Editing Ferdinand IV of Castile (section)

==Last stage of minority (1297–1301)==
At the end of 1297, the Dowager Queen sent [[Alonso Pérez de Guzmán]] to the Kingdom of León to fight against John of Castile, who continued to control the territory.{{Sfn|Benavides|1860|p=50}} At the beginning of 1298, Alfonso de la Cerda and John of Castile, supported by [[Juan Núñez II de Lara]], began to mint fake coin, since it contained less metal than it corresponded, with the purpose of destabilizing the economy of the Kingdoms of Castile and León. In 1298, the city of [[Sigüenza]] fell to Juan Núñez II de Lara, but it had to be evacuated shortly afterwards by the resistance of the defenders; however soon afterwards he conquered [[Almazán]] (who became the stronghold of Alfonso de la Cerda) and [[Deza, Soria|Deza]], being also returned to Juan Núñez II de Lara the city of [[Albarracín]] by King [[James II of Aragon]]. In the ''Cortes'' de Valladolid in 1298, Henry of Castile again advised the sale of the city of [[Tarifa]] to the Muslims, but this was opposed by the Dowager Queen.

The Dowager Queen met in 1298 with the King of Portugal in [[Toro, Zamora|Toro]], and requested that he help her in the fight against John of Castile. However, the Portuguese sovereign refused to attack him and, in common agreement with Henry of Castile, both planned that Ferdinand IV reached a peace agreement with John of Castile, under which the latter kept the [[Kingdom of Galicia]], the city of [[León, Spain|León]], and all the towns that he had conquered only during his lifetime, and at his death, all those territories would pass to Ferdinand IV. Nevertheless, the Dowager Queen, who opposed the project of surrender these territories to John of Castile, bribed Henry of Castile by giving him the cities of [[Écija]], [[Roa de Duero|Roa]] and [[Medellín, Spain|Medellin]] so that the project didn't continue, while at the same time she managed to obtain from the representatives of the councils the public rejection of the project for the Portuguese sovereign.

After the meeting with the Portuguese monarch in 1298, the Dowager Queen sent to her son, the 7-years-old ''Infante'' [[Philip of Castile, Lord of Cabrera and Ribera|Philip of Castile]] to the [[Kingdom of Galicia]], with the purpose to reinforce the royal authority in that zone, where [[João Afonso Telo, 1st Count of Barcelos|João Afonso de Albuquerque]] and Fernando Rodríguez de Castro, Lord of Lemos and Sarria, planted the disorder. In April 1299, after the ''Cortes'' de Valladolid of that year, the Dowager Queen recovered the castles of [[Monzón de Campos|Monzón]] and [[Becerril de Campos]], which were in the possession of the supporters of [[Alfonso de la Cerda]]. In 1299 Juan Alfonso de Haro, Lord of Cameros, captured Juan Núñez II de Lara, partisan of Alfonso de la Cerda. Meanwhile, the Dowager Queen send troops to rescue [[Lorca, Spain|Lorca]], besieged by the King of Aragon, while in August of the same year, the troops of the Castilian king surrounded [[Palenzuela]]. Juan Núñez II de Lara was released in 1299 on condition that his sister [[Juana Núñez de Lara]] married Henry of Castile, to pay tribute to Ferdinand IV and swear not to revolt against him, and return to the Crown the cities of Osma, Palenzuela, Amaya, [[Dueñas, Palencia|Dueñas]] (which was granted to Henry of Castile), [[Ampudia]], [[Tordehumos]] (which was given to [[Diego López V de Haro]]), La Mota, and [[Lerma, Province of Burgos|Lerma]].

In March 1300, the Dowager Queen met again with King Denis of Portugal in [[Ciudad Rodrigo]], where the Portuguese sovereign requested funds to pay the cost of the matrimonial dispensations that the Pope should grant, so that the marriages between Fernando IV and Constance of Portugal, and Beatrice of Castile with Afonso of Portugal could be carried out. In the ''Cortes'' de Valladolid in 1300 the Dowager Queen imposed her will and managed to obtain the necessary amount of money which could persuade [[Pope Boniface VIII]] to grant the dispensation that legitimized the marriage of the late [[Sancho IV of Castile]] with [[María de Molina]].

During the ''Cortes'' of Valladolid of 1300 John of Castile renounced to his pretensions to the throne, notwithstanding to have been proclaimed King of León in 1296, and made public his oath of fidelity to Fernando IV and his successors on 26 June 1300. In return for his resignation to the possession of the [[Lordship of Biscay]], whose possession was confirmed to Diego López V de Haro, John of Castile and his wife [[María I Díaz de Haro]] (niece of Diego López V de Haro and legitimate heiress of Biscay) received the cities of Mansilla, [[Paredes de Nava]], [[Medina de Rioseco]], [[Castronuño]] and Cabreros.{{Sfn|Novia de Salcedo|1851|p=428}} Shortly after, the Dowager and Henry and John of Castile, accompanied by Diego López V de Haro, besieged the town of [[Almazán]], but they left the siege due to the opposition of Henry of Castile.{{Sfn|Benavides|1860|p=75}}

In 1301 King [[James II of Aragon]] besieged the town of [[Lorca, Spain|Lorca]], who belonged to [[Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena]], who surrender it to the Aragonese monarch, and at the same time the Dowager Queen, with the purpose of amortizing the disbursement made to provide an army with which to release the city of the Aragonese siege, ordered the siege of the castles of Alcalá and Mula, and immediately after besieged the city of [[Murcia]], where James II was; the Aragonese monarch was close to be by the Castilian troops, but he was warned by Henry and John of Castile, who were afraid of a complete defeat of James II, because both wanted to maintain good relations with him.

In the ''Cortes'' de Burgos of 1301 were approved the subsidies demanded by the Crown to finance the war against the [[Kingdom of Aragon|Kingdoms of Aragon]] and [[Kingdom of Granada|Granada]] and against [[Alfonso de la Cerda]], while were granted subsidies to obtain the legitimation of marriage of the Dowager Queen with Sancho IV; for this purpose, were sent 10,000 silver marks to the Pope, despite the famine that ravaged the Kingdoms of Castile and León.

In June 1301, during the ''Cortes'' de Zamora, John of Castile and the ''ricoshombres'' of Léon, Galicia and Asturias, supporters mostly of the John, approved the subsidies demanded by the Crown.