Cisma, comercio y política. Las relaciones diplomáticas entre la República de Florencia y la Corona de Castilla, de Enrique II a Enrique IV (1366-1474)

Abstract

The diplomatic contacts between the Republic of Florence and the Crown of Castile have remained largely unknown. The present paper sheds new light on the subject analyzing twenty surviving letters that the Italian signoria sent to the Iberian monarchs. We can differentiate two periods, the first one in the context of the War of the Eight Saints (1375-1378) that preceded the Great Schism (1378-1417), the second in the apogee of Florentine-Castilian commercial relations before the change of conditions, in the Iberian Peninsula, the Mediterranean and Western Europe around and after 1492. The image we get shows un unbalanced relationship, for Castile was more important for Florence in the international trade rather than the other way around; and in the Italian context Castile's great ally was always Genoa: Florence was always a secondary agent in the Castilian foreign policy.