Echoes of deposition: Sancho II and Castile-León

Abstract

ABSTRACT At the First Council of Lyon in 1245, Pope Innocent IV attempted to depose not one but two monarchs: the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and, less famously, King Sancho II of Portugal. This article will focus on the reverberations of the Portuguese ruler’s deposition. While studies of depositions have largely focus on the deposed, this article examines reverberations felt by other monarchs, themselves heads of a similar power structure, at the felling of a peer. Power brokers in Castile-León were conscious of the actions taking place in the neighboring kingdom of Portugal. By juxtaposing the trajectories of the two monarchies, the article posits that it was not Fernando III, King of Castile-León, who was to be most affected, but rather his son, Alfonso X. The repercussions of the deposition of Sancho II of Portugal affected conceptions of kingship for decades as the article traces the Castilian-Leonese diplomatic, legal, literary, and liturgical reactions. In doing so, it argues that while the papal bull Grandi non immerito was directed at the kingdom of Portugal, its legacy in Castile-León contributed to a larger discussion on the foundations of kingship and the relationships of its subjects to power.