Editing Afonso V of Portugal (section)

===War with Castile===
[[File:FraMauroDetailedMapInverted.jpg|thumb|right|A copy of the [[Fra Mauro map]] was commissioned by Afonso V in 1457. Finished on 24 April 1459, it was sent to Portugal with a letter to [[Prince Henry the Navigator]], Afonso's uncle, encouraging further funding of exploration trips. Although the copy has been lost, the [[Andrea Bianco]] original is preserved at the [[Biblioteca Marciana]] in Venice.]]
Following his campaigns in Africa, Afonso V found new grounds for battle in neighboring [[Crown of Castile|Castile]].{{sfn|Stephens|1891|p=134}} On 11 December 1474 King [[Henry IV of Castile]] died without a male heir, leaving just one daughter, [[Joanna la Beltraneja|Joanna]]. However, her paternity was questioned; it was rumored that his wife, Queen [[Joan of Portugal]] (Afonso's sister) had an affair with a nobleman named [[Beltrán de La Cueva]].{{sfn|Stuart|1991|p=37}} The death of Henry ignited a [[War of the Castilian Succession|war of succession]], with one faction supporting Joanna and the other supporting [[Isabella I of Castile|Isabella]], Henry's half-sister. Afonso V was persuaded to intervene on behalf of Joanna, his niece.{{sfn|Marques|1976|p=208}}{{sfn|McMurdo|1889|p=509}}

On 12 May 1475 Afonso entered Castile with an army of 5,600 cavalry and 14,000 foot soldiers.{{sfn|McMurdo|1889|p=510}} He met Joanna in [[Palencia]] and the two were betrothed and proclaimed sovereigns of Castile on 25 May.{{sfn|Stuart|1991|p=136}} The formal marriage was delayed because their close blood-relationship necessitated a papal dispensation.{{sfn|Stuart|1991|p=137}}

In March 1476, after several skirmishes and much maneuvering, the 8,000 men of Afonso and [[John II of Portugal|Prince John]], faced a Castilian force of similar size in the [[Battle of Toro]]. The Castilians were led by Isabella's husband, Prince [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]], [[Pedro González de Mendoza|Cardinal Mendoza]] and the [[García Álvarez de Toledo, 1st Duke of Alba|Duke of Alba]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Esparza |first=José J. |language=Spanish |url=https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22Quien+gan%C3%B3%3F+en+realidad+nadie%22 |title=¡Santiago y cierra, España! |publisher=La Esfera de los Libros |year= 2013 |quote=It was 1 March 1476. Eight thousand men for each side, the chronicles tell. With Afonso of Portugal were his son João and the bishops of Evora and Toledo. With [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|Fernando of Aragón]], Cardinal Mendoza and the Duke of Alba, as well as the militias of [[Zamora, Spain|Zamora]], [[Ciudad Rodrigo]] and [[Valladolid]]. The battle was long, but not especially bloody: it is estimated that the casualties of each side did not reach a thousand.}}</ref> The fight was fierce and confusing but the result was a stalemate:<ref>{{cite book |author1=Bury, John B |authorlink1=J. B. Bury |title=The Cambridge Medieval History, Volume 8 |date=1959 |publisher=Macmillan |page=523 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iMOMZ6s3Cn0C&q=met+at+Toro+indecisive+battle |ref=Irish historian John B. |quote=After nine months, occupied with frontier raids and fruitless negotiations, the Castilian and Portuguese armies met at Toro&nbsp;... and fought an indecisive battle, for while Afonso was beaten and fled, his son John destroyed the forces opposed to him.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Jean |last=Dumont |title=La "imcomparable" Isabel la Catolica |trans-title=The incomparable Isabel the Catholic |edition=Spanish |year=1993 |location=Madrid |page=49 |publisher=Encuentro Ediciones |quote=...But in the left ''<nowiki>[Portuguese]</nowiki>'' Wing, in front of the Asturians and Galician, the reinforcement army of the Prince heir of Portugal, well provided with artillery, could leave the battlefield with its head high. The battle resulted this way, inconclusive. But its global result stays after that decided by the withdrawal of the Portuguese King, the surrender... of the Zamora's fortress on 19 March, and the multiple adhesions of the nobles to the young princes.}}</ref><ref name="French historian Joseph-Louis Desormeaux (33)">{{cite book |first= Joseph-Louis |last=Desormeaux |quote=... The result of the battle was very uncertain; Ferdinand defeated the enemy's right wing led by Afonso, but the Prince had the same advantage over the Castilians. |url=https://archive.org/details/abrgchronologiq00unkngoog |title=Abrégé chronologique de l'histoire d'Espagne |publisher=Duchesne |location= Paris |year= 1758 |page=25 |volume=III}}</ref> while the forces of Cardinal Mendoza and the Duke of Alba won over their opponents led by the Portuguese king—who left the battlefield to take refuge in [[Castronuño]]—the troops commanded by Prince John defeated and persecuted the troops of the Castilian right wing and recovered the Portuguese royal standard, remaining ordered in the battlefield where they collected the fugitives of Afonso.<ref>{{cite book|last= Downey |first= Kirstin |url=https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22troops+led+by+Prince+Joao+won%22 |title=Isabella: the Warrior Queen |publisher= Anchor Books |location=New York |page=145|year= 2014 |quote=The two sides finally and climactically clashed, in the major confrontation known as the [[Battle of Toro]], on 1 March 1476. The Portuguese army, led by King Afonso, his twenty-one-year-old son Prince João, and the rebellious Archbishop Carrillo of Toledo opposed Ferdinand, the Duke of Alba, Cardinal Mendoza, and other Castilian nobles leading the Isabelline forces. Foggy and rainy, it was bloody chaos on the battlefield. (...) Hundreds of people – perhaps as many as one thousand – died that day. (...). Troops led by Prince João won in their part of the battle; some troops led by [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|King Ferdinand]] won in another part. But the most telling fact was that King Afonso had fled the battlefield with his troops in disarray; the Castilians seized his battle flag, the royal standard of Portugal, despite the valiant efforts of a Portuguese soldier, [[:pt:Duarte de Almeida|Duarte de Almeida]], to retain it. (...). The Portuguese, however, later managed to recover the banner. The battle ended in an inconclusive outcome, but Isabella employed a masterstroke of political theater by recasting events as a stupendous victory for Castile. Each side had won some skirmishes and lost others, but Ferdinand was presented in Castile as the winner and Afonso as a craven failure. (...)..}}</ref> Both sides claimed victory, but Afonso's prospects for obtaining the [[Crown of Castile|Castilian crown]] were severely damaged.{{sfn|Stuart|1991|p=147}}

After the battle, Afonso sailed to France hoping to obtain the assistance of King [[Louis XI]] in his fight against Castile.{{sfn|McMurdo|1889|p=516}} In September 1477, disheartened that his efforts to secure support had proved fruitless, Afonso abdicated the throne and embarked on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.{{sfn|McMurdo|1889|pages=520-521}}{{sfn|Busk|1833|p=76}} He was eventually persuaded to return to Portugal, where he arrived in November 1477.{{sfn|McMurdo|1889|page=522}} Prince John had been proclaimed king days prior to Afonso's arrival, but relinquished his new title and insisted that his father reassume the crown.{{sfn|McMurdo|1889|page=523}}{{sfn|Marques|1976|p=209}}

From 1477 to 1481, Afonso V and Prince John were "practically corulers."{{sfn|Marques|1976|p=209}} Afonso made preparations for a second invasion of Castile in winter 1478, but was deterred by Castilian [[Santa Hermandad|Hermandad]] forces.{{sfn|Stuart|1991|p=166}} The [[Treaty of Alcáçovas]] was finally negotiated in 1479, wherein Afonso renounced his claim to the Castilian throne in exchange for Portuguese hegemony in the Atlantic south of the [[Canary Islands]].{{sfn|Stuart|1991|p=174}}{{sfn|Marques|1976|pages=218–219}}{{sfn|Newitt|2023|p=126}} Although the treaty was advantageous for Portugal, the king was deeply unhappy with the provision that forced his bride and niece, Joanna, into a convent.{{sfn|McMurdo|1889|p=527}}{{sfn|Stephens|1891|p=135}} Withdrawn and melancholic, he announced his intention to abdicate{{efn|Afonso died before the [[Portuguese Cortes|Cortes]] assembled to confirm his abdication.{{sfn|Livermore|1947|p=210}}}} for a second time and retired to a monastery in [[Sintra]].{{sfn|Livermore|1947|p=210}}{{sfn|Stuart|1991|p=176}} He died of fever shortly after, on 28 August 1481.{{sfn|McMurdo|1889|p=528}}