The jurisdictional lordships, forms of governmentnot of ownership or possession, which were consolidated in the 14th and 15th centurieswere subrogations of the royal power for the administration of towns, usually those with geographical or structural difficulties that generated income. From King
Alfonso XI the rulers created these lordships to give to their allies a proper way to maintain their position and to be able to govern and administer areas that were otherwise difficult to take care of with the traditional channels of the monarchy. From its origins, there have been buying and selling operations. These lordships were unique: they were territories that in remote times formed the
Kingdom of Asturias, the one identified with the origins of the monarchy. When Rodrigo died without an heir in 1333, he bequeathed his domains to
Henry, Count of Trastámara and illegitimate half-brother of King
Peter I, during whose reign a "true civil war"in the words of
Luis Suárez Fernándeztook place in Asturias de Oviedo because a group of knights settled in small dominions believed that the consolidation of the "states" that were being occupied by the Count of Trastámara (in a civil war against the King), would affect their power. Henry, once King, ceded the counties to his illegitimate son Alfonso Enríquez. During the reign of his half brother King
John I, the Count of Noreña and Gijón revolted against him several times; for this reason, the King decided to confiscate the counties and incorporate them to the Crown, promising in a document dated 18July 1383 that they would always remain part of the royal demesne.
Creation of the Principality , who imposed on the count the return of the territories he held in Asturias. The territory was subdued, and his royal status was confirmed. In the early days of its creation, the title of Prince of Asturias was not just a simple honorific title, as it included control of the territory of
Asturias. The Prince ruled it in representation of the King and was able to appoint judges, mayors, etc. King
JohnII by decree dated in
Tordesillas on 3March 1444 declared the conversion of the principality into a jurisdictional lordship, linking the cities, towns, and places of Asturias deOviedo with their rents and jurisdictions to the
Majorat of the heirs of the Crown; however, this document was in some case disobeyed and ignored by the Asturian towns as it went against their traditional
fueros. On 31May of that same year the future
HenryIV tried to make the Majorat effective and remember Oviedo and the twenty-one principal Asturian villages that rightfully belonged to his lordship even though he had not "executed or used [the principality] because of my minority and the great debates and scandals that have taken place in these kingdoms". With the legal conformation, the duality principality–lordship was recovered and would last under the jurisdiction of the Prince until the time of
Catholic Monarchs, who limited the scope of the title, making it merely honorary; this decision was upheld by the members of the
House of Habsburg and the
House of Bourbon until the present day. 1877. John was the only son of the
Catholic Monarchs and heir of all their domains during his lifetime. Although all the heirs of the Crown of Castile have traditionally been considered Princes of Asturias, not all had a formal act by which the jurisdictional lordship was granted; strictly speaking, the only Princes of Asturias were
Henry, during 1388–1390,
Enrique, during 1444–1453,
Isabella during 1468–1474, and
John, briefly during 1496–1497. In the periods in which no prince was proclaimed, the Principality did not disappear but was directly governed by the monarch, to whose treasury were sent the jurisdictional rents. In 1496 there was an attempt to revive the principality by Royal Letter dated 20May, in which the monarchs, "wishing to observe the ancient custom" of their Kingdomsan allusion to
Aragongave to Prince John the rents and jurisdictions of the Asturian places that had previously reverted to the Crown, reserving to them the majority of the judges and the condition of not alienating his patrimony.
Decadence under the Habsburgs With Prince John the title was added to a list of titles used by the Hispanic monarchy, the heir adding the titles of Prince of Asturias, Girona (1496), Spain, and the New World. The imperialist aspirations are observed in the new title of the heir of the Catholic Monarchs: "Prince of these Kingdoms, Prince of the Spains and the New World" (
Príncipe de estos Reynos, Príncipe de las Españas y del Nuevo Mundo). The title lives from that moment a time of partial decadence with the establishment of the House of Habsburg on the Spanish throne; Only during the reign of
PhilipIV was a proper ceremony introduced for the Prince's oath as heir. The commission responsible for the writing of the new constitution, equating the Crown Prince with the Prince of Asturias, proposed that the Cortes should recognize him immediately after announcing his birth and that upon reaching the age of 14, the prince should swear before the Cortes the defence of the Catholic faith, the preservation of the Constitution, and obedience to the King. The royal decree of 30May 1850 attributes to the "immediate successors to the Crown", according to the Constitution of the Monarchy, without distinction of men or women," the continued use of "Prince of Asturias". Queen
Isabella II gave birth to a daughter,
Isabella, on 20 December 1851 and as a result of this decree, the newborn received the title of "Princess of Asturias". Isabella would lose this title with the birth of her brother, the future
Alfonso XII, in 1857. The
Constitution of 1869 kept the traditional denomination of Prince of Asturias due to the influence of the Asturian politician
José Posada Herrera. Alfonso XII ascended the throne in 1874 following the end of the brief
First Spanish Republic and as the infanta Isabella was the immediate heir to the Crown after her brother Alfonso, she once again became "Princess of Asturias" by royal order of 25March 1875, applying the doctrine of 1850 by granting the title of Princess without distinguishing between male or female successor. The subsequent Constitution of 1876 omitted the title again from its provisions, similar to the constitutions of 1837 and 1845. The decree stated that any other immediate successor, male or female, had to be granted the title. the new liberal government of
Práxedes Mateo Sagasta was limited to restoring the principles of the decree of 1850, granting the title of Princess of Asturias to
Infanta María de las Mercedes in a royal decree dated 10March 1881.
Current democracy With the restoration of the monarchy in 1975, the Royal Decree of 21January 1977, supported by the Provincial Delegation of Oviedo, ordered that the son of King
Juan Carlos I,
Prince Felipe, bear the title of Prince of Asturias, in addition to those titles traditionally appertaining to the heir of the throne. The process culminated in the promulgation of the
Constitution of 1978, whose article57 says that the Crown Prince will be Prince of Asturias and can use the other titles linked to his person, symbolically embodying the Spanish dynastic union. ==Titles and functions==