Proclamation of Henry IV as King of Castile
On July 21, 1454, Enrique IV was proclaimed King of Castile, in Valladolid, after the death of his father Juan II.
Enrique IV is known as a weak king and was proclaimed King of Castile when the situation in the kingdom was quite complicated in political terms.
Who was Henry IV?
Enrique IV of Castile was born in Valladolid on January 5, 1425, and died on December 11, 1474, and was King of Castile from 1454 until his death in 1474.
Enrique IV was the son of Juan II and María de Aragón, brother of Isabel's father, who was proclaimed queen at her death, and brother of Alfonso, who disputed the throne while he was alive but died young.
On July 23, 1954, two days after the death of his father Juan II, Enrique was proclaimed King of Castilla y León, in the Valladolid Monastery of San Pablo.
Henry the Powerless
Some historians called Henry IV, Henry the Impotent, and that is the image that has come down to us today.
His lack of character and determination, as well as his vulnerability and lack of initiative, indicate that he clearly affected the events that affected Castile during his reign, and especially at the end.
And it is that, when Enrique IV was proclaimed king of Castile, the kingdom suffered a difficult political situation, and the power of the nobility was superior to that of the monarch, who even flaunted his power during the reign of his father Juan II.
Such was the case that as soon as Enrique IV acceded to the throne, the nobility pressured the monarch to approve a tax reform in favor of the elimination of taxes for the upper classes.
On the other hand, things did not go well for him personally either. Shortly before acceding to the throne, the Bishop of Segovia annulled the marriage of Enrique IV with Blanca de Navarra because they had not consummated the marriage in 13 years, so the rumor spread that he was impotent, and therefore could not father a child during their marriage.
Years later, he married Juana de Portugal, with whom he did father a girl, the heiress to the throne Juana de Castilla, and with whom the rumors about his impotence, weakness and homosexuality ended. But other rumors began, where it was stated that Juana de Castilla was not the daughter of King Enrique, but of Beltrán de la Cueva, and for this reason she was nicknamed Juana la Beltraneja.