Henry II of Castile
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Henry of Trastamara (January 13, 1334 Sevilla - May 29, 1379 Santo Domingo de la Calzada) (Enrique de Trastámara), was the illegitimate son of Alfonso XI of Castile and Eleanor of Guzman, and half brother to Pedro of Castile the Cruel (or the Lawful, depending on who wrote the history). He became Henry II of Castile (Enrique II de Castilla) after defeating and killing Pedro in the Castilian Civil War (1366-1369).
As head of a band of mercenaries, and with the aid of Bertrand du Guesclin, he drove Pedro from his throne in 1366. He was, however, defeated the next year at the Battle of Nájera (Navarette), and Pedro was restored. Henry defeated Pedro at the Battle of Montiel and then murdered him in 1369. Henry then went to war against Portugal and England in the Hundred Years' War. For most of his reign he had to fight off the attempts of John of Gaunt, a son of Edward III of England, to claim the Castilian throne in right of his second wife, Pedro's daughter.
Henry married Juana Manuel, daughter of Juan Manuel of Castile, head of a younger branch of the royal house of Castile. Their son was John I of Castile.
Henry was the first nobleman to use Anti-Semitism as a political tool in Spain. This led to an end to the convivencia, and a period of riots and pogroms, and can be seen as sowing the seeds of the persecution of the Jews by the Spanish Inquisition, beginning a hundred years later.
| Preceded by: Pedro of Castile |
King of Castile and León 1366–1367 |
Succeeded by: Pedro of Castile |
| Preceded by: Pedro of Castile |
King of Castile and León 1369–1379 |
Succeeded by: John I |
