John II of Aragon, who has been…

John II of Aragon, who has been King of Navarre since 1425 through his first wife, Blanche I of Navarre, who had married him in 1420, had retained the government of Blanche's lands at her death in 1441, and dispossessed his own eldest son, Charles, who at age two had been made Prince of Viana in 1423.

John had tried to assuage his son with the lieutenancy of Navarre, but his son's French upbringing and French allies, the Beaumonteses, had brought the two into conflict.

They had engaged in open warfare in Navarre in the early 1450s.

Charles had been captured and released; and John had tried to disinherit him by illegally naming his daughter Eleanor, who was married to Gaston IV of Foix, his successor.

John's new wife, Juana Enríquez, had given birth in 1451 to a son, Ferdinand.

Charles had fled his father in 1452, first for France, later for the court of his uncle, John's elder brother, Alfonso V at Naples.

John has governed his brother's Spanish realms—the Crown of Aragon—as lieutenant from 1454.

When Alfonso dies in 1458, Charles is arrested and brought to Majorca.

John succeeds Alfonso as ruler of the Crown of Aragon and in his will names Charles as his heir.

Among John's early unpopular acts is to quit the war against Genoa, upsetting the merchants of Barcelona.

He has also refused to aid his nephew, Ferdinand I of Naples, in securing his throne.