Ferdinand the Catholic

Ferdinand II ( an, Ferrando; ca, Ferran; eu, Errando; it, Ferdinando; la, Ferdinandus; es, Fernando; 10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), also called Ferdinand the Catholic (Spanish: ''el Católico''), was King of Aragon and Sardinia from 1479, King of Sicily from 1468, King of Naples (as Ferdinand III) from 1504 and King of Navarre (as Ferdinand I) from 1512 until his death in 1516. He was also the nominal Duke of the ancient Duchies of Athens and Neopatria. He was King of Castile and León (as Ferdinand V) from 1475 to 1504, alongside his wife Queen Isabella I. From 1506 to 1516, he was the Regent of the Crown of Castile, making him the effective ruler of Castile. From 1511 to 1516, he styled himself as ''Imperator totius Africa'' (Emperor of All Africa) after having conquered Tlemcen and making the Zayyanid Sultan, Abu Abdallah V, his vassal. He was also the Grandmaster of the Spanish Military Orders of Santiago (1499-1516), Calatrava (1487-1516), Alcantara (1492-1516) and Montesa (1499-1516), after he permanently annexed them into the Spanish Crown. He reigned jointly with Isabella over a dynastically unified Spain; together they are known as the Catholic Monarchs. Ferdinand is considered the ''de facto'' first King of Spain, and was described as such during his reign ( la, Rex Hispaniarum; es, Rey de España).

The Crown of Aragon that Ferdinand inherited in 1479 included the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia, and Sicily, as well as the principality of Catalonia. His marriage to Queen Isabella I of Castile is regarded as the "cornerstone in the foundation of the Spanish monarchy". Ferdinand played a major role in the European colonization of the Americas, from drawing up the Capitulations of Santa Fe (anticipating a rogue Columbus) to having his personal accountant, Luis de Santangel, undertake more than half the cost (2 million maravedis of the 3 million total) of sponsoring Christopher Columbus' first voyage in 1492 (ensuring the Crown was virtually risk-free in this great gamble) to prudently negotiating the terms with John II of Portugal for the Treaty of Tordesillas. That same year, the couple defeated Granada, the last Muslim state in Western Europe, thus completing the centuries-long Reconquista.

Ferdinand was King of the Crown of Castile until Isabella's death in 1504, when their daughter Joanna became Queen. That year, after a war with France, Ferdinand conquered the Kingdom of Naples. In 1506, he became Regent of Castile (as ''Rey Señor de Castilla'') on behalf of his mentally unstable daughter Joanna. In 1505, as part of a treaty with France, Ferdinand married Germaine of Foix, niece of King Louis XII of France and sister of Gaston of Foix (the Thunderbolt of Italy). Ferdinand and Germaine's only child, John, died shortly after his birth. In 1512, Ferdinand conquered the Kingdom of Navarre, ruling all the territories comprising modern-day Spain until his death in 1516. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving child, Joanna and his grandson Charles. Ferdinand's great-grandson Philip II of Spain, while staring at a portrait of him, is recorded to have said "We owe everything to him". Modern historian Sir John H. Elliott concluded "in so far as it he_establishment_of_the_Spanish_Empire.html" ;"title="Spanish_Empire.html" ;"title="he establishment of the Spanish Empire">he establishment of the Spanish Empire">Spanish_Empire.html" ;"title="he establishment of the Spanish Empire">he establishment of the Spanish Empirecan be attributed to any particular set of policies and actions, they were those of King Ferdinand and Cardinal Cisneros."

Early life

Ferdinand was born on 10 March 1452, in the town of Sos del Rey Católico, Aragon, as the son of John, Duke of Montblanc, and Joanna Enríquez, 5th Lady of Casarrubios del Monte. He was a nephew of King Alfonso V of Aragon, and the largest foreign landholders of feudal Castile, the infantes Henry, Duke of Villena, and Peter, Count of Albuquerque. Ferdinand grew in the shade of his headstrong mother, whom her much older husband loved and indulged. From the very beginning, she seemed to have brought up her son to ascend to the throne of Aragon. It began by her putting off his baptism for nearly a year until King Alfonso named his brother John as regent, thus making it possible to hold Ferdinand's baptism in the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in the capitol city of Zaragoza with all the pomp afforded to an Aragonese Infante. The child was named after his paternal grandfather, Ferdinand I, the first Trastamara king of Aragon. King Ferdinand I was the foremost Iberian hero of the wars against the Moors in recent memory. In 1458, Ferdinand's uncle died with no legitimate children and his father became King John II of Aragon.

Ferdinand's father hailed him as a child prodigy. It is said that by the time Ferdinand was eight years old, he managed to beat his parents, his mentor Joan Margarit i Pau, and other members of the court every single time they played chess or checkers. As a child, he excelled at many of the physical activities required of a royal prince. In the words of Hernando del Pulgar: " erdinandwas a very good equestrian, jouster and lance thrower, and did all the things that a Prince ought to with such ease and with such skill, that no one his age, in all his kingdoms, did it better." From a very young age, he seemed to have developed a great sense of humility and respect toward people of "low birth" (especially his constant servants).

A Prince of the Sword

Ferdinand was born during a period of turbulence, with King John II and his son, Charles, Prince of Viana (Ferdinand's elder half-brother) embroiled in open conflict. Ferdinand was by no means meant to inherit the Crown of Aragon. That privilege was reserved for Charles but John II was not having it. Within the Crown of Aragon, John had the support of Aragon, Sardinia, Sicily, Majorca and the Remences of Catalonia while Charles had the support of Catalonia and Navarre. Valencia chose to remain neutral while Louis XI of France and Henry IV of Castile allied with John and Charles respectively. After Charles' unexpected death on 23 September 1461, Ferdinand was made John's undisputed heir.

In February 1462, war broke out in Catalonia with the commencement of the First War of the Remences led by Francesc de Verntallat. The peasants revolted against the Consell del Principat with the hope of receiving royal support. On 11 March, Queen Joanna sensing danger, departed Barcelona for Girona, with the 10-year old Prince Ferdinand in tow. They hoped to receive protection from the French garrison stationed in Girona. In May, the deputy leader of the Consell, Francesc Pallarès, along with two other former leaders, were executed by the Generalitat for colluding with the Queen. This meant civil war, once more.

An army of the Consell was formed and placed under the command of Hug Roger III, Count of Pallars Sobira. After besieging and capturing Hostalric on 23 May, Roger marched on Girona, where he was received warmly on 6 June while the Queen and the Prince took refuge in the citadel, Força Vella, all throughout June. Gaston IV, Count of Foix, leading a French army, took Girona on 23 July and rescued the Queen and Prince.

By this time, King John II and King Louis XI had signed the Treaty of Sauveterre (3 May) and the Treaty of Bayonne (9 May) in which Louis pledged 4,200 French Knights to John's cause in return for 200,000 escut as payment. And until the payment was made, Louis received Roussillon and Cerdagne as collateral, along with the right to garrison Perpignan and Cotlliure. With this, the Consell named John II "an enemy of Catalonia" and offered the Principality to three different foreigners; Henry IV of Castile, Peter of Coimbra and René of Anjou.

When the General Cortés was convened, at Zaragoza on 6 February 1468, Queen Joanna, afflicted with late-stage breast cancer, was too sick to preside over. So, the now sixteen year old Ferdinand did so instead. He handled the sessions as if he was a well-seasoned veteran politician in his 60s. The Queen could not have been more proud of her son, but just two weeks later her serene highness died, which to say devastated Ferdinand would be an understatement. Diego de Valera insists that a wonderful odor arose from her corpse, implying she was a Saint. King John II was then battling the French in the north, and it was Ferdinand who saw to his mother's funeral arrangements. Then, in Valencia, where the regional Cortés was indifferent to the ongoing war, Ferdinand addressed the city's nobility with tears streaming down his face. He first paid his due reverence to his deceased mother and said: "Lords, you are well aware of the hardships my lady mother underwent to keep Catalonia within the House of Aragon. I see my lord father old and myself very young. Therefore I place myself in your warm and capable hands and ask you to please embrace and guide me as if I were your own son."

The speech received an ecstatic response with some Nobles swearing oaths of fealty then and there. With this, Valencia; the most prosperous kingdom within the Crown of Aragon at the time, joined the war on the side of the royalists and the war waged on until John II and Prince Ferdinand entered Barcelona in 1471 and the Consell signed the Capitulation of Pedralbes. Here, Ferdinand displayed his magnanimity by convincing his father to issue a general pardon to all their former opponents (except Hugh Roger III).

In between 1463 and 1469, Ferdinand had managed to bag multiple victories against all manner of foes (the French led by the Duke of Lorraine, the Castilians led by John of Beaumont, the Portuguese led by the Constable of Portugal and the Catalans led by the Count of Pallars Sobira). Some of his notable victories were at Vildamat, Berga, Alt Emporda, Els Prats del Rei, Bellegarde, Collioure, and Salses. He also led the liberation of Navarre from the French, when he, along with his father, entered Perpignan on 1 February 1473 amidst jubilation.

By the time he was just 17, he was a proven battlefield commander and a shrewd diplomat (earning praise from Louis XI of France himself). In 1473, he was made a Knight of the Golden Fleece by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. He was the last recipient of that honor from a member of the founding house: the House of Valois-Burgundy, before the death of Charles at the Battle of Nancy in 1477 ended its male-line permanently.

Appearance and personality

Marriage and Accession

King of Castile

As heir apparent to the Crown of Aragon, Ferdinand was the subject of many royal matches. A notable one being a marriage proposal made by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy for his daughter, Mary of Burgundy. He eventually married Isabella, the half-sister and heir presumptive of Henry IV of Castile, on 19 October 1469 in Valladolid, Kingdom of Castile and Leon. Since the marriage was done against Henry's wishes, Isabella's status as his heir presumptive was revoked and she was disinherited in favour of Henry's daughter; Princess Joanna. Although Isabella never gave up her claim to the title; Princess of Asturias, from 1469 to 1475, they had to rely on Ferdinand's regal title; King of Sicily.

Before the marriage, Ferdinand was asked to sign the humiliating Capitulations of Cervera on 5 March 1469. Most people, like Alfonso de Palencia, Pedro de Peralta, Archbishop Margarit and even Castilians like Archbishop Carrillo, Gutierre de Cardenas and Juan Pacheco, wondered why a royal prince would even contemplate signing such a document. But Ferdinand, as a shrewd politician, was playing the long game.

On 12 December 1474, Henry died in Madrid. When news reached Segovia, where Isabella was residing, she immediately convened the Courts of Castile the following day, disinherited her niece Joanna and proclaimed herself Queen of Castile with Ferdinand as her "''legitimate husband''". Ferdinand was not present for all this because, at the time, he was campaigning against the French occupying Roussillon. When he got word, he was incandescent with fury. He immediately rode for Segovia, where he was given a royal entry on 2 January 1475.

Immediately, a new agreement of understanding was drafted with Archbishop Carillo representing the interests of Ferdinand and Cardinal Mendoza representing the interests of Isabella. The Concord of Segovia, completed on 5 January, was not an agreement between husband and wife but one between two rival political parties. In it, Ferdinand renounced all claims to the throne of Castile as closest male heir of the House of Trastamara. Isabella was recognized as sole owner of the Kingdom with it passing to her descendants at the time of her death. All official documents, the coin, the seal and the proclamations will be headed by the names of both with Ferdinand taking precedence over Isabella. Both their arms were merged into one with Isabella's Eagle of Saint John and Ferdinand's motto " Tanto Monta" ("''it amounts to the same'' 'cutting as untying'') added in. It was decided that the arms of the House of Trastamara; the arms of Castile y Leon, would take precedence over the arms of Aragon y Sicily in their new joint heraldry. Ferdinand was recognized jure uxoris King of Castile as Ferdinand V of Castile, with near equal powers to those of Isabella. Identical equal powers (with the added benefit of being made the supreme authority on the joint Crown's foreign, military and social policies) were ceded by Isabella to Ferdinand on 28 April 1475, at the outbreak of the Castilian War of Succession. This document, nullifying the separation of monarchical powers established in the Concord of Segovia, signified the commencement of a reign of true equals.

War with Portugal and King of Spain

Shortly after Ferdinand and Isabella were invested as the Monarchs of Castile, Queen Joanna's husband; King Afonso V of Portugal, declared Isabella a usurper and took up his wife's cause. According to him, she was the legitimate heir of Henry IV, and as her husband, he, the legitimate ''jure uxoris'' King of Castile (as Alfonso XII). Isabella had no option but to reciprocate by claiming the throne of Portugal (as the daughter of Isabella of Portugal) and declaring war on Afonso.

On one side was the Crown of Aragon and the pro-Isabella faction of Castile. On the other, the Kingdom of Portugal and the pro-Joanna faction of Castile. The 3 most powerful Houses of Northern Castile (the House of Enriquez, the House of Mendoza and the House of Alvarez de Toledo) formed the pro-Isabella faction because of their familial ties to Ferdinand. The lesser ''Hidalgos'' (who made up 2/3 of Castile's nobility) led by the House of Pacheco-Giron, the House of Zuniga and the Archbishop of Toledo (the supreme ecclesiastical authority of Castile) formed the pro-Joanna faction. France supported Afonso and Joanna (because of a wider war raging in Roussillon, Cerdagne and the Italian Peninsula with Aragon) and Burgundy supported Ferdinand and Isabella (for the same reason France supports Portugal). The Kingdom of Navarre was going through a civil war, so it, along with the Taifa of Granada and the Kingdom of Galicia, chose to remain neutral.

Ferdinand, as Captain-General, led the Castilian-Aragonese army while Afonso and the " Perfect Prince" led the Castilian-Portuguese army. Under the leadership of Ferdinand, the pro-Isabella Castilians won some decisive battles in Trujillo, Burgos, Cantalapiedra, Castronuño, Sieteiglesias, Cubillas, Villalonso, Portillo, Villaba and Zamora. On 1 March 1476, Ferdinand (along with Cardinal Mendoza and the Duke of Alba) secured a major victory at the Battle of Toro, which essentially crushed all hopes of a Portuguese victory on land. After signing a Treaty with Afonso V on 23 September 1475, Louis XI of France sent a wave of French armies under Alain I of Albret, all throughout March–June 1476, to push into Castile via Hondarribia. Ferdinand not only crushed this French invasion but also managed to gain a foothold in the Kingdom of Navarre by conquering Viana and Puente La Reina. He then acted as arbitrator between the warring factions of Navarre while gaining the right to station 1,000 men-at-arms in Pamplona. This victory shielded Aragon and Castile from any future French offensives. Although Ferdinand was winning on land, at sea, the Portuguese, along with Norman pirates led by Guillaume Coullon, were gaining the upper hand (especially after the Battle of Guinea and the Battle of Elmina). On 9 October 1478, Ferdinand pressured Louis XI to sign the Treaties of Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Guadalupe, in which France recognized Ferdinand and Isabella as the legal Monarchs of Castile in return for Ferdinand breaking all ties with Maximilian I, Duke of Burgundy.

Emboldened by the victory at Elmina, Afonso V decided to undertake a last-ditch invasion of Castile. In February 1479, a Castilian-Portuguese army commanded by Garcia de Meneses, Bishop of Evora, penetrated into Extremadura. The objective was to occupy and reinforce the strongholds of Mérida and Medellin, controlled by Beatriz Pacheco, Countess of Medellin and supporter of Joanna. Ferdinand immediately dispatched Alonso de Cardenas, Master of the Order of Santiago, with a Castilian-Aragonese army, to face this threat. On 24 February, near the hill of Albuera, the two forces jostled for dominance. Despite Cardenas having been outnumbered 2:1, he completely routed the invasion force and Ferdinand quickly put Mérida and Medellin under siege. In June 1479, Ferdinand launched an offensive against the rebel Archbishop of Toledo, who was forced to surrender. This signified the end of hostilities towards Ferdinand and Isabella within Castile. The pro-Joanna faction disintegrated, with its leaders; the Marquis of Villena, the Marquis of Cadiz and the Count of Ureña, submitting themselves to the Queen's mercy. All that remained was Portugal itself and with Pope Sixtus VI revoking his papal dispensation for the marriage between Afonso and his niece, Joanna, the legitimacy of Afonso V as King of Castile fell by its foundations.

The document that put an end to the war, the Treaty of Alcáçovas-Toldeo, was drafted on 4 September 1479. It was ratified by Afonso V of Portugal in Alcáçovas on 8 September 1479 and by Ferdinand and Isabella in Toledo on 6 March 1480. In it, Afonso renounced all claims to the throne of Castile and Isabella did the same to the throne of Portugal. The treaty wasn't harsh on any party apart from Queen Joanna herself, who was required to renounce all regal claims associated with Henry IV and retire to a nunnery for the rest of her life.

On 20 February 1479, Ferdinand's father, King John II of Aragon, died and that same year Ferdinand succeeded him as King. Now, he was King of Castile, Leon, Aragon, Sicily and Count of Barcelona. And on 14 April 1481, in the Cortes of Calatayud, he granted his wife Isabella, the same powers that he had received on 28 April 1475, designating her as co-regent, governor and administrator of the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon. This signified the symbolic union of the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon into one: the Crown of Spain. In the words of a letter drafted by the Town Council of Barcelona to the Town Council of Seville: "''Now...we are brothers''."

Reign

Emulating what the ancient Kings of Aragon did with their newly acquired Muslim communities, especially in Valencia, Ferdinand imposed the extremely liberal Treaty of Granada (1491) on Granada on its capitulation. The treaty proved extremely favourable to the Muslims, who got to retain their faith, customs, and attire. The new Archbishop of Granada, Hernando de Talavera, was an ardent supporter of the treaty and much like the king, he wanted to win hearts and minds, resulting in a slow but resolute process of conversion. This all changed when the Archbishop of Toledo, Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, settled in Granada in 1499. He carried out a policy of heavy-handed forced conversion, in gross violation of the initial treaty. This resulted in the Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1499–1501) which saw swaths of Muslim communities up in arms. Ferdinand crushed the rebellion with brutal efficiency and in that same year, along with Isabella I, issued an edict of conversion. All Muslims residing in the Crown of Castile were to convert to Christianity or face expulsion. Most did convert, nominally, while the remaining few emigrated to North Africa. Muslims in the Crown of Aragon were safe under Ferdinand, but they too suffered the same fate under his grandson in 1526.

The later part of Ferdinand's life was largely taken up with disputes with successive kings of France over control of Italy, the Italian Wars. In 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded Italy and expelled Alfonso II of Naples, Ferdinand's first cousin once removed and step nephew, from the throne of Naples. Ferdinand allied with various Italian princes and with Emperor Maximilian I to expel the French by 1496 and install Alfonso's son, Ferdinand II, on the Neapolitan throne. In 1501, following Ferdinand II's death and the accession of his uncle Frederick, Ferdinand signed an agreement with Charles VIII's successor, Louis XII, who had just successfully asserted his claims to the Duchy of Milan, to partition Naples between them, with Campania and the Abruzzi, including Naples itself, going to the French and Ferdinand taking Apulia and Calabria. The agreement soon fell apart and, over the next several years, Ferdinand's great general Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba fought to take Naples from the French, finally succeeding by 1504.

Some time before 1502 Andreas Palaiologos, the last surviving male heir of Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, bestowed his titles and rights to the Byzantine throne to Ferdinand in his last will. This move was primarily influenced by Ferdinand's successful military campaigns against the Ottoman Empire in Otranto and Cephalonia. But Ferdinand never used the titles during his lifetime, feeling that they would ''obligate'' him to launch an expensive crusade.

The 1504-1506 Castilian Interregnum

On 12 October 1504, Ferdinand's wife and queen proprietor of Castile; Isabella I, had her last will drafted and notarized, in which she named their daughter Joanna as "''the true queen, natural lady and universal successor''". On 23 November that same year, she signed a codicil in which she declared that if Joanna was not physically present in the Kingdom or "''being in them, she does not want to or cannot attend the governorship''" it was to pass over to Ferdinand and no other; he in turn was to set up a regency headed by him for their grandson, Prince Charles, until he reached the legal age of 20. With this, Isabella set up a contingency plan in case Joanna's diagnosis was accurate and also sidelined her son-in-law, Archduke Philip, who was already bitter about Isabella outright rejecting his request of being afforded the same title as her husband: ''de jure uxoris'' King of Castile. The will made it crystal clear that Philip was simply Prince-consort of Castile with no position in the line of succession or any hand in Castile's government. This was all on paper, while the real situation was anything but this clear-cut. Three days after signing the codicil, Isabella died. Since Joanna was in Flanders, this started the first regency of Ferdinand.

Regardless of what the will stipulated, Ferdinand's position in Castile was precarious. Despite having become King of Castile even before he became King of Aragon, and having channeled a good portion of his prime (35 years in total) for matters pertaining to Castile (the skirmishes with Henry IV, the War of the Castilian Succession, the pacification of Galicia, the Granada War, Columbus' expeditions etc...), he was still legally a foreigner. And after Isabella's death, his legal role in Castile was limited to temporarily presiding over the government until Joanna's arrival. Since Ferdinand had spearheaded the centrist policies that saw many of the Castilian nobility deprived of their feudal lands, rights, and privileges, from their perspective this was the ideal time for payback. And it was in their best interest to swiftly replace this seasoned monarch with a novice while they had the law on their side. Coincidentally, these were all the same nobles that joined the anti-Isabelline faction during the War of the Castilian Succession. They, led by Diego Lopez de Pacheco, Marquess of Villena, Pedro Fernandez de Cordoba y Pacheco, Marquess of Priego, Juan Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia, and Juan Téllez-Girón, Count of Ureña demanded Ferdinand immediately vacate Castile. This was when the Marquess of Villena uttered the most infamous words: "''¡Viejo Catalanote, vuélvete a tu tierra!''" (Old Catalan, go back to your country!).

Ferdinand only had a handful of nobles, albeit powerful, on his side. They included: Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, Íñigo López de Mendoza, Count of Tendilla, Fadrique Enríquez, Admiral of Castile, Bernardino Fernández de Velasco, Constable of Castile and Diego Fernández de Córdoba y Mendoza, Count of Cabra. With their backing, he sought to empower the regency clause stipulated in Isabella's will by having Joanna declared "''incapable of governing the realm''" in front of the Castilian Cortés convened at Toro. This didn't go as planned but a curious opportunity presented itself that proved greatly beneficial to Ferdinand's political aspirations: it seems Joanna's mental state had worsened while in Flanders, thus preventing Philip from immediately sailing over to Castile and establishing himself via his wife because up until then, Joanna's mental health issues were merely rumor. But if the Castilian nobles were to witness first hand her true state, everything could go wrong for Philip. On top of all this, Philip was forced to attend to the plight of Guelders, which was then occupied by Charles of Egmont. But all through this, Philip always had one staunch ally; his father, the Emperor Maximilian. But for whatever reason, Philip opted to also ally himself with Maximilian's enemy, Louis XII of France (possibly to encourage him to threaten Ferdinand in the Pyrenees front) early that year by signing the Treaty of Blois (1504 on 24 September, in which Philip recognized Louis' claims to the Duchy of Milan. The treaty also included a marriage between Philip's son Charles, and Louis' daughter Claude. This infuriated Maximilian and also forced Ferdinand to make an alliance of his own.

On 12 October, Ferdinand and Louis signed the Treaty of Blois (1505), which was an alliance strengthened by marriage. This treaty basically overwrote the previous treaty with Philip, and it stipulated that Ferdinand would marry Louis' niece, Germaine of Foix, and restore the seized assets and titles of the Angevin party of Naples, and in return, Louis would transfer his disputed claims to Southern Italy and the throne of Jerusalem to her while also ensuring any military action taken by the Archduke or the Emperor against either Ferdinand or Louis would have to overcome a joint French-Aragonese force.

This devastated Philip, who in just one day, had lost both his allies (Maximilian and Louis) and possibly the Crown of Aragon (because any male children born to Ferdinand and Germaine would bypass Joanna). This wasn't all beneficial to Ferdinand either. His second marriage, to a French princess no less, cost him the approval of Castile's majority population, who unlike the nobility, had lauded Ferdinand as their King. The people saw it as a blatant betrayal of Isabella. Ferdinand basically handed his political opponents material to further discredit him. But in the end, it was Philip who was mauled. So he entered into fresh negotiations with Ferdinand.

On 24 November 1505, a concord was signed between Ferdinand and Philip (represented by Filiberto de Veyre) at Salamanca. In it, Ferdinand recognized Joanna's and by extension, Philip's, right to rule in Castile. While the couple would be invested as ''jure uxoris'' King and Queen proprietor of Castile, Ferdinand would run the realm's everyday affairs as "''Governor''". The royal income would be split in half between the couple and Ferdinand. Isabella's half of the Indies would pass over to the couple while Ferdinand retained his half as per the papal bull '' Inter caetera'', and royal appointments were to be agreed upon by both parties. This treaty didn't last long and finally, on 8 January 1506, Philip and Joanna set sail from Flanders towards Castile.

The nobles that sided with Ferdinand tried to convince him to confront Philip on the battlefield. Those that sided with Philip (especially the Duke of Medina Sidonia

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