Álvaro de Luna
Álvaro de Luna y Jarana, 1st Duke of Trujillo, 1st Count of San Esteban de Gormaz, KOS (between 1388 and 1390 – 2 June 1453), was a Spanish politician. He was a favourite of King John II of Castile, a Constable of Castile and Grand Master of the military order of Santiago.
Early years
He was born between 1388 and 1390 in Cañete, in what is now the province of Cuenca, as the illegitimate son of the Castilian noble don Álvaro Martínez de Luna, copero mayor (the page who poured drinks for a nobleman) of King Henry III of Castile, and María Fernández de Jarana, a woman of great character and beauty.
He was introduced to the court as a page by his uncle Pedro V de Luna, Archbishop of Toledo in 1410. Álvaro soon secured a commanding influence over John II, then a boy. During the regency of King John's uncle Ferdinand, which ended in 1412, he was not allowed to be more than a servant. When, however, Ferdinand was elected king of Aragon, and the regency was assumed by the king's mother, Catherine of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, and granddaughter of King Peter of Castile, Álvaro became a very important person, the so-called "contino", or old friend of the King.[1]
The King's favourite
The young King regarded him with love and affection which the superstition of later time attributed to witchcraft. As the King was under pressure by greedy and unscrupulous nobles — among whom his cousins, the sons of Ferdinand, commonly known as the Infantes of Aragon, were perhaps the most dangerous — his reliance on a favourite who had every motive to be loyal to him, is quite understandable.[2] Luna was also a master of all the accomplishments the King admired: a fine horseman, skillful with a lance and a writer of court verse.[1] But beyond the purview of his peers, he was a master of intrigue and dissimulation.[citation needed]
Until he lost the King's protection, Álvaro was the central figure of the Castilian history of the time. It was a period of constant conflict, characterised by shifting coalitions of nobles, namely the Infantes of Aragon Henry and John of Aragon, brothers of John II's wife Maria, who, under the pretence of freeing the King from the undue influence of his favourite, were intent on making a puppet of him for their own ends.[1]
The part which Álvaro de Luna played has been diversely judged. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition recounts that to Juan de Mariana he appears as a mere self-seeking favourite. To others, he has seemed to be a loyal servant of the King who endeavoured to enforce the authority of the crown, which in Castile was the only alternative to anarchy. He fought for his own ends, but his supremacy was perhaps better than the rule of lawless alliances of plundering nobles.
In 1427, he was solemnly expelled by a coalition of the nobles, only to be recalled in the following year. In 1431, he endeavoured to employ the restless nobles in a campaign for the reconquest of Granada, the remaining territory of Muslim Spain and then ruled by the sultan Muhammed IX. Some successes were gained at the Battle of La Higueruela, but in the end de Luna failed. A consistent policy was impossible with a rebellious aristocracy and a king of indolent character.[1]
In 1445, the faction of nobles allied with Álvaro's main enemies, the Infantes of Aragon, were defeated at the First Battle of Olmedo. One of them, Infante Henry, Duke of Villena, brother of the Queen, died of his wounds. Luna, who had been Constable of Castile and Count of San Esteban de Gormaz since 1423, became Grand Master of the Order of Santiago by election of the Knights.[1]
Downfall
Queen Maria died under suspicious circumstances, pointing to Luna as the mastermind. Nevertheless, his power appeared to be thoroughly established. It was, however, based only on the personal affection of the King. The King's second wife, Isabella of Portugal, although her whole royal marriage was a product of Luna's arrangements, was soon offended by the immense influence of the Constable, and when the murder of the King's accountant Alfonso Pérez de Vivero was suspected to have been at Luna's orders, she urged her husband to free himself from thralldom to his favourite. In 1453, the King succumbed to his wife's demands; Luna was arrested, tried and condemned to death in a process which was a mere parody of justice, and soon executed by beheading at Valladolid on 2 June 1453.[1]
Marriage and issue
By his marriage with Juana Pimentel, Álvaro de Luna had two children, his legitimate heirs:
- Juan de Luna, 2nd Count of Santisteban, San Esteban de Gormaz; married Leonor de Zuniga y Lara, daughter of the Duke of Bejar.
- María de Luna, 3rd Countess of Santesteban, the heiress after her brother's premature death. She married Íñigo López de Mendoza y Luna, 2nd Duke of the Infantado.
By a mistress, Margarida de Villena, Álvaro de Luna had an illegitimate son:
- Pedro de Luna, Lord of Fuentiduena.
References
- ^ a b c d e f One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Luna, Álvaro de". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 123.
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition.
Further reading
- Gerli, E. Michael (2003). "Luna, Alvaro de". In Gerli, E. Michael (ed.). Medieval Iberia : an encyclopedia. New York: Routledge. pp. 520–521. ISBN 0-415-93918-6.
- O'Callaghan, Joseph F. (1975). A History of Medieval Spain. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-0880-6.
- Round, Nicholas (1986). The Greatest Man Uncrowned: A Study of the Fall of Don Alvaro de Luna. London: Tamesis Books. ISBN 0729302113.
