HouseOfHesse on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/houseofhesse/art/The-United-Kingdom-of-Iberia-600537054HouseOfHesse

Deviation Actions

HouseOfHesse's avatar

The United Kingdom of Iberia

By
Published:
18.8K Views

Description

Had this on a back-burner for ages, finally got around to finishing it!
This is my interpretation of what a united Iberia might look like today had the Portuguese restoration war of 1640 been unsuccessful (and with Aragon hanging on to Sardinia and everyone hanging on to some colonies a bit longer. Sorry Morocco.)
For those unfamiliar with this chapter in the history of Iberia, the union of the crowns of Castile, Aragon, and Portugal occurred between 1580 and 1640 as the result of a series of dynastically-minded marriages. Beginning with the marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, the crowns of these two realms were united in their daughter Joanna I. Obviously with this being the late Middle-Ages/early Renaissance era, Joanna was deemed incapable of ruling alone because she was a woman and maybe a little insane, thus her her husband Phillip, who had an impressive array of titles of his own (He was Phillip I if you were in the newly formed realm of Spain, and either Phillip II, III, or IV depending on where you were in Burgundy or the Netherlands), was named as her co-ruler, thus beginning several centuries of Habsburg rule over Spain. They were succeeded by their son Charles I/II/III/IV/V (again, another impressive array of titles), and then by his son Phillip II (husband of Mary I of England) who, after the death of the childless King of Portugal, also sought to claim the Portuguese throne too, because apparently all his dozens of other titles just weren't enough for him. As the grandson of a former monarch of Portugal, Phillip held the favour of the Council of Governors of Portugal despite one of his rivals, Antonio, being declared King initially. However, after a short war, Phillip successfully enforced his claim to the throne, and thus the Iberian Union was born.
Come 1640, Portugal decides it's fed up of non-Portuguese monarchs, and thus a rebellion ensues. Whilst in OTL this rebellion was successful, in this timeline it was not, with both John of Braganza and his heir Afonso being captured by Phillip IV & III.
Initially the three Iberian realms remained distinctly separate entities, each with its own army, government, and citizenship. Indeed, it is more accurately described as a personal union than a union de jure, however by the time 1700 rolled around, there was a very high degree of integration between the realms. When the famously incapable Habsburg king Charles II died childless in 1700, the war of the Iberian succession ensued with Charles II bequeathing his realm to Phillip, Duke of Anjou, the second-eldest grandson of King Louis XIV of France of the House of Bourbon, whilst the Habsburg dynasty in Austria sought to secure it for the Archduke Charles of Austria. By 1714, the Bourbons had won the war, and Phillip took the throne as Phillip V, and formally united his realm into a single, united kingdom the following year. Over the following centuries, numerous reforms (and a fairly lengthy republican dictatorship) transformed Iberia into the modern federal monarchy that it is today.

My knowledge of any of the Iberian languages, and Romance languages in general, is appalling, so I apologise for the shoddy translation! My approach was that the labels are in the official language of the state where they are located, thus labels in Catalonia are in Catalan, labels in Castile are in Castilian, labels in Portugal are in Portuguese, etc.

I also made a (new, better) flag, coat of armsWikipedia-style country info-box, and an election info-box to accompany this map.

DISCLAIMER: This in no way represents my views on Iberia, Spain, Portugal, Andorra, or any other country featured (real or fictitious), Spanish/Iberian irredentism, Iberian unionism, Portuguese people, Spanish people, other Iberian people in general, or irredentism/pan-nationalism as a whole. It is a work of fiction, not a political statement, and is not intended to cause offence. Please refrain from making political or offensive statements in the comments, lest you shall be subject to my wrath. That aside, comments and (constructive) criticisms are always welcome!
Image size
8551x4898px 2.18 MB
© 2016 - 2024 HouseOfHesse
Comments31
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In