Combatants in 1475 In favour of Joanna: • Portugal • France • Some of the high Castilian nobility and descendants of Portuguese families who settled in Castile after 1385; the Archbishop of Toledo (
Alfonso Carrillo de Acuña); the
Estúñiga family, with land bordering Portugal and Navarrese ancestors; the Marquis of Villena (
Diego López Pacheco); the Marquis of Cádiz (
Rodrigo Ponce de León); and the grandmaster of the
Order of Calatrava (
Rodrigo Téllez Girón). The Duchy of Burgundy and the Kingdom of England were at war with France in 1475, but they did not coordinate their actions with the supporters of Isabella and so are rarely considered part of the Isabella alliance.
Fight for throne (May 1475 – September 1476) Afonso V enters Castile A Portuguese army entered the territory of the Crown of Castile under the command of Afonso V on May 10, 1475, and advanced to
Plasencia, where Joanna was expecting him. Joanna and Afonso were proclaimed sovereigns of Castile on May 25 and were married; the required Papal dispensation (Joanna was Afonso's niece) arrived a few months later. From Plasencia, they marched to
Arévalo, with the intention of heading towards
Burgos. There, Afonso hoped to be able to unite with any troops sent by his ally, Louis XI of France. The castle of Burgos and the cities of Plasencia and Arévalo were controlled by the Estúñiga family, supporters of Joanna. The city of Burgos, controlled by the
Fernandez de Velasco family, backed Isabella. Afonso found fewer supporters in Castile than he expected and changed his plans, preferring to instead consolidate his control in the area closest to Portugal, in particular
Toro, a city that received him favourably even though the garrison of the castle proclaimed itself loyal to Isabella. Zamora and other
Leonese villages of the lower
Douro also accepted him. In
La Mancha, Rodrigo Tellez-Giron, the Master of the
Order of Calatrava, supporter of Joanna, conquered
Ciudad Real.
Rodrigo Manrique, treasurer of that same Order and the Master of the
Order of Santiago, reconquered the city for Isabella. Ferdinand concentrated an army in
Tordesillas, and on July 15, he ordered it to march to seek an encounter with Afonso. Four days later, they arrived at Toro, where the King of Portugal avoided direct combat. Ferdinand, lacking the necessary resources for a prolonged siege, was forced to return to Tordesillas and disband his army. The castle of Toro surrendered to Afonso V, who returned to Arévalo to wait for the expected French intervention.
Rodrigo Alfonso Pimentel, Count of Benavente and supporter of Isabella, situated himself with a small force in
Baltanás to monitor the Portuguese. He was attacked on November 18, 1475 and was defeated and imprisoned. Even though this victory opened the way to Burgos, Afonso V decided once again to withdraw, now to Zamora. His lack of aggressiveness debilitated the Joanna alliance in Castile, which began to disintegrate.
Isabellian counterattack Supporters of Isabella counterattacked by taking
Trujillo and gaining control of the lands of the
Order of Alcántara, a significant portion of those of the
Order of Calatrava, and of the
Marquisate of Villena. On December 4, part of the garrison in Zamora rebelled against King Afonso, who was forced to flee to Toro. The Portuguese garrison maintained control of the castle, but the city received Prince Ferdinand the following day. In January 1476, the castle of Burgos surrendered to Isabella by a pact that avoided reprisals against the defeated.
Battle of Toro In February 1476, the Portuguese army, reinforced by troops brought by
John II of Portugal, son of Afonso V, left its base in Toro and surrounded Ferdinand in Zamora. The siege took a worse toll on the Portuguese than on those under siege because of the Castilian winter, and on March 1, Afonso V withdrew back towards Toro. Ferdinand and his troops launched a pursuit and caught up to the Portuguese one
league (about 5 km) from Toro, and combat began. After three hours of fighting interrupted by rain and nightfall, the King of Portugal withdrew to
Castronuño with part of his troops. His son, John, remained near Toro, retreating with his army in an organized fashion towards the city and even taking a few enemy prisoners. Publicists from both sides claimed victory. Politically, the battle was decisive because subsequently the bulk of the Portuguese troops retreated back to Portugal along with Joanna, whose side now had hardly any troops in Castile.
War at sea One of the objectives of Isabella and Ferdinand was to challenge Portugal's monopoly on the rich Atlantic territories of Guinea. The gold and purchased slaves constituted an important source of income which could be used to finance the war, and therefore expeditions to Guinea became a priority for both belligerent sides. Portuguese ships had transversed the Andalusian coast, apprehending fishing and merchant ships, since the start of the war. To stop this, Isabella and Ferdinand sent four
galleys under the command of
Álvaro de la Nava, who stopped the Portuguese incursions and plundered the Portuguese city of
Alcoutim on the
Guadiana River. Sailors from
Palos de la Frontera pillaged the coasts of Guinea.
Alfonso de Palencia, official chronicler of Isabella, narrates an expedition in which two
caravels from Palos captured 120 Africans and sold them as slaves. Despite protests by the monarchs, shortly afterwards another fleet of three caravels captured an African king and 140 nobles of his village. In May 1476, Isabella ordered the liberation of the "King of Guinea" and his entourage. The order was only partly obeyed, as the king was liberated and returned to Guinea, but his companions were all sold as slaves. The King of Castile ordered the preparation of a fleet to apprehend the Portuguese and appointed
Carlos de Valera to command. The preparations were also delayed by a naval battle that took place when the Castilians found out that one or two Portuguese ships with a rich cargo had left the Mediterranean to return to Portugal under the escort of the pirate
Alvar Méndez. A fleet of five galleys and five caravels captained by
Carlos de Valera and
Andrés Sonier intercepted them in
Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and were victorious after a hard-fought battle. Valera gathered a fleet of three Basque ships and nine Andalusian caravels (25 caravels according to Palencia), all heavily armed. There was no longer any possibility of intercepting the Portuguese fleet so he decided, after stopping at
Porto Santo Island, to head towards the island of
António Noli in the
Cape Verde archipelago, near the coast of Guinea. They plundered the island and captured António Noli, who then held the territory feudally from the King of Portugal. They next set sail for the coast of Africa, where they captured two caravels owned by the Marquis of Cadiz containing a shipment of 500 slaves. The sailors from Palos separated themselves from the expedition at this point. They were the most knowledgeable in the maritime navigation of Guinea so Valera returned to Andalusia. On August 1476, Afonso V of Portugal departed towards France after signing a truce with Isabella and Ferdinand. There he tried to convince Louis XI to involve France to a greater extent in the war. Louis refused, as he was focused on defeating his main enemy,
Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.
Battle of Cabo São Vicente The King of France sent the fleet of Norman pirate
Guillaume Coullon as aid to Portugal. In August 1476, King Afonso sent two Portuguese galleys loaded with soldiers along with the 11 ships of Coullon to come in the aid of the castle of
Ceuta. On August 7, this fleet encountered five armed merchant ships from Cadiz heading for England: three Genoese carracks, a galley, and a Flemish vessel. Coullon attempted to capture the merchants through a ploy, but failed, and was forced to engage in combat. The Franco-Portuguese side emerged victorious. Due to the use of incendiary weapons by the French, fire razed two Genoese ships, the Flemish vessel, two Portuguese galleys, and two of Coullon's ships. According to Palencia, some 2,500 French and Portuguese died.
Consolidation of Isabella and Ferdinand (September 1476 – January 1479) After their strategic victory at the battle of Toro, the repulsion of the French attack, and the truce with Afonso V, Isabella and Ferdinand were in a powerful position to obtain the throne of Castile. Nobles of the Joanna alliance were forced to accept the circumstances and gradually pledged their allegiance to Isabella and Ferdinand. The war was reduced to skirmishes along the Portuguese border and the continuation of the naval war for control of the Atlantic commerce.
Submission of the Joanna alliance to Isabella and Ferdinand Throughout 1476, supporters of Joanna from the nobility continued to submit to Isabella and Ferdinand, particularly those from the Pacheco-Girón lineage:
Juan Téllez-Girón and his brother
Rodrigo;
Luis de Portocarrero; and, in September,
the Marquis of Villena.
Expeditions to Guinea and Canary Islands, 1478 In 1477, a fleet departed from Andalusia headed for Guinea. The other Castilian fleet arrived at
Elmina and obtained sizeable quantities of gold. The fleet remained stationed there for a few months, under the orders of the commercial representative of the Crown. The Portuguese fleet arrived, and the Castilians were attacked. They were defeated and taken as prisoners to
Lisbon. According to
Hernando del Pulgar, the gold King Afonso captured allowed him to relaunch the war on land against Castile. Portuguese sources affirm that both the prisoners and a significant portion of the captured gold were returned to Castile after the signing of peace in 1479.
Peace between Castile and France Towards the end of 1478, before word of the defeat at Elmina arrived in Castile, an embassy from King Louis XI of France offered a peace treaty to Isabella and Ferdinand. It was signed in
Guadalupe and included the following clauses: • Louis XI recognized Isabella and Ferdinand as Monarchs of Castile and León. • Ferdinand agreed to break his alliance with
Maximilian I, Duke of Burgundy. • Both parties agreed to the arbitration of affairs relative to Roussillon.
Final phases (January – September 1479) Towards the end of 1478, some of Joanna's supporters revolted in
Extremadura,
La Mancha (Marquis of Villena), and
Galicia. The Portuguese, reinforced by the naval victory at
Guinea, once again intervened in Castile in aid of their allies.
Portuguese offensive In February 1479, a Portuguese army commanded by
Garcia de Meneses, Bishop of Évora, penetrated into Extremadura. His objective was to occupy and reinforce the strongholds of
Mérida and
Medellín, controlled by
Beatriz Pacheco, Countess of Medellin and supporter of Afonso V. According to Palencia, the Portuguese army was composed of about 1,000 Knights (of which 250 were Castilians), plus infantry. 180 Knights of the Order of Santiago marched alongside him, commanded by their treasurer, Alfonso de Monroy. On February 24, near the hill of
Albuera, the army was challenged by Isabellian forces commanded by
Alonso de Cárdenas, Master of the Order of Santiago. The army consisted of 500 Knights of the Order, 400 Knights of the
Hermandad (mainly from Seville), and 100 infantrymen. The battle was heavily contested. The Isabellian infantry suffered a severe blow from the Juanist cavalry and became disorganized, but intervention by the Master of Santiago aided the panicked infantry. The Portuguese were forced to retreat, leaving significant spoils of war on the battlefield, as well as around 85 dead Knights. Only 15 Isabellian Knights were killed. The bulk of the Portuguese army was able to take refuge in Mérida and from there continued its march to
Medellín, which they occupied. Supporters of King Ferdinand placed Medellín and Mérida under siege.
The Pope switches sides The
nuncio Jacobo Rondón de Seseña arrived at Castile with notice that
Pope Sixtus IV had reversed himself and had annulled the dispensation previously awarded to Afonso V for his marriage to his niece Joanna. This gravely debilitated the legitimacy of the Joannist side and the pretension of the King of Portugal to the throne of Castile.
Last Castilian initiatives at sea In February 1479, Isabella and Ferdinand tried to organize a new fleet of about twenty caravels to expel the Portuguese from
Elmina. However, they were unable to gather the necessary ships, and afterwards no expeditions of importance were launched up until the peace agreement with Portugal.
Peace talks In April 1479, King Ferdinand arrived at
Alcántara to participate in peace talks organized by Beatrice, daughter of Afonso V and aunt of Isabella of Castile. The negotiations lasted 50 days, but no agreement was reached. The two sides continued the conflict, trying to better their respective positions in anticipation of new peace negotiations. Isabella and Ferdinand launched an offensive against
Alfonso Carrillo de Acuña, Archbishop of Toledo, who was forced to surrender, which allowed the monarchs to challenge the Marquis of Villena. Meanwhile, the Portuguese garrisons in Extremadura successfully resisted a Castilian siege. Peace negotiations were restarted in the summer, and an agreement was reached. ==Treaty==