Alternative History
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Start as IOTL[]

1230, Castile was united with Leon by Fernando III the Holy. He also conquered Córdoba, Murcia, Jaén and Seville; thus, the Muslims were now reduced to Granada. In 1257, Alfonso X of Castille was elected Roman king together with Richard of Cornwall.

In 1276, Philippe III of France fought Castile for reasons of succession, without success. 1291, Tarifa was conquered by Castile; and 1340, Castile and Portugal defeated the Moorish army together; this was the last time an Arab army landed on Iberian soil.

Divergence since ~1350[]

Soon after, in 1352, after sultan Yusuf of Granada had missed to pay one tribute in time, Castile attacked and conquered the country. The last hold of the Muslims in Iberia had fallen, the Reconquista was over, now the Conquista began.

In 1360, unpopular king Juan I was deposed by his brother Pedro I with English help. This was the start of English-Castilian friendship.

Castile continued to expand; 1363, they took over the Canaries, started to settle them in the following decades. In 1384, for not to be outdone by Portugal, which had recently conquered Ceuta, Castile attacked Morocco, conquered Melilla and Tétouan.

1397/98, Iberia (except Aragon) was struck by Black Death. The Jews had to suffer under pogroms ITTL too. Many had to flee from their places.

In 1414, England under new king Richard III made an alliance with Castile and the Netherlands, attacked France again - the second Aquitainian War had begun. But in 1421, France made a separate peace with the Netherlands, and now, the tides turned again: Storming the conquered cities with cannons and relying on their greater manpower, the French slowly drove the allied English and Castilians back.

In Portugal and Morocco[]

Castillian Flag   Colonial Empire of Castille (Chaos TL)   Chain
Colonies

Algeria | California | Cuba | Florida | Louisiane | Morocco | South Atlantis | Texas | Tunisia | Virginia


In 1424, the Cortes, the Castilian estates, protested the high costs and low results of the war. King Pedro III was sorry about it, but had to leave the war too. He had better things to do - interfering in the Portuguese Civil War, where the sons of unpopular king Pedro II fought against each other after his death. At the end, Pedro became new king of Portugal, and the two sons became princes of North and South Portugal respectively. By using this division, Castilian kings could keep Portugal under control, although they had to respect Portuguese rights. And to get rid of the mighty nobles in Castile, king Pedro III told them 1430 to go on a crusade to Morocco, which was subjugated during the next 20 years. This made some Moroccans start to flee South, to Mauretania or even Timbuktu.

1449, in Portugal a revolt against the rule of Castilian king Pedro IV started. But since the princes of North and South Portugal couldn't agree who should reign, Castile could impose its rule again in 1453 - although the king again had to swear to accept Portuguese rights.

Fighting the Rum-Seljuks[]

1466, the infamous Sacco di Roma happened. Castile-Portugal sent troops to Italy to fight for the pope. After lots of fighting, the Seljuks kept Latium, calling themselves from 1472 on "rulers of both Romes". Despite the fact that the sultan was disappointed how insignificant Rome has become. The eastern parts of the Papal states became the Duchy/Protectorate of the Marches, theoretically still under the pope, de facto under the Castilian duke of Alba.

1477, the king gave the Johannite Knights who had lost their home in Rhodos to the Seljuks, a new home in Granada.

Discovering Africa and Atlantis[]

In 1481 the Portuguese discoverers went further south, came to Guinea. The income of the Portuguese crown doubled within short time; the money was divided in three between the two Portuguese princes and the Castilian king, however.

1492 (SCNR), a Castilian expedition (well, it was funded by the king, and some of his people were on the ship, but since the Portuguese insisted, the captain and all the sailors were Portuguese - Castilians weren't allowed to build caravels) crossed the Atlantic, made landfall in Florida (which was named the same way ITTL), claimed it for Castile-Portugal. 1500, they also discovered Cuba on their third expedition to Atlantis and started to settle it. 1507, Castilians founded Veracruz at the site of OTL New Orleans, started exploring the Mississippi valley. In 1517, Puerto Rico became a Castilian colony. 1518/19, the Castilians subjugated the first Maya cities, and 1520 a small Castilian expedition (a few dozen men) even met the Tenochca. They were defeated, However, no one returning. In 1523, they wanted to send an expedition to Tenochtitlan, but the ship from Cuba was destroyed in a hurricane, and until replacements were found, necessary time had passed, and the Great Occidental War begun.

The Quadruple and the Great Occidental War[]

English Flag   Quadruple Monarchy (Chaos TL)   Spanish Flag
Nations Protectorates

Castille | England | Portugal | Scotland

Ireland | Marches

King: Edward V Plantagenet

Religion: Occidental Schism

Wars

Anti-Danish War | First Occidental-Seljuk War | Great Occidental War

Scottish Flag   Quadruple Monarchy (Chaos TL)   Portuguese Flag


1497, king Pedro IV died without heir; Castile-Portugal was united with England-Scotland under Edward V, forming the Quadruple Monarchy. Under him, Castilian troops fought in the first Occidental-Seljuk War, without success however. Now and in the following centuries, many English (mostly merchants) immigrated to Castile, also to replace the Jews who had been evicted by him. English and Castilian nobles formed ties by marriages.

Now the king, influenced by his advisor James of Athelhampton, decided to break away from the pope in Avignon. He founded the "Occidental Christian church". From 1511-17, the Iberian peninsula went through almost Civil War-like conditions for this. Supporters and hesitating opponents of the king were rewarded with the property of his defeated enemies (including some church property), which helped him to succeed. King Edward was accepted as supreme spiritual authority. The Occidental Schism had begun.

As a result, the Great Occidental War broke out, which also brought a lot of destruction to Castile. Although the war on land went well for the Quadruple monarchy, where the new Castilian tercios repeatedly defeated the French, their fleet was defeated in the big sea battle of Biarritz 1527. The fights in Mexico also weren't as promising as hoped. Uprisings in Morocco (1538-42) further distracted. And after it was secured in 1543, the insulted Quadruple king wanted to get rid of his opponent in Britain, Prince Alasdair, so he moved his troops not to Aquitaine, but Scotland. The Castilian (and Portuguese) troops weren't accustomed to the land and the climate, which weakened them (which could have been a reason for the final defeat in the war). In the Peace of Barcelona 1547, Castile lost Murcia to Aragon.

The Triple Monarchy[]

English Flag   Triple Monarchy (Chaos TL)   Spanish Flag
Nations Protectorates

Castille | England | Portugal

Ireland | Marches | Sicily

Plantagenet Kings

Edward V | Edward VI | Henry IV | Henry V | Henry VI

Wars

Second Occidental-Seljuk War | Great Seljuk War | English-Polish War

Portuguese Flag   Triple Monarchy (Chaos TL)   Welsh Flag


King Edward V, who was now reduced to the Triple Monarchy, had to resign in favor of his son Edward VI in 1549. Now, wounds could be healed and the countries rebuilt. Edward V's caesaropapism was scrapped in the reform council of Ghent, although the property of the church wasn't returned. In 1560, new king Henry IV reordered his kingdoms - which also meant that he reunited the halves of Portugal under him as king, which would be important for Portugal that had been considered a part of Castile until then. Under him, the art of Occidentalism(o) reached its peak. In the second Occidental-Seljuk War, Castile could take revenge for the loss of Rome, and got the Marches and Sicily.

In Atlantis, Castile acquired the new colonies of Texas and California as a replacement for the Mississippi Valley lost to France. More important (for the money to be made with sugar), they also acquired a few small Caribbean islands. Although the colonial empire was smaller than that of OTL Spain, it was a more solid base and didn't destroy Castile's economy by gold-driven hyperinflation and the loss of many good men to the colonies.

Henry V, his successor, was even more successful and managed to acquire the southern half of Aragon for Castile, after dividing it in agreement with François III of France. During the Great Seljuk War, Castile also acquired Algeria and Tunisia in the peace of Naples, now ruling a good part of North Africa.

Under king Henry VI however, things went suddenly awry. In 1628, the Castilian nobles started rebelling against him, and he proved unable to either calm or defeat them. (One of the moments was that his marriage with a Castilian duchess went awry, she told her relatives, they told their friends ...). But since he still had some followers, and the nobles weren't in unison about who should reign now, the country was thrown into the Castillian Civil War (1628-34). France supported uprisings in Valencia and Portugal. The latter declared its independence under Miguel, former duke of Linhares, successfully and even managed to acquire Olivenca from Castile.

Return as Spain[]

Despite of all the chaos and the many factions, the new king Alfonso XII (former duke of Aliaga) managed to defeat all enemies including the English army landed at Santander 1630, keep himself on the throne and also subdue the Aragonese rebels in Valencia. Morocco, however, stayed independent, under the former duke of Monteleón.


Back as Republic[]

Spanish Flag   States on the Iberian peninsula (Chaos TL)   Spanish Flag
Nations

Andalusia | Aragon | Asturia | Castille | Granada | Navarre | Portugal | Spain

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