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Compromise of Caspe

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Galazan (talk | contribs) at 15:14, 13 April 2013 (restoring the view shared by the main historians; explaining the recent revisionism too; and putting references about all points of views). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Portrait of Ferdinand of Castile, proclaimed king after the Compromise.

The Compromise of Caspe made in 1412 was an act and resolution of parliamentary representatives on behalf of the constituent realms of the Aragonese crown, namely of the Kingdoms of Aragon and Valencia and the Principality of Catalonia, to resolve the interregnum commenced upon the death of King Martin I of Aragon in 1410 without a legitimate heir, in Caspe.

The Aragonese succession laws at that time were rather hazy, based more on custom than any specific legislation, and even case law did not exist. All successions after the union of Catalonia with Aragon in 1137 had been to the eldest son, to the next younger brother, or to the only daughter. However, earlier successions indicated that agnates (a male in the male line) of Aragonese royal family had precedence over daughters and descendants of daughters; for example, Martin himself had succeeded over daughters of his late elder brother, King John I.

However, very distant agnates had lost out to the daughter of the late king in 11th century, when Petronila of Aragon succeeded over claims of the then agnates (second cousins or the like), the Kings of Navarre and Castile.

J.N Hillgarth writes: "Among the descendants by the male line, the closest relation to Martín was James II of Urgell."[1]

T.N.Bisson writes that "the issue was (or became) political rather than simply legal, a utilitarian question of which candidate with some dynastic claim would make the best king."[2]

Candidates

The major candidates for succession were the following:

Family tree

James II of Aragon
Alfonso IV of AragonPeter IV of Ribagorza
Peter IV of AragonJames I of UrgellAlfonso I of GandíaJohn of Ribagorza
Peter II of Urgell
John I of AragonMartin of AragonEleanor of AragonIsabella of AragonJames II of Urgell
Yolande of AragonMartin I of SicilyFerdinand of Castile
Louis of AnjouFrederic of Luna


Interregnum 1410-1412

Salvador Vinegra's depiction of the deliberations

The parties had agreed to a parliamentary process to resolve the issue, but coordinating deliberations between the cortes (parliaments) of Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia was made difficult by their diverging interests. Thus, a general cortes was demanded by the governor of Catalonia to meet in Montblanch, but the meeting was delayed and ended up in Barcelona starting in October 1410 an only being Cortes of the principalty of Catalonia.[3] As the cortes dragged on, the situation became violent.

Antón de Luna, an Aragonese supporter of Count James II of Urgell, possibly assassinated the archbishop of Zaragoza, García Fernández de Heredía (supporter of Louis of Anjou).[4] This event damaged the candidacy of James of Urgell and gave strength to the candidacy of Fernando (regent of Castile and therefore commanding a nearby army with which protected his allies). There was fighting in the streets especially between partisans on Aragon and Valencia. The fights brought the kingdom of Aragon to split in two diferent Cortes (parliaments): one favorable to Ferdinand of Castile in Alcañiz, and another favorable to James II, Count of Urgell in Mequinensa (but this one was not recognized by the Catalan parliament at Tortosa.[5]). The same occurred in Valencia splitting in Traiguera and Vinaròs respectively.[6] Furthermore, between 1410-1412 the Spanish troops of Ferdinand of Castile entered Aragon and Valencia for fighting against urgellist followers, at the same time that thus also mobilised against their enemies in the two kingdoms. The victory of the Trastamarist side at the battle of Morvedre on February 27th 1412 finally left Valencia on their hands.

Conflicts and deliberations

Proclamation of Ferdinand I as king of Aragon, by Dióscoro Puebla

Pope Bendict XIII (Avignon) intervened and proposed a smaller group of nine compromisarios (negotiators).[3] The Trastamarist parliament of Alcañiz agreed with the proposition (wich was finally accepted by a Catalan-Aragonese board of fourteen Trastamarist Aragoneses and five varied Catalan emissaries: agreement known as Alcañiz Concord of 15 February 1412[7][8]) but few days later they imposed not only the 3 compromisarios from Aragon but the 3 Catalan and the 3 Valencian compromisarios too.[9] The angry complaints among the Catalan and Valencian parliamentarians for this abuse were ignored, targeting the peaceful discussions sought since 1410;[10][7][11] and equally the complaints of James of Urgell and Louis of Anjou.[12][13][14]

The appointed compromisarios, met in Caspe, to decide who had to be the next king were:[15][16] The majority of historians agreed with the narration of the election made by the historian Jerónimo Zurita about the Compromise. Zurita writted his Anales de la Corona de Aragón from the original deeds which he handed to the house of the General Diputation of Aragon in 1576 (and were lost or burned cause multiple rebellions in 19th century).[17] According to it, the compromisarios had different views about the succession of the deceased Martí I and they voted differently as well,[18][16][19][20] anouncing the decision publicly on the June 28th 1412:

Votes, narrated by Zurita (1562-1580, Tome. XI, chapter 87), were emitted on friday 24th June 1412 and recorded on the 25th. Vincent Ferrer was the first one to spoke in a long speech giving his vote to Ferdinand, and then Ram, his brother Bonifaci, Gualbes, Bardaixí and Aranda simply joined him. Sagarriga, Vallseca and Bertran voted differently and explaining their own reasons.[18][21][22][23]

Original deed of the election of Ferdinand of Antequera as King of Aragon.
Kingdom of Aragon delegates:
Kingdom of Valencia delegates:
Principality of Catalonia delegates:

On June 28th was proclaimed Ferdinand of Castile as the new king by Vicent Ferrer in a public speech also recorded.

Revisionism

Lately, in recent years, three aragonese historians denied the version of Zurita arguing that no contemporary sources confirm the existence of any secret ballot: José Ángel Sesma Muñoz, Carlos Laliena and Cristina Monterde. Sesma assured in 2011 that all nine compromisarios, despite their different preferences, agreed the same name of Ferdinand unanimously,[24] and he repeted this view in 2012 with Laliena and Monterde.[25] The main argument is that the official notarized deed of proclamation writted on June 25th 1412 doesn't mention any results of the hypotetical election. Furthermore, they quoted some testimonies (but not the full statements) who were present at the ceremony of proclamation on June 28th, like Melchor de Gualbes, saying that the 3 catalan compromisarios had declared that "they had acted freely and had not been under any pressure" and that at the end "everybody would be one opinion".[26] On 2013 there are no more pulicised works that support this new theory.

Already in 2012 this point of view was refuted by historian Ernest Belenguer, who called the attention on the point that in this kind of elections (like conclaves) the results of the ballots are not publicized, therefore it can't be deduced a unanimity election only from this kind of deed. He also mentioned that even the official and paid Trastamara's chronist Lorenzo Valla said in 15th century that there were very different opinions among the compromisarios.[27] Furthermore, Belenguer cited other authors which in 17th century had seen too the same documents as Zurita did, like Uztarroz or Dormer, and they also made the same narration as the Aragonese historian did about the preferences spoken by every one of the nine compromisarios.[17]

Aftermath

Reenaction of the Compromise

Initially James II Count of Urgell accepted the sentence and even swore allegiance to the new king, but several months after revolted himself in May 1413 but was unsuccessful to mobilize more nobles after two years of fights and battles. There were some uprisings in support of James in Valencia and Catalonia and James himself lead sorties out from his domain in Urgell. James's supporters were defeated in battle on 25 June 1413 outside of Lleida. Antón de Luna enlisted the support of Gascon and English troops who invaded at Jaca, but they were defeated on 10 July 1413 before he was able to join James's army.[28]

In August, Ferdinand began the siege of Balaguer. Meanwhile, Antón de Luna had organized defenses in Huesca; however, the Castle of Montearagon was taken on 11 August, and he and his troops fled to Loarre Castle. Finally, in October 1413 James surrendered at his city: Balaguer. The following January, Loarre Castle fell, and the rebellion was over. The County of Urgell was dissolved in 1413 and the area came under the royal domain of the county of Barcelona, but were shared out among the Trastámara's supporters.

With the selection of a younger prince of the Castilian Royal House of Trastamara, the Aragonese Crown became increasingly drawn into the sphere of influence of more powerful Castile. About 50 years after the Compromise, with the marriage of Ferdinand I's grandson Ferdinand II to Queen Isabella of Castile, Aragon became the junior partner in a dynastic union that would become the modern Spanish state.

See also

Sources

  1. ^ The Spanish Kingdoms 1250-1516 part 2 p.229, ISBN 0-19-822531-8
  2. ^ The Medieval Crown of Aragon, pp 135-6, ISBN 0-19-820236-9
  3. ^ a b Earenfight, Theresa (2003) "Caspe, Compromise of" page 208 In Gerli, E. Michael (editor) (2003) Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia Routledge, New York, ISBN 0-415-93918-6
  4. ^ La dinámica política, of María del Pilar Rábade Obradó, Eloísa Ramírez Vaquero, Juan F. Utrilla Utrilla (2005). Ediciones Istmo
  5. ^ Jerusalén, hora cero: nueve brindis por un rey, de Jaime Salom (1995). Editorial Fundamentos
  6. ^ Julio Valdeón 2001, pp. 105–106.
  7. ^ a b Arnau Cònsul 2012, pp. 34–35.
  8. ^ Esteban Sarasa 1981, pp. 118–120.
  9. ^ Manuel Dualde 1947, pp. 355–385.
  10. ^ Ferran Soldevila 1965, pp. 105-109 and 120-125.
  11. ^ Esteban Sarasa 1981, pp. 121–122.
  12. ^ Ernest Belenguer 2012, pp. 74.
  13. ^ Ferran Soldevila 1965, pp. 123.
  14. ^ Luis Giménez 1911, pp. 37–38.
  15. ^ Esteban Sarasa 1981, pp. 121.
  16. ^ a b Arnau Cònsul 2012, pp. 30–31.
  17. ^ a b Ernest Belenguer 2012, pp. 92.
  18. ^ a b Ferran Soldevila 1965, pp. 139–144.
  19. ^ Ernest Belenguer 2012, pp. 72–77.
  20. ^ Julio Valdeón 2001, pp. 107–108.
  21. ^ Manuel Dualde 1971, pp. 240–245.
  22. ^ Esteban Sarasa 1981, pp. 123–126.
  23. ^ Jesús Mestre 1999, pp. 197–198.
  24. ^ Sesma Muñoz 2011, pp. 207–209.
  25. ^ Sesma, Laliena and Monterde 2012, p. 5.
  26. ^ Sesma, Laliena and Monterde 2012, p. 38.
  27. ^ Ernest Belenguer 2012, pp. 91.
  28. ^ Luis Vela Gormedino 1985, pp. 24–25.

Bibliography

  • Laliena Corbera, Miguel and Monterde Albiac, Cristina (Coordinator: José Ángel Sesma Muñoz) (2012). En el sexto centenario de la Concordia de Alcañiz y del Compromiso de Caspe (in Spanish). Zaragoza: Gobíerno de Aragón.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Sesma Muñoz, José Ángel (2011). El Interregno (1410-1412) Concordia y compromiso político en la Corona de Aragón (in Spanish). Zaragoza: Institución "Fernando el Católico" (CSIC). ISBN 978-84-9911-143-8.
  • Valdeón Baruque, Julio (2001). Los Trastámaras. El triunfo de una dinastía bastarda (in Spanish). Madrid: Temas de Hoy ed. ISBN 84-8460-129-3.
  • Soldevila, Ferran (1994 (first edition 1965)). El Compromís de Casp (resposta al Sr. Menéndez Pidal) (in Catalan). Barcelona: Rafael Dalmau Editions. ISBN 84-232-0481-2. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  • Belenguer, Ernest (2012). El com i el perquè del Compromís de Casp (1412) (in Catalan). Barcelona: Rafael Dalmau Editions. ISBN 978-84232-0772-5.
  • Cònsul, Arnau; Casals, Àngel (2012). "El Compromís de Casp. Pacte o conxorxa?". Sàpiens (in Catalan). 115. Barcelona: Grup Cultura 03: 26–37. ISSN 1695-2014. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |laydate=, |separator=, |laysummary=, and |laysource= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  • Sarasa Sánchez, Esteban (1981). Aragón y el Compromiso de Caspe (in Spanish). Zaragoza: Librería General. ISBN 84-7078-107-3.
  • Dualde Serrano, Manuel (1947–1948). "La elección de los compromisarios de Caspe". Estudios de Edad Media de la Corona de Aragón (in Spanish). III. Zaragoza: 355–395. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |laydate=, |separator=, |laysummary=, |laysource=, and |month= (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: date format (link)
  • Giménez Fayos, Luis (1911). El Compromiso de Caspe : (1412-1912) (in Spanish). Valencia: Miguel Gimeno.
  • Dualde Serrano; Manuel; Camarena Mahiques, José (1971). El Compromiso de Caspe (in Spanish). Zaragoza: Institución Alfonso el Magnanimo and Institución Fernando el Católico.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Mestre i Godes, Jesús (1999). El Compromís de Casp: Un moment decisiu en la història de Catalunya (in Catalan). Barcelona: Edicions 62. ISBN 8429745130.
  • Gormedino; Luis Vela (1985). Crónica incompleta del reinado de Fernando I de Aragón (in Spanish). Zaragoza: Anubar. ISBN 84-7013-210-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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