If I have learned anything from writing the articles on this blog, it is that when you tell a story from History, other stories tangentially come your way that you have to leave aside because otherwise it would be impossible to focus on what you want to tell. Hence the much-used use on my blog of the tagline “but that's another story”.
With this entry I am going to close the circle of two of my stories, in which I left something for another article:
In the post Elizabeth I of Castile and Plantagenet I pointed out that it was too complex to explain in that post the reasons why it was crucial to put an end to the civil war that devastated Castile the marriage of Isabel's grandmother (Catalina de Lancaster) with Enrique de Trastámara's grandson.
And in the one dedicated to María de Padilla, he ended by pointing out that her descendants were destined to play a very important role in the history of Castile, without going into details about it either .
Catherine of Lancaster was the daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Constance of Castile. Juan was in turn the son of the King of England Edward III and brother of the Black Prince, Edward (both also have their own article on this blog). Constanza, for her part, was the daughter of Pedro I of Castile the Cruel for some, the Justiciero for others, and María de Padilla.
Pedro I waged an endless battle throughout his reign with his half-brother Enrique, Count of Trastámara. Both were sons of Alfonso XI and, although Enrique was older, being a natural son while Pedro was a legitimate son, it was Pedro who inherited the crown on the death of his father.
Pedro's many enemies, especially Aragon and France, encouraged Henry's rebellion against his half-brother to weaken the Kingdom of Castile. In the case of France, moreover, its objective was to put the powerful Castilian fleet on its side to face the war it was waging with England. Due to his bad relations with Pedro, as a consequence of his disastrous wedding with Blanca de Borbón (although that is another story), the only way for France to get Castile on their side was by deposing the king and placing Enrique in your place.
France's support for Henry guaranteed that of his enemy, England, for Peter I and the alliance was both military (troops under the command of the Black Prince) and dynastic (the marriage of two of his daughters with two of the sons of Eduardo III, one of them that of the parents of our protagonist Juan de Gante and Constanza).
Finally Pedro lost the battle with his half-brother Enrique and life in Montiel in 1369. After the death of his father Constanza became the heir to his dynastic rights and her husband Juan , who would not accede to the English crown after the birth of the son of the Black Prince (the future Richard II) supported his wife's fight to recover the crown of his father.
After years of civil war against Henry and his son John I, the conflict ended in 1388 with the signing of the Treaty of Bayonne, by which the union of the two dynastic branches through the marriage of the grandchildren of Henry (the future Henry III) and Peter (our protagonist Catherine of Lancaster). In addition, in the style of the figure of the Prince of Wales in England, it was agreed that the heir to the Crown of Castile would hold the title of Prince of Asturias. Catherine of Lancaster became, therefore, the first princess of Asturias and later Queen of Castile. She is also the grandmother of the most famous Queen of Castile, Isabel I La Católica.
Those who want to know more about the figure of Catherine of Lancaster can read the book of the same name written by Maria Teresa Alvarez. To learn more about the fight between Pedro I and Enrique de Trastámara, I recommend the book by Graziella Saénz de Heredia “El corazón del rey maldito”. Lastly, the stormy relationship between Pedro and Blanca de Borbón is narrated, in addition to the previous work, in León Arsenal's novel “The Bad Years”.
Image| Catherine of Lancaster