Henry IV of Castile

Henry IV became King of Castile and León on 5 January 1425, inheriting a throne he would struggle to hold. His reign marked the final chapter of Castile's weak late-medieval monarchy, a period when royal power drained steadily into the hands of the nobility. While he wore the crown, the kingdom fractured: centralized authority collapsed, rival lords rose, and the state he ruled grew less cohesive by the year. He died on 11 December 1474, closing an era defined by the slow unraveling of the throne itself.