Fadrique Alfonso of Castile

Fadrique Alfonso de Castilla (Seville, January 13, 1333 or early 1334 – May 29, 1358) was a Castilian nobleman, the illegitimate son of King Alfonso XI of Castile and his mistress, Leonor de Guzmán, twin brother of Enrique de Trastámara, who came to reign in Castile as Enrique II.

He was Master of the Order of Santiago, Lord of Haro, Major Adelantado of the Andalusian border and Major Chamberlain to the King. He was assassinated in Seville in 1358 by order of his half-brother, King Pedro I of Castile. The Enríquez lineage descends from Fadrique.

Biography

He succeeded Alonso Meléndez de Guzmán, brother of his mother Leonor, to the mastership of the Order of Santiago, holding this position from 1342 to 1358. The death of Vasco Rodríguez de Cornado, master of said order since 1327, was used for this purpose to 1338, and the attempt by the Freyres Electors of the Order to appoint his nephew Vasco López (new elected master of Santiago in 1338) to the position, personally intervening his father Alfonso XI to financially favor his descendants with Leonor de Guzmán. His father granted him the lordship of Haro, although in 1345 it passed into the hands of his brother Fernando Alfonso de Castilla.

Together with his brothers Enrique, the future Enrique II of Castile, Tello and Sancho fought against their half-brother Pedro I of Castile, after the death in 1351 of their mother, Leonor de Guzmán. He also participated in the revolt of the Castilian nobles, but reconciled with his brother and was appointed royal emissary and commissioner to receive Blanca de Borbón, Pedro's future wife, at the border. In 1354 he was commissioned to guard the Portuguese border; in collusion with Enrique he entered into negotiations with Juan Alfonso de Alburquerque, a disgraced former favorite of the Court, to betray Pedro. A short time later a civil war broke out; the people of Toledo asked for help from Fadrique Alfonso, who presented himself at the head of an army of 700 soldiers. Pedro seemed to give in and offered his brother an important position at Court, but he headed towards Talavera de la Reina to reorganize his armies.

Through the mediation of Juan Fernández de Henestrosa, the uncle of María de Padilla (a courtesan and lover of Pedro), Fadrique Alfonso was able to obtain the forgiveness of his brother Pedro, while Enrique sought support in France. However, after Pedro invited Fadrique Alfonso to visit him in Seville, he ordered his death. Fadrique Alfonso managed to flee to the courtyard of the Alcázar, where he was staying, but there he was caught; some sources indicate that it was the king himself who killed him.

Fadrique is the progenitor of the powerful lineage of the Enríquez family, admirals of Castile and later dukes of Medina de Rioseco. One of his descendants, Juana Enríquez, was the mother of Fernando el Católico.

Burial

After his assassination, the body of Fadrique Alfonso de Castilla was buried in Seville Cathedral. In 1579, his mortal remains were transferred to the crypt of the Royal Chapel of Seville Cathedral, where they rest today, along with those of Pedro I and María de Padilla.

Offspring

Last goodbyeAntonio Amorós and Botella. 1887. (Museo del Prado, Madrid). The work represents the moment when Fadrique Alfonso fired from his mother in the presence of Queen Mary of Portugal.

The master Fadrique Alfonso de Castilla had two natural children, according to most historians, with a lady from the Angulo de Córdoba family, although there is great confusion about his identity, since some authors, based on As stated by others, they pointed out that this lady was called Constanza, who was the daughter of the Cordovan nobles Lope Alfonso de Angulo and Elvira Díaz de Aguayo, who died in 1370, and who made a will on May 16 of that same year. in the city of Córdoba before Juan González and Antón Ruiz mentioning that she was the mother of Count Pedro Enríquez and the future Admiral Alonso Enríquez, although other authors indicate that it only stated that she was the mother of "Count Pedro" Enríquez, as Father Francisco Ruano pointed out in the XVIII century in his work Casa de Cabrera in Córdoba.

However, other authors assert that the mother of Leonor Enríquez and Count Pedro Enríquez was called Leonor or Leonor Manuel de Angulo, and José Pellicer asserted that she was the lady of Mansilla and the daughter of Luis Manuel and Beatriz de Angulo de Córdoba. But in any case, most historians agree that the master Fadrique had two children with the same lady:

• Pedro Enríquez de Castilla (m. 1400). It was count of Trastámara, Lemos, Sarria and Viana del Bollo, accountant of Castilla and pertiguero mayor of Santiago. He was buried in the monastery of San Francisco de Lugo.
• Leonor Enríquez de Castilla (m. 1384). He married Diego Gómez Sarmiento, Marshal of Castile, and was buried in the convent of San Pablo de Burgos.

There is also evidence that the master Fadrique had at least two other natural children, since he could not marry as a master, named Alfonso, who are specifically mentioned in the Chronica de El-Rei D. João I, although there is great confusion among them, since in chapter CXXV of that work it is stated that one of them was "caçador mór" or huntsman of King Juan I of Castile and the other was younger and the son of a Jewish woman:

• Alfonso Enríquez (1354-1429). According to some authors, he was the son of a Jew whom they called “the Paloma” for his beauty, but Pascual Martínez Sopena and Manuel de Castro consider that in reality the son of the Jew might have been his other brother named Alfonso and that he was the “major caçador” or the elder mountain of King Juan I of Castile who is referred to in the Chronica de El-Rei D. João I. He was Admiral of Castilla and I lord of Medina de Rioseco, Aguilar de Campoo and many other villas. He contracted marriage with Juana de Mendoza and from him the admirals of Castilla de la familia Enríquez, who became Dukes of Medina de Rioseco. He was buried with his wife in the monastery of Santa Clara de Palencia.
• Alfonso Enríquez (m. 1384). He was younger than his other brother named Alfonso, and according to the fact that Chronica de El-Rei D. João I He died in the siege of Alenquer in 1384, which has led some historians to point out that the chronicler Fernão Lopes “interpolated two news” when he spoke of the alleged Jewish mother of Admiral Alonso Enríquez.

The historian Alfred Morel-Fatio also pointed out the existence of another son of the master Fadrique named Juan, who is mentioned in a privilege from 1369, and who, however, has never been included by other authors among his descendants.

Predecessor: Alonso Meléndez de Guzmán	Master of the Order of Santiago 1342-1358	Successor: García Álvarez de Toledo
Predecessor: Crown of Castile	Lord of Haro 1334-1345	Successor: Fernando Alfonso de Castilla

Ancestors