Battle of Aljubarrota in the context of "1383–1385 Portuguese interregnum"

An interregnum and a war of succession began in the Kingdom of Portugal in 1383 when King Ferdinand I died leaving no sons and ended when King John I was crowned in 1385 after his victory during the Battle of Aljubarrota.

The Portuguese interpret the era as their earliest national resistance movement to counter Castilian intervention, and Robert Durand considers it as the "great revealer of national consciousness".

John I (Spanish: Juan I; 24 August 1358 – 9 October 1390) was King of Castile and León from 1379 until 1390. He was the son of Henry II and of his wife Juana Manuel of Castile. John ascended to the throne in 1379 and in 1383, he married Beatrice, the daughter of King Ferdinand I of Portugal. When Ferdinand died that same year, John, aiming to enforce his claim on the Portuguese crown through his wife, brought the country into the 1383–1385 Crisis. His forces faced resistance from Portuguese factions supporting John of Aviz. The conflict culminated in the Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385, where John suffered a defeat, ensuring Portugal's independence.

To secure Castile, he married his son Henry to the daughter of John of Gaunt, linking the Trastámara and Plantagenet dynasties. He died in 1390 when he fell from his horse during a fantasia performance. His death led to minority rule under his son, Henry III.

Beatrice (Portuguese: Beatriz, pronounced [bi.ɐˈtɾiʃ]; 7–13 February 1373 – c. 1420) was the only surviving legitimate child of King Ferdinand I of Portugal and his wife, Leonor Teles. She became Queen consort of Castile by marriage to King John I of Castile. Following her father's death without a legitimate male heir, she claimed the Portuguese throne but lost her claim to her uncle, who became King John I of Portugal, founder of the House of Aviz.

During her early years, Beatrice was a pawn in the changing politics of foreign alliances of her father, who negotiated successive marriages for her. She would eventually marry King John I of Castile, by whom Beatrice became Queen Consort of Castile. At the death of her father, Beatrice was proclaimed Queen regnant of Portugal and her mother assumed the regency in her name. Opposition to the regency, fear of the Castilian domination and loss of Portuguese independence led to a popular rebellion and civil war between the late King Ferdinand I's illegitimate brother, John of Aviz, who wrested control of the regency from the dowager queen, and the supporters of Beatrice and her husband, John I of Castile, who claimed the throne of Portugal by right of his wife. In 1385, John of Aviz was proclaimed King of Portugal, and the King of Castile was definitively defeated in the Battle of Aljubarrota, effectively ending any prospects for Beatrice and her husband to assert their rights to the Portuguese crown.