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The Santa Hermandad and the First Italian Campaign of Gonzalo de Córdoba, 1495-1498*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Paul Stewart
Paul Stewart*
Affiliation:
Southern Connecticut State College
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Extract

Historians have overlooked a significant aspect of Ferdinand and Isabella's Santa Hermandad. The canon of historical knowledge has long included the part played by the Hermandad army in royal efforts to establish control over Castile and to conquer Granada. However, the use made of these troops was equally important in the period after the victory over the Moors. After 1492 the record of the Hermandad army clearly demonstrates the continuing process of growing royal power and in so doing indicates the basic patterns of the reign. The key is found in the hitherto unappreciated participation of the Hermandad army in the Italian campaigns of 1495-98.

Type
Research Article
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , Spring 1975 , pp. 29 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 1975

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Footnotes

*

Research for this article was made possible by a Fulbright grant for study in Spain.

References

1 For the earlier period: Puyol, Julio y Alonso, , Las Hermandades de Castilla y León (Madrid, 1913)Google Scholar; Fernández, Luis Suárez, ‘Evolución histórica de las Hermandades castellanas,’ Cuadernos de Historia de España, 16 (1951), 5–78 Google Scholar; for the later period: Martínez, Celestino López, La Santa Hermandad de los Reyes Católicos (Sevilla, 1921)Google Scholar; Lunenfeld, Marvin, The Council of the Santa Hermandad; a Study of the Pacification Forces of Ferdinand and Isabella (Coral Gables, Florida, 1970).Google Scholar

2 del Pulgar, Fernando, Crónica de los Reyes Católicos, vols, v-vi of Colección de Crónicas españolas (Madrid, 1943), v, 370; VI, 16, 52, 259Google Scholar; Relación de la gente que entro [en Granada] con su alteza y como han de yr las batallas [1487], de Alba, María, ed., Documentos escogidos de la Casa de Alba (Madrid, 1891), pp. 49–50 Google Scholar; Nómina, November 8, 1490, Tello, Pilar León, ed., Archivo de los Duques de Frías, II (Madrid, 1967), 95 Google Scholar; Nómina, 1490, Archivo General de Simancas (cited hereinafter as AGS), Contaduria del Sueldo, ser. 1, leg. 5.

3 Galindo, Juan de Abreu, Historia de la conquista de las siete Islas de Canaria, ed. Cioranescu, Alejandro (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1955), pp. 226–227, 232Google Scholar; Cuenta de Pedro de Arevalo, AGS, Contaduria mayor de Cuentas, ia época, leg. 45, fol. 28, in Anuario de estudios atlánticos, 12 (1966), 18-19, 23-24; Letter of Ferdinand and Isabella, May 23, 1493, Colección de Documentos Inéditos Relativos al Descubrimiento, Conquista y Organización de América y Oceana, 42 vols. (Madrid, 1864-84), xxx, 68-69; Letter of Ferdinand and Isabella, May 23, 1493, ibid., xix, 502.

4 Letter, Ferdinand and Isabella to Gonzalo, November 6,1494, Registro general del sello (hereinafter cited as RGS) 11 vols. (Valladolid, 1950-70), xi, 589; substantially the same letter with the date November 29, 1494, is in Vallecillo, Antonio, Legislación militar de España, 13 vols. (Madrid, 1853-59), vi, 271.Google Scholar Lists of the Hermandad captaincies from the AGS are printed: 1480 (Contaduría del Sueldo, ser. 1, leg. 53) in Martínez, López, La Santa Hermandad, pp. 44–45 Google Scholar; 1490-92 (Contaduría mayor de Cuentas, ia época, leg. 128), de Quesada, Miguel Ladero, Castillo y la conquista de Granada (Valladolid, 1967), pp. 110–111.Google Scholar The old work, Serafín María de Soto, Conde de Clonard, Historia orgánica de las armas de infantería y caballería españoles, 16 vols. (Madrid, 1851-56), II, 167, prints a list with an obsolete signature (AGS, Secretaria de Guerra, 1313) and the wrong date, 1488. Alfonso de Aragón and Pedro Ruiz de Alarcón, both on this list, died in 1485.

5 Cédula, November 6, 1484, RGS, xi, 589.

6 Cédula, November 21, 1494, Incháustegui, J. Marino, Francisco de Bobadilla, tres homónimos y un enigma colombino descifrado (Madrid, 1964), p. 445 Google Scholar; Cuentas del Gran Capitán, January 18, 1499, MS in Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, fol. IOR; Jerónimo Zurita y Castro, Anales de la corona de Aragón, 6 vols. (Saragossa, 1610), v, 67, 108. The possibility of homonyms seems vitiated by the close correlation between the names of those who served earlier in the Hermandad and later in Italy.

7 Cuentas del Gran Capitán; Zurita, , Anales, v, 76 Google Scholar; Letter, Gonzalo to Ferdinand and Isabella, [Reggio], July 7, 1495, Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, 5 (1901), 340. (The journal cited as RABM.) At least one man from the captaincy of Francisco de Bobadilla fought and died at Seminara; Cédula, 1502, Cantero, Amalia Prieto, ed., Casa y descargos de los Reyes Católicos (Valladolid, 1969), p. 45.Google Scholar

8 Antonio de Aguila commanded in Cuidad Rodrigo in December 1494, Cuentas de Gonzalo de Baeza, tesorero de Isabel la Católica, II (Madrid, 1959), 197; Martín de Alarcón was alcaide of Moclín, Julio Paz y Espeso, ‘Castillos y fortalezas del reino,’ RABM, 27 (1912), 426; Francisco de Bobadilla commanded at Santa Fe, Cédula, September 13, 1492, Incháustegui, , Bobadilla, pp. 439–440 Google Scholar; Alvaro de Luna was alcaide and captain of Loja and collected traditional Hermandad taxes there, RGS, x, 442; xi, 364.

9 Besides Alvaro de Luna, these included Luis Puertocarrero, Diego López de Ayala, Antonio de Fonseca, Luis Mudarra, Juan de Merlo, Francisco Vásquez de Cepeda, Juan de Ribera, and Carlos de Biedma: Zurita, , Anales, v, 76 Google Scholar; Cédula, May 20, 1495, Vallecillo, Legislación militar, vi, 276; Cédula, October 19, 1494, Fernández, Luis Suárez, La politica internacional de Isabel la Católica, 4 vols. (Madrid, 1965-71), iv, 249.Google Scholar

10 Jerónimo Münzer, ‘Viaje por España y Portugal en los años 1494 y 1495,’ Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 84 (1924), 89-90, 109; Lorenzo de Padilla, Crónica de Felipe 1a , vol. viii of Colección de Documentos inéditos para la Historia de España, 112 vols. (Madrid, 1842-95), 18, 59. (The series hereinafter cited as CODOIN.)

11 Antonio and Bernaldo de Aguila, Luna, Alarcón, Diego de Córdoba, and Rojas were incorporated into the standing army in 1499; Martín de Córdoba remained behind as alcaide in Reggio. Nómina para asentar acostamientos, Zaragoza, July 28,1498, AGS, Contaduría del Sueldo, ser. 1, leg. 4; Zurita, , Anales, v, 108.Google Scholar

12 Cuentas del Gran Capitán, fol. 17; Cuenta de Diego Villalba, May 7, 1499, AGS, Contaduría del Sueldo, ser. 1, leg. 4, fol. 1. Figures cannot be taken as really accurate, but correlation is clear enough. The Cuentas del Gran Capitán fols. 9-10, indicates 489 lanzas (including the captaincies of Gonzalo himself and Rodrigo de Mendoza). Gonzalo's own figures in a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, Reggio, July 7, 1495, RABM, 5 (1901), 336, confirm the 500 lanzas of light horse given in the ‘Chrónica general [del Gran Capitan],’ vol. x of Nueva Biblioteca de Autores españoles (Madrid, 1908), 60. The ‘Historia del Gran Capitán’ [usually called the ‘Crónica manuscrita’], ibid., p. 281, gives 600 lanzas for about the same time, as do Giovio, Paolo, ‘La Vida y chrónica de Gonzalo Hernández de Cordoba,’ ibid., p. 484 Google Scholar, and Bernaldez, Andrés, Memorias del reinado de los Reyes Católicos (Madrid, 1962), p. 367 Google Scholar; Zurita, , Anales, v, 92 Google Scholar, gives 400 lanzas for about a year later.

13 Cuenta de Villalba, fol. 2; Cuentas del Gran Capitán, fol. 21; Letter, Gonzalo to Ferdinand and Isabella, April 24, 1497, RABM, 34 (1916), 301.

14 Almirante, José, Diccionario militar (Madrid, 1869)Google Scholar, illustrates the standard, muchrepeated definition; Pieri, Piero, ‘Consalvo di Cordova e le origine del moderno esercito spagnolo,’ V Congreso de Historia de la Corona de Aragón (Zaragoza, 1954), in, 224–225 Google Scholar, challenges it. For an example of the word Hermandad used to denominate the tax: Pragmatica, September 18, 1495, Ramírez, Juan, Pragmáticas del reino (Sevilla, 1503), fol. 175.Google Scholar

15 Cédulas, Madrigal, April 19, 1476, June 15, 1476, El tumbo de los Reyes Católicos del concejo de Sevilla, 1 (2d ed., Sevilla, 1968), 273-285; Capítulas of the General Junta of the Hermandad, Dueñas, August 5, 1476, Vallecillo, , Legislación militar, v, 605–616 Google Scholar. Instead of emphasizing two traditions, Lunenfeld points out confusion in the early Hermandad forces of Seville between militia and regular troops: Council of the Santa Hermandad, p. 75.

16 Regulations of the General Junta of Madrid, 1480, Martínez, López, La Santa Hermandad, pp. 44–45.Google Scholar Fernando de Acuña, captain of 1480, and Luis de Acuña, captain of 1490, were sons of the Count of Buendía. de Valera, Diego, Crónica de los Reyes Católicos (Madrid, 1927), p. 220 Google Scholar; Cédula, December 17, 1489, RGS, vi, 507.

17 Proposition of the Crown to the General Junta of the Hermandad of Aranda, January 25, 1488, and Reply of the Junta, Martínez, López, La Santa Hermandad, pp. 49–50.Google Scholar The growth of taxation is traced ibid., pp. 11-17; for Seville, Lunenfeld, , Council of the Santa Hermandad, pp. 66–75 Google Scholar; for Burgos, Luciano Serrano y Pineda, Los Reyes Católicos y la ciudad de Burgos (Madrid, 1943), pp. 167-190; for Murcia, Rodolfo Bosque Carceller, Murcia y los Reyes Catolicos (Murcia, n.d.), pp. 36-92, passim.

18 Pragmática, September 18, 1495, Ramírez, Pragmáticas, fols. 174-177; Cédula, February 22, 1496, Memorias de la Real Academia de la Historia, VI (Madrid, 1821), 603-605. Lunenfeld, , Council of the Santa Hermandad, pp. 81–83, 104Google Scholar, treats this as the effective end of the Hermandad, which he sees as unsuitable for use overseas and only extended to aid Gonzalo after the defeat of Seminara.

19 Ferdinand and Isabella to Gonzalo, February 26, 1495, RABM, 20 (1909), 453-454; Cédula, February 22, 1496, AGS, Guerra antigua, leg. 1, fol. 13; Cédula, October 19, 1496, in Clonard Papers, carpeta 45, leg. 4, Biblioteca central militar, Madrid; Cuenta de Villalba, fol. 1.

20 Cédula, January 10, 1489, Arántegui, José y Sanz, , Apuntes históricos sobre la artillería española en los siglos XIV y XV (Madrid, 1887), p. 284.Google Scholar

21 Proclamation to the Cortes of Madrigal, April 27, 1476, Vallecillo, , Legislación militar, v, 582 Google Scholar; Cédula, June 29, 1498, ibid., vi, 313; Letter, Administrators of the Hermandad to Municipal Council of Burgos, 1486, Serrano, , Burgos, p. 184.Google Scholar

22 Compare Memorandum of Quintanilla, 1492, Memorias de la Real Academia de la Historia, vi (Madrid, 1821), 601-603, with Cédula, September 18, 1495, Ramírez, Pragmaticas, fols. 173-177.

23 Javierre, Aurea L., ‘Fernando y las ordenes militares,’ V Congreso de Historia de la Corona de Aragón (Zaragoza, 1955), 1, 287–300 Google Scholar; Mandamiento, Mejorada, December 6 [1503], AGS, Contaduría del Sueldo, ser. 1, leg. 15; Repartimiento de lanzas en Granada (1503); ibid., ser. 2, leg. 1; for a general description of the army in 1511-1512, Guicciardini, Francesco, Viaje a España (Valencia, 1952), pp. 68–69.Google Scholar

24 Hordenanzas generales, 1496, AGS, Libro de cédulas, no. 2, vol. 2, fol. 158-159; these regulations are extensively described in Clonard, , Historia orgánica, II, 268–269 Google Scholar; for comparison see Capitulos of the Hermandad from the General Junta of Madrid, 1480, Martínez, López, La Santa Hermandad, pp. 44–49.Google Scholar

25 Pedro Antonio Muñoz-Casayús, ‘Las Hermandades en Aragón,’ Universidad; Revista de Cultura y Vida universitaria (Zaragoza), 4 (1927), 669-723; Letter, Ferdinand to Jurados of Zaragoza, July 21, 1492, ibid., 713-714; Zurita, Anales, v, 74.

26 Piero Pieri, the most cited authority on the significance of Gonzalo's army in Italy, plays up the Italian influence. He largely ignores Gonzalo's own explanation of the disastrous first battle of Seminara and counts as the chief Italian contribution the practice of combining various kinds of troops together: ‘Consalvo di Cordova e le origine,’ pp. 209-212; see also his Il rinascimento e la crisi militare italiana (Torino, 1952), pp. 358-359, and Gonzalo's letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, Reggio, July 7, 1495, RABM, 5 (1901), 336-337. Fernández, Luis Suárez, La política internacional de Isabel, iv, 105 Google Scholar, though he recognizes that Gonzalo's army included veterans from the earlier campaigns, largely follows Pieri's interpretation.

27 Act of the Cabildo of Sevilla, July 12, 1479, Martínez, López, La Santa Hermandad, p. 53 Google Scholar; Serrano, , Burgos, pp. 184–185 Google Scholar; Lunenfeld, , Council of the Santa Hermandad, pp. 43–51.Google Scholar Clonard reckoned the cost of the proposed militia at 2,815,989 copper reales each month apart from the wages of superior officers, Historia orgánica, II, 254.

28 This is one of the themes of Lunenfeld's book, see pp. 101-103; see also Haliczer, Stephen H., ‘The Castilian Urban Patriciate and the Jewish Expulsions of 1480-92,’ The American Historical Review, 78 (February 1973), 49–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29 Letters of Cardinal Jiménez and Isabella of Portugal quoted in Tersicio de Azcona, Isabel la Católica (Madrid, 1964), p. 736; on the succession crisis, Luis Suárez Fernández, La España de los Reyes Católicos (vol. xvii of Historia de España Ramón Menéndez Pidal, gen. ed.), ii, 473-511.

30 Zurita, , Anales, v, 129 Google Scholar; Cronicon de Valladolid, CODOIN, xiii (1848), 215-216; Ricardo del Arco, ‘Cortes aragoneses de los Reyes Católicos,’ RABM, 60 (1954), 89-90.