page_title: Kingdom of Galicia
section_title: John, king of León, Galicia and Seville (1296–1301)
hierarchical_section_title: Kingdom of Galicia / Late Middle Ages / John, king of León, Galicia and Seville (1296–1301)
caption_attribution_description: Galego: Sartego de Pai Gómez Chariño no convento de San Francisco de PontevedraFrançais&#160;: Cercueil de Pai Gómez Chariño, au couvent de San Francisco à Pontevedra
context_page_description: The Kingdom of Galicia was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded by the Suebic king Hermeric in 409, with its capital established in Braga. It was the first kingdom which adopted Catholicism officially. In 449 it minted its own currency. In 585, it became a part of the Visigothic Kingdom. In the 8th century, Galicia became a part of the newly founded Christian Kingdom of Asturias, which later became the Kingdom of León, and while occasionally achieving independence under the authority of its own kings. Compostela became capital of Galicia in the 11th century, while the independence of Portugal determined its southern boundary. The accession of Castilian King Ferdinand III to the Leonese kingdom in 1230 brought Galicia under the control of the Crown of Castile.
  Galicia resisted central control, supporting a series of alternative claimants, including John of León, Galicia and Seville, Ferdinand I of Portugal and John of Gaunt, and was not brought firmly into submission until the Catholic Monarchs imposed the Santa Hermandad in Galicia.
context_section_description: The reign of Alfonso X ended in civil war and political instability regarding the succession. The death of his eldest son Ferdinand de la Cerda led Ferdinand's younger brother, Sancho, to rebel in a bid to secure the succession, which was ultimately successful. A similar pattern then followed Sancho's own death in 1295, with the reign of his juvenile son Ferdinand IV of Castile being contested by his uncle John, who had been in revolt since 1286.
  With the help of King Denis I of Portugal, John—who lived exiled in Granada—advanced to Badajoz to claim the throne of Castile, but negotiations with Ferdinand's party, together with the assassination of his closest ally the adelantado mayor of Galicia Paio Gómez Charinho, led him to withdraw his claim. In 1296 John took the lead of the nobility of the old Leonese crown, and with the support of the kings of Aragon and Portugal was proclaimed king of León and Galicia in 1296, which also included the Kingdom of Seville, a vassal of Galicia since the 11th century. Charinho was succeeded by Fernando Ruíz de Castro, a kinsman of the house of Traba, whose wife also supported John and encouraged calls for a rapprochement with Portugal.
  This attempted secession lasted five years amid great political and military instability due to opposition from many sectors of society, including the party of Sancho's widow Maria de Molina, which was supported by the Castilian nobility, and the high Galician clergy. Faced with this resistance, King Denis of Portugal proposed to Queen Maria de Molina that John and his heirs should be granted the Kingdom of Galicia, where he counted on the strong support of Fernando Ruiz de Castro and other noblemen. In 1301, however, after losing the support of the King of Portugal, John was forced to abandon his claim to kingship in exchange for a number of minor titles, thus confirming the unity of the Crown of Castile.
caption: Paio Gómez Chariño's Tomb, Convent of San Francisco, Pontevedra, Galicia
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