Castilian Succession Crisis

• The death of Isabella of Castile in November 1504 resulted in the Castilian succession crisis which would last until 1506
• The death of Isabella ended the anti-French alliance of England, Spain, and the Netherlands
• Isabella's will stated that their eldest daughter, Joanna, would inherit Castile, whilst Ferdinand would return to rule just Aragon
• Joanna had married Phillip of Burgundy, the heir to the Holy Roman Empire, and he now claimed Castile for her
• Ferdinand was unwilling to abandon the more prosperous kingdom of Castile
• Henry wanted to preserve the trade links with the Netherlands and didn't want to antagonise Philip of his father - they were sheltering a Yorkist claimant, the Earl of Suffolk
• Also meant that if Castile came under Burgundian influence, rather than remaining part of Spain, the marriage between Henry VIII and Catherine brings England less benefit as Aragon was less influential
• Ferdinand and Louis XII began to have closer relations, forcing Henry in a closer relationship with Burgundy
• Henry lent Phillip money to finance his expedition
• Henry antagonised Ferdinand as he kept Catherine's dowry despite requests to return it and Henry VIII was persuaded to complain that marriage to his dead brother's wife was against his conscience
• Phillip arrived on English coast and needed refuge, where he was convinced to sign a treaty:

  • the Earl of Suffolk should be handed over to England
  • Prince Henry would marry Phillip's sister
• In September 1506, Phillip died and Ferdinand retook Castile - the Spanish marriage between Prince Henry and Catherine was now more appealing
• Henry even tried to marry Joanna just to improve Spanish relations, but Ferdinand refused
• In 1508, Henry abandoned the attempts to restore the English Spanish Burgundian alliance and instead tried to get an agreement between England, France, and Burgundy
• Henry revoked the Magnus Intercursus concession to speed up the prospect of marrying his daughter Mary to Charles of Ghent and try to win Burgundian support - even though the revocation was not in English interests as it heavily favoured English merchants.
• It therefore appeared that by 1508, Henry had not only completely abandoned Spain but also created an anti-Ferdinand alliance
• The anti-Ferdinand alliance failed and Henry was excluded from the League of Cambrai