temporarily crippled his plans. He had to seek refuge in
France, although he was able to return to Castile at the
end of 1367. At that point a corrosive war between the
brothers began, with Enrique increasingly gaining the
upper hand, due to the economic travails of the time as
well as the growing unpopularity of his rival. The as-
sassination of Pedro I in Montiel (March, 1369) cleared
Enrique’s path to the Castilian throne.
The political outlook Enrique faced in the spring of
1369 was far from promising. In the Castilian interior,
several regions maintained loyalty to Pedro I, includ-
ing Carmona, Zamora, and a large part of Galicia, but
an anti-Castilian coalition composed of the remaining
Spanish kingdoms was forming. In 1371 the pockets
of petrista support were crushed; at the same time, due
to the signing of the treaty of Santarem with the Por-
tuguese, its defensive strongholds along the frontiers
of Aragón, Portugal, and Navarre crumbled. In 1375
the Treaty of Almazán made peace between Enrique II
and Pedro IV of Aragón, who agreed to yield Molina
to Castile, abandon his claims to Murcia, and consent
to marriage between his daughter Leónor and Juan,
the heir to the Castilian throne. Only the confl ict with
Navarre remained, though with the Treaty of Santo
Domingo de la Calzada in 1379, this too was resolved.
Clearly, between 1371 and 1379 the foundations were
established for Castile’s future hegemony in the Iberian
Peninsula.
On the international front, Enrique II’s rise to power
produced a period of close alliance between Castile and
France, beginning with the Treaty of Toledo, signed in
1368 by the illegitimate prince and delegates sent by the
king of France. As a result of this accord, Castile aided
France in the Hundred Years War: its participation was
particularly notable in the naval victory at La Rochelle
(1372) and in the sacking of the Isle of Wight (1373).
Accompanying the French alliance was Castile’s hos-
tility toward England; their economic rivalry acquired
political motives as the duke of Lancaster laid claim to
the Castilian throne due to his marriage to Constanza,
daughter of Pedro I.
The generosity Enrique II displayed to the noblemen
that helped him acquire the throne explains why he
received the nickname “el de las mercedes” (he of the
favors, or mercies). For the high Castilian nobility, En-
rique II’s ascent to the throne provided a prime solution
for the problems created by the deep economic crisis of
the time. For the crown, on the other hand, the mercedes
enriqueñas produced a considerable decrease of royal
property. Enrique’s donations to his supporters consisted
largely in seigneurial territories whose benefi ciaries
received revenues and possessed jurisdictional rights.
Enrique II gave territories to captains of foreign troops
such as Du Guesclin, who received but never occupied
Soria and Molina, and Bernal de Béarne, who was
awarded Medinaceli. The king’s brothers, Sancho and
Tello, were also benefi ciaries of royal mercedes, as was
his illegitimate son Alfonso Enríquez. But the majority
of the donations were made to nobles, both from time-
honored, traditionally powerful lineages (the Guzmán
family, for example) and from social-climbing, newly
powerful groups (like the Mendoza or Velasco families).
Despite everything, Enrique II managed to slow down
the negative impact these concessions had on the royal
estates, establishing restrictive norms regulating their
primogeniture succession.
In the political realm Enrique II strengthened the
crown’s power. In 1371 the seven-member Audiencia
was established, serving as the kingdom’s high court of
justice. Also notable was the development of a system of
estate administration, which by the end of the monarch’s
reign had taken the form of a casa de cuentas (billing
house). Enrique II also called for frequent meetings of
the cortes (parliament), which served as an essential
instrument of dialogue with the kingdom and its cities.
The principal sessions of the cortes occurred in Toro in
1369, when important legislation regarding price and
salary regulation was approved, and in 1371. In con-
clusion, Enrique II lay the groundwork for the modern
state in Castile.
In Enrique II’s times, the tolerance that until then
had prevailed between Christians and Jews began to
crumble. Anti-Semitic propaganda, supported by the
monarch during the war with his brother, led to violent
attacks against numerous Jewish groups in Castile. Also
supporting this trend were the intense criticisms made
by the third estate of the cortes against the Jews. Once
he had assured his place on the throne, Enrique II clearly
changed his attitude, attempting to protect the Jews,
even naming some to governmental positions, such as
Yuçaf Pichon, almojarife mayor (chief tax collector)
of the king’s estate. But the anti-Semitic sentiments of
the popular Christian sectors of Castile were already
unstoppable.Further Reading
Suárez, L. “Política internacional de Enrique II,” Hispania, 16
(1956), 16–129.
Valdeón, J. Enrique II de Castilla: la guerra civil y la consoli-
dación del régimen ( 1366 – 1371 ). Valladolid, 1966.
Suárez, L. “Castilla (1350–1406).” In Historia de España. Vol.- Ed. R. Menéndez Pidal. Madrid, 1966. 3–378.
Valdeón, J. Los judíos de Castilla y la revolución Trastámara.
Valladolid, 1968.
——. “La victoria de Enrique II: Los Trastámaras en el
poder.” In Génesis medieval del Estado Moderno: Castilla
y Navarra ( 1250 – 1370 ). Ed. A. Rucquoi. Valladolid, 1988.
245–58.
Julio Valdeón Baruque
ENRIQUE II, KING OF CASTILE