Álvaro de Luna
Encyclopedia
John II of Castile
John II was King of Castile from 1406 to 1454.He was the son of Henry III of Castile and his wife Catherine of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster by Constance of Castile, daughter of King Peter of Castile.-Regency:He succeeded his father on 25 December 1406, at the age of...
, a Constable of Castile
Constable of Castile
Constable of Castile was a title created by John I, King of Castile in 1382, to substitute the title Alférez Mayor del Reino. The constable was the second person in power in the kingdom, after the King, and his responsibility was to command the military in the absence of the ruler.In 1473 Henry IV...
and Grand Master
Grand Master (order)
Grand Master is the typical title of the supreme head of various orders of knighthood, including various military orders, religious orders and civil orders such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Orange Order...
of the military order
Military order
A military order is a Christian society of knights that was founded for crusading, i.e. propagating or defending the faith , either in the Holy Land or against Islam or pagans in Europe...
of Santiago
Order of Santiago
The Order of Santiago was founded in the 12th century, and owes its name to the national patron of Galicia and Spain, Santiago , under whose banner the Christians of Galicia and Asturias began in the 9th century to combat and drive back the Muslims of the Iberian Peninsula.-History:Santiago de...
.
Early years
He was born between 1388 and 1390 at Cañete, in what is now the province of Cuenca, as the natural son of the Castilian nobleNobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
don Álvaro Martínez de Luna, copero mayor (the page who poured drinks to a nobleman) of king Henry III of Castile
Henry III of Castile
Henry III KG , sometimes known as Henry the Sufferer or Henry the Infirm , was the son of John I and Eleanor of Aragon, and succeeded him as King of the Castilian Crown in 1390....
, and María Fernández de Jarana, a common woman of great character and beauty.
He was introduced to the court as a page
Page (servant)
A page or page boy is a traditionally young male servant, a messenger at the service of a nobleman or royal.-The medieval page:In medieval times, a page was an attendant to a knight; an apprentice squire...
by his uncle Pedro de Luna, archbishop of Toledo, in 1410. Pedro de Luna later became antipope
Antipope
An antipope is a person who opposes a legitimately elected or sitting Pope and makes a significantly accepted competing claim to be the Pope, the Bishop of Rome and leader of the Roman Catholic Church. At times between the 3rd and mid-15th century, antipopes were typically those supported by a...
as Benedict XIII
Antipope Benedict XIII
Benedict XIII, born Pedro Martínez de Luna y Pérez de Gotor , known as in Spanish, was an Aragonese nobleman, who is officially considered by the Catholic Church to be an antipope....
, secluded at Peñíscola
Peñíscola
Peníscola or Peñíscola is a municipality in the province of Castellón, Valencian Community, Spain. The town is located on the Costa del Azahar, north of the Serra d'Irta along the Mediterranean coast...
. Álvaro soon secured a commanding influence over John II
John II of Castile
John II was King of Castile from 1406 to 1454.He was the son of Henry III of Castile and his wife Catherine of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster by Constance of Castile, daughter of King Peter of Castile.-Regency:He succeeded his father on 25 December 1406, at the age of...
, then a mere boy. During the regency
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
of the King John's uncle Ferdinand
Ferdinand I of Aragon
Ferdinand I called of Antequera and also the Just or the Honest) was king of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia and Corsica and king of Sicily, duke of Athens and Neopatria, and count of Barcelona, Roussillon and Cerdanya...
, which ended in 1412, he was not allowed to be more than a servant. When, however, Ferdinand was elected king of Aragon, and the regency was assumed by the king's mother, Catherine of Lancaster
Catherine of Lancaster
-Coat of arms:The following are Armorials of the House of Lancaster under her father, John of Gaunt.-References:* Anthony Goodman: "Katherine of Lancaster" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 30 , p. 890-891....
, daughter of John of Gaunt, the granddaughter of King Peter of Castile, Álvaro became a very important person, the so-called "contino", or old friend of the King.
The King's favourite
The young king regarded him with love and affection which the superstition of later time attributed to witchcraftWitchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
. As the king was under pressure by greedy and unscrupulous nobles — among whom his cousins, the sons of Ferdinand, commonly known as the Infantes of Aragon
Infantes of Aragon
The Infantes of Aragon is an appellation commonly used by Spanish historians to refer to a group of 15th C. infantes of the House of Trastámara, specifically the sons of King Ferdinand I of Aragon and his wife Leonor Urraca, Countess of Albuquerque:* Infante Alfonso - became Alfonso V of Aragon...
, were perhaps the most dangerous — his reliance on a favourite
Favourite
A favourite , or favorite , was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In medieval and Early Modern Europe, among other times and places, the term is used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler...
who had every motive to be loyal to him, is quite intelligible. Luna was also a master of all the accomplishments the king admired: a fine horseman, skillful with a lance
Lance
A Lance is a pole weapon or spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior. The lance is longer, stout and heavier than an infantry spear, and unsuited for throwing, or for rapid thrusting. Lances did not have tips designed to intentionally break off or bend, unlike many throwing weapons of the...
and a writer of court verse. But beyond his peers, he was a master of intrigue and misrepresentation.
Until he lost the king's protection, he was the central figure of the Castilian history of the time. It was a period of constant conflict conducted by shifting coalitions of the nobles, namely infantes Henry
Infante Henry, Duke of Villena
Infante Henry of Aragon , 1st Duke of Villena, 4th Count of Alburquerque, 32nd Count of Ampurias, was the Grand Master of the Order of Santiago.- Childhood :...
and John of Aragon
John II of Aragon
John II the Faithless, also known as the Great was the King of Aragon from 1458 until 1479, and jure uxoris King of Navarre from 1425 until his death. He was the son of Ferdinand I and his wife Eleanor of Alburquerque...
, brothers of John II's wife Maria
Maria of Aragon, Queen of Castile
Maria of Aragon was the first wife and Queen consort of John II of Castile. The daughter of Ferdinand I of Aragon and Eleanor of Alburquerque, she married her cousin John in 1420.- Biography :...
, who, under pretence of freeing the king from the undue influence of his favorite, were intent on making a puppet of him for their own ends.
The part which Álvaro de Luna played has been diversely judged. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition recounts that to Juan de Mariana
Juan de Mariana
Juan de Mariana, also known as Father Mariana , was a Spanish Jesuit priest, Scholastic, historian, and member of the Monarchomachs....
he appears as a mere self-seeking favourite. To others he has seemed to be a loyal servant of the King, who endeavoured to enforce the authority of the crown, which in Castile was the only alternative to anarchy. He fought for his own ends, but his supremacy was perhaps better than the rule of gangs of plundering nobles. His story is, in the main, one of expulsions from the court by victorious factions, and of his return, when his opponents fell out among themselves. Thus, in 1427, he was solemnly expelled by a coalition of the nobles, only to be recalled in the following year. In 1431, he endeavoured to employ the restless nobles in a war for the conquest of Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
, then still in Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
hands. Some successes were gained at the Battle of La Higueruela, but in the end he failed. A consistent policy was impossible with a rebellious aristocracy and a king of indolent character.
In 1445, the faction of the nobles allied with Álvaro's main enemies, the Infantes of Aragon, were defeated at the First Battle of Olmedo. One of them, Infante Henry, Duke of Villena, brother of the Queen, died of his wounds. Luna, who had been Constable of Castile and Count of San Esteban de Gormaz since 1423, became Grand Master of the Order of Santiago
Order of Santiago
The Order of Santiago was founded in the 12th century, and owes its name to the national patron of Galicia and Spain, Santiago , under whose banner the Christians of Galicia and Asturias began in the 9th century to combat and drive back the Muslims of the Iberian Peninsula.-History:Santiago de...
by election of the Knights.
Downfall
Queen Maria died under suspicious circumstances, pointing at Luna as the mastermind. Nevertheless, his power appeared to be thoroughly established. It was, however, based only on the personal affection of the king. The king's second wife, Isabella of Portugal, although her whole royal marriage was a product of Luna's arrangements, was soon offended at the immense influence of the Constable, and when the murder of the King's accountant Alfonso Pérez de Vivero was suspected to have been on Luna's orders, she urged her husband to free himself from slavery to his favourite. In 1453 the King succumbed; Luna was arrested, tried and condemned to death in a process which was a mere parody of justice, and soon executed by beheading at ValladolidValladolid
Valladolid is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within three wine-making regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales...
on 2 June 1453.
Marriage and issue
By his marriage with Juana Pimentel, Alvaro de Luna had two children, his legitimate heirs:- Juan de Luna, 2nd Count of Santisteban, San Esteban de Gormaz; married Leonor de Zuniga y Lara, daughter of the Duke of Bejar.
- María de Luna, 3rd Countess of Santesteban, the heiress after her brother's premature death. She married Íñigo López de Mendoza y Luna, 2nd Duke of the InfantadoÍñigo López de Mendoza y Luna, 2nd Duke of the InfantadoÍñigo López de Mendoza y Luna was a Spanish noble, and second Duke of the Infantado.He was the son of Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, 1st Duke of the Infantado and Brianda de Luna y Mendoza....
.
By a mistress, Margarida de Villena, Alvaro de Luna had an illegitimate son:
- Pedro de Luna, Lord of Fuentiduena.