Alfonso Enríquez

Alfonso Enriquez de Castilla was the son of Fadrique Alfonso, 25th Master of the Order of Santiago, and Paloma Ben Yahia. His father was murdered on 29 May 1358 in the Alcázar of Seville, on the orders of his brother Peter.

He was the founder of the lineage of Enriquez, and is the first Admiral of Castile of his family since 1405, and first lord of Medina de Rio Seco. His paternal grandparents were King Alfonso XI of Castile and Eleanor de Guzmán. He was a nephew of King Henry II of Castile and cousin of King John I of Castile. His brother was Pedro Enriquez de Castilla, Count of Trastámara, Lemos and Sarria, Constable of Castile and Pertiguero mayor de Santiago. His sister was Eleanor of Castile, who married the Marshal of Castile Diego Gomez Sarmiento.

Alfonso Enriquez remained hidden while living his uncle Pedro I of Castile, who ordered to kill his father in 1358 in the Alcazar of Seville. Although contemporary Castilian chroniclers wrapped the figure of his mother in mystery and later genealogists do not mention her, other authors, for example, the Portuguese Fernão Lopes wrote in connection with events that occurred in 1384, that the Admiral was the son of a Jewess. Her name was Paloma Bat Gedaliah, of the Ben Yahia dynasty. The family arrived in Spain around 1000 CE and had been the family of Exilarch Princes (Nasi) in Babylon, since the captivity and destruction of the first temple.

The "Memorial of old things" attributed to the dean of Toledo, Diego de Castilla, said Fadrique had Alfonso from a Jewess from Guadalcanal called Paloma (pigeon, dove).[1] He tells a story where King Ferdinand the Catholic was hunting and was a hawk with a heron and both walked away, leaving the king to follow, and Martin de Rojas was always with the hawk until he saw it leave and throw after a dove. Asking the king for his hawk, Martin replied, "Lord, there goes after our grandmother", being Martin a descendant of Paloma himself.

In 1389, John I of Castile gave him the area around Aguilar de Campos. In later years, he managed to extend his territory. Until 1402, he served the King as a commander and administered the castle of Medina de Rioseco. In 1387, Alfonso married Juana de Mendoza. In 1395, together with his wife, he restarted the construction of the Monastery of Santa Clara de Palencia, which had been begun by Henry II of Castile and his wife Queen Juana Manuel, by planning the church and cemetery of the Admirals of Castile.

It is conjectured that it must have been at the behest of his wife that the title of Admiral of Castile passed to him upon the death of her brother Diego Hurtado de Mendoza in 1405, who held that post. In addition to military action at sea, this post also involved trying to obtain civil and criminal jurisdiction over all ports of the kingdom of Granada, culminating after three years with the taking of Antequera.

The Enríquez family held the title of Admiral of Castile from 1405 to 1705. Alfonso was the most famous admiral in the family, winning many sea battles.

The monastery in Guadelupe where Alfonso Enríquez died in 1429

In 1407, he defeated the combined fleet of Tunis (Hafsid), Granada (Nasrid) and Tlemcen (Capital city of the Zianid Kingdom of Tlemcen). This was his last major sea battle. Afterward, he inspected the fleet and led military actions on land, such as the capture of Antequera in 1410. He was involved in the court's political undertakings and in its feasts.[2]

In 1421, John II of Castile granted him the lordship of Medina de Rio Seco "for the many good and loyal and outstanding and distinguished services done to King Don Juan my grandfather and to King Henry my father and my lord, and still does to me," instead he chose to settle and establish primogeniture in favor of his children. The city is since known as the City of the admirals. At the end of his life, he retired to the monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe, where he died in 1429 at the age of 75. He was buried with his wife and several children in the monastery of Santa Clara de Palencia, which they had been founders.

In his will, he left the monastery 11000maravedís for the construction of four chapels. His widow donated another 10000maravedís.

The poet and biographer Fernán Pérez de Guzmán, a contemporary of Alfonso's, described him as medium-sized, chubby, red-haired, discrete and not a talker. The historian Esteban de Garibay (1533–1600) described him as hot-tempered and quickly irritated.