User:Panotxa/Compromís de Casp



The Compromise of Caspe made in 1412 was an act and resolution of parliamentary representatives on behalf of the Kingdoms of Aragon and Valencia and the Principality of Catalonia, to resolve the interregnum commenced upon the death of King Martin I of Aragon in 1410 without a legitimate heir, in Caspe.

The succession laws of the Crown of Aragon at that time were rather hazy, based more on custom than any specific legislation, and even case law did not exist. All successions in time of united Barcelona-Aragon had been to the eldest son, to the next younger brother, or to the only daughter. However, earlier successions indicated that agnates (a male in the male line) of Aragonese royal family had precedence over daughters and descendants of daughters; for example, Martin himself had succeeded over daughters of his late elder brother, King John I.

However, very distant agnates had lost out to the daughter of the late king in 11th century, when Petronila of Aragon succeeded over claims of the then agnates (second cousins or the like), the Kings of Navarre and Castile.

J.N Hillgarth writes: "Among the descendants by the male line, the closest relation to Martín was James II of Urgell."

T.N.Bisson writes that "the issue was (or became) political rather than simply legal, a utilitarian question of which candidate with some dynastic claim would make the best king."

Candidates
The major candidates for succession were the following:
 * Alfonso I, Duke of Gandia, an octogenarian, patrilineal grandson of James II of Aragon. He claimed the throne according to both agnatic seniority and proximity of blood to the previous kings of Aragon. Upon his death in 1412, his claim was inherited by his brother.
 * Joan de Ribagorça.
 * Ferdinand of Castile, matrilineal grandson of Peter IV of Aragon and nephew of Martin, claimed the throne according to the proximity of blood to the last king.
 * Frederic, Count of Luna, grandson of Martin of Aragon, bastard of his predeceased son, Martin I of Sicily but legitimized by Pope Benedict XIII.
 * James II, Count of Urgell, Martin's brother-in-law and closest agnate as patrilineal great-grandson of Alfonso IV of Aragon. Appointed Lieutenant of the Kingdom by Martin, he was heir male of the line and claimed the throne according to agnatic primogeniture.
 * Louis of Anjou, matrilineal grandson of John I of Aragon and grandnephew of Martin. He was heir general to the line and claimed the throne according to cognatic primogeniture.

Interrengum 1410-1412
The parties had agreed to a parliamentary process to resolve the issue, but coordinating deliberations between the cortes (parliaments) of Aragón, Valencia and Catalonia was made difficult by their diverging interests. Thus, a general cortes was demanded by the governor of Catalonia to meet in Montblanch, but the meeting was delayed and ended up in Barcelona starting in October 1410 an only being Cortes of the principalty of Catalonia. As the cortes dragged on, the situation became violent.

Antonio de Luna, an Aragonese supporter of Count James II of Urgell, possibly assassinated the archbishop of Zaragoza, García Fernández de Heredía. There was fighting in the streets especially between partisans on Aragon and Valencia. The fights brought the kingdom of Aragon to split in two diferent Cortes (parliaments): one favorable to Ferdinand of Castile in Alcañiz, and another favorable to James II, Count of Urgell in Mequinensa. The same occurred in Valencia splitting in Traiguera and Vinaròs respectively. Furthermore, between 1410-1412 the spanish troops of Ferdinand of Castile entered Aragón and Valencia for fighting against urgellist followers, at the same time that thus also mobilised against their enemies in the two kingdoms.

Deliberations
Pope Bendict XIII (Avignon) intervened and proposed a smaller group of nine compromisarios (negotiators). The trastamarist Cortes of Alcañiz agreed with the proposition (wich was finally accepted by a Catalan-Aragonese board of fourteen trastamarist Aragoneses and five varied Catalan emissaries: agreement known as Alcañiz Concord of 15 February 1412) but few days later they imposed not only the 3 compromisarios from Aragon but the 3 Catalan and the 3 Valencian compromisarios too. The angry complaints among the Catalan and Valencian parliamentarians for this abuse were ignored, targeting the peaceful discussions sought since 1410; and equally the complaints of James of Urgell and Louis of Anjou.

The appointed compromisarios, met in Caspe, to decide who had to be the next king were: The majority of historians agreed with the narration of the election made by the historian Jerónimo Zurita about the Compromise. Zurita writted his Anales de la Corona de Aragón from the original deeds which he handed to the house of the General Diputation of Aragón in 1576 (and were lost or burned cause multiple rebellions in XIXth century). According to it, the compromisarios had different views about the succession of the deceased Martí I and they voted differently as well, anouncing the decision publicly on the June 28th 1412:

Votes narrated by Zurita (1562-1580, Tome. XI, chapter 87) were emitted on 24th June 1412 and recorded on 25th:
 * Kingdom of Aragon delegates:


 * Domènec Ram, bishop of Huesca: voted for Ferdinand I of Antequera
 * Francesc de Aranda, ancient royal councillor as well as envoy of Benedict XIII: voted for Ferdinand I of Antequera
 * Berenguer de Bardaixí, jurist and official general of the Cortes of Aragón: voted for Ferdinand I of Antequera
 * Principality of Catalonia delegates:


 * Pere de Sagarriga i de Pau, archbishop of Tarragona: voted for James of Urgell and also for Alphonse of Gandia, but finally the vote have to be got by the most voted of both.
 * Bernat de Gualbes, syndicus and councillor of Barcelona: voted for Ferdinand I of Antequera
 * Guillem de Vallseca, officer general of the Corts Reials Catalanes: voted for James of Urgell
 * Kingdom of Valencia delegates:


 * Vicent Ferrer, Dominican monk, later canonized: voted for Ferdinand I of Antequera
 * Bonifaci Ferrer (brother of Vincent), prior of the monastery of Portaceli: voted for Ferdinand I of Antequera
 * Pere Bertran (substitute for Gener Rabassa), citizen of Valencia and legal expert: abstained

On June 28th was proclaimed Ferdinand of Castile as the new king by Vicent Ferrer in a public speech also recorded.

Revisionism
Lately, in recent years, three aragonese historians denied the version of Zurita arguing that no contemporary sources confirm the existence of any secret ballot: José Ángel Sesma Muñoz, Carlos Laliena and Cristina Monterde. Sesma assured in 2011 that all nine compromisarios, despite their different preferences, agreed the same name of Ferdinand unanimously, and he repeted this view in 2012 with Laliena and Monterde. The main argument is that the official notarized deed of proclamation writted on June 25th 1412 doesn't mention any results of the hypotetical election. Furthermore, they quoted some testimonies (but not the full statements) who were present at the ceremony of proclamation on June 28th, like Melchor de Gualbes, saying that the 3 catalan compromisarios had declared that "they had acted freely and had not been under any pressure" and that at the end "everybody would be one opinion". On 2013 there are no more pulicised works that support this new theory.

Already in 2012 this point of view was refuted by historian Ernest Belenguer, who called the attention on the point that in this kind of elections (like conclaves) the results of the ballots are not publicized. He also mentioned that even the official and paid Trastamara's chronist Lorenzo Valla said in XVth century that there were different opinions among the compromisarios. Furthermore, Belenguer cited other authors which in XVIIth century had seen too the same documents as Zurita did, like Uztarroz or Dormer, and they didn't differ from the narration of the Aragonese historian.

Aftermath
James II, Count of Urgell, refused to accept the decision, and failed to present himself at the coronation. Ferdinand I entered unsuccessfully into negotiations with James to prevent open warfare and then occupied castles and strong points in Urgell. He officially dissolved the County of Urgell in 1413 and the area came under the Count of Barcelona. There were uprisings in support of James in Valencia and Catalonia and James himself lead sorties out from his command headquarters in Balaguer. James's supporters were defeated in battle on 25 June 1413 outside of Lleida.

Antonio de Luna enlisted the support of Gascon and English troops who invaded at Jaca, but they were defeated on 10 July 1413 before he was able to join James's army. In August, Ferdinand began the siege of Balaguer. Meanwhile, Antonio de Luna had organized defenses in Huesca; however, the Castle of Montearagón was taken on 11 August, and he and his troops fled to Loarre Castle. In October 1413, James surrendered at Balaguer. The following January, Loarre Castle fell, and the rebellion was over.