Royal Succession and Power in Medieval Spanish Kingdoms

Posted on Jan 24, 2025 in History

Christian Kingdoms in Medieval Spain (I)

1. Political Fragmentation

  • Various kingdoms.
  • General tendency towards hereditary monarchy.
  • Mixed systems with some elective elements.

2. Asturian Kingdom

  • Influence of the Visigothic monarchy.
  • Kings were appointed by the nobility and the high clergy.
  • Anointing and coronation ceremonies.

3. Kingdom of Navarra

  • System of dynastic succession.
  • Direct legitimate heirs: Men before women.
  • Oldest before, when there was equality of degree in kinship (parentesco) and sex.
  • Election was used if there were no descendants.

Coronation Ceremony in Navarra:

b. The future king watched (velaba) the arms in the cathedral.

c. He swore (took the oath) on the cross and the gospels to keep Navarrese fueros (local laws, rules, and privileges).

d. The nobility and the representatives of the cities swore to defend the king.

e. The king was anointed by the bishop.

f. He was dressed by the bishop with the attributes of kingship.

4. Crown of Castile

Partidas de Alfonso X el Sabio. 13th century.

a. Hereditary principle.

  • Prevalence of direct descent over collateral kinship.
  • Prevalence of males over females.
  • Introduction of the right of representation.

b. The title of Prince of Asturias was created in 1388 to designate who would inherit the throne.

  • Oath as heir in the Cortes of Castile.
  • The oath as heir was very important in the inheritance ritual.

c. Double oath of the king. The ritual was performed in the Courts of Castile.

  • Upon ascending the throne, the king swore to exercise his office rightly.
  • The kingdom swore obedience to him.

d. The anointing and coronation ceremonies were not important in Castile in the late Middle Ages.

  • Preference of the sword over the crown as a symbol of kingship.
  • The anointing was not always done because it meant giving importance to the role of the Church.
  • However, the anointing and coronation rituals were in fact held when the legitimacy of the king was to be highlighted.

Case of Alfonso XI

  • Succeeded his father in 1312, when he was one year old. Various regencies. He became king in 1325. There was no anointing or coronation at that time.
  • Needed to strengthen the monarchy against the nobility.
  • The coronation and anointing of Alfonso XI in 1332 were exceptional ceremonies.
  • His coronation (civil character) and anointing (sacred character) took place in Burgos in 1332 in the same ritual. Great pomp and solemnity.
  • He was anointed in the church of the monastery of Las Huelgas.
  • He crowned himself and later he crowned the queen, María of Portugal.
  • Previously, Alfonso XI had made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, where he was knighted (armado caballero).

The rituals of anointing and coronation were a demonstration of royal power against the nobility.

  • The last king of Castile to be crowned was Juan I in 1379.
  • There was a decline and disappearance of the anointing ritual.
  • The oaths in Cortes were very important rituals in Castile.
  • Conception of the power of the king as the main defender of Christianity.
  • The king received his power from God and he was the main executor of justice. Fundamental function of judging.
  • A king was a judge, who also ruled.

Christian Kingdoms in Medieval Spain (II)

1. Crown of Aragon

  • Link with the papacy. The pope could intervene in the appointment of the king.
  • In the 13th century, Jaime I the Conqueror stopped recognizing vassalage (vasallaje) before the Pope.
  • The kings of Aragon began to crown themselves.
  • Since the 13th century, the kings of Aragon had to swear the fueros (laws of the kingdom) in the Cortes of Aragon.
  • Regulation of the oath of the monarch in the Cortes of Zaragoza in 1461.

As was the case in Castile, this oath was very important in accessing the throne of the kings of Aragon.

2. Kingdom of Majorca

It arose at the end of the 13th century by the dispositions of Jaime I the Conqueror in his testament of 1272.

  • Jaime I gave the kingdom of Aragon to his eldest son (Pedro el Grande de Aragón) and the kingdom of Majorca to his youngest son (Jaime II of Mallorca).
  • The kingdom of Mallorca was composed by: the Balearic Islands, the counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya, the lordship of Montpellier, the Viscounty of Carlades and the barony of Omelades.
  • It was a kingdom much-coveted by France and Aragon.
  • The kingdom of Majorca did not have its own Cortes, which contributed to its weakness.
  • In 1349 the kingdom returned to the Crown of Aragon.
  • Palatine laws of King Jaime III of Majorca. 1337. Written in Latin.
  • They established the organization of the House of the King (Casa del Rey).
  • The palatine laws describe the different positions at the palace, the functions, the hierarchy in the offices, the festivals, and ceremonies.
  • Influence of various foreign courts: the Papacy, France, Aragon.
  • They capture Jaime III’s conception of the monarchy and the royal dignity and the importance he gave to the ceremonial and the Court as an expression of his sovereignty.

3. Kingdom of Aragon

  • Ordinations of the Royal House of Aragon of 1344 (Ordinacions de la Casa Reial; Ordenaciones de la Casa Real).
  • Promulgated by Pedro IV the Ceremonious (El Ceremonioso).
  • Influence of the Palatine Laws of Mallorca. They were similar.
  • Set of rules written in Catalan that describe the organization of the House and Court of Aragon.
  • They established the model of the coronation of the kings of Aragon.
  • It was a self-coronation system. Kings took the crown from the bishop, they crowned themselves and then they crowned their spouses.
  • The Ordinations (with some modifications that were being introduced) governed the House and Court of the Crown of Aragon until the creation of the Councils, including the Council of Aragon, in the 16th century.

Christian Kingdoms in Medieval Spain (III)

Symbols and Insignia of Royal Power

1. Crown. Also diadems. Its use provided the monarch with the highest representation of royal sovereignty (even if there was not a coronation ceremony). The crown was very important in the first centuries of the Middle Ages.

2. Throne. Importance of enthronement. Inheritance of the throne.

3. Sword. Growing importance as a symbol of royal power during the Reconquest. Distance from the Papacy and the Church. Reaffirmation of royal sovereignty.

4. Cloths (purple, gold, silk)

5. Banners and flags

  • Title of Prince of Asturias. 1388. Juan I of Castile to his son Enrique (the future Enrique III).
  • Important in the succession in the Crown of Castile. It fixed the succession order in the heir. Delivery of royal insignia. Legacy of the crowns and swords.
  • Equivalent to the Prince of Wales in England (1301), the Dauphin in France (1349) and the Prince of Viana in Navarra (from 1423).

In the peninsular Christian kingdoms, there were no specific rules that regulated the access to the power of kings or queens. But there were symbols of sovereignty and the use of different ceremonies.