Crown of Castile

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Coat of Arms of the Crown of Castile

Kingdom of Castile and León circa 1360

The starting point of Crown of Castile can be considered when the union of the Kingdoms of Castile and Leon in 1230 or the later fusion of their Cortes (their Parliaments). In 1230, Ferdinand III became king of Castile and Leon (including the Kingdoms of Galicia and Asturias)

History

Two kingdoms: León and Castile

The Kingdom of Leon appeared after the Kingdom of Asturias. The Kingdom of Castile started as a County inside the Kingdom of Leon.

The kingdoms of Leon and Castile had been united previously on two occasions:

In 1037 when Ferdinand I of Castile joined the two kingdoms for the first time. At his death in 1065 the kingdoms passed separately to his sons, following the Spanish tradition of the time consisting in dividing the kingdoms among the king's offspring, and so the kingdoms would be divided again.
In 1072 until 1157 under two kings: Alfonso VI of Castile and Alfonso VII of Castile. At the death of the last one, the kingdoms were divided again amongst his sons.

Ferdinand III of Castile (The Saint) received the Kingdom of Castile from his mother (Berenguela) in 1217, and later, the Kingdom of León from his father (Alfonse IX of León) in 1230. From now on the two kingdoms would be united under the names of Kingdom of León and Castile, later as Crown of Castile. Ferdinand III will also conquer part of Andalusia and the Kingdom of Murcia from Al-Andalus.

The kings of the Crown of Castile had the titles of King of Leon, Castile, Toledo, Galicia, Murcia, Jaen, Cordoba, Seville and Principal of Biscay and Moline

Main Articles: Kingdom of León and Kingdom of Castile

The union of the
After the union of the kingdoms under the same king Ferdinand III, the parliament of both kingdoms would be united. There would be representatives of Castile, León, Galicia, Toledo, Navarre and the Basque provinces. To these, new representatives would be added from the conquered land to Al-Andalus: Cordoba, Murcia, Jaén, Seville, Granada, Gibraltar, Algeciras and Moline of Aragón. The kingdoms at first would keep their laws (e.g. the citizen of Castile judged in the kingdom of Leon or Toledo would be judged under Castilian laws)
Under Alfonso X of Castile (The Wise), most of the Cortes would be together for both kingdoms (e.g. 1258 or 1261), but there would later be separate Cortes as the ones in 1301 (in Burgos for Castile and in Zamora for Leon). The representatives of both kingdoms would demand united Cortes from then on.

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