THE WESTERN MEDITERR-\NEA:--.1 KINGDOMS 1200-1500Further evidence of Ferdinand's attitude to relations be-
tween Aragon and Castile can be found in his policy towards
Navarre. This kingdom had for centuries been coveted
by its Aragonese neighbour; Ferdinand's own father had
ruled Navarre before succeeding Alfonso V on the throne
of Aragon, and Navarre had then passed into the hands of
the powerful and autonomous counts of Foix. By marrying
into the house of Foix after the death of Isabella, Ferdinand
acquired a contested claim to Navarre. Castilian influence
in Navarre was certainly strong: the suppression of the
Navarrese Jews in 1498 was achieved under pressure from
Castile; but it was only in 1512 that Ferdinand was sufficiently
free of outside distractions to seize nearly all the mountain
state, followed a few months later by papal recognition of
his claims. Like any Aragonese king, he respected ancient
autonomies, and Navarre retained its own Cortes, as well as
possessing a Diputaci6n (a permanent committee of the Cortes)
on the Catalan model. Indeed, the sixteenth-century chron-
icler Zurita believed that Ferdinand was afraid union with
Aragon would prompt the Navarrese to claim further liber-
ties similar to those of the Aragonese, so in the end he
placed Navarre under Castilian law instead.;c'
The Catholic Monarchs ( nryes cat6licos, a title granted by
the papacy in recognition of their Christian achievements)
pursued a vigorous Mrican policy, bringing together here
longstanding priorities of the Iberian kingdoms. The con-
quest of Ceuta by Portugal, in 1415, stimulated debate about
which Iberian power was entitled to which part of a recon-
quered north Mrica. Castilian hopes of setting foot in Mrica
were strengthened by the conquest of the last Muslim state
in Spain; it was no new idea to argue that the reconquest
of Spain must be followed by that of north Mrica. The dis-
traction of wars in Italy slowed the Mrican campaigns, but
a significant start was made in 1496-97 when the duke of
Medina Sidonia sent an army to take Melilla, which effect-
ively marked the western edge of a Castilian sphere in Mrica,
with Portuguese rights assigned to the area beyond. Melilla
has remained part of Spain ever since. From^1505 onwards
renewed campaigns resulted in the acquisition of the import-
ant commercial centre ofOran (1509), of Bougie (1510), and
of a line of cities extending as far east as Tripoli (captured
- Elliott, Imperial Spain, pp. 131-2; Ramsey, Spain, pp. 315-17.