Kingdom of Castile
Spain, 1065–1833. Draft, not yet reviewed
The Kingdom of Castile was a polity in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. It was not until 1065 that it was separated from the Kingdom of León and became a kingdom in its own right. Throughout that period, the Castilian kings made extensive conquests in southern Iberia at the expense of the Islamic principalities. The Kingdoms of Castile and of León, with their southern acquisitions, came to be known collectively as the Crown of Castile, a term that also came to encompass overseas expansion.
Seat of power: Burgos
Rulers
Alfonso VI of León and Castile
Monarch of the Kingdom of Castile, 1072–1109
After the conquest of Toledo in 1085, he proclaimed himself "most victorious king of Toledo, and of Spain and Galicia". The conquest also provoked an Almoravid invasion that he spent the rest of his reign resisting.
Portrait of Alfonso VI of León and Castile: Uploaded by MaiDireLollo, Public domain, file
Alfonso VII of Castile
Monarch of the Kingdom of Castile, 1126–1157
Though he sought to make the imperial title meaningful in practice to both Christian and Muslim populations, his hegemonic intentions never saw fruition. During his tenure, Portugal became de facto independent in 1128 and was recognized as independent de jure in 1143.
Portrait of Alfonso VII of Castile: Privilegium.jpg: anonymous derivative work: Agricolae (talk), Public domain, file
Alfonso VIII of Castile
Monarch of the Kingdom of Castile, 1158–1214
Though proclaimed king when only two years of age, Alfonso was regarded as merely nominal by the unruly nobles to whom a minority was convenient. He led the coalition of Christian princes and foreign crusaders who broke the power of the Almohads in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212.
Ferdinand III of Castille
Monarch of the Kingdom of Castile, 1217–1252
He secured the permanent union of the crowns of Castile and León and masterminded the most expansive southward territorial expansion campaign yet in the Guadalquivir Valley. New territories included important cities such as Baeza, Úbeda, Jaén, Córdoba and Seville.
Portrait of Ferdinand III of Castille: AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain, file
Alfonso X of Castile and Leon
Monarch of Castile and Leon, 1252–1284
As a lawmaker he introduced the first vernacular law code in Castile, the Siete Partidas. He created the Mesta, an association of sheep farmers in the central plain, but debased the coinage to finance his claim to the German crown.
Portrait of Alfonso X of Castile and Leon: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Alfonso XI of Castile and Leon
Monarch of Castile and Leon, 1312–1350
Once Alfonso was declared an adult in 1325, he began a reign that would serve to strengthen royal power and became known for his victory in the Battle of Rio Salado. Population decline, reductions in the royal treasury, and increasingly ambitious regents caused numerous problems during his early reign.
Portrait of Alfonso XI of Castile and Leon: Unknown sourceUnknown source, Public domain, file
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John II of Castile
Monarch of Castile and Leon, 1407–1454
His mother and his uncle, King Ferdinand I of Aragon, were co-regents during his minority. John II's reign, lasting 48 years, was one of the longest in Castilian history, but John himself was not a particularly capable monarch.
Portrait of John II of Castile: Ecelan, CC BY-SA 3.0, file
Henry IV of Castile
Monarch of Castile and Leon, 1454–1474
During Henry's reign, the nobles became more powerful and the nation became less centralised. One of King Henry's first priorities was the alliance with Portugal.
Portrait of Henry IV of Castile: Georg von Ehingen, Public domain, file
Isabella I of Castile
Monarch of Castile and Leon, 1474–1504
With Ferdinand's help, she won the War of the Castilian Succession, securing her position as Queen of Castile. Isabella reorganized the governmental system, brought the crime rate down, and unburdened the kingdom of the debt which her half-brother King Henry IV had left behind. Their actions included completion of the Reconquista, the Alhambra Decree which ordered the mass expulsion of Jews from Spain, initiating the Spanish Inquisition, financing Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage to the New World, and establishing the Spanish Empire.
Portrait of Isabella I of Castile: anonymous, Public domain, file
Juana I of Castile
Monarch of Castile and Leon, 1504–1555
Despite being the ruling Queen of Castile, Joanna had little effect on national policy during her reign as she was declared insane and confined in the Royal Palace in Tordesillas under the orders of her father, who ruled as regent until his death in 1516. Historians have debated the authenticity of her alleged madness, and whether or not it was used to discredit her.
Portrait of Juana I of Castile: Juan de Flandes, Public domain, file
Charles V
Monarch of Castile and Leon, 1516–1556
In 1516, he became King of Spain as co-monarch of Castile and Aragon with his mother. At the death of his paternal grandfather Maximilian in 1519, he inherited the Austrian hereditary lands and was elected as Holy Roman Emperor. The personal union of the European and American territories he ruled was the first collection of realms labelled "the empire on which the sun never sets".
Portrait of Charles V: Attributed to Titian, Public domain, file
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Philip II of Spain
Monarch of Castile and Leon, 1556–1598
Under Philip II, Spain reached the height of its influence and power, advancing into the Spanish Golden Age, and ruled territories in every continent then known to Europeans. He finished building the royal palace El Escorial in 1584. Deeply devout, Philip saw himself as the defender of Catholic Europe against the Ottoman Empire and the Protestant Reformation.
Portrait of Philip II of Spain: Sofonisba Anguissola, Public domain, file
Philip III of Spain
Monarch of Castile and Leon, 1598–1621
Philip quickly delegated most of his power and duties to his chief minister, the Duke of Lerma, whose influence shaped much of his reign. Philip is associated with a period of relative peace in Western Europe, called the Pax Hispanica by some historians, but his lack of focus contributed to the Spanish Empire's gradual decline.
Portrait of Philip III of Spain: Andrés López Polanco, Public domain, file
Philip IV of Spain
Monarch of Castile and Leon, 1621–1665
Philip is remembered for his patronage of the arts, including such artists as Diego Velázquez, and his rule over Spain during the Thirty Years' War. By the time of his death, the Spanish Empire had reached approximately 12.2 million square kilometres in area, the largest empire in the world.
Portrait of Philip IV of Spain: Diego Velázquez, Public domain, file
Charles II of Spain
Monarch of Castile and Leon, 1665–1700
He was the last monarch from the House of Habsburg, and his death without children resulted in the 1701 to 1714 War of the Spanish Succession. He experienced lengthy periods of ill health throughout his life, which made the question of who would succeed him central to European diplomacy for much of his reign.
Portrait of Charles II of Spain: Juan Carreño de Miranda, Public domain, file
Culture
- During the 12th century, Europe enjoyed great advances in intellectual achievements, sparked in part by the kingdom of Castile's conquest of the great cultural center of Toledo (1085).
- A translation program called the "School of Toledo" translated many philosophical and scientific works from the Classical Greek and the Islamic worlds into Latin.
- The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, in 1469 at the Palacio de los Vivero in Valladolid began the familial union of the two kingdoms. In 1492, the Kingdom of Castile conquered the last Moorish state of Granada.
Picture
The Alcázar of Segovia is a medieval castle that served as a royal palace and fortress for the Castilian monarchs.
Image: Ángel Sanz de Andrés, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.