ABSTRACT
The accession of a minor, Juan II, to the throne of Castile in 1406 began a period of instability that the great nobles exploited freely. When Henry IV succeeded his father in 1454 they felt strong enough to dispute the king’s power and question his choice of successor. The ensuing civil wars (1464-80) came to centre on the problem of the succession. A group of nobles led by Alfonso Carrillo, archbishop of Toledo, supported the rights of Henry’s half-sister Isabella, who was recognised by Henry in September 1468, apparently on condition that she marry the elderly king Alfonso V of Portugal. Others, however, led notably by the powerful Mendoza family, supported Henry’s infant daughter Juana (b. 1463), known as La Beltraneja because it was rumoured (without any proof, as historians now agree) that her real sire was the king’s favourite Beltrán de la Cueva. In search of allies, Carrillo committed Isabella (in January 1469) to marry the son of king Juan II of Aragon, related by marriage to Isabella’s supporters the Enriquez family.
