Aragonese kingdom

On July 25, 1409, the King of Sicily, Martin the Younger , the only son of King Aragon, Martin I the Elder , died. On the advice of the courtiers, the king decided to marry again. The second wife was Margarita de Prades ^[1] . The marriage was approved by Benedict XIII ("true" from the point of view of Aragon, "the pope").

Although Martin the Elder hoped that he would have a son, but along with this he was preparing spare options. The great-nephew of the king of Aragon, Jaime II, Count of Urhel, was appointed deputy kingdom (with the title "lloctinent i governador general dels regnes"). And also asked Benedict XIII to legalize Federico de Luna (illegitimate son of Martin the Younger), but did not have time.

In March 1410, Jaime II, enjoying sympathy among the lower classes (especially in Valencia and Catalonia) ^[2] and considering himself the future king of Aragon, introduced the troops of his supporters to Zaragoza ^[3] . This was due to the fact that the Archbishop of Aragon and the deputies of the kingdom of Aragon (but not the kingdom of Valencia and Catalonia), oriented to Benedict XIII (who settled in Barcelona) ^[4] , opposed the Count of Urhelsky. Jaime II considered Gregory XII (sitting in Rome) to be the "true" Pope, and Louis III of Anjou (one of the future contenders) considered Alexander V (sitting in Pisa).

The introduction of Jaime troops led to riots. Despite the fact that Jaime in his letter to King Martin dated May 14, 1410 ^[5] called himself innocent and blamed the archbishop of Zaragoza and local ill-wishers for everything, on May 17, 1410 Martin I took the title “lloctinent i governador general dels regnes” from him .

On May 29, 1410, the King of Aragon suddenly fell ill. On May 30 and 31 he spent in bed and could hardly speak. These days the king was visited by the Chancellor of Barcelona, and he twice asked the last will of the king. But he was able to achieve only that Martin wants peace for the kingdom and that the power passed in accordance with the law ^[6] .

On May 31, 1410, Martin the Elder died without a legal heir.

Laws of inheritance in the lands of the Aragon crown were then based more on custom than on legislation, and even case law did not exist. Since 1137, when the unification of the kingdom of Aragon and the Catalan counties took place, the crown passed along the male line from father to son, and if there were no sons to a younger brother. A similar practice existed in Aragon from 1035 to 1137. But in 1137, the crown went to Petronile, daughter of the previous king, although she had Navarre cousins. Based on this, a number of candidates put forward their claims in 1410.

The main candidates were ^[7] :

• Jaime II , Count of Urhel, Martin's closest relative as the great-grandson of Alfonso IV of Aragon on the male side. In addition, he was married to Isabella, the younger sister of Martin I and Juan I of Aragon. He was appointed king Martin lieutenant (heir) of the kingdom. He demanded a throne on the basis of the birthright on the male line.
• Louis III of Anjou , the grandson of Juan I of Aragon and the grand-nephew of Martin I, on the mother's side. He claimed the throne according to the cognitive birthright.
• , the only grandson of Martin I the Elder (Aragonese). Was the bastard of Martin I the Younger (Sicilian). Born out of wedlock, he was legalized by the antipope Benedict XIII .
• Alfonso de Aragón and Veia the Elder , Duke of Gandia , grandson of Jaime II of Aragon. He claimed the throne on the basis of seniority in the male line and the proximity of blood to the previous kings of Aragon. He died in March 1412.
• Juan Prades , brother of Alfonso, who inherited his claim.
• Ferdinand I of Castile , grandson of Pedro IV of Aragon. The son of Eleanor of Aragon, the elder sister of Martin I and Juan I of Aragon. He demanded a throne based on the proximity of blood to the last king.

The beginning of the interregnum

The removal of Jaime Urhelsky led to the split of the kingdoms of the Aragon crown ^[7] .

Jaime Urhelsky had many enemies among the Aragonese nobility. They were (albeit a minority) among the Catalans. These included the Governor of Catalonia, Gerau Alemany de Cervello and Keralt (Guerau Alemany de Cervelló i de Queralt). The Governor of Catalonia decided not to convene the Catalan parliament until August 31, hoping to wait for the papal legitimization of Federico de Luna. This happened on August 20, but was limited to Sicily. Soon, many nobles considered the young Federico unpromising and all the enemies of Jaime Urhelsky united around Louis III of Anjou ^[8] .

September 25, 1410 in Barcelona managed to assemble a legitimate parliament. In the kingdoms of Aragon and Valencia, different groups convened rival parliaments, each of which called itself legitimate ^[8] .

The parties were preparing to defend their positions in the upcoming war. To avoid this, the Catalans handed over the management of twelve commissioners who were supposed to lead the region. Aragon was split between the names of and Urrea, who supported different applicants ^[7] . Urrea was supported by Louis of Anjou, Luna - by Jaime ^[8] .

In Valencia, the claims of Jaime Urgelsky were supported by the Vilagut clan, but the Centelles clan ^{[9] [10]} opposed them.

The death of the archbishop

On June 1, 1411, (a supporter of Jaime Urhelsky) met on the road Archbishop of Zaragoza Garcia Fernandez de Jeredía (supporter of Louis of Anjou) and killed him. Supporters of Jaime claimed that Antonio killed the archbishop in an ordinary brawl ^[11] , opponents claimed that supporters of Jaime, led by the Moon, planned to capture Zaragoza, but they only managed to kill the archbishop ^[12] .

Sardinia, having received a new chance to gain independence, was in a hurry to realize it. Sicily was divided between supporters of Queen Blanca , widow of Martin the Younger, and supporters of ^[7] . The murder of the archbishop improved the chances of another candidate - Ferdinand of Castile.

Ferdinand from 1406, when his brother died, was regent of the juvenile nephew of Juan II of Castile . Ferdinand did not claim the Castilian throne, and during the war with the Granada emirate he showed himself well: in 1410 Ferdinand captured the city of Antequera . Without making claims to the Castilian crown, Ferdinand did not hesitate to lay claim to the crown of Aragon, not listening to those that his young nephew Juan II had great rights and the inheritance championship ^[7] . Being closer to Aragon and having more military and financial resources than distant Louis of Anjou, he seemed to Jaime's opponents a more promising candidate.

Under the pretext of protecting the relatives of the archbishop, Ferdinand presented them with protection and advanced military forces to the border with Valencia ^[8] .

This united around Ferdinand both anti-Uchelists and francophiles (supporters of Louis of Anjou) ^[8] .

At the end of summer, the Catalan parliament moved to Tortosa to be closer to the Aragonese border ^[8] . Supporters of Ferdinand managed to gather representatives of the Aragon meeting in September 1411 in Alcaniz ^[7] . Those who disagree with him gathered at the Mechanism . The same thing happened in the Kingdom of Valencia: anti-Urhelists gathered in Treiger and Urhelists in Vinaros. Thus, the choice was reduced to two candidates ^[8] .

King's Election

On December 23, 1411, the Parliament of Catalonia agreed with the deputies of Aragon gathered in Alcaniz to create a commission of twenty-four people, eight from each property. On January 23, 1412, Pope Benedict XIII, who took refuge in Peniscola , suggested that a small number of experts from each kingdom be elected with the authority to appoint a successor; this advice was adopted, and on February 15, Alkanise agreed that nine judges, three from each kingdom, met in the city of Casp, owned by the Knights Hospitallers. There, the judges had to study the rights of various candidates and choose a successor by a majority vote. This majority was to be secured by at least one vote from each kingdom. ^[8]

The Aragonese Parliament delegated to Governor Ruiz de Liori and Judge Juan Jiménez Serdan the opportunity to propose judges. ^[8] In a similar way, the issue of nominating candidates in the Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Valencia was resolved ^[7] . Pope Benedict XIII tried to influence the selection of judges. He was alarmed by the proposal of the King of France to the Catalan parliament to elect Anjou as his ruler. This would combine the crowns of Aragon, Anjou and Provence. But the proposal bothered the pope (who was recognized only in Aragon and Castile), since Aragon transferred to another "Roman pope" sitting in Rome Gregory XII (whom Louis III of Anjou was oriented to) or sitting in Pisa John XXIII (who was supported by Jaime Urhelsky) ^[8] .

The selection of such candidates as judges was disputed by supporters of Louis of Anjou and Jaime Urhelsky. But the invasion of the Castilian troops into the kingdom of Valencia and their victory at the strengthened the position of Benedict and his allies. In the battle of Morvedra, which took place on February 27, 1412, the Castilian forces defeated the “Urhel”. Many Jaime supporters were killed (for example, , Governor of Valencia) or captured. In such a situation, the protests of the Urhelites and Anjou were ignored. Impressed by the victory, twenty-four deputies approved the list of judges on March 13 ^[8] .

End of the

On June 28, 1412, the judges announced that they decided to consider Ferdinand of Castile the closest relative of the late king and legal heir. This statement was made by Vicente Ferrera in the form of a long and eloquent sermon. And although it was obvious that any choice would not satisfy all parties. But it became clear that Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia as a whole were ready to support a common candidate. Everyone expected the reaction of Jaime, Count of Urhelsky. Valencia ^[7] . The decision taken in the Caspian was liked by many in Aragon, fewer supporters in Valencia and very few in Catalonia ^[13] . In Catalonia, many were unhappy with the foreign origin of Ferdinand ^[14] .

After the verdict, Fernando went to Zaragoza, where he agreed to respect the laws of Aragon. For the same purpose, he visited Catalonia and Valencia. King's choice had a positive effect on the remote parts of Aragon. In Sicily, for example, Fernando provided support to Queen Blanca as regent of the island and sent advisers to help her. Bernardo de Cabrera, who pursued the queen with a marriage proposal, was arrested and sent to Barcelona. In Sardinia, Guillaume II de Lara , the Viscount of Narbonne , who, together with the Genoese attempted to conquer the entire island and had already achieved considerable success, realized that he was facing a war not only with Aragon, but also with Castile. The Viscount and his allies immediately sent an embassy to Aragon and concluded a ceasefire for five years. In the Balearic Islands, Ferdinand was also unconditionally recognized, and his power in the lands of the Aragon crown, thus, seemed indisputable ^[7] .

But Jaime II of Urhelsky was not going to so easily give up the fight. Although Ferdinand granted Jaime a place of honor in Cortes and promised large sums of money to pay debts, the continuous complaints of his mother and the incitement of his friend Antonio de Luna prompted Jaime to speak out against Ferdinand. The Earl entered into an agreement with Thomas , Duke of Clarence, son of the English King Henry IV , who was at that time in Bordeaux . Having received a promise of help from Thomas and having assembled an army of southern French nobles, Jaime invaded Aragon in the spring of 1413. Antonio de Luna besieged Haka, while the Count of Urgel himself acted in the direction of Lerida in the hope of supporting Catalonia. But on March 20, 1413, the English king died and Thomas, Duke of Clarence, however, was recalled to England. The Gascon and Toulouse feudal lords, who for the most part formed the army of Jaime, decided that without the support of England, a war with such a powerful adversary as Aragon was meaningless. Meanwhile, Ferdinand had already taken adequate measures to protect the kingdoms. He strengthened the garrisons with both Castilians and Aragonese, and gathered in Zaragoza a noble militia. Jaime and Antonio de Luna were besieged in Balaguer. The besieged for two months fought and hoped for help from the British. Artillery Ferdinand fired on the city. As a result, Jaime was forced to surrender to the mercy of the king. In November 1413, Ferdinand replaced the death penalty, to which the count was sentenced, to life imprisonment with confiscation of all property. Only after this the king returned to Zaragoza, where at last in February 1414 his coronation took place, which took place with an unprecedented brilliance ^[7] .

In 1413-1414, Ferdinand conquered the county of Urhel, and in January 1416 refused support Benedict XIII, recognizing the "true" pope Martin V ^[4] . Ferdinand also, during his short reign, tried to limit the freedoms guaranteed in 1412 ^[7] .

• Klula Ivan . Borgia. - Phoenix, 1997. - (Trace in history).
• HJ Chaytor. 14 The "Compromise" of Caspe // THE LIBRARY OF IBERIAN RESOURCES ONLINE A History of Aragon and Catalonia.
• Altamira i Crevea Rafael . History of Medieval Spain. - Moscow: Foreign Literature, 1951. - T. I. - S. 262-264. - 519 p.

• A compromise in the Caspian (Catalan.) . Gran Enciclopedia Catalana . Date of treatment January 21, 2018.
• Compromiso de Caspe (neopr.) . Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa . Date of treatment January 21, 2018.
• The dynastic crisis in Aragon. Fernando Antekerra and Jaime Unhappy. Agreement in the Casp. (1410-1413 g.) (Neopr.) . Reconquista . Date of treatment January 21, 2018.