Joanna La Beltraneja - Throne Claimant

Throne Claimant

On 10 May 1475 Afonso V invaded Castile and married Joanna in Plasencia, 15 days later. Joanna and Alfonso held court at Toro, and she was considered a promising ruler by her courtiers, though too young. Joanna sent a letter to the cities in which she explained the will of her father that she should rule, and proposed that the cities vote for which succession they wished should be recognized.However, they found fewer supporters than expected and Ferdinand II of Aragon, Isabella I's husband, advanced against the Juanista army.

Both armies met at Toro (1 March 1476) and fought an indecisive battle: Prince John of Portugal became master of the battlefield, after defeating the Castilian’s right wing and recovering the lost Portuguese Royal standard, but Afonso V was beaten by the left and centre of Ferdinand’s army, fleeing from the battlefield. The prestige of Juana and Afonso dissolved.

Spanish academic Vicente Palenzuela: "That is the battle of Toro. The Portuguese army had not been exactly defeated; however, the sensation was that D. Joanna’s cause had completely sunk. It made sense that for the Castilians Toro was considered as the divine retribution, the compensation desired by God to compensate the terrible disaster of Aljubarrota, still alive in the Castilian memory"

After this, Afonso V tried to procure, without success, an alliance with Louis XI of France. In 1478, the marriage between Joan and Afonso was annulled by Pope Sixtus IV on account of their family relation. She was then forced to renounce her titles as Infanta of Castile, Queen regnant of Castile, and also as Queen consort of Portugal.