In the 1300s all of Europe fell apart. The great kingdoms of old were reduced to city-states, of which there was no shortage. The Iberian Peninsula, where our focus lies, split into the following realms: the Duchies of Gerona, Navarre, Catalonia, Valencia, Cantabria, Asturias, Oporto, Leon, Estramadura, Tago, Algarve, Andalusia, Toledo, Murcia, Granada, and Gibraltar, as well as the Kingdoms of Galicia, Aragon, and Castilla. The whole land was confusion. All countries controlled just one of what we will call for the sake of clarity “provinces”, and all had territorial claims on their neighbors. It was indeed a daunting situation for a small country which wanted to rise to global dominance.
One such country was the tiny Duchy of Estramadura, which had but one advantage above the others: its capital, Badajoz, was a renowned trading center on the Iberian Peninsula, and attracted merchants from all over the region. Its ruler, Duke Roberto IV, died in 1400, leaving two sons. Twins. How could they choose who ran the nation? They split it up. Duke Enrique II and Duke Fernando I shared the crown, each making decisions and each with the right to veto the other’s decisions (much like the consuls of Rome).
Duke Enrique II was famous for his eating habits. It took him just 18 years of rule to turn into a true monster of a man. He weighed in at slightly over 350 pounds and there was no end in sight.
On Christmas Day, 1418, there was a great feast, as usual. Duke Enrique pushed back from the table at the end and excused himself to go to his chamber. It took him quite a while to get there, even though the hallways had been widened so he could fit in them. When his brother went up to check on him an hour later, Enrique II was dead. The doctors said it was heart failure, that nobody’s heart could pump such a massive body. His brother, now sole ruler, would always insist that Enrique simply ate too darn much.
The nation went into mourning, but not for long. That the Duke had died at the end of the Old Year was considered a sign from God, and to bolster the peasantry's impression that God was giving the nation a new future, Duke Fernando usurped the throne on the first day of the new year.
And so it was that Duke Fernando I was crowned sole ruler of Estramadura on New Year’s Day, 1419. It was the dawn of a new era.
One such country was the tiny Duchy of Estramadura, which had but one advantage above the others: its capital, Badajoz, was a renowned trading center on the Iberian Peninsula, and attracted merchants from all over the region. Its ruler, Duke Roberto IV, died in 1400, leaving two sons. Twins. How could they choose who ran the nation? They split it up. Duke Enrique II and Duke Fernando I shared the crown, each making decisions and each with the right to veto the other’s decisions (much like the consuls of Rome).
Duke Enrique II was famous for his eating habits. It took him just 18 years of rule to turn into a true monster of a man. He weighed in at slightly over 350 pounds and there was no end in sight.
On Christmas Day, 1418, there was a great feast, as usual. Duke Enrique pushed back from the table at the end and excused himself to go to his chamber. It took him quite a while to get there, even though the hallways had been widened so he could fit in them. When his brother went up to check on him an hour later, Enrique II was dead. The doctors said it was heart failure, that nobody’s heart could pump such a massive body. His brother, now sole ruler, would always insist that Enrique simply ate too darn much.
The nation went into mourning, but not for long. That the Duke had died at the end of the Old Year was considered a sign from God, and to bolster the peasantry's impression that God was giving the nation a new future, Duke Fernando usurped the throne on the first day of the new year.
And so it was that Duke Fernando I was crowned sole ruler of Estramadura on New Year’s Day, 1419. It was the dawn of a new era.
