Medieval Iberian Peninsula: Politics, Society, and Expansion

Political Organization: Castile and Aragon

Castile

Three major political entities dominated the Iberian Peninsula: the kingdoms of Portugal, Leon, and Castile. Leon and Castile experienced periods of unification and separation throughout the 11th and 12th centuries, ultimately uniting under Ferdinand III. The kingdom of Castile encompassed Galicia, the lordship of Biscay, and the provinces of Alava and Guipuzcoa.

The 14th and 15th centuries were marked by political instability. While Alfonso XI strengthened royal power with the Ordinance of Alcalá, his reign was followed by a devastating civil war. Castile’s attempt to annex Portugal in the 15th century failed, and the reigns of John II and Henry IV were plagued by internal conflicts that empowered the nobility. Henry IV was succeeded by his sister, Isabella, the future Queen Isabella I.

Castilian Institutions:

  • The King was supported by central institutions: the Royal Council, the High Court (responsible for justice), and the Royal Estates.
  • A permanent royal army and a complex bureaucracy emerged, staffed by experts trained in the burgeoning universities of the 12th century.
  • The Cortes, an assembly representing the nobility, clergy, and towns, lacked legislative power.
  • Local administration relied on councils.

Aragon

The kingdom of Aragon functioned as a confederation of kingdoms (Aragon, Valencia, Mallorca) and the Principality of Catalonia, each with distinct institutions and laws. A king’s lieutenant governed each kingdom.

Aragonese Institutions:

  • Key institutions included the Royal Council and the Audiencia (established in the 13th century).
  • The Cortes in each realm were assemblies of the privileged classes (nobility and clergy) and urban patricians. Dominated by the nobility and clergy, they checked the monarch’s power.
  • Catalonia established the Generalitat of Catalonia.
  • Aragon had the institution of the Justice of Aragon, a nobleman.
  • Territorial administration was divided into merindades or vegueries.
  • Municipalities held power in cities.

Social and Political Crisis

Demographic Crisis

A recurring cycle of crop failures, food shortages, famine, and hunger weakened the population, making them vulnerable to epidemics.

Economic Crisis

The demographic crisis, particularly the plague, severely impacted agriculture, which lacked technological advancement. Depopulation led to reduced cultivation and labor shortages. The nobility’s income declined, leading to the rise of transhumant sheep farming as the primary economic activity in Castile, with increased privileges for Castilian farmers.

Crafts declined due to reduced demand and population decline. Trade was less affected, with Castilian trade (based on wool exports and luxury imports) and Catalan Mediterranean trade (textiles, silks, and spices) continuing to grow.

Political Crisis

Struggles for power between the monarch and privileged groups (nobility and clergy) characterized the political landscape.

Castile:

  • Civil war led to the Trastámara dynasty and the triumph of the nobility.
  • The reigns of John II and Henry IV were marked by conflict.

Aragon:

  • Civil war erupted between John II and the nobility/clergy.

Expansion of the Crown of Aragon

Peter III initiated an imperialist policy, incorporating Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia into the Crown of Aragon. James II continued this expansion in the eastern Mediterranean with the Almogavars (mercenary soldiers). The economic burden of these campaigns forced Aragonese kings to rely on the nobility and clergy, contributing to the pactista nature of the monarchy.

Alfonso V the Magnanimous annexed Naples in 1443, establishing his court there and making it a center of humanism.

Atlantic Routes

During the fifteenth century the Crown of Castile, who had set foot in the Canary Islands, was involved in the significant expansion along the west coast of Africa, the end of the thirteenth century had to be made early voyages to the Canary Islands, organized by merchants Theconquest of the Canary Islands took nearly a century. It can be divided into two phases the conquest of the Canaries, the first part subjected to the islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and El Hierro, and a second under the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, with the conquest of Gran Canaria, La Palma and Tenerife for its part , the Portuguese Azores and Madeira Island are examples of this expansion that eventually lead to the late fifteenth century to the shipment of Bartholomew Diaz, who went around the Cape of Good Hope, and Basque de Gama, who finally get to reach India coasting the African continent.