Southwest Europe (1396–1539 CE)

Aragonese Sea Lanes, Italian Renaissance, and Habsburg–Valois Wars

Geography & Environmental Context

Southwest Europe encompassed Italy (including Sardinia and Sicily), Malta, southern and eastern Spain (Andalusia, Murcia, Valencia, Catalonia), and the Balearic Islands. Anchors spanned the Po Valley and Venetian–Adriatic gateways, the Apennine spine with Tyrrhenian and Adriatic littorals, the grain and volcanic uplands of Sicily, the rugged Sardinian interior, Malta’s limestone plateau astride central sea-lanes, and Spain’s irrigated huertas and ports from Seville–Cádiz (Atlantic–Mediterranean hinge) through Valencia–Barcelona to the Balearics.
Together these corridors provisioned, armed, and cultured Europe’s busiest inland sea.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

Under the Little Ice Age, winters cooled and variability intensified:

• Po Valley & Lombardy: alternating droughts and Po floods unsettled rice and wheat rotations.

• Sicily, Sardinia, southern Spain: recurrent droughts reduced grain and olive yields; citrus and pastoralism buffered loss.

• Valencia–Murcia huertas: Acequia irrigation offset dry years, but torrential riadas periodically destroyed terraces.

• Balearics & Malta: thin soils and rainfall swings required cisterns, terracing, and imported grain.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Italy: Wheat, barley, vines, olives, and, in Lombardy, irrigated rice; urban gardens surrounded the city-states.

• Sicily & Sardinia: Grain, olives, vines, citrus, and livestock; granaries provisioned Italian and Iberian ports.

• Southern & eastern Spain: Andalusian cereals, olives, and vines; Valencian and Murcian sugarcane and mulberry–silk; Catalan wool flocks.

• Islands: Grain, olives, vines, goats, and fisheries sustained mixed economies; harbors provisioned passing fleets.
  Major ports—Venice, Genoa, Naples, Palermo, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Palma, Cagliari—served as collection hubs for Mediterranean and emerging Atlantic commerce.

Technology & Material Culture

• Irrigation & terracing: Acequias, qanat-derived galleries, pozzos and cisterns, and stone-bench terraces stabilized yields on coasts and islands.

• Maritime innovation: Galleys remained indispensable; Italian and Iberian shipyards developed round-hulled naos and early caravels; bronze cannon revolutionized siege and naval warfare.

• Manufactures: Florentine wool and silk, Venetian glass and books (the Aldine Press), Valencian silk and sugar, Catalan and Neapolitan shipbuilding.

• Architecture & arts: Gothic–Renaissance transitions—Brunelleschi’s dome, Alberti’s façades, Venetian palazzi; Spanish Mudéjar and early Plateresque; island watchtowers and coastal walls.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Aragonese thalassocracy: The Barcelona–Valencia–Balearics–Sardinia–Sicily–Naples chain formed a western Mediterranean empire later absorbed by Habsburg Spain.

• Italian sea-lanes: Venice and Genoa dominated Levantine and North African trade; Apennine passes linked inland production to ports.

• Iberian hinge: Seville–Cádiz bridged Atlantic and Mediterranean routes after 1492, prefiguring global circuits of silver and spice.

• Islands: Malta, Sardinia, and the Balearics provisioned convoys and guarded corsair-prone straits.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Renaissance humanism: Florence, Rome, and Venice led Europe’s artistic renewal; courts of Naples, Ferrara, and Urbino radiated taste into Iberia and the islands.

• Catholic Christendom: Rome remained pilgrimage center and patron of arts; confraternities and mendicant orders structured devotion.

• Iberian transformations: The Fall of Granada (1492) ended Nasrid rule; the Inquisition and expulsions reshaped Andalusian society; Valencian and Catalan towns mixed mercantile realism with reformist thought.

• Islands: Malta, blending Sicilian, Catalan, and Arabic legacies, was granted in 1530 to the Knights Hospitaller as a new crusading bastion.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

Cereal–legume rotations, vine–olive intercropping, chestnut economies in uplands, and rice paddies in irrigated lowlands spread risk.
Huerta canals and terrace systems were continuously maintained; state granaries and charitable confraternities mitigated dearth; fisheries and salted staples balanced harvest failures.

Technology & Power Shifts (Conflict Dynamics)

• Aragonese expansion: Alfonso V (1442) united Naples with Aragon’s sea empire.

• Italian Wars (1494–1559): France, Spain, and the Empire contested Italy—Fornovo (1495), Cerignola (1503), Agnadello (1509), Pavia (1525), and the Sack of Rome (1527) redefined European warfare and diplomacy.

• Corsair & Ottoman pressure: Raids struck Sicily, Sardinia, Valencia, and the Balearics; Preveza (1538) confirmed Ottoman naval mastery in the east.

• Iberian union: The crowns of Aragon and Castile (1479) created a Spanish monarchy projecting power across the peninsula and into the Mediterranean.

Transition

By 1539 CE, Southwest Europe was a crucible of power and culture. Habsburg Spain controlled Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia; Venice and Genoa mediated East–West trades under Ottoman pressure; Malta under the Knights became a bulwark; Valencia–Barcelona and Italian ports thrived on commerce and shipbuilding. Terracing, irrigation, and maritime provisioning sustained populations amid climatic volatility. Renaissance brilliance endured even as corsairs and cannon ushered in a new Mediterranean order.

Mediterranean Southwest Europe (1396–1539 CE): Aragonese Sea Lanes, Italian Renaissance, and Habsburg–Valois Wars

Geographic & Environmental Context

The subregion of Mediterranean Southwest Europe includes Italy (including Sardinia and Sicily), Malta, southern and eastern Spain (Andalusia, Murcia, Valencia, Catalonia), and the Balearic Islands. Anchors span the Po Valley and Venetian–Adriatic gateways, the Apennine spine with Tyrrhenian and Adriatic littorals, the grain and volcanic uplands of Sicily, the rugged Sardinian interior, Malta’s limestone plateau astride central sea-lanes, and Spain’s irrigated huertas and ports from Seville–Cádiz (Atlantic–Mediterranean hinge) through Valencia–Barcelonato the Balearics. Together, these corridors fed and armed Europe’s busiest inland sea.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

Under the Little Ice Age, winters were cooler and variability sharper:

• Po Valley & northern Italy: alternating droughts and Po floods unsettled wheat/rice rotations; foggy winters extended.

• Sicily, Sardinia, southern Spain: periodic droughts dented wheat and olive yields; citrus and pastoralism buffered shortfalls.

• Valencian/Murcian huertas: canal and acequia irrigation moderated dry spells; occasional torrential floods (riadas) damaged terraces.

• Balearics & Malta: thin soils and rainfall swings drove reliance on cisterns, terracing, and imported grain in lean years.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Italy: Wheat, barley, vines, and olives dominated; rice spread in Lombardy; urban gardens ringed city-states.

• Sicily & Sardinia: Grain, olives, vines, citrus, pastoral flocks; granaries supplied Italian and Iberian ports.

• Southern & eastern Spain: Andalusian cereals, olives, vines; Valencia/Murcia grew rice, sugarcane, mulberry–silk; Catalan uplands raised sheep for wool.

• Balearics & Malta: Mixed grain, olives, vines, goats; fisheries vital; harbors provisioned passing fleets.
  Port cities—Venice, Genoa, Naples, Palermo, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Palma, Cagliari—functioned as collection and redistribution hubs for Mediterranean and, increasingly, Atlantic trade.

Technology & Material Culture

• Irrigation & terracing: acequias, qanat-derived galleries, pozzos/cisterns, stone-walled benches stabilized yields on coasts and islands.

• Maritime technology: galleys remained the workhorse; Italian and Iberian yards developed round-hulled naos and early caravels; bronze cannon transformed siege and naval warfare.

• Manufactures: Florentine wool and silk; Venetian glass and print (Aldine press); Valencian silk and sugar; Catalan and Neapolitan shipyards.

• Architecture & arts: Gothic to Renaissance transitions—Brunelleschi’s dome, Alberti’s façades, Venetian palazzi; Spanish Mudéjar and early Plateresque; island watchtowers and coastal walls.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Aragonese thalassocracy: Barcelona–Valencia–Balearics–Sardinia–Sicily–Naples stitched a western Mediterranean network later inherited by Habsburg Spain.

• Italian sea-lanes: Venice and Genoa collected Levantine and North African wares; peninsular roads (Via Emilia, Apennine passes) bound inland cities to ports.

• Iberian hinge: Seville–Cádiz bridged Atlantic and Mediterranean circuits after 1492; Atlantic silver would later amplify these flows.

• Island waypoints: Malta, Sardinia, and the Balearics provisioned convoys and guarded straits against corsairs.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Renaissance humanism: Florence, Rome, and Venice fostered painting, sculpture, architecture, philology; courts of Naples, Ferrara, and Urbino radiated styles into Iberia and the islands.

• Catholic Christendom: Papal Rome remained a pilgrimage and patronage center; confraternities, processions, and mendicant orders structured urban piety.

• Iberian transformations: The Fall of Granada (1492) ended Nasrid rule; the Inquisition and expulsion/forced conversion reshaped Andalusian society; Valencian and Catalan towns mixed mercantile pragmatism with reforming currents.

• Island identities: Genoese, Aragonese, and local elites fused on Corsica/Sardinia; Malta blended Sicilian, Catalan, and Arabic legacies—until 1530, when it became the fief of the Knights Hospitaller.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

• Risk-spreading agriculture: cereal–legume rotations, vine–olive intercropping, and chestnut economies in uplands; rice paddies where water allowed.

• Water management: canal dredging (Po/Adige), huerta maintenance (Valencia), terrace/cistern upkeep (Malta, Balearics, Ligurian and Amalfi coasts).

• Urban buffers: state granaries, grain imports, and charitable confraternities mitigated dearth; fisheries and salted staples bridged bad harvests.

Technology & Power Shifts (Conflict Dynamics)

• Hundred Years’ War (to 1453): peripheral raids reached Languedoc and Catalonia, nudging Aragonese naval policy.

• Conquest of Naples (1442): Alfonso V of Aragon knit Naples to the Crown of Aragon’s sea empire.

• Italian Wars (1494–1559): France, Spain, and the Empire fought over Italian hegemony—

  • Battle of Fornovo (1495) checked Charles VIII’s withdrawal;

  • Battle of Cerignola (1503) (Apulia) showcased gunpowder infantry, securing Spanish control in southern Italy;

  • Battle of Agnadello (1509) humbled Venice on the terraferma;

  • Battle of Pavia (1525) delivered a decisive Habsburg victory and Francis I’s capture;

  • the Sack of Rome (1527) shattered papal prestige and artists’ security.

• Western Mediterranean contest: Barbary and Ottoman corsairs raided Sicily, Sardinia, Balearics, and Valencia; Rhodes (1522) fell to the Ottomans, redirecting the Hospitallers to Malta (1530); Preveza (1538) cemented Ottoman naval dominance in the eastern basin with echoes westward.

• Iberian unification: The crowns of Aragon and Castile united (1479), projecting Spanish power across the peninsula, Italy, and the sea.

Transition

By 1539 CE, Mediterranean Southwest Europe was a crucible of power and culture. Habsburg Spain controlled Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia; Venice and Genoa mediated eastern and western trades under growing Habsburg and Ottoman pressure; Malta stood newly under the Knights as a central bastion; Valencia–Barcelona and Italian ports thrummed with commerce and shipbuilding. Despite climatic swings, terracing, irrigation, and maritime provisioning sustained populations. Renaissance patronage glowed even as Italian Wars and corsair/Ottoman threats remade the political seascape—setting up a long sixteenth century of Spanish predominance and Mediterranean contest.

Spain, in its exploration and exploitation of the New World, finds an outlet for the crusading energies that the war against the Muslims had stimulated.

Portuguese mariners are opening a route around Africa to the East in the fifteenth century.

At the same time as the Castilians, they have planted colonies in the Azores and in the Canary Islands (also Canaries; Spanish, Canarias), the latter of which have been assigned to Spain by papal decree.

The conquest of Granada allows the Catholic Kings to divert their attention to exploration, although Christopher Columbus's first voyage in 1492 is financed by foreign bankers.

In 1493 Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia, a Catalan) formally approves the division of the unexplored world between Spain and Portugal.

The Treaty of Tordesillas, which Spain and Portugal sign one year later, moves the line of division westward and allows Portugal to claim Brazil.

New discoveries and conquests come in quick succession.

Vasco Núñez de Balboa reaches the Pacific in 1513, and the survivors of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition complete the circumnavigation of the globe in 1522.

In 1519 the conquistador Hernán Cortes subdues the Aztecs in Mexico with a handful of followers, and between 1531 and 1533 Francisco Pizarro overthrows the empire of the Incas and establishes Spanish dominion over Peru.

In 1493, when Columbus brought fifteen hundred colonists with him on his second voyage, a royal administrator had already been appointed for the Indies.

The Council of the Indies (Consejo de Indias), established in 1524, acts as an advisory board to the crown on colonial affairs, and the House of Trade (Casa de Contratacion) regulates trade with the colonies.

The newly established colonies are not Spanish but Castilian.

They are administered as appendages of Castile, and the Aragonese are prohibited from trading or settling there.

The marriage of royal cousins Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516) and Isabella of Castile (1451-1504) in 1469 eventually brings stability to both kingdoms.

Isabella's niece, Juana, bloodily disputes her succession to the throne in a conflict in which the rival claimants are given assistance by outside powers—Isabella by Aragon and Juana by her suitor, the king of Portugal.

The Treaty of Alcacovas ends the war in September 1479, and as Ferdinand has succeeded his father in Aragon earlier in the same year, it is possible to link Castile with Aragon.

Both Isabella and Ferdinand understand the importance of unity; together they effect institutional reform in Castile and leave Spain one of the best administered countries in Europe.

Even with the personal union of the Castilian and the Aragonese crowns, Castile, Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia remained constitutionally distinct political entities, and they retain separate councils of state and parliaments.

Ferdinand, who had received his political education in federalist Aragon, brings a new emphasis on constitutionalism and a respect for local fueros to Castile, where he is king consort (1479-1504) and continues as regent after Isabella's death in 1504.

Greatly admired by Italian political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Ferdinand is one of the most skillful diplomats in an age of great diplomats, and he assigns to Castile its predominant role in the dual monarchy.

Ferdinand and Isabella resume the Reconquest, dormant for more than two hundred years, and in 1492 they capture Granada, earning for themselves the title of Catholic Kings.

The marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile in 1469 signals the launch of the final assault on the Emirate of Granada, the only surviving Muslim state in the Iberian Peninsula, and only as a tributary of Castile.

The King and Queen persuade the Pope to declare their war a crusade.

The Christians crush one center of resistance after another and finally, in January 1492, after a long siege, the Moorish sultan Muhammad XII surrenders the fortress palace, the renowned Alhambra.

Atlantic Southwest Europe (1396–1539 CE): Estuaries, Shipyards, and the First Oceanic Empires

Geographic & Environmental Context

The subregion of Atlantic Southwest Europe includes continental Portugal and Spain’s Atlantic façade from the Gulf of Cádiz to the Bay of Biscay—the Tagus, Sado, Mondego, Douro, and Minho estuaries; Portugal’s Alentejo and Algarve coasts; Spain’s Guadalquivir–Cádiz seaboard; and the Cantabrian–Galician rías (A Coruña, Vigo, Gijón, Santander) and Basque capes (Bilbao–San Sebastián). These shorelines and river corridors bound maritime towns to grain-and-vine interiors and iron-rich uplands.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

The Little Ice Age brought cooler winters, stormier seas, and variable rains:

• Iberian west & south coasts: more frequent Atlantic gales and bar shifts at estuary mouths (Douro, Tagus, Guadalquivir), alternately silting and scouring channels.

• Northwest (Galicia–Asturias–Cantabria): heavy rainfall and rough seas; rich upwelling sustained fisheries.

• Interior hinterlands: periodic droughts hit Alentejo and Andalusian cereal zones; frosts checked vines and olives in bad years; good years yielded ample wheat, wine, and oil.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Rural belts: Wheat, rye, barley, olives, and vines; cork oak montado in Alentejo; gardens and orchards along river terraces.

• Fisheries: Sardine and tunny on the Portuguese and Andalusian shelves; cod and whale began to matter for Basque fleets in the early 16th century. Saltworks (Aveiro, Setúbal, Cádiz) underwrote fish preservation and trade.

• Ports & river towns: Lisbon (Tagus) and Porto (Douro); Seville and Cádiz (Guadalquivir–Cádiz); A Coruña–Vigo (rías), Santander, Bilbao and San Sebastián on the Bay of Biscay; Viana do Castelo, Figueira da Foz, Setúbal along Portugal’s coast. Urban workshops produced sails, rope, barrels, and victuals for ocean-going fleets.

Technology & Material Culture

• Shipbuilding & navigation: The caravel (lateen rig, shoal-draft) matured on Portugal’s south coast; rounder naos carried freight across oceans. Magnetic compass, sternpost rudder, astrolabe, cross-staff, portolan charts, and toleta de marteloio tables improved blue-water navigation.

• Maritime institutions: In Portugal, the Order of Christ’s revenues (successor to the Templars) and the crown’s Casa da Guiné and later Casa da Índia in Lisbon centralized Atlantic/Indian trade. Basque iron and timber supported Biscayan yards.

• Urban & courtly arts: Manueline architecture (rope, coral, armillary motifs) crowned Lisbon/Belém; Mudéjar–Plateresque blended in Andalusia; guild crafts (textiles, leather, ceramics) supplied ships and cities.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Estuary arteries: The Tagus, Douro, and Guadalquivir funneled grain, wine, oil, salt fish, and hides from interior plains to oceanic convoys; return flows brought spices, gold, and slaves by the early 1500s.

• Atlantic lanes: Portugal’s Volta do Mar looped down the African coast and home via mid-ocean westerlies; Andalusian–Cantabrian coasting linked Biscay iron and salt fish to southern shipyards and markets.

• Pilgrimage & fairs: Santiago de Compostela drew pilgrims through Galician ports; Lisbon and Seville fairs knit merchants from Italy, Flanders, and the Maghreb.

• Imperial routes (first phase): After 1498, spice fleets sailed India–Lisbon; after 1492, Castilian fleets used the Guadalquivir–Seville corridor to the Caribbean.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Religious life: Cathedrals and confraternities structured urban devotion; seafarers’ brotherhoods honored Our Lady of Good Voyage; shrines dotted headlands and capes (e.g., Cape St. Vincent).

• Court and chronicle: Portuguese chronicles (Gomes Eanes de Zurara) celebrated exploration; Iberian courts patronized cartography and cosmography.

• Communal identities: Fisher guilds, ship carpenters, ropewalkers, coopers, and salt-pan communities developed strong customs and saints’ days; Basque whalers forged distinctive sea rituals.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

• Risk-spreading portfolios: Mixed farming (cereal–vine–olive), stock-raising, and salt-fish curing buffered bad harvests; riverine mills and terraces stabilized yields.

• Harbor works: Jetties and dredging (Lisbon, Porto, Seville) fought bar siltation; salt granaries and fish warehouses bridged lean seasons.

• Maritime provisioning: Biscayan and Portuguese fleets salted fish and whale meat; victualing yards stockpiled biscuit, wine, oil, and salted pork for oceanic voyages.

Technology & Power Shifts (Conflict Dynamics)

• Iberian realignments: The Conquest of Ceuta (1415) opened Portugal’s North African gateway and Atlantic thrust; the War of the Castilian Succession (1475–1479)—including the Battle of Toro (1476)—ended with the Treaty of Alcáçovas (1479), fixing early Atlantic spheres between Castile and Portugal. The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) divided extra-European worlds meridionally.

• Oceanic breakout: Vasco da Gama’s voyage (1497–1499) linked the Tagus to India; Pedro Álvares Cabral (1500) reached Brazil; Portugal’s Estado da Índia took shape after the Battle of Diu (1509) and the Capture of Malacca (1511), routing Eastern spices to Lisbon.

• Castile’s Atlantic: From 1492, Columbus’s voyages (out of Palos/Cádiz) opened Caribbean routes; Seville’s Casa de la Contratación (from 1503) regulated fleets.

• Privateering & defense: Biscay–Galician coasts armed against English, Breton, and Norman raiders; corsair warfare flickered in the Bay of Biscay and off the Algarve.

Transition

By 1539 CE, Atlantic Southwest Europe had transformed from a cluster of estuarine towns into the launchpad of two oceanic empires. Lisbon and Seville–Cádiz rose as global entrepôts; Biscayan and Galician ports provisioned fleets and pioneered whaling and Atlantic cod. Inland cereals, vines, and olives still fed the system, but caravel and nao had redrawn horizons—binding Iberian estuaries to Africa, Asia, and the Americas, and setting the stage for a sixteenth century of maritime hegemony and imperial rivalry.

The Spanish Conquest of Navarre (1512–1528): The End of Navarrese Independence

The Kingdom of Navarre, once a powerful medieval state, was gradually absorbed by Spain in a series of military campaigns from 1512 to 1524, with hostilities continuing until 1528 in Lower Navarre, north of the Pyrenees.

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Ferdinand II of Aragon’s Initial Invasion (1512)

• In 1512, Ferdinand II of Aragon launched an invasion of Navarre, using the pretext that the Navarrese royal family was allied with France, Spain’s enemy in the ongoing War of the League of Cambrai (1508–1516).
• The invasion was swift, and by July 1512, Spanish troops, led by General Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, had captured Pamplona, the capital of Navarre.
• By September 1512, most of Iberian Navarre had been occupied, and Ferdinand formally annexed it to the Crown of Aragon in 1515.

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Resistance and French Intervention (1512–1524)

• The Navarrese royal family, led by Queen Catherine of Navarre and King John III, fled to their remaining territories north of the Pyrenees, known as Lower Navarre.
• In 1516, a French-Navarrese army attempted to retake Pamplona, but was defeated by Spanish forces.
• A new invasion attempt was made in 1521, briefly recapturing Pamplona, but the Spanish, led by Ignatius of Loyola (future founder of the Jesuits), crushed the resistance at the Battle of Noáin (1521).
• By 1524, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, completed the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre.

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The War in Lower Navarre (1524–1528)

• North of the Pyrenees, resistance continued in Lower Navarre, which remained under French protection.
• The war officially ended in 1528, when Spain abandoned its claim to Lower Navarre, which was later fully integrated into France in 1620 under Louis XIII.

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Consequences of the Spanish Conquest of Navarre

1. Navarre Loses Independence – Iberian Navarre was permanently annexed to Spain, while Lower Navarre became part of France.
2. Spanish Control Over the Pyrenees – Spain secured its northern frontier, preventing French influence in Iberia.
3. Basque and Navarrese Identity Survives – Despite conquest, Navarre retained distinct laws (fueros), institutions, and privileges, which lasted until the 19th century.

The conquest of Navarre was a key step in the unification of Spain, marking the final consolidation of the Iberian Peninsula under Habsburg rule, while also fueling long-term Spanish-French rivalry over the Pyrenees.

Most of the European rulers do not believe Henry will survive long, and are thus willing to shelter claimants against him.

The first plot against him is the Stafford and Lovell Rebellion of 1486, which presents no serious threat, but Richard III's nephew John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, hatches another attempt the following year.

Using a peasant boy named Lambert Simnel, who poses as Edward, Earl of Warwick (the real Warwick is locked up in the Tower of London), he leads an army of two thousand German mercenaries paid for by Margaret of York into England.

They are defeated and de la Pole killed at the difficult Battle of Stoke, where the loyalty of some of the royal troops to Henry had been questionable.

The king, realizing that Simnel had been merely a dupe, employs him in the royal kitchen.

A more serious menace is Perkin Warbeck, a Flemish youth who poses as Edward IV's son Richard.

Again enjoying the support of Margaret of York, he invades England four times from 1495–1497 before he is finally captured and put in the Tower of London.

Both Warbeck and the Earl of Warwick are too dangerous to keep around even in captivity, and Henry has to execute them in 1499 before Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain will allow their daughter Catherine to come to England and marry his son Arthur.

In 1497, Henry defeats Cornish rebels marching on London.

The rest of his Henry VII's reign is relatively peaceful, despite worries concerning succession after the death of his wife Elizabeth of York in 1503.

The regulations for colonial administration set forth by the Spanish king's Council of the Indies decrees that the natives are to be protected and converted to Christianity.

The colonies, however, are far from the seat of ultimate responsibility, and few administrators are guided by the humane spirit of those regulations.

The Roman Catholic Church, and particularly the Franciscan order, show some concern for the welfare of the natives, but on the whole, church efforts are inadequate to the situation.

The natives, nevertheless, find one effective benefactor among their Spanish oppressors.

Bartolome de las Casas, the first priest ordained in the West Indies, is outraged by the persecution of the natives.

He frees his own slaves, returns to Spain, and persuades the council to adopt stronger measures against enslaving the natives.

He makes one suggestion that he will later regret—that Africans, whom the Spaniards consider less than human, be imported to replace the natives as slaves.

In 1517 King Charles V (1516-56) grants a concession for exporting four thousand enslaved Africans to the Antilles.

Thus the slave trade begins, and will flourish for more than two hundred years.

René sends as his lieutenant his son John II, Duke of Lorraine, with much needed reinforcements.

Speedily John besieges Girona, captures Banyoles, occupies the Empordà, and enters Barcelona in August 1466.

The entire Empordà, however, does not remain occupied for long.