Fadrique Alfonso of Castile

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (July 2006) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Fadrique Alfonso of Castile, 1st Señor de Haro (1334 – 1358), 25th Master of the Order of Santiago (1342-1358), was the fifth illegitimate child of Alfonso XI of Castile and Eleanor of Guzman who was of converso Jewish descent. He was born in Seville.

He fought against his half-brother Pedro of Castile, along with his brothers Henry, Tello, and Sancho, because of the death of their mother in 1351. He participated in the revolt of the Castillian nobles, but he was reconciled to Pedro, and was named as the royal emissary to meet Blanche of Bourbon, Pedro I's future wife, at the border.

In 1354 he was put in charge of guarding the Portuguese border, and entered into negotiations with Juan Alonso of Alburquerque, a former court favourite who had fallen into disgrace, to betray Pedro. The people of Toledo were able to help Fadrique Alfonso, and he appeared at the head of a force of 700 soldiers. For a short time a civil war was avoided, Pedro I appeared to concede, and offered Fadrique Alfonso an important post at court.

However Pedro then headed for Talavera de la Reina to reorganize his forces. Fadrique Alfonso was able to obtain an apparent pardon with the mediation of Juan Fernández de Henestrosa, a maternal relative of Maria de Padilla, Pedro I's mistress. Meanwhile Henry was trying to win support in France.

Pedro invited Fadrique Alfonso to visit him in Seville, and then ordered his death. Fadrique Alfonso tried to escape in the direction of the courtyard of the palace, where he was apprehended. Some sources state that it was Pedro himself who killed him.^{[citation needed]}

Fadrique was married to Leonor de Angulo (b. ca 1340), a Castilian Noblewoman, without issue. He had, however, three bastard children by a Jewish beauty Paloma, the daughter of Gedaliah, a son of Shlomo Ha-Zaken (d. 1299) and a grandson of Yosef Ibn Yahya (d. 1264), third son of Yahia Ben Rabbi:

• Alfonso Enríquez de Castilla (b. 1354, d. 1429), 1st Señor de Medina de Río Seco, married to Juana de Mendoza (b. circa 1360, d. January 24, 1431), had issue, and by an unknown mother had a bastard son
• Pedro Enríquez de Castilla (b. 1355, d. May 5, 1400), 1st Conde de Trastámara, 2nd Constable of Castile, married in 1385 to Dona Isabel de Castro (b. circa 1360), had issue
• Leonor Enríquez de Castilla (b. circa 1357), married to Diego Gómez Sarmiento, Marshall of Castille (b. circa 1355, d. August 14, 1385), had issue.

His descendant Juana Enriquez (b. 1425, d. February 13, 1468), was the second wife of John II of Aragon and the mother of Ferdinand II of Aragon - the very King who expelled the Jews from Castile and Aragon -, and ancestress of most of European royalty.