduquesa de Austria, duquesa de Borgoña, etcetera. "Ana del Carmen Viña Brito: Reales cédulas, provisiones y privilegios de la isla de Tenerife, (1496 -1531) . Oristán y Gociano editores, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2006, ISBN 84-934721-0-7 , p. 63 (Spanish).
  10. ^ "Yo el Rey." Ana del Carmen Viña Brito: Reales cédulas, provisiones y privilegios de la isla de Tenerife, (1496-1531) . Oristán y Gociano editores, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2006, ISBN 84-934721-0-7 , p. 64 (Spanish).
  11. ↑ Joseph Perez: Ferdinand and Isabella . Callwey, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0923-2 , pp. 81 (from the French by Antoinette Gittinger).
  12. ↑ Joseph Perez: Ferdinand and Isabella . Callwey, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0923-2 , pp. 83 (from the French by Antoinette Gittinger).
  13. ↑ Miguel Angel Zalama Rodríguez: Colón y Juana I. Los viajes por mar de la reina entre España y los Países Bajos . In: Revista de estudios colombinos . No. 5 , 2009, p. 50 (Spanish, dialnet.unirioja.es [accessed January 20, 2016]).
  14. ↑ Other reports even speak of 2,000 armed men Elías Rodríguez Rodríguez: La Concordia de Villafáfila - 27 de junio de 1506 . In: Studia Zamorensia . No. 5 , 1999, p. 118 (Spanish, dialnet.unirioja.es [accessed January 20, 2016]).
  15. ↑ Elías Rodríguez Rodríguez: La Concordia de Villafáfila - 27 de junio de 1506 . In: Studia Zamorensia . No. 5 , 1999, p. 117 (Spanish, dialnet.unirioja.es [accessed January 20, 2016]).
  16. ↑ Elías Rodríguez Rodríguez: La Concordia de Villafáfila - 27 de junio de 1506 . In: Studia Zamorensia . No. 5 , 1999, p. 123 (Spanish, dialnet.unirioja.es [accessed January 20, 2016]).
  17. ↑ Elías Rodríguez Rodríguez: La Concordia de Villafáfila - 27 de junio de 1506 . In: Studia Zamorensia . No. 5 , 1999, p. 127 (Spanish, dialnet.unirioja.es [accessed January 20, 2016]).
  18. ↑ Elías Rodríguez Rodríguez: La Concordia de Villafáfila - 27 de junio de 1506 . In: Studia Zamorensia . No. 5 , 1999, p. 125 ff . (Spanish, dialnet.unirioja.es [accessed January 20, 2016]).
  19. ↑ Elias Rodriguez Rodriguez: La Concordia de Villafáfila. May 2, 2014, accessed October 11, 2015 (Spanish).
  20. ↑ Joseph Perez: Ferdinand and Isabella . Callwey, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0923-2 , pp. 321 (from the French by Antoinette Gittinger).
  21. ↑ a b Luis Suárez Fernández: El Camino hacia Europe (=  Forjadores de história ). Ediciones Rialp, SA, Madrid 1990, ISBN 84-321-2589-X , p. 349 (Spanish).
  22. ↑ a b Luis Suárez Fernández: El Camino hacia Europe (=  Forjadores de história ). Ediciones Rialp, SA, Madrid 1990, ISBN 84-321-2589-X , p. 351 (Spanish).