In 1504, Philip's mother-in-law, Queen Isabella of Castile, died, leaving the
Crown of Castile to Joanna. Isabella I's widower and former co-monarch, King Ferdinand II, endeavored to lay hands on the regency of Castile, but the nobles, who disliked and feared him, forced him to withdraw. Philip was summoned to Spain, where he was recognized as king. However, en route to Spain in January 1506, Philip and Joanna were caught in a storm and shipwrecked off the
Dorset coast, forcing them on the shore near
Melcombe Regis. The nearest important gentleman in the locality was Sir Thomas Trenchard, seated at
Wolfeton House, who gave shelter and entertainment to the royal couple. The future minister
John Russell attended the couple on this occasion, after which Philip recommended him to Henry VII. Having been conducted to the palace of King
Henry VII by Russell, the couple stayed as the king's guests but were in fact hostages for the duration of their stay. To get released Philip was forced to sign a treaty with Henry VII—the so-called ''''—which included a mutual defense pact, the extradition of rebels, including the Earl of Suffolk,
Edmund de la Pole, who as an exile was a guest of Philip in the Low Countries, and a trade agreement which allowed English merchants to import cloth
duty-free into the
Low Countries. After handing over Edmund, Philip and Joanna were allowed to leave England after a stay of six weeks. Philip and Joanna landed at
Corunna on 28 April 1506, accompanied by a body of German mercenaries. Father- and son-in-law mediated under
Cardinal Cisneros at
Remesal, near
Puebla de Sanabria, and at
Renedo, the only result of which was an indecent family quarrel, in which Ferdinand professed to defend the interests of his daughter, who he said was imprisoned by her husband. In meetings between 20 and 27 June, mediated by Cardinal Cisneros, the senior churchman in Spain, Ferdinand accepted that his 'most beloved children' (Joanna and Philip) should take over control of Castile. The two kings then agreed that Joanna was neither fit nor inclined to rule 'considering her infirmities and sufferings, which for the sake of honour are not expressed' and further that if 'the said most serene Queen, either from her own choice or from being persuaded by other persons should attempt to meddle in the government both would prevent it'. It suited both her father and her husband that she be regarded as incapable. in Remesal on 20 June 1506 On 27 June 1506, the
Treaty of Villafáfila was signed between Ferdinand and Philip, with Philip being proclaimed King of Castile by the
Cortes of Valladolid. Yet on the same day Ferdinand drew up secret documents repudiating all the agreements on the grounds of coercion, claiming that he would never otherwise have signed treaties that did 'such enormous damage to the said most serene Queen, my daughter, and me'. Having left his options for the future open, he departed for Aragon. Philip appointed García Laso de la Vega (diplomat and commander, Comendador Mayor de Léon under the Catholic Monarch, died 1512) as President of the Royal Council. Even before leaving the Low Countries, Philip had ordered the total suspension of
Spanish Inquisition activities. When he arrived in Spain, he proposed to the Cortes that the Inquisitor General should be deposed and the Council of Inquisition should be dissolved. His early death prevented the plan from materializing, but Ferdinand later reacted to this by splitting the Holy Tribunal, thus Castile and Aragon would each possess their own Inquisition organization. The 4,000
landsknechte who followed him to Spain presumably helped to overcome the last opposition to the military reform started by Gonzalo de Cordoba and Gonzalo de Ayora. As Duke of Burgundy and King of Castile, Philip expanded the
Habsburg postal system established by his father. In 1500, the centre of the system was transferred to Brussels by Franz von Taxis, whom Philip made his postmaster-general. Shortly after becoming King of Castile, as he realized that his bureaucrats were unable to govern the postal system, he made an agreement (later renewed by Charles of Burgundy) with the Taxis that allowed them to operate unhampered by interference from the state, as long as they maintained standards in accordance with the Habsburgs' interests. Behringer notes that, "The terminology of the early modern communications system and the legal status of its participants were invented at these negotiations." On 18 January 1505 Philip unified communication between Germany, the Netherlands, France and Spain by adding stations in
Granada,
Toledo,
Blois, Paris and
Lyon. His arrival introduced the Burgundian household model into Spain, but his early death forced it to wait until Charles V's reign to become a firmly-established element of the Spanish court. After one month in La Coruña, he returned to Burgos and set about to appoint his men to strategic fortresses, the Royal Council as well as financial offices. He granted the Castle of Segovia and some other important fortresses to Don Juan Manuel (who was ironically Ferdinand's former servant, and had become Philip's favourite after the archbishop of Besançon died. He ran into financial troubles as parts of his army remained unpaid and he granted generous financial conditions to Ferdinand to hasten his departure. Cauchies writes that, in Spain, Philip found himself in the same situation his father had been during his Burgundian days. Until this day, he has been accused of being a foreign, spendthrift prince, a mere transitional monarch who was supported by bad advisors who disregarded the interests of the country. Philip would not live to see a better day like his father had, though. ==Patronage of the arts==