The Second Battle of Olmedo was fought on 20 August 1467 near Olmedo in Castile (now in the

province of Valladolid Valladolid () is a province of northwest Spain, in the central part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It has a population of 525,398 across a total of 225 municipalities, an area of , meaning a population density of 64.77 people ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

) as part of the

War of the Castilian Succession The War of the Castilian Succession was the military conflict contested from 1475 to 1479 for the succession of the Crown of Castile fought between the supporters of Joanna 'la Beltraneja', reputed daughter of the late monarch Henry IV of Castil ...

between

Henry IV of Castile Henry IV of Castile (Spanish language, Castilian: ''Enrique IV''; 5 January 1425 – 11 December 1474), nicknamed the Impotent, was King of Kingdom of Castile, Castile and Kingdom of León, León and the last of the weak late-medieval kings of Ca ...

and his half-brother Alfonso, Prince of Asturias. Alfonso's troops advanced eastwards along the valley of the

Duero The Douro (, , , ; ; ) is the largest river of the Iberian Peninsula by discharge. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in the Spanish province of Soria, meanders briefly south, then flows generally west through the northern part of the Meseta ...

towards central Castile, while the troops loyal to Henry moved north from Cuéllar towards

Medina del Campo Medina del Campo is a town and municipality of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Part of the Province of Valladolid, it is the centre of a farming area. It lies on the banks of the Zapardiel river, in the centre of t ...

to try to cut them off: the two armies met near Olmedo. Henry's troops comprised: *at the vanguard, Pedro de Velasco, his brothers Luis and Sancho and his cousin Juan; *in the second line, the Marquess of Santillana with his brothers Hurtado and Pedro (who was bishop of Calahorra), along with the royal guard under the command of Juan Fernández Galindo; *the rearguard under the command of

Beltrán de la Cueva Beltrán is a Spanish-Italian surname (or given male name) of initially Italian origin with the first record of the surname found at the University of Bologna. Centuries later, the surname primarily came to be found in the Catalan-speaking region of ...

. A notable absence among Henry's troops was Juan Pacheco, who was occupied with securing the leadership of the

Order of Santiago The Order of Santiago (; ) is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the patron saint of Spain, ''Santiago'' ( St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgrims on the Way of S ...

. With Prince Alfonso fought the troops of the

Archbishop of Toledo The Archdiocese of Toledo () is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Spain.

, the Archbishop of Seville, of the Counts of

Luna Luna commonly refers to: * Earth's Moon, named "Luna" in Latin, Spanish and other languages * Luna (goddess) In Sabine and ancient Roman religion and myth, Luna is the divine embodiment of the Moon (Latin ''Lūna'' ). She is often presented as t ...

, Plasencia and Ribadeo, as well as of the

Order of Calatrava The Order of Calatrava (, ) was one of the Spanish military orders, four Spanish military orders and the first Military order (society), military order founded in Kingdom of Castile, Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bu ...

. Fernando de Fonseca, fighting for Alfonso, was killed in this battle by

. The battle was considered a stand-off and thus was considered a victory for Henry. However, after the battle, Henry lost the support of Pedro Arias de Ávila and of the Count of Alba, the latter won over by favours from the Marquess of Villena and from the Archbishop of Toledo.

References

* * {{coord missing, Spain Olmedo 2 Olmedo 1 Olmedo 15th century in Castile 1467 in Europe History of the province of Valladolid

See also

References