Chapter 13: To the new century and the New World (1499-1510)
According to the biography of Jaime VI of Aragon and I of Castile written in the times of his son, the young king was transformed by a vision that he had during the mass for his late father. Apparently, the young king was plagued by a series of terrible nightmares where his kingdoms were laid to waste because of his complete disregard of kingly matters. Thus, he reacted and began his long way to become a good king. Thus, the "official" narration of the beginnings of Jaime VI/I.
The truth is a bit different. From 1496 (1499 in Aragon) to 1501, Jaime VI/I was an absent king that left the administration of his kingdoms in the hands of those who had been appointed by his late father and he devoted himself to his pleasures, adding one to them: he enjoyed going abroad, an incredible change keeping in mind that his predecessor hardly left the Peninsula. His first visit was to France in 1498, where he met Louis XII (1462-1515). As history has it, the French king was quite cold with his unwanted visitor, as Louis wanted an ally to fight Edward V of England and the Spanish king was only interested in arts and hunting. Thus, as Louis XII simply avoided meeting Jaime VI/I, the Spanish king left France quite angered. As we have seen, after the conquest of Grenada, he began to prepare to go to war with France. However, even after becoming king of Aragon too, Jaime VI/I was still doubting about what to do next. This would change after he visited England in 1501.
After the discovery of America by Columbus and the military successes of Edward V of England against Charles VIII of France, the English king was the paradigme of the good king: a chivalrous cultured prince that was taking his realms into the new century amidst of gold and glory. As Jaime VI/I returned to the Peninsula, he devoted himself into a complete upheaval of the Aragonese and Castilian economies. In this Jaime was to excel, as he was very skilful at extracting money from his subjects on many pretexts, including that of war with France or the exploration voyages. As the king managed to prove to his subjects that the money was well used and not wasted, he avoided any revolt or determined opposition in the Parliaments, as some of his ancestors had experienced. In this, Jaime VI/I was incredibly lucky, as the ruthlessly efficient mechanisms of taxation were not aimed at making him more popular. Also, by keeping the same administrators during his reign and replacing him by like-minded men when age came into play, he gave an unparalleled stability to Castile and ended the reconstruction of the Aragonese economy.
Jaime VI/I is not remembered by his conquests. He was not a warrior king and, in spite of his improvement as a ruler, he had little inclination towards military adventures. However, foreign affairs made him make up his mind. The troubled politics of Naples was to throw the south of Italy into disarray once more. The rivalry between Charles VIII of France and Rene II of Naples left the latter without French support, as the French king was determined to have the kingdom of Naples. However, the new war against England and the defeats in front of Edward V saved, for the while, the throne of René. However, his weak situation had embroiled the confused, fractious nature of Neapolitan politics. Thus, when the local nobility rebelled against René in November 1502 and offered the kingdom to Jaime VI/I, he wasted no time to send 6,000 men to Naples while he reinforced the defenses of Sicily, fearing a French retaliation against the island. However, in spite of the reinforcements he sent, by 1505. With his forces stalled in Naples, he signed the Treaty of Adria, by which he renounced any claim to the Neapolitan crown in exchange for monetary compensation. It must be added that, by then, Jaime VI/I had lost his interest in that side of the Mediterranean as he was determined to follow the English example and to set up a colony in the New World. As he subsidised shipbuilding to strength the navy, he also hired the Neapolitean Giovanni Caboto, who, with the financial banking of the Fluggers and of Jaime VI/I and granted letters patent fron Jaime, departed to America in March 1506.
Giovanni Caboto took part in the two first voyages of Columbus, but he was disappointed as neither Columbus nor Edward V paid any attention to his project. According to him, there was an island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean which would allow to reach Catai in a more direct way, bypassing the islands discovered by Columbus. Thus, after failing to persuade Charles VII of France, Caboto ended in Sevilla, where Jaime VI/I was overseeing the expedition that was going to reinforce the Aragonese forces in Naples. It was 1505 and Caboto needed the best part of three months to eventually persuade the king to fund his project. Thus, as it has been told, he did not depart until March 1506. Caboto had to accept the presence of royal overseers in his expedition, which grew from the original three ships to nine. In his first exploration, Caboto he reached Brasil; there he encountered several Portuguese settlements, thus he kept sailing south and away from the Portuguese. Eventually, in September, 26, 1506 he built a fort in what he called Cabo de Santa María (Sant Mary Cape₁) , which was named as San Damián₂. Before Caboto returned to the area, Antón de Grajeda was dispatched with settlers to San Damián. It was the beginning of the exploration of what is today the coast of Argentina, which was explored by Caboto, de Grajeda and Juan Ortiz de Zárate. The original settlements built around Sant Mary Cape were to be used to explore the southern shores of the continent, searching the way to Catai.
This expansion brought conflict with Portugal, as Joao II of Portugal was angered by what he considered an invasion of the lands discovered by his explorers. This question was temporarily settled with the mediation of Pope Julius II. The treaty of Agnadello (1510) divided South America, between the Portuguese Empire and the Spanish Empire along an area which is today the Parallel 20 South.
Jaime VI/I was one of the first European monarchs to recognise the importance of Yorkist England, which had recovered quite fast from the chaos brought by the defeat in the Hundred Years War and the following War of the Roses (1472-1476). Richard III (r. 1476-1484) and Edward IV (r.1484-1504) had not only closed the wounds caused by the strife that had plagued England for the last century and a half; the latter king had launched Columbus to discover America and his son Edward V (r. 1504-1555) was not only expanding the English settlements in the New World but also settling old accounts with France, kicking Louis XII of France out of Flanders. It was the beginning of the First War of Flanders (1508-1514), placing England against France and the Empire. Eventually, the war would drag the united kingdoms of the Peninsula into the conflict, which would extend also into the New World.
₁ - PD Río de la Plata
₂ - PD Carmelo.