DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47347#0034
18
HISTORICAL ESSAY ON
epoch of the union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon.
The king, Don Enrique IV., purposed to have Doha Juana
proclaimed heiress to the throne; but, as the public opinion
disputed his paternity, and attributed it to Beltran de la
Cueva, the favourite of the queen, the Cortes, after long
and warm debates, refused to acknowledge Doha Juana,
because she was not the king’s legitimate daughter, and
they acknowledged his sister, Doha Isabella, as heiress to
the throne. The latter was immediately proclaimed by the
Cortes assembled at Ocaiia in 1469, and, after the death of
Enrique IV., she ascended the throne of Castile and Leon
with her husband, Don Ferdinand, king of Aragon h By
this marriage was insured the union of the crowns of Castile
and Aragon, to which conquest subsequently added that of
the kingdom of Navarre.
Let us pause a moment at this epoch to overthrow the
objection of the partisans of Don Carlos, who allege that, if
the cognatic succession existed in the kingdom of Castile, it
did not on that account exist in the kingdoms of Aragon,
Leon, and Navarre; and that the union of these kingdoms
produced a modification in the public law of Spain.
The objection is destitute of all historical and legal foun-
dation. The petty kingdoms of Leon, Navarre, and Aragon,
underwent nearly the same political modifications, in respect
to the succession to the throne, as those of Castile and the
Asturias. The kingdom of Leon remained, with the excep-
tion of some restrictions, an elective monarchy till the com-
mencement of the lltli century 1 2.
In the kingdom of Navarre, hereditary succession to the
throne, as a legal right and an immutable rule, was not
established till about the end of the 12th century3. The
1 Ferdinand and Isabella were surnamed the Catholic.
2 Ferreras, Historia de Espana, lib. iii.
3 Ferreras, Historia de Navarra, lib. ii. cap. 3.
HISTORICAL ESSAY ON
epoch of the union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon.
The king, Don Enrique IV., purposed to have Doha Juana
proclaimed heiress to the throne; but, as the public opinion
disputed his paternity, and attributed it to Beltran de la
Cueva, the favourite of the queen, the Cortes, after long
and warm debates, refused to acknowledge Doha Juana,
because she was not the king’s legitimate daughter, and
they acknowledged his sister, Doha Isabella, as heiress to
the throne. The latter was immediately proclaimed by the
Cortes assembled at Ocaiia in 1469, and, after the death of
Enrique IV., she ascended the throne of Castile and Leon
with her husband, Don Ferdinand, king of Aragon h By
this marriage was insured the union of the crowns of Castile
and Aragon, to which conquest subsequently added that of
the kingdom of Navarre.
Let us pause a moment at this epoch to overthrow the
objection of the partisans of Don Carlos, who allege that, if
the cognatic succession existed in the kingdom of Castile, it
did not on that account exist in the kingdoms of Aragon,
Leon, and Navarre; and that the union of these kingdoms
produced a modification in the public law of Spain.
The objection is destitute of all historical and legal foun-
dation. The petty kingdoms of Leon, Navarre, and Aragon,
underwent nearly the same political modifications, in respect
to the succession to the throne, as those of Castile and the
Asturias. The kingdom of Leon remained, with the excep-
tion of some restrictions, an elective monarchy till the com-
mencement of the lltli century 1 2.
In the kingdom of Navarre, hereditary succession to the
throne, as a legal right and an immutable rule, was not
established till about the end of the 12th century3. The
1 Ferdinand and Isabella were surnamed the Catholic.
2 Ferreras, Historia de Espana, lib. iii.
3 Ferreras, Historia de Navarra, lib. ii. cap. 3.