The Iberian Union was the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Spanish Crown between 1580 and 1640, bringing the entire Iberian Peninsula, as well as Spanish and Portuguese overseas possessions, under the Spanish Habsburg kings Philip II, Philip III and Philip IV. The union began as a result of the Portuguese crisis of succession and the ensuing War of the Portuguese Succession and lasted 60 years, until the Portuguese Restoration War in which the House of Braganza was established as Portugal's new ruling dynasty.
The Habsburg king was the only element of connection between the multiple kingdoms and territories, who ruled by six separate government councils of Castile, Aragon, Portugal, Italy, Flanders and the Indies. The governments, institutions, and legal traditions of each kingdom remained independent of each other. Alien laws (Leyes de extranjeria) determined that a national of one kingdom was a foreigner in all the other kingdoms.
The unification of the peninsula had long been a goal of the region's monarchs with the intent of restoring the Visigothic monarchy. Sancho III of Navarre and Alfonso VII of León and Castile had both taken the title Imperator totius Hispaniae, meaning "Emperor of All Hispania". There were many attempts to unite the different kingdoms after Alfonso VII's death in 1109, especially through a policy of intermarriage. Some of the most famous attempts are those of Miguel da Paz (Michael of Peace), who would inherit the crowns of Portugal, Leon, Castile and Aragon, but who died at a young age; and those of Afonso, Prince of Portugal, who was to marry the eldest daughter of the Catholic Monarchs, if not for his untimely death by an accident in which he fell off his horse. More details
The Habsburg king was the only element of connection between the multiple kingdoms and territories, who ruled by six separate government councils of Castile, Aragon, Portugal, Italy, Flanders and the Indies. The governments, institutions, and legal traditions of each kingdom remained independent of each other. Alien laws (Leyes de extranjeria) determined that a national of one kingdom was a foreigner in all the other kingdoms.The unification of the peninsula had long been a goal of the region's monarchs with the intent of restoring the Visigothic monarchy. Sancho III of Navarre and Alfonso VII of León and Castile had both taken the title Imperator totius Hispaniae, meaning "Emperor of All Hispania". There were many attempts to unite the different kingdoms after Alfonso VII's death in 1109, especially through a policy of intermarriage. Some of the most famous attempts are those of Miguel da Paz (Michael of Peace), who would inherit the crowns of Portugal, Leon, Castile and Aragon, but who died at a young age; and those of Afonso, Prince of Portugal, who was to marry the eldest daughter of the Catholic Monarchs, if not for his untimely death by an accident in which he fell off his horse. More details
