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The Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes (English: Monastery of Saint John of the Monarchs) is an Isabelline style Franciscan monastery in Toledo, in Castile-La Mancha, Spain, built by the Catholic Monarchs (1477–1504).
This monastery was founded by King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile to commemorate both the birth of their son, Prince John, and their victory at the Battle of Toro (1476) over the army of Afonso V of Portugal.
Prince John of Portugal also celebrated [1] his victory over the Castilian army of the Catholic monarchs with a solemn procession on each anniversary of the battle. [2] [3] This apparent contradiction was a consequence of the indecisive [4] [5] military outcome of the battle: the troops under Afonso V broke [6] [7] while the forces led by Prince John of Portugal defeated [8] [9] the Castilian right wing and remained in possession of the battlefield. [10] [11]
Undoubtedly, the battle represented a decisive political victory for the Catholic Monarchs, [12] [13] assuring them the throne and paving the way for the future united kingdoms of Spain. As summarized by the Spanish academic historian Rafael Casas:
"...San Juan de los Reyes resulted from the royal will to build a monastery to commemorate the victory in a battle with an uncertain outcome but decisive, the one fought in Toro in 1476, which consolidated the union of the two most important Peninsular Kingdoms." [14]
Toledo was chosen as the site for building the monastery due to its central geographic location and because it had been the capital of the ancient Visigoth kingdom, symbolically reconstituted by Isabella and Ferdinand with the restoration of the lost unity of Spain, through the union of Castile with Aragon. [14]
This monastery was initially named "San Juan de la Reyna" [15] and was conceived to be the mausoleum [16] of the Catholic Monarchs. They would change their plans later, choosing Granada as their burial place, after its reconquest in 1492. [16]
The monastery's construction began in 1477 following plans drawn by architect Juan Guas, and was completed in 1504. It was dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist for use by Franciscan friars. In 1809 the monastery was badly damaged by Napoleon's troops during their occupation of Toledo, and abandoned in 1835. Restoration began in 1883 but was not completed until 1967. The monastery was restored to the Franciscan order in 1954.
The monastery is an example of the Isabelline style. Its church is in the form of a Latin cross, with short arms, an elongated nave (approximately 50 metres in length, and 30 metres high), and side chapels situated between the domed arches – three chapels on either side of the nave, and two more under the choir. The church is notable for its decoration of the coats of arms of the Catholic Monarchs held by eagles. Its chancel is decorated with an altar (mid-16th century) from the former Santa Cruz Hospital by sculptor Felipe Bigarny and painter Francisco de Comontes, depicting scenes from the Passion and the Resurrection, as well as two scenes of the Santa Cruz legend.
Its cloister has a small garden. The ground floor's ceiling is formed of German cross vaults set with figures of saints interspersed with animal and plant motifs, all created by the Toledo sculptor Cecilio Béjar in the 20th century. Its upper cloisters, first completed in 1526 and restored in the 19th century, contain Mudéjar ornamentation, including a ceiling of larch wood, painted with the motifs and coats of arms of the Catholic Monarchs, and the motto Tanto monta, monta tanto . The monastery building is traditionally said to have been commissioned by Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand II to commemorate their victory over the Portuguese-Castilian forces of Afonso V and Prince John at the Battle of Toro in 1476. [17] To symbolize the victory of the Christians in the years-long Granada campaign, its granite exterior facade is festooned, as per the Queen's order of 1494, with the manacles and shackles worn by Christian prisoners from Granada held by the Moors and released during the Reconquista. [18]
Afonso V, known by the sobriquet the African, was king of Portugal from 1438 until his death in 1481, with a brief interruption in 1477. His sobriquet refers to his military conquests in Northern Africa.
John II, called the Perfect Prince, was King of Portugal from 1481 until his death in 1495, and also for a brief time in 1477. He is known for re-establishing the power of the Portuguese monarchy, reinvigorating the Portuguese economy, and renewing his country's exploration of Africa and Asia.
Ferdinand IV of Castile called the Summoned, was King of Castile and León from 1295 until his death.
John I was King of Castile and León from 1379 until 1390. He was the son of Henry II and of his wife Juana Manuel of Castile.
Henry III of Castile, called the Suffering due to his ill health, was the son of John I and Eleanor of Aragon. He succeeded his father as King of Castile in 1390.
Henry II, called Henry of Trastámara or the Fratricidal, was the first King of Castile and León from the House of Trastámara. He became king in 1369 by defeating his half-brother Peter the Cruel, after numerous rebellions and battles. As king he was involved in the Fernandine Wars and the Hundred Years' War.
Beatrice was the only surviving legitimate child of King Ferdinand I of Portugal and his wife, Leonor Teles. She became Queen consort of Castile by marriage to King John I of Castile. Following her father's death without a legitimate male heir, she claimed the Portuguese throne, but lost her claim to her uncle, who became King John I of Portugal, founder of the House of Aviz.
The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the de facto unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being both descended from John I of Castile; to remove the obstacle that this consanguinity would otherwise have posed to their marriage under canon law, they were given a papal dispensation by Sixtus IV. They married on October 19, 1469, in the city of Valladolid; Isabella was 18 years old and Ferdinand a year younger. It is generally accepted by most scholars that the unification of Spain can essentially be traced back to the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella. Their reign was called by W.H. Prescott "the most glorious epoch in the annals of Spain".
Toro is a town and municipality in the province of Zamora, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is located on a fertile high plain, northwest of Madrid at an elevation of 740 metres (2,430 ft).
The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then Castilian king, Ferdinand III, to the vacant Leonese throne. It continued to exist as a separate entity after the personal union in 1469 of the crowns of Castile and Aragon with the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs up to the promulgation of the Nueva Planta decrees by Philip V in 1715.
The War of the Castilian Succession was the military conflict contested from 1475 to 1479 for the succession of the Crown of Castile fought between the supporters of Joanna 'la Beltraneja', reputed daughter of the late monarch Henry IV of Castile, and those of Henry's half-sister, Isabella, who was ultimately successful.
María Alfonso Téllez de Meneses, known as María de Molina, was queen consort of Castile and León from 1284 to 1295 by marriage to Sancho IV of Castile, and served as regent for her minor son Ferdinand IV and later her grandson Alfonso XI of Castile (1312-1321).
Ferdinand II was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of Castile, he was also King of Castile from 1475 to 1504. He reigned jointly with Isabella over a dynastically unified Spain; together they are known as the Catholic Monarchs. Ferdinand is considered the de facto first king of Spain, and was described as such during his reign, even though, legally, Castile and Aragon remained two separate kingdoms until they were formally united by the Nueva Planta decrees issued between 1707 and 1716.
Isabella I, also called Isabella the Catholic, was Queen of Castile and León from 1474 until her death in 1504. She was also Queen of Aragon from 1479 until her death as the wife of King Ferdinand II. Reigning together over a dynastically unified Spain, Isabella and Ferdinand are known as the Catholic Monarchs.
The Battle of Toro was part of the War of the Castilian Succession, fought on 1 March 1476, near the city of Toro, between the Castilian-Aragonese troops of the Catholic Monarchs and the Portuguese-Castilian forces of Afonso V and Prince John of Portugal.
Berengaria of Castile, Infanta of Castile and Lady of Guadalajara in her own right. She was the eldest child of King Alfonso X of Castile and Violante of Aragon. She was probably named after her paternal great-grandmother, Queen Berengaria of Castile.
DonAbraham Seneor or Abraham Senior was a Sephardi rabbi, banker, politician, patriarch of the Coronel family and last Crown rabbi of Castile, a senior member of the Castilian hacienda. In 1492, at the age of 80, he converted to Roman Catholicism from Judaism. Taking the name Ferran, Fernan, or Fernando Pérez Coronel; thus founding the noble lineage of Coronel.
Pedro Ponce de León the Elder was a Castilian nobleman, great-grandson of King Alfonso IX of León. He was a knight of the Order of the Band, and Lord of Marchena, Bailén, Rota, Mairena del Alcor, Bornos and Oliva de la Frontera.
The term Liga Nobiliaria is generally used to designate political movements of nobles of the Kingdom of Castile that arose in the 14th and 15th centuries. They are equivalent to today's parties, and were motivated mainly by attempts of monarchs to diminish the opposition's powers and privileges.
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