Henry III of Castile - Reign

Reign

Despite his nickname, he engaged in a vigorous foreign policy and maneuvers during the first few years of the 15th century. He was able to pacify the nobility and restore royal power.

He was supported by the aristocracy and displaced their most powerful relatives (such as Alfonso Enríquez and his aunt Eleanor of Castile). He repealed privileges granted by his predecessors at the Court of Castile, such as the alcabala (a heavy sales tax) and the right to attend the Royal Council. He increased the number of city magistrates and cleaned up the kingdom's economy. He reduced persecution of the Jews and passed various bills against the violence, which had become particularly bad by 1391.

During his reign, the Castilian fleet won several victories against the English; Henry sent a naval fleet in 1400 that destroyed Tétouan in North Africa, a pirate base. In 1402, Henry began the colonization of the Canary Islands, sending French explorer Jean de Béthencourt. He deflected a Portuguese invasion with an attack on Badajoz in 1396, finally signing a peace treaty with Juan I of Portugal on the 15th August 1402.

He supported the papal pretension of Antipope Benedict XIII. He restarted the conflict against the kingdom of Granada, winning a victory at the Battle of Collejares, near Úbeda, which freed the town in in 1406. However his untimely death in the same year prevented him from completing this campaign.

He also sent Payo Gómez de Sotomayor and Hernán Sánchez de Palazuelos, and later Ruy González de Clavijo, as ambassadors to Timur. The latter recounted his travels in a book, Embajada a Tamorlán.

Due to his poor health, he delegated part of his power to his brother Ferdinand I of Aragon in the later part of his reign, who became regent while Henry's son John II of Castile was too young to rule.

Henry died in the city of Toledo on 25 December 1406, while preparing a campaign against the Emirate of Granada.