Fernando Sánchez de Tovar

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Fernando (or Fernán) Sánchez de Tovar († Lisbon, 1384) was a Spanish (Castilian) soldier and admiral of the Middle Ages.

Sánchez de Tovar was the Adelantado Mayor of Pedro of Castile at the start of the First Castilian Civil War, but in 1366 he betrayed the king and delivered the city of Calahorra to Pedro's brother and enemy, Henry of Trastámara. One year later, Sánchez de Tovar fought on Henry's side in the Battle of Nájera (Navarette). In 1374 he succeed the born Genoese Gil Ambrosio Bocanegra as Major Admiral of Castile.

Due to the hostile politics of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, the new king Henry II of Castile joined the French side during the Hundred Years' War and declared war on England. As a result, Sánchez de Tovar led the Castilian fleet along with the French Jean de Vienne to South England and sacked the Isle of Wight and the English ports of Rye, Rottingdean, Lewes, Folkestone, Plymouth, Portsmouth and Hastings. In 1380 he mended the Thames and set on fire Gravesend, a short distance from London.

In 1381 Sánchez de Tovar returned to the Iberian Peninsula to fight against England's ally, Portugal, and defeated a Portuguese squadron near the coast of Huelva. John I of Castile, son and successor of Henry II, created him Lord of Belves. In 1382 he traveled to France and joined the army of Charles VI during the siege of Brugge, ruled by the rebel Philip van Artevelde, but he soon returned to Spain.

Ferdinand I of Portugal died in 1383 without heir and John I of Castile claimed the Portuguese throne because he was married with the only daughter of the king, Beatrice of Portugal. However, the Master of the Order of Avis and bastard son of Ferdinand, John of Avis, also claimed the throne and Castile declared war against him, starting the 1383-1385 crisis. In this new campaign, Sánchez de Tovar led the Castilian fleet against the Portuguese and took part in the siege of Lisbon, where he died in 1384 from the plague.