Kissing cousins (2)

In the mid-1270s the contest for control of Navarre intensified. Technically the French had grabbed it, but the kings of Aragon and Castile weren’t about to roll over to have their tummies tickled.

Alfonso of Castile

King Alfonso of Castile moved first, and asked his brother-in-law Edward I of England for military aid against the French. Edward replied that any help he might give must be subject to his feudal obligations and fealty to the king of France; he also took the opportunity to remind Alfonso of his own hereditary rights to certain castles and towns in Navarre. The king of England appeared to imply that he would not risk anything for nothing, and any military aid for Castle would come with a large price tag attached.

The situation changed in May 1275, when Alfonso’s eldest son Ferdinand de la Cerda - Ferdinand ‘of the bristle’, named after his full head of hair - died unexpectedly. His younger brother Sancho was hailed by the cortes of Castile as Alfonso’s heir, even though the king wanted his grandsons by Ferdinand to succeed him. These grandsons were also the nephews of Philip III of France, who took up their cause. Philip collected a great army at Sauveterre in southern Gascony, a development Edward must have regarded with some alarm: he was the king-duke of Gascony, after all, and it was indelicate of Philip to raise an army on English territory without asking some form of permission, even if Edward was his vassal. Edward was also faced with the unpleasant prospect of being summoned to do military service by the French against his own in-laws of Castile: King Alfonso was brother to Edward’s wife, Eleanor.

The necessity of military service overseas explains why Edward fixed his campaign against Prince Llywelyn in Wales for the summer of 1277 instead of autumn 1276. On 7 November 1276, five days before he formally denounced Llywelyn as a rebel, Edward wrote to Philip expressing his regret that peace with Castile was impossible. He also declared that, in view of the danger to Christendom, he had entrusted military operations in Wales and Ireland to others so he could join Philip for the invasion of Castile.

Thus, if the Franco-Castilian war had gone ahead, Llywelyn might have been spared a crushing defeat. Unfortunately Philip III was not a great organiser, and forgot to arrange any food or supplies for the army gathered at Sauveterre. As a result the army had to be immediately disbanded and Philip scuttled back to Paris, followed by howls of laughter from the direction of Castile.