#house of aragon and sicily

[gardenofkore]

Vere novo , priori jam mutato consilio , Alienora virgo regia , insignis facie , sed prudentia & honestate prestantior , futura Regina Sicilie , atque cum ea Nymphe obsequiis apte regalibus , accepta benedictione parentum , ab urbe Neapoli gloriosas discessit , per Calabriam , propter maris tedium , usque Regium iter agens : quam discedentem Neapolitane matres , quantum spectantes oculi capere potuerunt , effusis pre gaudio lacrimis affequute sunt.

Gregorio Rosario, Bibliotheca scriptorum qui res in Sicilia gestas sub Aragonum imperio retulere, I, p.456-457

Eleonora was born in Naples in the summer of 1289 as the tenth child (third daughter) of Carlo II lo Zoppo of Anjou, King of Naples, Count of Anjou and Maine, Count of Provence and Forcalquier, Prince of Achaea, and of Maria of Hungary.

Nothing, in particular, is known about her childhood, which she must have spent with her numerous siblings in the many castles of the Kingdom.

She is first mentioned in a Papal bull dated 1300 in which Boniface VIII annulled the marriage of 10 years-old Eleonora to Philippe de Toucy, Prince of Antioch and Count of Tripoli, (the contract had been signed the year before) on account of the bride’s young age and the fact that family hadn’t asked for the Pope’s dispensation.

Two years later, there were discussions of a match with Sancho, the second son (and later successor) of Jaume II of Majorca, but the engagement never occurred.

Finally, in 1302, Eleonora’s fate was sealed. On August 31st 1302 the Houses of Anjou-Naples and of Barcelona signed the Peace of Caltabellotta, which ended the first part of the War of the Sicilian Vespers and settled (or tried to) the problem of which House should have ruled over Sicily. Following this treaty, the old Norman Kingdom’s territory (disputed between the French and Spanish born ruling houses) was to be divided into two parts, with Messina Strait as the ideal boundary line. The peninsular part, the Kingdom of Sicily, now designed as citra farum (on this side of the farum, meaning the strait, later simply known as the Kingdom of Naples ), and the island of Sicily, renamed the Kingdom of Trinacria, designed as ultra farum (beyond the farum).

The Peace of Caltabellotta stipulated that Angevin troops should evacuate the island, while the Aragonese ones should leave the peninsular part. Foundation of the peace would have been the marriage between princess Eleonora of Anjou and King Federico III (or II) of Sicily (“e la pau fo axi feyta , quel rey Carles lexava la illa de Sicilia al rey Fraderich, que li donava a Lieonor, qui era e es encara de les pus savies chrestianes, e la millor qui el mon fos, si no tant solament madona Blanca, sa germana, regina Darago. E lo rey de Sicilia desemparava li tot quant tenia en Calabria e en tot lo regne: e aço se ferma de cascuna de les parts, e que lentredit ques llevava de Sicilia; si que tot lo regne nach gran goig." in Ramon Muntaner, Crónica catalana, ch. CXCVIII). The pact dictated also that once Federico had died, the two kingdoms would be reunited under the Angevin rule. This clause won’t be fulfilled.

The bridal party had to wait until spring 1303 before setting off for her new country since sea storms had damaged part of the fleet and thus delayed the departure. The voyage had cost 610 ounces, where the Florentine bankers Bardi and Peruzzi were asked to advance the payment, and the groom pledged to repay them 140 ounces.

By May 1303, Eleonora and her companions arrived in Messina where she was warmly welcomed and where on Pentecost, May 26th, of the same year she got married to Federico in Messina’s Cathedral (“E a poch de temps lo rey Carles trames madona la infanta molt honrradament a Macina, hon fo lo senyor rey Fraderich, qui la reebe ab gran solemnitat. E aqui a Macina, a la sgleya de madona sancta Maria la Nova, ell la pres per muller e aquell dia fo llevat lentredit per lola la terra de Sicilia per un llegat del Papa, qui era archebisbe, que hi vench de part del Papa, e foren perdonats a tot hom tots los pe cats quen la guerra haguessen feyts: e aquell dia fo posada corona en lesta a madona la regina de Sicilia, e fo la festa la major a Macina que hanch si faes.” in Ramon Muntaner, Crónica catalana, ch. CXCVIII).

After the wedding, most of the bridal party returned to Naples, while the newlyweds proceeded to Palermo.

On July 14th 1305 Eleonora gave birth to the heir, who was called Pietro in honour of the child’s paternal grandfather, Pere III of Aragon. To celebrate his son’s birth, Federico III gifted his bride of Avola castle and the surrounding land, to which will be added the city of Siracusa (in 1314), Lentini, Mineo, Vizzini, Paternò, Castiglione, Francavilla and the farmhouses in Val di Stefano di Briga. This gift would mark the creation of the Camera reginale, which would become the traditional wedding present given to Sicilian Queen consorts, and eventually would be abolished in 1537.

Including Pietro, she would give birth to nine children: Costanza (1304 – post 1344), future Queen consort of Cyprus, Armenia and Princess consort of Antiochia; Ruggero (born circa in 1305 - ?) who would die young; Manfredi (1306-1317) first among his brothers to hold the title of Duke of Athens and Neopatras; Isabella (1310-1349) Duchess consort of Bavaria; Guglielmo (1312-1338) Prince of Taranto and heir to the Duchy of Athens and Neopatras following the death of his brother; Giovanni (1317-1348) Duke of Randazzo, Count of Malta, later also Duke of Athens and Neopatras and Regent of Sicily; Caterina (1320-1342) Abbess of St. Claire Nunnery in Messina; Margherita (1331-1377) Countess Palatine consort of the Rhine.

Through these donations Eleonora became a full-fledged vassal, and had to pay homage to her husband the King. Thanks to official documents, we get the idea that Eleonora tried to manage her lands as much personally as she could do, naming herself vicars, administrators, and granting tariff reductions. Federico indulged his wife as much as he could, although in some cases (like the management of the city of Siracusa) his will was the only one taken into account.

Despite almost every time she was unsuccessful, Eleonora fully embraced her role as mediator between the Aragonese and Angevins. For example, in 1312 her brother-in-law, King Jaume II of Aragon, asked her to dissuade her husband (Jaume’s brother) to ally himself with the Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich VII of Luxembourg since this alliance could generate new friction with the Angevin Kingdom, as well as with the Papacy (with the risk of stalling the Aragonese occupation of Sardinia). After the King of Aragon, it was Pope Clemente’s turn to ask Eleonora to convince Federico to make peace with Roberto of Anjou. In both cases, though, her conciliatory efforts didn’t work.

In 1321 she witnessed her son Pietro being associated to the throne and thus crowned in Palermo (“Anno domini millesimo tricentesimo vicesimo primo, dum Johannes Romanus Pontifex contra Fridericum Regem, & Siculos propter invasionem bonorum Ecclesiarum precipue fulminaret, Fridericus Rex primogenitum suum Petrum, convenientibus Siculis, coronavit in Regem, & patris obitum, inopinatum premetuens, & ut filius qui purus videbatur & simplex, ab adoloscentia regnare cum patre affuesceret patrisque regnando vestigiis inhereret […]” in Gregorio Rosario, Bibliotheca scriptorum ..., I, p. 482). Pietro’s coronation publicly violated the Treaty of Caltabellotta (as the Kingdom should have returned to the House of Anjou), causing the pursuing of warfare between Naples and Palermo. Once again Eleonora’s attempts at peace-making failed miserably, with her nephew, Carlo Duke of Calabria, refusing to even meet her in 1325, after he had successfully raided the outskirts of Messina.

The Queen didn’t have much luck in internal policy too as she failed to appease her husband and her protegé, Giovanni II Chiaramonte. After gravely wounding Count Francesco I Ventimiglia of Geraci (his brother-in-law and one of the King’s trustees), all that Eleonora could do was advise Chiaramonte to flee to avoid the death penalty.

Nevertheless, the Pope still hoped to use the Queen (who, at that time and alone in her Kingdom,  was exempted from the Papal interdict) as mediator with her husband, promising to lift the excommunication in exchange for Federico’s backing down. Once again nothing happened.

On June 25th 1337 Federico III died near Paternò. He was buried in Catania since it was too hot for the body to be transported to Palermo (“Feretrum humeris nobiliores efferunt. Adsunt Regii filii, proceresque Regni. Exequias Regina, illustribus comitata matronis, prosequitur.” in Francesco Testa, De vita, et rebus gestis Federici 2. Siciliæ Regis, p.225). After the death of her husband, the now Dowager Queen turned to religion, following the example of those in her family who had consecrated themself to Christ (“At Heleonora certiorem fe de illa consolandi rationem inivit. Ipsa enim , ut Rex excessit e vita, ei, qui omnis consolationis fons est, fese in Virginum collegio Franciscanæ familiæ Catinæ devovit; in hoc Catharinan , & Margaritam filias imitata, quæ in ætatis flore, falsis terrestribus, contemptis bonis, Christ, cui fervire regnare est, in sacrarum Virginum Messanensi Collegio, de Basicò dicto, ejusdem Franciscanæ familiæ fese consecrarant; quod Collegium posteaquam Catharina fancte gubernavit, sanctitatis opinione commendata deceffit” in Francesco Testa, De vita..., p.226).

If Eleonora might have hoped to exert some kind of influence as many other Queen mothers did in the past and would do in the future over their weak-willed royal children, she would soon realize she had a powerful rival in the new Queen consort, her daughter-in-law, Elisabetta of Carinthia. Like Eleonora, the new Queen supported the Latin faction (a group of Sicilian noblemen who opposed the Aragonese rulership over Sicily, hoping the island would be returned under the influence of the Angevins instead). But, while Elisabetta had managed to raise the Palizzis to the highest positions at court, her mother-in-law still supported the Chiaramonte, making it possible for the exiled Giovanni II to return to Sicily, be pardoned by the King and see all his goods be returned. Soon though Chiaramonte resumed his personal feud against the Ventimiglia (also part of the Latin faction) and once again Eleonora's attempt to bring peace failed miserably. Only through Grand Justiciar Blasco II d'Alagona's intervetion, the crisis was averted.

In 1340, the Dowager Queen made a last attempt to appease the new Pope, Benedict XII. Unfortunately, the Sicilian envoys sent to Avignon to take an oath of vassalage (since Norman times Sicily theoretically belonged to the Papacy, who granted it to the Sovereigns who acted as Papal Legates) were treated roughly by the Pope, who declared Roberto of Anjou (Eleonora's brother) as Sicily's legitimate King.

Deeply distraught, the Dowager Queen resolved to definitely retire from public life. She spent what it remained on her life visiting the monastery of San Nicolo' d'Arena (Catania), joining the monks in their religious life. She died in one of the monastery's cells on August 10th 1341. Her body would be buried in the Church of San Francesco d'Assisi all'Immacolata (Catania), the construction of which she had personally promoted in 1329 to thank the Virgin Mary for protecting the city from one of many Mount Etna's eruptions.

Sources

AMARI MICHELE, La guerra del Vespro siciliano

CORRAO PIETRO, PIETRO II, re di Sicilia in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Vol. 83

DE COURCELLES JEAN BAPTISTE PIERRE JULLIEN, Histoire généalogique et héraldique des pairs de France: des grands dignitaires de la couronne, des principales familles nobles du royaume et des maisons princières de l'Europe, Vol. XI,

FODALE SALVATORE, Federico III d’Aragona, re di Sicilia, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Vol. 45

GREGORIO ROSARIO, Bibliotheca scriptorum qui res in Sicilia gestas sub Aragonum imperio retulere, I,

KIESEWETTER ANDREAS, ELEONORA d'Angiò, regina di Sicilia, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Vol. 42

de MAS LATRIE LOUIS, Histoire de l'île de Chypre sous le règne des princes de la maison de Lusignan. 3

MUNTANER RAMON, Crónica catalana

Sicily/naples: counts & kings

TESTA FRANCESCO, De vita, et rebus gestis Federici 2. Siciliæ Regis

[mangofresca]

i know there is no light (in a room where the sun is missing)

Initially fought between Sicilian rebels and Charles of Anjou in Sicily and Southern Italy, the War of the Sicilian Vespers expanded when Aragon intervened in Sicily to support the rebels and claim the throne. The war ended in 1302 in the Peace of Caltabellotta, by which Sicily became an independent kingdom ruled by the House of Barcelona. —War of the Sicilian Vespers Thus began the 500 year reign of Spain’s dominion over Southern Italy. (Or, affectionately known as, The 5 Times They Shared a First Kiss, and the 1 Time They Shared a Last) Oneshot, Spamano.

Words: 10,170, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Hetalia: Axis Powers

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Relationships: South Italy/Spain (Hetalia)

Additional Tags: Historical Hetalia, 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, essentially i play around with their ages &  names depending on what stages their countries are in, also spain doesn’t fumble the iconic spamano marriage proposal, First Meetings, First Kiss, Fluff, the description is angstier than what’s in the fic don’t worry it’s cute, this fic is nothing but an excuse for me to gush about history, remember kids wiki is not a good source to cite on academic papers but it is great for fics!,  spamanoweek, spamanoweek2024

@spamano-week entry for the prompt of first kiss as part of a collab with the lovely @renonv ♥️

[hahahax30]

Visenya at 13, hearing Aurelian’s full title for the first time: Ugh that’s so obnoxious, why would anyone want to be called something so ostentatious? I would never punish my son or the pages by making him have some long puffed up mama

Visenya at age 20, returning to the Spring Court for the first time in three years: Please use my son’s full title; His Exalted Highness, Crown Prince Theomore, heir to the throne of the Autumn Court and son of the Noble and Ancient House de Lioncourt

Visenya’s own title as High Queen is Her Exalted Majesty Visenya Astraea Regina of the Noble and Ancient House de Lioncourt, High Queen of the Autumn Court; which is obviously a mouthful so she shouldn’t be complaining but girl does love to brag

And yes Aurelian’s title was the same as Theomore’s back when he was Crown Prince

And yes, her naming her son Theomore is a spoiler

Please Riley, as someone who actually lives in a kingdom with a whole-ass king, I can tell you that that isn't a mouthful of a full name.

*My* King's full name (titles included) is: His majesty Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbon y Grecia (aka Felipe VI of Spain), King of Spain, Castilla, Leon, Aragon Navarra, Granada, Jerusalem, Toledo, the Two Sicilies, Valencia, Galicia, Mallorca, Menorca, Sevilla, Sardinia, Cordoba, Murcia, Jaen, the Algarves, Algeciras, Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, the East and West Indies, the 'Isles and Lands of the Oceanic Sea', Hungary, Dalmatia and Croatia; Archduke of Austria; Duke of Burgundy, Brabant, Milan, Athens, Neopatras, Limburg, Lotharingia, Luxembourg, Gelderland, Styria, Carniola, Carinthia and Württemberg; Count of Habsburg, Flanders, the Tyrol, the Rousillon, Barcelona, Artois, Hainaut, Namur, Gorizia, Ferrette, Kyburg and Goceano; Count Palatine of Borgoña; Lord of Vizcaya, Molina, Salins-les-Bains, Mechelen, Slovenia, Pordenone and Tripoli; Landgrave of Alsace; Prince of Swabia; Marquis of Oristano; Margrave of the Holy Roman Empire and Burgau; Captain General of the Armed Forces; and I'll stop now but there are MORE

Because we have a parliamentary monarchy many of those titles hold no power or are merely symbolic (literally like the king himself because he does no-thing) and are reminiscent of the time we were the Spanish empire and total pieces of shit, but I do urge you to add more titles to your ocs lol

[thetldrplace]

Sicily: An Island at the Crossroads of History. Ch. 7- The Vespers

The Sicilian Vespers led to the ousting of the French as rulers of Sicily and the installation of the Spaniards as rulers. 

When Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen house died in 1250, Sicily sank back into chaos and confusion. (yeah, you're going to read that a LOT during this history recap) The barons took over, each fighting to enrich himself and grab as much as possible. (oh, you'll read THAT a lot too) Frederick's son Conrad was crowned emperor in Germany, but was stuck there, so Fred's bastard son Manfred was entrusted with control of Sicily and southern Italy. Pope Innocent IV didn't think bastard sons ought to be ruling anything and suggested Manfred turn control of the kingdom over to someone else... the someone else just happening to be... himself, the Pope. Manfred declined the offer and the Pope excommunicated him altogether. Innocent then declared someone else King, but everyone else just sort of ignored it.   

Manfred was, I hear, an astonishingly good-looking man, intelligent, learned, and had devastating charm. Bastard, indeed! By 1258, Manfred, using such abilities as nature had endowed him with, had convinced the Sicilian barons to proclaim him King. 

In the meantime, another daughter of Frederick, Constance, married Peter, heir to the throne of Aragon. 

The successor Pope to Innocent, however, Urban IV, had not given up on puppeteering in Sicily, and named Charles of Anjou as the man who should be king of Sicily. Charles was cold, cruel, and vastly ambitious, and recognized an opportunity when he saw one. He was crowned King of Sicily in Rome in 1266 by Urban's successor, Clement IV. Charles then invaded and chased out Manfred. 

With this event, the Hohenstaufen line, and Sicily's golden age, was truly ended.  

The Angevin (Anjou family) line showed little interest in Sicily, concentrating more attention on the mainland, but the Sicilians weren't so easy to ignore. They revolted in 1267, and were promptly put back into place. But the severity of the repression left a lingering resentment. Administration of the island was heavy-handed, with landowners needing to prove their ownership. This was difficult for many and if it wasn't done satisfactorily, the land was confiscated and handed out to the new King's friends, all Frenchmen. In what would become a recurring theme, the Sicilians lost out. 

In general, Sicily remained neglected, and the Sicilians themselves could only conclude that they belonged to an obscure and unimportant province that their ruler could not be bothered to care about.  

The Sicilian Vespers  Here we find one John of Procida. A native of Salerno, he had been the personal physician of Frederick when he died. He appealed to Peter of Aragon to overthrow the Angevins. By 1282, the Angevins were pretty thoroughly detested, both for the severity of their taxation and their general arrogance. The incident that precipitated John of Procida's call to overthrow the Angevins was what has come to be called the Sicilian Vespers. When a drunk French sergeant hit on a Sicilian woman on March 30, 1282 as the bells were ringing for Vespers, her husband's pent-up anger boiled over into beating the sergeant, which boiled over to a murder. The Sicilian crowd's anger then boiled over and the murder led to a riot, the riot to a massacre, and by morning, 2000 French were dead. Ya gotta be careful about riling up Sicilians. The rising spread and on August 30, Peter of Aragon and his army landed at the far northwestern city of Trapani. 

By September, Charles was driven back to the northeastern corner of the island at Messina and was forced to recognize that the Spanish conquest was basically a done-deal.  

But Charles was a stubborn bastard and refused to recognize the legitimacy, and actually challenged Peter to settle up mano a mano in a duel. Charles being 55, and Peter only 40, they decided it would be more fair that each would be accompanied by 100 knights. The day was set, but they forgot to set a particular time. 

In a comic scenario, the "fight" went something like this: Peter showed up early in the day, and finding no French, declared them cowards and himself the victor by forfeiture. Later in the day, the French showed up and finding no Spaniards, declared the Spaniards cowards and themselves the victors by forfeiture. I guess they at least saved face and lives this way. 

But neither side giving an inch, the Regno was split with Charles remaining King of "Sicily" in Naples, and Peter calling himself king of Sicily in Palermo. This is the initiation of "The Two Sicilies". 

Charles died in 1285. He had neglected Sicily. The Sicilians had pissed him off with their stubborn rebellion, and he had become bored with them, considering them poor, unprofitable, and therefore useless to him. Moreover, he thought they were a mongrel race of Latin, Greek and Arab, and therefore not to be taken seriously as a people. 

Charles II was the heir, but he was being held in prison. The Angevin Kings in France still wished to recover Sicily, and the Papacy was looking after its own prestige, having granted Sicily to the Angevins. 

Sicilians, on the other hand, preferred Spanish rule, but this had a consequence: it cut them off from Naples, AND... the burgeoning Italian renaissance, which would subsequently largely pass over Sicily. 

The Aragonese, James "the Just" was proclaimed King of Sicily in 1286. He sought Pope Honorius' blessing and was promptly rewarded for his efforts with excommunication. Honorius then, to add injury to insult, ordered an invasion of Sicily in 1287... which was a disaster.  

A number of years passed in which the decisions about who would govern/rule Sicily were made without any concern for the Sicilians themselves. But this was so standard, and would continue to be so, that most of the history of Sicily is really the history of decisions about its government made elsewhere. The machinations behind the scenes are byzantine, and frankly, have little to do with Sicily, so I'm not going to bother to even write them down here. 

In 1301, the treaty of Caltabellota was signed: The Angevins would withdraw from Sicily, and Frederick would call himself King of Trinacria (the ancient Greek name for Sicily) rather than King of Sicily, so that the Angevins could still call themselves kings of Sicily. This is a prime example of European monarchy BS, so that each could feel a little less butt-hurt be the loss of land, by retaining a title. 

The Sicilians themselves didn't care too much about which of these foreigners called themselves whatever, as long as said foreigners didn't inflict themselves on the island itself. The Sicilians had suffered a lot since the Vespers 20 years prior, but they were steadfast on this one point: they would not accept French rule. 

[sasa-chans-random-history]

January 05

[1855] King Camp Gillette, American inventor and first manufacturer of a razor with disposable blades, was born.

[1931] Robert Duvall, American award-winning actor and filmmaker, born in San Diego, California.

[1934] Eddy Pieters Graafland OON, Dutch football goalkeeper, born in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

[1938] Piet Kruiver, Dutch footballer, born in Koog aan de Zaan, Netherlands.

[1938] Juan Carlos I, King of Spain (1975-2014), born in Rome, Italy.

[1946] Diane Keaton, American actress, born in Los Angeles, California.

[1951] Steve Arnold, English footballer, born in Willesden, London.

[1960] Glenn Strömberg, Swedish footballer, born in Lundby Gothenburg, Sweden.

[1965] Vinnie Jones, English-born Welsh footballer and actor, born in Watford, United Kingdom.

[1969] Marilyn Manson, American shock-rock singer-songwriter, artist and actor, born in Canton, Ohio.

[1975] Bradley Cooper, American actor, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

[1976] Diego Tristán, Spanish footballer, born in La Algaba, Spain.

[1978] January Jones, American actress and model, born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

[1979] Ronnie O'Brien, Irish footballer, born in Bray, County Wicklow.

[1986] Teppei Koike, Japanese actor and singer, born in Osaka Prefecture, Japan.

[1989] Krisztián Németh, Hungarian football striker, born in Győr, Hungary.

[1066] Edward the Confessor, King of England (1042-66) and the last King from the House of Wessex, dies at around 60 to 63.

[1286] Zhenjin, Crown Prince of the Mongol Empire, dies at 43.

[1387] Pedro IV, King of Aragon/conqueror of Sicily, dies at 67.

[1448] Christopher of Bavaria, King of Denmark (1440-48), Norway (1441-48) and Sweden (1442-48), dies suddenly at 31.

[1477] Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (1467-77), killed in the Battle of Nancy by Swiss mercenaries at 43.

[1589] Catherine de' Medici, Italian born Queen Consort to King Henry II of France and later regent to her sons, dies at 69.

[1762] Elizabeth of Russia, Empress of Russia (1741-62) and daughter of Peter the Great, dies at 52.

[1827] Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany, second son of King George III of Great Britain, died.

[1929] Nicholas Nikolaevich Romanov, Grand Duke of Russia and General in World War I (1914-18), dies at 72.

[2014] Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, Portuguese footballer, dies from heart failure at 71.

[2018] Antonio Valentín Angelillo, Italian-Argentinian footballer dies at 80.

[2019] Dragoslav Šekularac, Serbian footballer dies at 81.

[2020] Hans Tilkowski, German football goalkeeper, dies at 84.

[2021] Colin Bell, English football midfielder, dies at 74.

[docpiplup]

A guide through the monarchs of Aragon in La Catedral del mar & Los Herederos de la tierra

@asongofstarkandtargaryen

During the series the role of the members of the monarchy is secondary, but they are used to help to establish a concrete historical context and they're very determinant in the situation of the Puig and Entanyol families involving political estrategies of supporting this or that king, that gave them benefits or dacay (Arnau's rise with Pedro IV, Genís & Roger rise with Juan I and Martín I and Bernat with Fernando I). So, I wanted to make a recopilation of the monarchs shown during these series and their families.

House of Aragon/ House of Barcelona (descendants of the Jimena dinasty)

The Jimena dinasty is called like that because its origin was Jimeno "the Strong", grandfather of Eneko Arizta, and one of its branches was the Arista-Iñiga dinasty started by Eneko.

Eneko, his son García Iñiguez and his grandson Fortún Garcés were Lords of Pamplona, Fortún Garcés married Awriya bint Lubb ibn Musa (great-grandaughter of Musa the Great), and one of their daughters was Oneka Fortúnez, who married Abd Allah I of Cordoba (their son was Muhammad, who fathered the calipha Abd al-Rahman III with a basque woman called Muzna) and then Oneka married Aznar Sánchez de Larraún, and had a daughter with him, Toda Aznárez. Toda married Sancho Garcés I, the truly first king of Pamplona, was Sancho Garcés I (the first king of the Jimena dinasty).

Sancho Garcés III (992-1036) was king of Pamplona, Count of Aragon and king consort of Castile, whose bastard son with Sancha de Aibar, Ramiro I, inherited the counties of Aragon, Sobarbe and Ribagorza, and united them to form the kingdom of Aragon.

Then Petronila I (1136-1173), Ramiro I's great-grandaughter, married Ramón Berenguer IV count of Barcelona. Their son Alfonso II of Aragon was the first king of the Crown of Aragon and Pedro IV's great-great- great-grandfather.

In summary all the Aragonese monarchs are descedants of Eneko Arizta (and that's the way we can link Irati with LCDM/LHDLT)

Pedro IV

Pedro IV of Aragon, II of Valencia and I of Mallorca (Balaguer, Lleida, Catalonia, September 5, 1319 - Barcelona, Catalonia, January 5, 1387), called "the Ceremonious" or the Punyalet ('the one with the dagger', due to a dagger he used to carry), son of Alfonso IV of Aragon and Teresa de Entenza.

King of Aragon, Valencia and Mallorca (1344-1387); Duke of Athens (1380-1387) and Neopatria (1377-1387); count of Barcelona (1336-1387) and of Ampurias (1386-1387).

In 1338 he married María de Navarra (1326-1347), daughter of Felipe III and Juana II of Navarra. Offspring:

Constanza (1343-1363), married in 1361 to Federico III of Sicily, and Juana (1344-1385), married in 1373 with Juan I de Ampurias.

In 1347 he married Leonor of Portugal (1328-1348), daughter of Alfonso IV of Portugal. She died the following year of the Black Death.

In 1349 he married Eleanor of Sicily (1325-1375), daughter of Pedro II of Sicily. Offspring:

Juan I (1350-1396), Martin I (1356-1410) and Leonor (1358-1382), married to Juan I of Castile. Leonor was the mother of Fernando I of Aragon.

In 1377 he married Sibila de Fortiá, daughter of the Empordà nobleman Berenguer de Fortiá. Offspring:

Isabel (1380–1424), who married Jaime II of Urgel, future suitor for the aragonese crown.

During his reign the Aragonese expansionism in the Mediterranean continued, focused on southern Italy and Greece.

Although he was ally of Alfonso XI, Pedro IV had a great rivalry with his son Pedro I of Castile and fought against him in some conflicts, like the War of the two Pedros (1356-1369) and the first Castilian Civil War (1351-1369), in which Pedro I was supported by Pedro I of Portugal (one of his bastard sons, Juan I of Portugal, was the founder and first king of the Avis dinasty) and Muhammad V of Granada, and Pedro IV supported the bastard children of Alfonso XI with his lover Leonor de Guzmán (Pedro de Aguilar, Sancho Alfonso, Fadrique Alfonso, Enrique II of Castile, Fernando Alfonso, Tello, Juan Alfonso, Juana Alfonso, Sancho and Pedro Alfonso), who started several revolts against Pedro I of Castile. The wars ended when Enrique killed Pedro I, and he became the first king of Castile of the Trastamara dinasty.

Sibila de Fortiá

Sibila de Fortiá (Fortiá, Girona, Catalonia, 1350 - Barcelona, Catalonia, 1406), queen consort of the Crown of Aragon (1377-1387). She was the daughter of Berenguer de Fortiá and his wife Francesca de Vilamarí. In 1371 she married for the first time Artal de Foces, an Aragonese nobleman, whom she widowed in 1374, and then she the lover of Pedro IV and had a daughter with him, Isabel.Pedro and Sibila married in 1377. After the wedding, Pedro surrounded himself with Empordà nobles as well as Sibila's relatives.

Pedro IV was very ill at the end of the year 1386, and Sibila, fearful of the wrath of the future King Juan, fled to the castle of San Martín de Sarroca (Barcelona), which belonged to her brother Bernat de Fortiá. There she was imprisoned by Juan I, who treated her harshly, accusing her of abandoning the king on his deathbed and of several robberies in the palace. She was confined in the castle of Moncada (Barcelona) until she renounced his property granted by the king. Finally, Sibila retired to the convent of San Francisco in Barcelona, ​​where she died in 1406.

Juan I

Juan I of Aragon, called the Hunter or the Lover of All Kindness (Perpignan, Occitania, France, 1350 - Torroella de Montgrí, Girona, Catalonia, 1396), King of Aragon, Valencia, Mallorca, Sardinia and Corsica, and Count of Barcelona, ​​Roussillon and Cerdanya ( 1387-1396). Son of Pedro IV and Leonor of Sicily.

His first marriage was with Marta de Armagnac (1347-1378), daughter of Count Juan I de Armagnac. With whom he had: Jaime (1374), Juana, (1375-1407) who married Mateo, Count of Foix. After the death of her father, she claimed the throne with her husband, but they were defeated; Juan (1376), Alfonso (1377) and Leonor (1378).

Widowed, Juan married Violante de Bar (1365-1431), daughter of Robert I, Duke of Bar. Offspring:

Jaime Duke of Girona (1382-1388), Yolanda, who married Louis II of Anjou, titular king of Naples. Their son, Luis III, claimed the throne after the death of Martín I, in the engagement of Caspe; Fernando Duke of Girona (1389), Antonia (1391-1392), Juan Duke of Girona (1392-1396), Eleanor (1393), Pedro Duke of Girona (1394) and Juan (1396)

Martin I

Martin I of Aragon, also called the Human or the Old (Girona, July 29, 1356-Barcelona, ​​May 31, 1410), was king of Aragon, of Valencia, of Majorca, of Sardinia and count of Barcelona (1396-1420) and king of Sicily (1409-1410). Second son of Pedro IV of Aragon and his third wife Leonor of Sicily.

Martín was called "the Human" because of his great passion for the Humanities and books. The library of Martín I is the first that could be considered from Renaissance, if at that time in the history of the Iberian peninsula the term can already be used.

Martin married in 1372 with Maria de Luna, daughter of Lope, the first count of Luna, in 1374. From this union they were born:

Jaime (1378), Juan (1380) and Margarita (1388) and Martin I of Sicily "the Younger" (1376-1409), first husband of Blanca I of Navarra.

When Martin the Younger died, Martin married Margarita de Frades, although they left no issue.

His entire reign was marked by the Western Schism that divided Christianity since 1378. He was a supporter of the popes of Avignon (where he went the year of his coronation to swear allegiance to Benedict XIII "the Pope Luna", Pedro Martínez de Luna y Pérez de Gotor, with whom it seems that he came to establish a friendly relationship ), from whom he obtained support in his claims over the kingdom of Sicily against the Anjou, supporters of the popes of Rome. In 1400, he would marry his niece Yolanda to Louis II of Anjou in order to defuse tensions. He met in Avignon with the antipope Benedict XIII, Aragonese and a relative of the queen, with the intention of reaching a solution to the schism and, later, in 1403 he intervened militarily against the siege that Benedict suffered in his papal seat, rescuing him and welcoming him in Peñíscola .

House of Trastamara (the Aragonese branch)

Fernando I

Ferdinand I of Aragon (Medina del Campo, Valladolid, Castile and Leon, November 27, 1380-Igualada, April 2, 1416), also called Fernando de Trastámara and Fernando de Antequera, the Just and the Honest, was an infant of Castile, king of Aragon, Valencia, Mallorca, Sardinia, Count of Barcelona (1412-1416), and regent of Castile (1406-1415), during the minority of Juan II of Castile. Son of Juan I of Castile and Leonor of Aragon.

He was the first Aragonese monarch of the Castilian dynasty of the Trastámara, although he was of Aragonese origin on his mother's side.

He married Leonor de Alburquerque

Alfonso the Magnanimous (Medina del Campo, 1394-1458), king of Aragon, with the name of Alfonso V, and of Naples and Sicily, with the name of Alfonso I.

María de Aragón (Medina del Campo, 1396-1445), first wife of Juan II of Castile and mother of Enrique V of Castile

Juan II (Medina del Campo, 1397-1479), King of Aragon and King consort of Navarre.

Enrique (1400-Calatayud, 1445), II Duke of Villena, III Count of Alburquerque, Count of Ampurias, Grand Master of the Order of Santiago.

Leonor (1402-1445), who married Eduardo I of Portugal. Mother of Alfonso V of Portugal, Juana of Portugal (Enrique IV's second wife) and Leonor of Portugal, who married Frederick III of Habsburg (they were parents of emperor Maximilian I of Austria)

Pedro (1406-1438), IV Count of Alburquerque, Duke of Noto.

Sancho (1400-1416)

Alfonso V

Alfonso V of Aragon (Medina del Campo, 1396 – Naples, June 27, 1458), also called the Wise or the Magnanimous, king of Aragon, of Valencia, of Majorca, of Sicily, of Sardinia and Count of Barcelona (1426-1458); and King of Naples (1446-1458).

Alfonso V can be considered as a genuine prince of the Renaissance, since he developed an important cultural and literary patronage that earned him the nickname of the Wise and that would make Naples the main focus of the entry of Renaissance humanism in the sphere of the Crown of Aragon.

From his relationship with his lover Giraldona de Carlino, a napolitan noblewoman, he had three children:

Fernando (1423-1494), his successor in the kingdom of Naples under the name Fernando I.

Maria (1425-1449), married to Lionel, Marquis of Este and Duke of Ferrara.

Leonor, or Diana Eleonora (?-1450), married the nobleman Marino Marzano, Prince of Rossano.

Maria of Castile

María of Castile (Segovia, Castile and Leon, November 14, 1401-Valencia, October 4, 1458). Infanta of Castile, Princess of Asturias (1402-1405) and Queen of Aragon (1416-1458) for her marriage to Alfonso the Magnanimous. First daughter of Enrique III "the Mourner" and Catherine of Lancaster. Sister of Juan II of Castile, untie of Enrique IV and Isabel I.

The marriage between María and Alfonso is celebrated in the Cathedral of Valencia on October 12, 1415. The ceremony was officiated by the antipope Benedict XIII, who also granted the matrimonial dispensation for the wedding.

In 1420, when the king left for Naples for the first time, he left the government of his kingdoms in the hands of Maria as lieutenant general. The absence of the Magnanimous would last three years, during which María had to face the rapid deterioration of the economic situation in Catalonia, the territorial struggle with the Castilian Crown, as well as the conflicts of a social nature that shook her in different kingdoms. On his return to Aragon in 1423, Alfonso V began the war with Castile, along with his brother King Juan of Navarra. But her financial resources were exhausted and in 1429 Queen María had to act as a mediator between her husband and her brother, King Juan II of Castile, to put an end to the dispute. However, Alfonso's situation did not improve, due to the recession suffered by the Catalan economy and the social conflicts caused by it. The Courts of Barcelona in 1431 demanded from the king a series of measures to correct the enormous deficit of the Catalan treasury and trade. But Alfonso, fed up with these matters, returned to Italy and gave full powers to the queen as ruler of Aragon; he left the Iberian Peninsula forever on May 29, 1432. This marked Alfonso V's final break with the Crown of Aragon, which, however, he never renounced.

+ Bonus track (although he doesn't appear in this series)

Juan II

Juan II of Aragon and Navarra, the Great, or the Faithless according to the Catalan rebels who rose up against him (Medina del Campo, June 29, 1398-Barcelona, ​​January 20, 1479) was Duke of Peñafiel, King of Navarre (1425-1479), King of Sicily (1458-1468) and King of Aragon, Mallorca, Valencia, Sardinia (1458-1479) and Count of Barcelona, ​​son of Ferdinand I of Aragon and Leonor de Albuquerque.

From his first marriage to Blanca I of Navarra (daughter of Leonor of Castile and Carlos III of Navarra):

Carlos (1421-1461), Prince of Viana and Girona, Duke of Gandia and Montblanch, titular King of Navarra as Carlos IV (1441–1461), married Agnes of Cleves. He wrote the 'Chronicles of the Monarchs of Navarra', about the history of his antecessors, from Eneko Arizta in the 8th century up to the 15th century.

Juan (1423-1425)

Blanca of Navarra (1424-1464), first wife of Enrique IV of Castile

Leonor (1425-1479), married to Gastón IV de Foix, Queen of Navarre under the name of Leonor I.

From his second marriage to Juana Enríquez:

Leonor of Aragon (1448)

Fernando II (1452-1516), king iure uxoris of Castile (1474-1504) and then regent between 1507 and 1516, under the name of Fernando V due to his marriage to Isabel I, king of Sicily (as Fernando II, 1468-1516), Aragon and Sardinia (as Fernando II, 1479-1516), Naples (as Fernando III, 1504-1516), and from Navarra (as Fernando I, 1512-1516)

Juana (1455-1517), second wife of Fernando I of Naples. Her daughter Juana married Fernando II of Naples (Fernando I of Naples' grandson)

During his youth, Juan fought in the Castilian-Aragonese war (1429-30) and the Castilian Civil War (1437-1445) in the Aragonese team against Juan II of Castile, his son Enrique and the Constable Álvaro de Luna (favourite of Juan II), due to the Aragonese political influences in Castile and the full control that Álvaro de Luna had over Juan II of Castile that allowed him to become very powerful, so some members of the Castilian nobility wanted to remove Álvaro out of Juan II side because of that, and the Aragonese reacted to the anti-aragonese convictons of Álvaro.

Álvaro de Luna arranged a new marriage between Juan II of Castile and Isabel of Portugal (mother of Isabel I) in 1447. The constable intended with this dynastic alliance to strengthen the political ties that united Castile and Portugal against the common enemy: the Catalan-Aragonese Crown, but from 1449, Isabella of Portugal indirectly supported the maneuvers of the Great League of Nobles (allies of the Aragonese) formed against the constable. But it would not be until 1453 when Juan II of Castile, possibly tired of the continuous pressure from the aristocracy, left Álvaro on his own. It has often been said that it was the queen herself who demanded that her husband signed the prison order against Álvaro, through Juan Pacheco, Marquis of Villena.

By 1441 Blanca I de Navarra died and Juan II married the daughter of Fadrique Enríquez (one of his Castilian allies, the admiral of Castile), Juana Enríquez y Fernández de Córdoba.

After the death of Blanca I, a dispute between Juan II and Carlos de Viana about the sucession for the Navarrese throne. Juan was king Iure uxoris of Navarre and wanted to be keep his position as king, but Carlos and his supporters claimed that the prince was the rightful king as firstborn son of the queen and in 1451 the Navarrese civil war started.

In the following years the tension between Juan and Carlos increased with the birth of Fernando, who was pushed by his mother Juana to be the heir of Aragon and Navarra, which Juan later accepted. This change in the sucession was not accepted in Catalonia, that supported Carlos de Viana birthrights, and they started a rebellion against Juan II.

Other supporter of Carlos was Enrique IV, who offered his sister Isabel to Carlos in marriage as a sign of their alliance, but the wedding never happened.

Carlos died in 1461, although the war didn't ended because the Catalan nobility proposed other suitors for the Crown of Aragon and the Principality of Catalonia, like Enrique IV, Pedro of Portugal (grandson of Jaime II of Urgell) and Renato de Anjou during the Catalan civil war, that ended in 1472.

It's interesting that the interesting that the current situation of the Estanyol family at the end of Los Herederos de la tierra is that there are two brothers from different mothers, and whose father have benefited one of them over the other, so it may lead to tensions from the part that was not benefited, Arnau Jr is the main heir in Bernat's will, so maybe in the future Marta Destorrent will try to pit her son Baltasar against his elder brother to take Arnau Jr's place. By period of time I find very likely that this happens during the reigns Maria of Castile and Juan II, and the situation of the Estanyol succession could parallel the Carlos de Viana-Fernando II problem, although in this case the younger son was the benefited one and the one who inherited his father's kingdoms and maybe the Estanyols are part of the Catalan nobility that defended Carlos' birthrights, although some other Catalan nobles supported Juan II & Fernando alongside of peasants and smallfolk, during the First Remensa War during the Catalan civil war.

The Remensa War consisted in revolts organised by peasants who wanted to end the servitude to which their feudal lords had subjected them, so I think that probably the Estanyol-Llor family would support the peasants because of their backgrounds.

[armthearmour]

A beautiful cavalry armor for King Ferdinand V of Aragon and Sicily, Italian & Spanish, 1490-1500, housed at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

[blueiscoool]

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Nemean Lion Parade Helmet, 1541

Made by Filippo Negroli in Milan. Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien.

Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (Castile and Aragon) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy from 1506 to 1555. As he was head of the rising House of Habsburg during the first half of the 16th century, his dominions in Europe included the Holy Roman Empire, extending from Germany to northern Italy with direct rule over the Austrian hereditary lands and the Burgundian Low Countries, and a unified Spain with its southern Italian kingdoms of Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia. Furthermore, his reign encompassed both the long-lasting Spanish and the short-lived German colonization of the Americas. The personal union of the European and American territories of Charles V was the first collection of realms labelled "the empire on which the Sun never sets".

[ama-factkin]

Factkin FAQ: (Updated)

What does factkin mean?

To identify partially or fully on some level as a factual person who exists/existed. Having a kintype that is a real person.

Why is it always someone famous?

Short answer: It's not.

Long answer: When I was having memories of being some kind of African wildcat, but none of the species I knew about were quite right, I deduce that I was experiencing cameo shifts. Until the day I found out about servals. it's a lot easier to identify feelings when they're surrounding something you know about rather than something you don't.

Isn't that just identity theft?

Short answer: Not even a little.

Long answer: Identity theft is a serious crime, it involves taking someone's personal identification and using it often for financial gain. I am not hitchhiking all the way to Edgar Allan Poe's house to claim to the museum operators that I should take ownership of it. I'm not hiking all the way over to Sicily to tell them that I should become their king again because I was Peter III of Aragon in a parallel life. I'm not looking for my facttype's social security numbers so I can go to the bank and take out all their money, and I'm not hacking into anyone's social media so I can pose as them to the general public.

All this bs you see about "I'm the REAL ______, and I'm taking credit for all their accomplishments! I stalk them online and harass them but it's okay because they're me!" Is all trolling. Those are people who heard the word "factkin" and instinctively went "m u s t m o c k." They're not your friends either, since they most likely do this with any other kind of otherkinity too.

Stalkers exist. Identity thieves exist But saying that someone must be a stalker because they're factkin is like saying all wolfkin must like hunting and all plantkin must hate lawnmowers. It's obvious troll BS. You can't blame all of someone's behaviour on a kintype.

Wasn't it coined by trolls?

I don't think so! I think it was just popularized by them.

Trolls naturally latch onto what they perceive to be the weakest link of any community they want to harm. So the fact that factkin aren't totally accepted by the general otherkin community made them a great target.

But regardless, real people find it an honestly helpful and comforting label, so why should trolls have any impact on that?

What if someone told you they didn't want to be your kintype?

My kintypes are not voluntary, and most of them are not currently alive. However, if one told me "hey this makes me uncomfortable," I'd stop being public about the identity while still having it privately. That's the best I can do.

How does that work?

The exact same way any other kintypes work! I have shifts and memories, and on a spiritual level, I feel that I am partially my facttypes!

Factkin doesn't fit my idea of how otherkinity works.

Tough! It's not all about you, partner! We all experience our identities differently. There is no one idea of how otherkinity works.

How can I identify trolls?

They claim to stalk their facttype and mislead fans about who they really are.

They claim to personally take credit for all their kintype's actions and accomplishments in their everyday life.

How can I learn more?

Just ask! I don't mind questions, and many other factkin don't mind them either!

[earthstory]

Europe's oldest chestnut tree Known as the Hundred Horse tree, it has been gracing the eastern slopes of Europe's most active volcano (Etna in Sicily) for somewhere between two and four thousand years, meaning that it was certainly around when Julius Ceasar had his moment of doubt and pain on the senate steps, and possibly even before the events depicted in the Iliad and the Odyssey. It has survived so long despite being only 8km from the volcano's main crater.

The name may be misleading, since it comes from a legend attached to the tree whereby Joan of Aragon (then queen of Naples) was supposed to have hidden under its leafy bowers during a thunderstorm with her full escort of a hundred armoured knights sometime in the early 1500's. It is in fact a sweet rather than a horse chestnut, the flour from which was a staple of poor people's bread right up until recent times. Only since the second world war have people in my part of rural France stopped eating them (along with swedes and rutabagas), since they were forced to eat nothing but during the German occupation (though I still gather a few kilos every year for stews and bakes). Its girth was measured at a world record holding 57.9 metres in 1780, though since then the trunk has split into several, giving the illusion of several trees. Once upon a time a house was even built into its structure. Loz Image credit: Lucky Lisp/Wikipedia/ Castagno dei cento cavalli, Jean-Pierre Houël from Voyage pittoresque des Isles de Sicile, de Malte et de Lipari, Paris, 1782. http://bit.ly/1JnIlXa

[gardenofkore]

"I am Manfredi, grandson to the Queen Costanza: whence I pray thee, when return'd, To my fair daughter go, the parent glad Of Aragonia and Sicilia's pride; And of the truth inform her, if of me Aught else be told. [...]

Look therefore if thou canst advance my bliss; Revealing to my good Costanza, how Thou hast beheld me, and beside the terms Laid on me of that interdict; for here By means of those below much profit comes.

Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, Purgatory, III, 112-117 & 141-145   

Costanza was born around 1249 to Manfredi of Sicily and his first wife Beatrice of Savoy ("et filiam suam Constantiam, quam ex prima consorte sua Beatrice filiam quondam A. Comitis Sabaudiae"). The exact date is unknown, but historian Saba Malaspina attests that when she was born, her grandfather was still alive (“imperatore vivente"). As for the place, it might have been one of the Apulian castles where the Emperor settled down in the last period of his life.

Her wet nurse was Bella d’Amico, mother of admiral Roger of Lauria. Bella, while she was alive, never parted from Costanza, acting like a mother and confidante, especially since Beatrice of Savoy, Manfredi’s first wife, had died when her daughter was just months old.

Nothing is known about Costanza’s childhood. She’s first mentioned when Berthold von Hohenburg asked for her hand on behalf of his nephew Januarius, son of his brother Diepold VIII. Berthold had married Isotta Lancia, cousin of Manfredi’s mother Bianca, and certainly intended to deepen his relationship with the Hohenstaufen’s family. Manfredi, on the other hand, was strenghtening his position (to the point he would be crowned on August 1258 King of Sicily, despite the true heir, his nephew Corradino was still very much alive, although far away in Germany) and so he could afford to reject this marriage proposal.

From a princess of low importance (despite the pretentious name which honored her great-grandmother Costanza I), Costanza soon became a valuable asset and, until Manfredi’s second marriage to Epirote princess Elena Angelina Doukaina, her father’s heir. The Sicilian King then started looking for an important match for his daughter, and ended up selecting Peter, son of Aragonese King James I.

Marriage agreements required that Manfredi supplied his daughter of a dowry of 50000 golden ounces (worth in gold, silver and jewels). On the other hand, the Aragonese crown committed to return the dowry to her family if Costanza were to die without heirs. She would also act as regent for her children (until they were 20 years old) in case Peter were to die before her. In addition, the Sicilian princess was given personal ownership of the city of Girona and the castle of Cotlliure.

Still, the future union presented some problems. First of all, that 50000 golden ounces dowry was indeed a large amount. Manfredi had an hard time collecting it (he had to increase taxes and that spread discontent among the population) and a lot of time passed before the Aragonese crown could collect it (alongside with the bride). The Papacy was obviously against this marriage, and Urban IV asked James I to give up to this union to avoid disgracing his House. Furthermore, in order to save the plans of the future marriage between his daughter Isabella and the heir to the French throne, James had to promise King Louis IX to not support Manfredi in his fight against the Papacy, as well as not helping Provençal rebel Bonifaci VI de Castellana against Charles of Anjou (the King’s younger brother).

Despite all the external pressure, James didn’t give up to the Sicilian match and on July 13th 1262, Peter and Costanza got married in the church of Notre-Dame des Tables (Montpellier). The difference between the lavish Hohenstaufen court and the more simple Aragonese one was huge (“And the said King Manfred lived more magnificently that any lord in the world, and with greater doings, and with greater expenditure”), but thanks to the accounting records of the time, we know that James and Peter tried their best to meet Costanza’s need, purchasing large amounts of luxury items. Since the incomes deriving from Girona and Cotlliure weren’t enough, she was given an annual pension worthy of 30000 Real de Valencia (a type of billon coin) which also soon wasn’t enough to cover the expenses. 

Following the death of Manfredi in the Battle of Tagliacozzo (1266) against Charles of Anjou, many of his former supporters (or simply people linked to him, like the former Nicaean Empress as well as his sister Costanza) fled the Kingdom of Sicily and took refuge in Aragon. The death of Corradino (executed in Naples in 1268 by order of Charles after the Battle of Benevento) and the fact that Manfredi’s sons from Helena Doukaina were just children and in French hands (they will die in captivity years later), made Costanza the only legitimate heir to the Sicilian crown. Starting this moment Costanza started being referred as queen (not infanta or madama)��in the documents of the Aragonese Chancellery.

In 1276 James I died, and so Peter was crowned king of Aragon. In the meantime, Costanza had already given birth in 1265 (November 4th) to the firstborn and heir, Alfonso. Followed by another male, James (April 10th 1267), and then Isabella, future Queen consort of Portugal (1271), Frederick (December 13th 1272), Yolanda (1273) and finally Peter (1275). According to historian Muntaner, although it wasn’t a love marriage, Peter and Costanza came to care for each a lot and “there were never was so great love between husband and wife as there was between them, and always had been”.

On Easter 1282, Sicilians started their revolt against the French rule, starting the so called Sicilian Vespers. Peter was quick to reclaim the crown of Sicily and Apulia on behalf of his wife. To the eyes of many Sicilian nobles the King of Aragon could be considered their legitimated master due his marriage to Queen Costanza (”nostre natural senyor, per raho de la regina e de sos fills” ). Before leaving headed for Africa (from where he would launch his invasion of Sicily), Peter named Costanza and their son Alfonso regents of the Kingdom of Aragon during his absence. As soon as he took possession of the island, Peter asked his wife and their children James, Frederick and Yolanda to join him. When the Queen arrived in Trapani in the spring of 1283, she received a warm welcome and was saluted by the people as their natural leader (”cela qui era lur dona natural”;  Bernat Desclot, Llibre del rei en Pere d'Aragó e dels seus antecessors passats, ch. 103).

It is around this period that her strained relationship with lady-in-waiting and de facto second lady of the Island, Macalda di Scaletta (wife of Alaimo da Lentini, Grand Justiciar of the Kingdom of Sicily), was born. Macalda, who is described by historical sources as an ambitious and greedy woman, had tried to seduce Peter of Aragon, but without success. Since the King had declared himself devoted to his wife, the Sicilian baroness developed a burning hate towards her rival, the Queen.

In Messina, Costanza could finally embrance her husband again, but their meeting only lasted three days and it was their last. The King named his wife Regent of the Kingdom of Sicily (“Quant lo rey hac estat ab sa muller e ab sos infants en la ciutat de Mecina, e hac stablit sos balles e sos vicaris per tota Cecilia, si los feu comandament que tots fessen lo manament de la reyna e de son fill En Jaume, axi com perell, e comana la reyna als homens de Cecilia e de Mecina, e sos fills”) and returned to Aragon as his rival, Charles of Anjou, had proposed a trial by combat (who would never take take place) to be ideally fought in Bordeaux to decide the fate of the contended Kingdom. Peter died two years later in Villafranca del Penedès (Catalonia), on November 11th 1285.

Before leaving Sicily, Peter had declared that the Kingdom wouldn’t be merged into the Aragonese-Catalan territories, mantaining his autonomy, and that in thet future the succession of the two reigns would be handled separately, specifically with the Sicilian throne bequeated to the second son (at that time, James, already named Lieutenant of the Realm).

With Peter dead, Costanza didn’t choose to rule over Sicily by herself despite being its titular queen, but, as it had already been decided, relinquished her rights to her second son James (although she would keep managing the island on his behalf), while Alfonso succeeded his father. In accord to the pre-nuptial arrangements, the Dowager Queen supported her teen son in the matter of ruling the Kingdoms he had inherited.

In 1284, Costanza’s milk brother, Roger of Lauria carried out a successful expedition in the Gulf of Naples. The admiral captured Charles of Salerno, the Angevin heir, and took him in Messina, where he was saved by the angry mob thanks to the intervention of the Dowager Queen. During the same raid, Lauria had freed Princess Beatrice of Hohenstaufen, Costanza’s younger half-sister. The Queen soon put her unfortunate sister under her protection, arranging Beatrice’s marriage with Costanza’s half-nephew, Manfredo IV Marquis of Saluzzo. The wedding was celebrated in October 1286 in Messina, and during the celebration the Princess had to give up on her rights to the Sicilian throne.

In 1290 she deployed troops to defend the city of Acre, but given the excommunication of Pope Martin IV against Peter III of Aragon and the Sicilian people, those troops were sent back. The following year, 1291, Acre would be conquered by Mamluk forces.

Also that year, Alfonso III died heirless. James succeeded him as King of Aragon, Valencia and Majorca, Count of Roussillon, Cerdanya and Barcelona, and, in normal circumstances, his brother Frederick would have inherited the Sicilian Crown, but James had other ideas. The new King kept Sicily for himself, naming Frederick Lieutenant of the Realm. The dispossessed Prince then left the Kingdom headed to Sicily, where he joined his mother Costanza.

Her son’s death represented a turning point in her life. Although already a pious woman, she started pondering about a future in the cloister and retired in a Clarisse nunnery she had personally founded in Messina.

In 1295, James signed the Treaty of Anagni, an accord signed by Boniface VIII, James II of Aragon, James II of Majorca, Charles II of Anjou and Philip IV of France, which should have put to an end to the Vespers War. As part of the terms, the King of Aragon had to return the island of Sicily to the Pope (let’s remember the fact that officially, since Norman times, the Kingdom of Sicily was actually one of the Papacy’s many fiefs, and that its lords were just lieutenants), who would in turn give it to Charles of Anjou, in exchange for the annulment of the excommunication weighing over him and the concession of the licentia invadendi (the permission to invade) concerning the islands of Sardinia and Corsica. The treaty required moreover a double dinastic union, James would have married Princess Blanche of Anjou, while her brother Robert was wed to James’ sister Yolanda.

There was someone in particular, though, who wasn’t happy about this settlements. Backed up by the Sicilian population who refused to return under French domination, Infante Frederick was crowned King of Sicily in Palermo on March 25th 1296, de facto nullifyng any attempt to stop the war.

This had a huge impact in his mother’s life. Unlike her son, Costanza had always recognized the Papal authority. By not accepting the treaty’s terms, Frederick had in fact rebelled against the Pope (not mentioning his own brother). Costanza chose then not to support him and, because of this, she had to leave Sicily since, as Papal emissaries put it, if she stayed she could be considered an accomplice (“E madona la regina Costança fo absolta per lo Papa, é tots aquells qui eren de sa companyia , si que tots dies oya missa; que axi ho hach a fer lo Papa, per convinença a les paus quel senyor rey Darago feu ab ell. Per que madona la regina parti de Sicilia ab deu galees , e anassen en Roma per pelegrinatge” in Crónica de Ramon Muntaner, ch CLXXXV).

Together with her longtime supporters, Giovanni da Procida and Roger of Lauria, in february 1297, she traveled to Rome where the Pope had promised to economically support her staying in Rome (although apparently it was a short-lived promise) and where she witnessed her daughter Yolanda’s marriage to Robert of Anjou. In 1299 the Dowager Queen returned to Catalonia and died in Barcelona on April 8th 1302 (“Non sine cordis amaritudine vobis presentibus intimamus quod die Veneris Sancta, quasi in media nocte, serenissima et karissima domina et mater nostra domina Constancia, fidelis recordacionis Aragonum regina, diem clausit extremum, ex quo tanto nos pungit doloris ictus acerbus quanto per eius obitum sentimus nos tante matris solacio destitutos.” in La muerte en la Casa Real de Aragón..., p.20). 

Aside from many donations to various religious houses, in her will (dated february 1st 1299) Queen Costanza would include a small bequest in favor of her son Frederick with the condition he had to make peace with the Pope, observing thus the terms of the Treaty of Anagni.

She was buried wearing the Franciscan habit in the convent of St. Francis in Barcelona (“E a Barcelona ella fina , e lexas a la casa dels frares menors, ab son fill lo rey Nanfos, e muri menoreta vestida ” Crónica de Ramon Muntaner, ch CLXXXV). In 1852 her remains would be moved to Barcelona Cathedral by order of Queen Isabella II of Spain.

Sources

Claramunt Rodríguez Salvador, Alfonso III de Aragón

Corrao Pietro, PIETRO I di Sicilia, III d'Aragona in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 83

Desclot Bernat, Crónica

Ferrer Mallol María Teresa, Constanza de Sicilia

Hinojosa Montalvo José, Jaime II

La Mantia Giuseppe, FEDERICO II d'Aragona, re di Sicilia in Enciclopedia Italiana

La muerte en la Casa Real de Aragón Cartas de condolencia y anunciadoras de fallecimientos (siglos XIII al XVI), ARCHIVO DE LA CORONA DE ARAGÓN

Malaspina Saba, Rerum Sicularum

Muntaner Ramon, Crónica / translation by Lady Goodenough

Sicily/Naples: Counts & Kings

Walter Ingeborg, COSTANZA di Svevia, regina d'Aragona e di Sicilia in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 30

[thetudorslovers]

Yolande of Aragon was an important political figure in France during the final years of the Hundred Years' War. A princess of the small Iberian kingdom of Aragon, Yolande was the daughter of King John I the Hunter. Her mother Yolande de Bar was descended from King John II of France, so Yolande claimed two royal heritages. Her marriage in 1400 to Louis II, duke of Anjou, was an effort to end a traditional feud between the houses of Aragon and Anjou. At first Yolande refused to marry Louis, whom she considered the enemy of her family, but she was eventually convinced that the union was necessary to bring peace between the two states. The marriage was celebrated December 2, 1400, probably in Arles.Despite her misgivings, it turned out to be an excellent match, and Yolande came to love her husband, who shared her intelligence, political ambition, and interests in learning and the arts. They also shared a deep loyalty to the French royal house. Despite her Spanish upbringing, Yolande adopted the interests of Anjou as her own, and came to be one of the French monarchy's most loyal defenders in the chaos of the Hundred Years' War against England and the simultaneous civil war which plagued France. She had five surviving children, born between 1403 and 1414, whose interests she guarded vigilantly against the English and their allies, the Burgundians.

In addition to being duke of Anjou, Louis II was count of Provence, Maine, Guise, and Lorraine, and king of Sicily. He also had various claims to rule over Naples, Jerusalem, Majorca, and Cyprus. When he left Anjou to try to establish his rule in Naples in 1410, Yolande remained in their capital of Angers. She was named lieutenant-general for the duke, meaning that she could act in all capacities for him during his absence. She therefore ruled as regent of Anjou and their smaller provinces. When rebels in Provence tried to take advantage of Louis' absence and staged an insurrection in 1411, Yolande wasted no time in bringing an army to quell the revolt. Following this victory, she learned that her father had died and that some of her Spanish relatives were disputing her inheritance in Aragon, so she hastened with her army across the Pyrenees to defend her patrimony.

In 1413, Yolande became directly involved in the politics of the royal house of Valois, which at the time was led by the queen, Isabeau of Bavaria . The queen and Yolande were longtime political rivals. In the war against the English, Yolande favored peace, but not at the cost of dethroning the insane King Charles VI, or ceding any territory to the English. Isabeau had few loyalties to the weakened French monarchy, even though she was queen of France and her children were its heirs, and wanted to align herself with the English and their allies, the house of Burgundy. Isabeau had decided to break off the betrothal between her daughter Catherine of Valois and Yolande's son, and marry Catherine into the house of Burgundy instead. Yolande was outraged that Isabeau would align herself with the enemies of France, and to compensate for her loss, she offered one of her daughters, Marie of Anjou , as a bride for the queen's sickly youngest son, Charles. Queen Isabeau agreed to the proposed marriage and even allowed Yolande to take Charles to Anjou to raise. Yolande became a loving foster mother for the boy, gaining a positive influence over him which would never wane.In 1417, Charles unexpectedly became heir to the throne on the death of his older brother. Queen Isabeau demanded that Yolande send Charles to her in Paris; Yolande refused, knowing that he would become the pawn of his mother's English allies. A few weeks later Duke Louis of Anjou died suddenly. Despite her mourning, Yolande refused to withdraw from public life and ruled as regent of Anjou for her son, now Louis III, as well as devoting herself to the education of the new dauphin. To bolster his authority, Yolande convinced the king to sign an act naming the dauphin Charles lieutenant-general of the realm.

When Charles VI died in 1422 and the infant king Henry VI of England was proclaimed king of France, the duchess encouraged the irresolute dauphin to fight for his throne. Believing that the French and Burgundians had to unite to repel the English, the duchess then negotiated a peace treaty with the duke of Burgundy. Yolande was also instrumental in the success of Joan of Arc when the girl first arrived at Yolande's court at Chinon, asking to lead Charles' troops against the English. It was Charles' mother-in-law who insisted that he meet with Joan, recognizing the Maid's potential for stirring popular resistance to the English. Yolande also arranged for the interrogations by the king's councillors and church leaders which confirmed Joan's sincerity, and the duchess' ladies examined Joan to verify her virginity. When Charles was persuaded to let Joan lead his army, Yolande directed the gathering of troops and the military preparations for Joan's battle against the English at Orléans.

Even after Charles' coronation in 1429, Yolande remained active in the struggle to unite the French factions and end the English occupation of France. Respected for her political moderation and diplomatic skill, she negotiated a peace treaty with the duke of Brittany in 1431, and intervened in the civil war between two of Charles' advisors, presiding over the peace settlement.

Around 1435 Yolande, age 56, finally curtailed most of her political involvement and retired to a quiet life in Paris. However, she did not withdraw from politics altogether, and remained an important advisor to her son-in-law and daughter Marie of Anjou until her death in November 1442, at age 63.

[we-are-knight]

Famous Knights of History: Jacques de Lalaing

There’s not many people I’d compare to being a “European Musashi”, but this is a grand exception.

Enter, Jacques de Lalaing.

Jacques de Lalaing, the bon chevalier, a renowned jouster and military commander in the service of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, died in 1453, aged only thirty-two, at the siege of Poeke during the Ghent War. Some twenty years after his death, the Livre des faits de Jacques de Lalaing was commissioned to record his deeds.

Known for dueling pretty much everyone he could reasonably pit himself against, here’s some highlights of his storied life:

By the age of 20, he had distinguished himself at a number of tournaments. In the same year (on 22 November 1443), he accompanied the forces of the Duke of Burgundy as they made a surprise assault on the city of Luxembourg. Assembling 3 hours before daylight, they used scaling ladders to climb the city walls. Once inside, they headed toward the town square. At this point, says the chronicle, the burgers of Luxembourg issued from their houses, clad in armor and armed with staff weapons. Jacques was in the thick of the fighting, where he "...accomplished many magnificent feats of arms with both the lance and the sword. To see him, striking right and left, those who saw him could not but marvel."

Two years later, (1445) Jacques de Lalaing took part in a tournament at Nancy (in Lorraine) before the King of France, the King of Aragon and Sicily, and the assembled nobility of France. From his first encounter, Jacques was victorious. "For," as the chronicle says, "above all else, he knew the business of arms." Striking his first opponent squarely in the middle of the shield with his lance, Jacques "carried both man and horse so rudely to the ground that both the destrier and the man who rode him were stunned." His opponent was unable to continue the combat. He defeated his second opponent by striking him in the eye-slits of his helmet with his lance, ripping it off of his head. The second knight was too stunned to continue. The crowd was apparently quite impressed with this.

Striking a man in the most vulnerable part of the helmet? Not killing him? Yanking off his helmet in front of everyone? Not hard to imagine why everyone was impressed!

Later in life, when fighting his Pas De Armes:

Later, in Bruges, he fought an English squire, named Thomas, with pole-arms. The squire had brought a pole-arm he favored, but the judges were reluctant to let him use it. It was heavy, larger than most, and wickedly sharp.   Thomas whined that it was unfair, and he would be at a disadvantage using a weapon he was unfamiliar with. ​   Jacques couldn't be bothered to care. He allowed Thomas to use the illegal weapon, and they started the match. The squire swung at him with the back-spike, impaling Jacque's wrist, but it barely slowed the knight down. He beat the squire senseless, blood dripping from his mangled wrist. Even Thomas' illegally sharp and heavy pole-arm couldn't save him from the skill and savage tenacity of Jacques de Lalaing.

Later, as his Wikipedia article will tell you:

(God, such goals).

He also went to Scotland and fought members of the Douglas family:

In 1449, Jacques de Lalaing traveled to Stirling, Scotland, to fight with members of the Douglas clan before the King of Scotland. This was to be a combat of six. On the side of Hainault were Jacques, his uncle Simon de Lalaing, and a squire from Brittany named Herve de Meriadec. On the Scottish side were James Douglas (brother of the Earl of Douglas), another James Douglas, and John Ross of Halket. The combat took place on 25 February 1449. A crowd of five or six thousand gathered to watch.

Under the agreed-upon terms, the combat was to take place on foot, armed with spear, polaxe, sword, and dagger. At the request of the Scots, the throwing of spears was forbidden. The combat was fought with sharp weapons, and was to continue until stopped by the king. Each combatant was allowed to help his companions.

Jacques and his companions agreed in advance that as soon as the combat began, they would discard their spears and switch to their polaxes. When the combat began, they followed their plan; the Scots retained their spears.

Jacques came against James Douglas (the earl's brother) and swiftly disarmed him, knocking the spear from his grasp. James switched to his polaxe, but Jacques disarmed him again, just as easily. Irate at having lost both his spear and his axe, James drew his dagger and attempted to close, striking repeatedly at Jacques' unarmored face. Jacques held him at bay with his left hand, catching his fingers in the eye-slits of his helmet. Discarding his polaxe, Jacques drew his sword, "...which was a thin estoc, and grasped the blade near the point, so he could use it as a dagger, for he had somehow lost his own." Meanwhile, James had caught hold of his bevor (chin-guard); attempting to thrust at the unarmored palm of James' hand, Jacques lost his sword. Now completely disarmed, Jacques caught his opponent with both hands on his visor, and was in the process of throwing him to the ground when the king stopped the combat.

Jacques defeated all comers, in every tournament and duel he fought, and was semi-famous for dueling in armour while omitting segments of his harness for the sake of mobility or speed. 

Sadly, he died in 1453, cut down by cannon fire during an on going siege at Poucques, and mourned by pretty much everyone due to him being considered a stunning example of chivalry and a generally decent fellow.

Sources: 

- http://www.thearma.org/essays/Lalaing.htm - http://www.theknightshall.com/the-blog/archives/02-2016 - https://hnanews.org/hnar/reviews/a-knight-for-the-ages-jacques-de-lalaing-and-the-art-of-chivalry/ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_de_Lalaing

[dailytudors]

Children of The House of Tudor: Henry VIII’s [acknowledged] Children

Mary I, Queen Regnant of England & Ireland and Queen Consort of Spain, Sardinia, Portugal, Naples & Sicily.  Daughter of Henry VIII by his first wife Katherine of Aragon. [18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558]

Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond. Son of Henry VIII by his mistress Elizabeth Blount making him the only child born outside of Henry’s marriages that was publicly acknowledged. [15 June 1519 – 23 July 1536]

Elizabeth I, Queen Regnant of England & Ireland. Daughter of Henry VIII by his second wife Anne Boleyn. [7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603]

Edward VI,  Previously Prince of Wales, King Regnant of England & Ireland. Son of Henry VIII by his third wife Jane Seymour. [12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553]

[maximumphilosopheranchor]

Philip’s titles, listed in full after 1580, read: king of Castile and León, Aragon, Portugal, Sicily, Naples, Sardinia, Navarre, Valencia, Majorca, Granada, Toledo, Seville, Córdoba, Jaén, Murcia, Gibraltar and Algeciras, the Algarve and Jerusalem, of the Islands of the Indies, East and West, and the mainland of the Ocean-Sea; archduke of Austria, duke of Burgundy, Lorraine, Brabant, Limburg, Luxemburg, Gelderland, Athens and Milan; count of Habsburg, Flanders, Tyrol, Artois, Burgundy, Hainault, Holland, Zeeland, Namur, Zutphen, Barcelona, Roussillon and Cerdagne; prince of Swabia and marquis of the Holy Roman Empire; lord of Friesland, Mechelen, Overijssel, Groningen, the (Basque) Provinces and Molina de Aragon, lord in Africa and Asia. Philip, notably, kept the titles for the Austrian dominions given by his father to the cadet branch of the house, and the name de Austria for the children of Spain. The name Habsburg, which today we use for the dynasty to separate it from the Austrian state, heads the list of Philip’s manifold countships. Some of Philip’s titles pertained to extant kingdoms, duchies, counties and lordships, others to former ones which had been subsumed under some greater realm but still existed as provinces, referred to by their historical titles in official correspondence. Titles such as king of Jerusalem or duke of Athens carried only historical significance, and implied neither possession of territory nor dynastic rights. Philip was also grand master of the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece, the Castilian Orders of Alcántara, Calatrava and Santiago, and assumed during his reign the grand masterships of the Order of Montesa in Aragon and of Christ in Portugal.

Peter Pierson, Philip II of Spain

@elizabethan-memes The list of Philip’s titles but at the height of his power.

[docpiplup]

I was rewatching Isabella tv series and I was thinking that just like Isabella and Ferdinand united their kingdoms with their marriage, Daenerys and Jon could unite the South and the North once again by marrying ( that's in case Jon is King in the North when they meet)

Yes, it could happen, Jon might be crowned as KITN by the Northern lords because of Robb's will at some point in TWOW and probably by the end of TWOW Jon and Dany will meet, and they're are teens, around 17 and 16, close to the age of Isabella I and Ferdinand II were when they married, Isabella was 18 and Ferdinand, 17 (Ferdinand was older in the show because Rodolfo Sancho played Ferdinand since the beginning and he was around 37 years old in the first season, Michelle Jenner was 26 by that time, but it can be given a pass)

Ferdinand was only king of Sicily when he married Isabella, but eventually Isabella became queen regnant of Castile and queen consort of Aragon and Ferdinand king of Aragon and co-regnant of Castile, uniting the eastern and western (except Portugal) part of the Iberian peninsula.

And maybe for Dany and Jon it could be something similar, Dany in her case could decide if Jon is her king consort or co-regnant, for example Ferdinand was named king regnant because Isabella allowed him to be, although Ferdinand also had a claim in the sucession line of Castilian crown due to his grandfather Ferdinand I, and Jon could also had a claim because he's Rhaegar's son, although we don't knoe if legitimate or bastard (although maybe it doesn't matter if Jon is legitimised as a Targaryen by Dany, but maybe it doesn't matter because Jon has been legitimased by Robb as a Stark, so idk) and Jon and Dany's marriage is the way to re-integrate the North into the Seven Kingdoms.

Also, Dany is the first of her name as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, and Jon probably would be the second of his name as KITN (because one of the kings of Winter was Jon Stark)

Although in Castile and Aragon case have both its own courts and governments and in some occasions there were circumstances that were chances that they were separated again, by the Aragonese part, for example after Isabella died, Ferdinand married later Germana of Foix and one part of the pacts with Louis XII of France is that if Ferdinand and Germana had a son, John, that son would be king of Aragon although the baby died.

Some decades before, when by that time Isabella and Ferdinand only had their first daughter Isabella, there was a time when John II of Aragon apart from appointing him as archbishop of Zaragoza, he considred Alonso of Aragon (bastard son of Ferdinand and Aldonza Ruiz de Ivorra) as a candidate for the Aragonese crown, because Alonso/Alfonso was Ferdinand's firstborn son despite he was a bastard, it's known that being a bastard and becoming king at this point isn't very strange for the family, all of the founders of the current ruling dinasties of the kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula in Isabel show were bastards, John I (Portugal, House of Avis, bastard line of the House of Burgundy), Ramiro I (Aragon, House of Aragon, from the Jimena dinasty), Henry II (Crowns of Castile, Aragon and Navarra, House of Trastamara, bastard line from the Castilian House of Burgundy), but Isabella was already here and she was only months younger than Alonso and the heiress by that time of both Castile and Aragon. Alonso was raised at the Aragonese court, so John II kind of had a favourite grandkid, at least prince till John was born in 1478🙄 . Well years later was also appointed in some more positions of power like Archbishop of Valencia, lieutenant of Naples and viceroy of Aragon under the reigns of his father and Charles I.

And talking about Henry II of Castile, the House of Burgundy and House of Trastamara, I think that the story of the Blackfyre family in Asoiaf have some elements of the Trastamara family, although the Blackfyres didn't succed to get the crown. The main historical inspo for the Blackfyres I have read people talking about are the Beauforts, a line of legitimised bastards of John of Gaunt and Catherine Swynford, who weren't allowed to get the crown and one of their descendants by maternal line, Henry VII became king, and could be an inspo for Aegon VI if the fAegon theory is true.

In the Trastamara's case we have the following background:

Alfonso XI of Castile was married to Maria of Portugal, and they had a son together, Peter I, but Alfonso truly loved Eleanor of Guzmán and they had a long lasting relationship and 10 children, who were widely favored by his father in political power and noble titles, Henry II of Castile being the main representant, and started several revolts against their brother Peter, Henry II defeated and killed Peter I and he became the first Trastamara king of Castile.

Then in Asoiaf there's Aegon IV Targaryen who married Naerys and they had Daeron II and Daenerys, but also Aegon had relationships with several women and had several bastard children, who were later legitimised (The Great Bastards) and he mostly favored his son with Daena Targaryen, Daemon I Blackfyre, who the lead the first Blackfyre rebellion, but they were defeated and in the following generations other Blackfyre claimants started more rebellions to get the IT, but they never succed and Daeron II's lineage continues currently on Dany and Jon.

In the Castilian history, the twist is that the bastard lineage got the crown and the "legitimate" line of Peter I were the ones who had to fight to get it.

And I say "legitimate" because although Peter I married Blanche of Bourbon, they had no issue, and he had children with  Maria of Padilla and some other castilian noblewomen. He legitimased the children he had with Maria saying that they had  married in secret, although it happened when he was still married to Blanche.

The thing is that during the reigns of Henry II and his son John I, Peter I's daughters with Maria,  Constance and Isabella were claimants to the Castilian crown.

Both daughters of Peter I of Castile were married to Edward III of England's sons, John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, and Edmund of Langley, duke of York.

Constance and her husband John of Gaunt arrived with their daughter Catherine of Lancaster to the Iberian peninsula in 1386 and started to attack the Northern part of the peninsula, allied with John I of Portugal (who married Philippa of Lancaster, eldest daughter of John of Gaunt with Blanche of Lancaster; John and Philipa were grandparents of Isabella, Beatriz, Joanna, Eleanor, Ferdinand and Alfonso V of Portugal and great-grandparents of Isabella I, Alfonso of Castile, Joanna of Castile, John II and Manuel I of Portugal), they didn't succed and Constance gave up her claim, but Catherine of Lancaster married John I of Castile's son, Henry III of Castile, and both branches of Alfonso XI's descendants were united. Henry III and Catherine's children were John II of Castile (father of Henry IV, Isabella I and Alfonso of Castile) and Maria of Castile (queen of Aragon, untie of Henry IV, Isabella I, Alfonso and Ferdinand II)

Apart from that, Constance's younger sister, Isabella, married Edmund of Langley, and they were great-grandparents of Richard III and Edward IV of England, leaders of the York side during the War of the Roses.

I would like to add that the double marriage of siblings of the ruling houses of Castile and England, one marriage having important descendants on the English lineage and the other in the Castilian lineage, reminds me a bit of the marriages between Daeron II with Myriah Martell and his sister Daenerys with Maron Martell, also both close in time to the Trastamara rebellions and the first Blackfyre rebellion.

This is a bit out of topic, but regarding some part of the HOTD fandom that complains that Rhaenyra's sons with Harwin shouldn't inherit or be in the sucession line, you know, there has been similar cases in real life history.

The following example is from the 19th century, but anyways. Isabella II of Spain was married to her cousin Francis of Asís of Bourbon, but Francis was gay and his partner was Antonio Ramos Meneses, meanwhile Isabella had several lovers who were the biological fathers of Alfonso XII an his siblings, it's said that probably Enrique Puigmoltó was Alfonso's father, although offically he was Francis' son. And like Rhaenyra, Isabella II position as heir and ruler was disputed by their male relatives (the Greens in Nyra's case, the Carlists in Isabella's one), firstly by Isabella's uncle, Carlos Maria Isidro and then by his descendants. These disputes caused the three Carlist wars that happened during the 19th century, although the Carlist line currently exist, Charles Xavier of Bourbon-Parma, although he hasn't any claims against the Isabelist line (Philip VI), his title is just honorary.

The answer has become a bit longer than I expected at first, but then I thought that it would be interesting to add more things.