After Salado

Chapter 6 commences in 1342, with a new front opening against the bishop of Porto in the battle for jurisdiction over that city, and with Alfonso XI facing an ultimatum from the pope. We read of Pedro de Casis, the king of Castile’s man at Avignon, and his machinations, papal provision, and the royal civil service. The chapter moves on to the pope’s investiture of Luis de la Cerda with the Canary Islands, questions concerning the identity of Alfonsus de Hispania, and the 1344 siege and capture of Algeciras. A future French pope’s sermons are shown to be doctored by a Spanish amanuensis intent on proving the supremacy of the king of France, ‘except for the king of Spain’. The revised statutes for the archbishop of Braga’s chapel are considered. Finally, Guillelmus de Rivoforcato’s heirs energetic but failed attempts to salvage some of their putative inheritance are described.

The Archbishop’s Chapel

This chapter opens with events in 1334, including the establishment of a new chapel for Braga cathedral to be under the overall charge of the dean, with the proviso that he should not be a foreigner. Details are given of the exhaustive rules (confirmed by the pope) for its staffing; the duties of its chaplains; provision for lodging and feeding; offices; and for burial space to be reserved for archbishops, but not for kings. The chapter then moves on to 1340, the battle of the Salado, followed in 1341 by Afonso IV’s attack on the archbishop of Braga’s possession of that city, since the donation of Braga to the church in 1120 was ‘invalid inasmuch as the city pertained to the corona regis and had not been the property of the donor’. The archbishop’s allegationes in response, as submitted to the judgment of judges at Avignon, are described and analysed.

Early Fourteenth-Century Iberia

Early fourteenth-century Iberia was a peninsula in chaos, with the kingdoms of both Castile and Portugal brought low by dynastic divisions, with the territorial nobility which was in the ascendant absorbing churchmen into their following. Both kingdoms had at least a century of struggle with the papacy behind them. With the beginnings of recovery in Castile (recently attributed to ‘Molinism’, so-called) hardly under way, secularist churchmen of both kingdoms were roundly denounced by Pope John XXII, while the year 1325, the beginning of the reign of Afonso IV and coming of age of Alfonso XI of Castile (king since the age of 13 months) gave early warning of an independent approach to their relationship with the papacy.

By Way of Conclusion

This chapter depicts the state of the Peninsular Church after the ‘immense mortality’ of the Black Death, enlarging on the strength of self-interest and survival of the Old Order. The author considers the long history of the fight between crown and monarchy for supremacy and asks whether the Black Death suppressed a Portuguese Reformation. The conclusion of this volume sees a change of dynasty but in essence very little change from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the presumptions and presuppositions in Iberia. The mortality of 1348–9 and this part of the Iberian peninsula’s response to it transformed the balance of things and disqualified whatever speculations the authorities there may have been entertained in 1347.

Alfonso XI: ‘A King Entire’

The author reflects that it is impossible to evaluate the potential of Alfonso XI’s reign had it not been for the Cortes of Alcalá in 1348 and the Black Death. He also points out the significance, of the Glosa castellana of Egidius Colonna’s De regimine principum. Afonso IV’s complaints against the church of Coimbra are seen to show the smack of firm government, with more in the offing. The peninsular clergy and their ‘connubial bliss’ pass before our eyes. The chapter concludes with a general view of Castile in the late 1340s, and a ‘glimpse’ of the Galician Church and its need for firm government, a need which Avignon’s attempts to implement end in failure. Finally, we are reminded of Álvaro Pais and his world.

1332 Continued

This chapter opens with the king of Castile’s two families—the queen, and his mistress Doña Leonor de Guzmán (La favorita) and her many sons: no mere family matter. We read of the king of Portugal’s protest at his daughter’s situation, Castile’s robust response that ‘the plain truth’ was that his wife was accorded every honour, and the reflections of Álvaro Pais. The author then considers the ways in which Afonso of Portugal had, ever since he reached his majority, consolidated his authority, culminating in the chamamento geral of 1334, followed by the Pragmática in 1340 which had echoes of Alfonso X’s Second Partida in Portugal’s organic ruler’s Ordenação. The resulting implications for the Portuguese Church as spelt out by Afonso are detailed. The chapter ends with Castile finally getting its cardinal, Pedro Barroso, and with Afonso IV confronting Archbishop Gonçalo of Braga.

Portuguese Lineages and the Privatization of the Portuguese Church

The history of the Portuguese episcopate reveals the extent of family ambitions at work in annexing ecclesiastical properties to the families of its temporary trustees, a conclusion justified by the gloomy analysis of the Franciscan bishop Álvaro Pais. The privatization of the Portuguese Church and the outburst of a royal bastard when faced with a church court that ‘he was a layman and had his own judge’ reveal the secular aspect of this. This chapter considers Bishop Egas of Viseu’s ‘Summa de libertate ecclesiastica’ and the issue of mortmain. It also examines Portugal’s eternal quadrilateral: Church, king, bishops, and nobility. The problems caused by the privatization of monastic land and consequent intrusion of unwelcome members of the new owners’extended families is the focus of the following section. Finally, the chapter touches on the inter-related questions of the new Portuguese stadium, the secular ethic, and the career of Miguel Vivas.

Nobility and Naturaleza

This chapter opens with an examination of the secular ethic in 1329, the Cortes of Madrid, the contest between crown and Church for supremacy, and the importance of the Assembly of Vincennes in the history of the Iberian peninsula. Matters dynastic that are covered are the defiance of the pope by Alfonso XI and his Portuguese wife, and by Alfonso XI and his mistress. The threat to the Church of Thomas Scot, the apostate friar, and events at Avignon are discussed, and the symptoms of schism surveyed in Paris, Portugal, and Castile. Papal letters and mysterious silences likewise are weighed, and the chapter concludes with the Castilian succession, and ‘liturgical innovation’ in 1332, culminating in the self-coronation of Alfonso XI.