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Birth:          30 Aug 1334 Burgos, Spain
Death:          22 Mar 1369 Montiel, Ciudad Real, Spain
Burial:         Cathedral de Seville, Seville

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_of_Castile
Peter (Spanish: Pedro; 30 August 1334 – 23 March 1369), called the Cruel (el Cruel) or 
the Just (el Justo), was the king of Castile and León from 1350 to 1369. Peter was the 
last ruler of the main branch of the House of Ivrea.
Early life[edit]

Peter was born in the defensive tower of the Monasterio de Santa Maria la Real de 
Las Huelgas in Burgos, Spain. His parents were Alfonso XI of Castile and Maria of 
Portugal.[1]

According to chancellor and chronicler Pero López de Ayala, he had a pale 
complexion, blue eyes and very light blonde hair; he was tall (1.83 m) and muscular. 
He was accustomed to long, strenuous hours of work, lisped a little and "loved women 
greatly". He was well read and a patron of the arts, and in his formative years he 
enjoyed entertainment, music and poetry.

Peter began his reign when almost sixteen years old[2] and subjected to the control of 
his mother and her favourites. He was to be married to Joan, daughter of Edward III of 
England; on her way to Castile, however, she travelled through cities infested with the 
Black Death, ignoring townspeople who had warned her not to enter their settlements. 
Joan soon contracted the disease and died.[3]

Though at first controlled by his mother, Peter emancipated himself with the 
encouragement of the minister Alburquerque.[4] Becoming attached to María de 
Padilla, he married her in secret in 1353. María turned him against Alburquerque, who 
fled to Portugal.[5]

In the summer of 1353, the young king was practically coerced by his mother and the 
nobles into marrying Blanche of Bourbon; he deserted her at once. This marriage 
necessitated Peter's denying that he had married María, but his relationship with her 
continued and she bore him four children. He also apparently went through the form of 
marriage with Juana de Castro, widow of Don Diego de Haro, convincing her that his 
previous marriage to Queen Blanche was a nullity. The bishops of Avila and 
Salamanca were asked to concur, and were afraid to say otherwise.[5] Peter and 
Juana were married in Cuellar, and Juana was proclaimed Queen of Castile.[2] After 
two nights he then deserted her. (She bore him a son who died young, after Peter's 
death.) A period of turmoil followed in which the king was for a time overpowered and 
in effect imprisoned. The dissension within the party striving to coerce him enabled 
him to escape from Toro, where he was under observation, to Segovia.[4]

In 1361, Queen Blanche died at Medina Sidonia. Legend claims that Peter murdered 
her: one version of the story says she was poisoned, another that she was shot with a 
crossbow.[6] Also that year Maria de Padilla died in Seville, possibly of the plague.[5]

Wars with Aragon[edit]

From 1356 to 1366, Peter engaged in constant wars with Aragon in the "War of the 
Two Peters", in which he showed neither ability nor good hand in his support of his 
English ally or Castilian interests in the Mediterranean against the French and 
Aragonese. The king of Aragon then supported Peter's bastard brothers against him. It 
was during this period that Peter perpetrated the series of murders which made him 
notorious.[4]

In 1366 began the calamitous Castilian Civil War, which would see him dethroned. He 
was assailed by his bastard brother Henry of Trastámara at the head of a host of 
soldiers of fortune,[7] including Bertrand du Guesclin and Hugh Calveley, and 
abandoned the kingdom without daring to give battle, after retreating several times 
(first from Burgos, then from Toledo, and lastly from Seville) in the face of the 
oncoming armies. Peter fled with his treasury to Portugal, where he was coldly 
received by his uncle, King Peter I of Portugal, and thence to Galicia, in the northern 
Iberian Peninsula, where he ordered the murder of Suero, the archbishop of Santiago, 
and the dean, Peralvarez.

Peter and the Spanish Jewry[edit]

Peter's rival Henry of Trastámara continuously depicted Peter as "King of the Jews", 
and had some success in taking advantage of popular Castilian resentment towards 
the Jews. Henry of Trastámara instigated pogroms beginning a period of anti-Jewish 
riots and forced conversions in Castile that lasted approximately from 1370 to 1390. 
Peter took forceful measures against this, including the execution of at least five 
anti-Jewish leaders of a riot.

The prominence of Samuel ha-Levi, King Pedro's treasurer, has often been cited as 
evidence of Pedro I's supposed pro-Jewish sentiment, but Ha-Levi's success did not 
necessarily reflect the general experience of the Spanish jewry in this period which 
was often marked by discrimination and pogroms. And even Samuel's career, including 
his arrest and death by torture, shows that the opportunities for Jews were restricted 
to certain offices and positions whereas other forms of advancement were denied to 
them.[8]

Death[edit]

In the summer of 1366, Peter took refuge with Edward, the Black Prince, who restored 
him to his throne in the following year after the Battle of Nájera. But he disgusted his 
ally with his faithlessness and ferocity,[4] as well as his failure to repay the costs of 
the campaign, as he had promised to do. The health of the Black Prince broke down, 
and he left the Iberian Peninsula.[4]

Meanwhile, Henry of Trastámara returned to Castile in September, 1368. The cortes of 
the city of Burgos recognized him as King of Castile. Others followed, including 
Córdoba, Palencia, Valladolid, and Jaén. Galicia and Asturias, on the other hand, 
continued to support Peter. As Henry made his way toward Toledo, Peter, who had 
retreated to Andalusia, chose to confront him in battle. On 14 March 1369, the forces 
of Peter and Henry met at Montiel, a fortress then controlled by the Order of Santiago. 
Henry prevailed with the assistance of Bertrand du Guesclin. Peter took refuge in the 
fortress, which, being controlled by a military order of Galician origin, remained faithful 
to him. Negotiations were opened between Peter and his besieger, Henry. Peter met 
with du Guesclin, who was acting as Henry's envoy. Peter appealed to du Guesclin's 
well-known treacherous side. He offered du Guesclin 200,000 gold coins and several 
towns, including Soria, Almazan, and Atienza to betray Henry. Ever opportunistic, du 
Guesclin informed Henry of the offer and immediately bargained for greater 
compensation from Henry to betray Peter.

Having made a deal with Henry, Du Guesclin returned to Peter. Under the guise of 
accepting his deal, du Guesclin led Peter to his tent on the night of 23 March 1369. 
Henry was waiting. The historian Lopez de Ayala described the encounter as follows:

Upon entering du Guesclin's tent, Henry "saw King Peter. He did not recognize him 
because they had not seen each other for a long time. One of Bertrand's men said 
'This is your enemy.' But King Henry asked if it was he and ... King Peter said twice, 'I 
am he, I am he.' Then King Henry recognized him and hit him in the face with a knife 
and they ... fell to the ground. King Henry struck him again and again."

Having dispatched his half-brother, Henry left Peter's body unburied for three days, 
during which time it was subjected to ridicule and abuse.

Legacy and reputation[edit]

Popular memory generally views Peter as a vicious monster. Much but not all of 
Peter's reputation comes from the works of the chronicler Pero López de Ayala, who 
after his father's change of allegiance had little choice but to serve Peter's usurper. 
After time passed, there was a reaction in Peter's favour and an alternative name was 
found for him. It became a fashion to speak of him as El Justiciero, the executor of 
justice (the Lawful).[9] Apologists were found to say that he had killed only men who 
would not submit themselves to the law or respect the rights of others.[4] Peter did 
have his supporters. Even Ayala confessed that the king's fall was regretted by many, 
among them the peasants and burghers subjected to the nobles by late feudal gifts 
and by the merchants, who enjoyed security under his rule.

The English, who backed Peter, also remembered the king positively. Geoffrey 
Chaucer visited Castile during Peter's reign and lamented the monarch's death in The 
Monk's Tale, part of The Canterbury Tales. (Chaucer's patron, John of Gaunt, 1st 
Duke of Lancaster, had fought on Peter's side in his struggle to reclaim the throne.)

Peter had many qualities of those later monarchs educated in the centralization style. 
He built a strong Royal administrative force ahead of his times. He failed to counter or 
check all the feudal powers that supported his rivals, however illegitimate and 
opposite to the principles of aristocracy they represented themselves. But his moral 
superiority was reduced too by the violent means, including fratricides, by which he 
sought to suppress opposition; he at times was extremely despotic and unpredictable, 
even by the standards of his age. In this he was preceded by his father Alfonso XI, 
who since the crisis at the death of Alfonso X had faced multiple rebellions against 
royal authority.

The death of King Peter ended the traditional alliance of Castile and Navarre with 
England, which had been started by the Plantagenets to keep France in check. The 
alliance was later renewed by the Trastámaras and Tudors.

Children[edit]

Peter's children by María de Padilla were:
Beatrice (1353–1369), nun at the Abbey of Santa Clara at Tordesillas
Constance (1354–1394), married John of Gaunt[10]
Isabella (1355–1392), married Edmund of Langley[11]
Alfonso (1359–1362), Crown Prince of Castile and León (Tordesillas, 1359 – 19 October 
1362). Peter forced the Cortes to recognize Alfonso as his legitimate heir on 29 April 
1362. However, Alfonso, a very sickly child, died at the age of three, months from his 
recognition as Crown Prince.

Peter had one son with Juana de Castro, daughter of Pedro Fernández de Castro:
John (1355–1405), married doña Elvira de Eril, had issue

Peter had a daughter with Teresa de Ayala, a niece of Pero Lopez de Ayala:
Maria de Ayala, who with her mother had long careers at the Dominican convent of 
Santo Domingo el Real in Toledo and maintained a friendly correspondence with the 
Trastamaras[12]

Sources[edit]

The great original but hostile authority for the life of Peter the Cruel is the Chronicle of 
the Chancellor Pedro López de Ayala (1332–1407).[4] To put that in perspective are a 
biography by Prosper Mérimée, Histoire de Don Pedro I, roi de Castille (1848) and a 
modern history setting Peter in the social and economic context of his time by Clara 
Estow (Pedro the Cruel of Castile (1350–1369), 1995).

Strictly speaking, Peter was not defeated by Henry but by the opposing aristocracy; 
the nobles accomplished their objective of enthroning a weaker dynasty (the House of 
Trastámara), much more amenable to their interests. Most of the bad stories about 
Peter are likely to be colored by Black Legend, coined by his enemies, who finally 
succeeded in their rebellion. The Chancellor López de Ayala, the main source for 
Peter's reign, was the official chronicler of the Trastámara, a servant of the new rulers 
and of Peter's aristocratic adversaries.

The change of dynasty can be considered as the epilogue of the first act of a long 
struggle between the Castilian monarchy and the aristocracy; this struggle was to 
continue for more than three centuries and come to an end only under Charles I of 
Spain, the grandson of Ferdinand II of Aragon (Ferdinand V of Castile) and Isabella I 
of Castile (The Catholic Monarchs), in the first quarter of the 16th century.

Parents
FERNANDEZ Alfonso XI (13 Aug 1311 - 26 Mar 1350)
AFFONSEZ Maria (9 Feb 1313 - 18 Jan 1357)

Siblings
ALFONSEZ Pedro I "the Cruel" (30 Aug 1334 - 22 Mar 1369)

Marriage To DE PADILLA Maria Juana (ABT 1334 - Jul 1361)
    m.  

Notes

Parents
GARCIEZ DE PADILLA Juan Diego (ABT 1282 - ABT 1350)
DE HENESTROSA Maria Gomez Fernandez (ABT 1284 - AFT Sep 1356)

Children by DE PADILLA Maria Juana ABT 1334 - Jul 1361
____ Isabel (1355 - 23 Dec 1392)

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