Don't know if this is the correct place to ask this, someone might want to point me to a better place in that case I'd really appreciate it, thanks regardless.
I was reading about the Spanish royal dynasties and I found out that there's two competing houses, the ruling one and the Carlists. Although it seems that they are of the same Dynasty, Bourbons. I'm curious about what ended up happening to the ancient Spanish royal houses. The Hapsburg still exist, but is there someone that could claim to be a pretender to the Spanish throne?
Still, I'm more curious about the older ones, the Trastámara, the Asturians and the Visigoths that came before. I do wonder if there's someone, somewhere, keeping the count. Someone like, 'you know, a thousand years ago we used to rule Spain, you're the closer relative to this ancient King".
What happened to the Trastámara? No closer relative that could keep the dynasty from extinguishing? Is it really extint? No living Trastámara today that can claim royal blood?
Sorry for my bad English, don't really know where to ask, but hopefully it's understandable enough to reach the central point.
Yes, there are plenty of descendants of the Trastámara lineage, and even of the house of Burgundy, which is the same as the Trastámaras (the concept of "house" or "dynasty of Trastámara" does not appear until the mid 19th century).
King Alfonso XI had a dozen bastard sons with his lover Leonor de Guzmán, and plenty of them had children of their own. The most famous branch of descendants of Alfonso XI is the House of Enríquez, admirals of Castile. You can find the descendants under the title of dukes of Medina de Rioseco, a title that today belongs to the dukes of Osuna (who are of royal blood through the Enríquez line).
Pedro I, son Alfonso XI and brother of Enrique II left plenty of bastard sons, some of them acknowldged and who in fact took the name Castilla or Lasso de Castilla. Even today there are a lot of descendants of king Pedro I under the surname Castilla. The most famous one of recent times was the psychologist Carlos Castilla del Pino.
Another branch of the House of Burgundy is the famous La Cerda lineage, dukes of Medinaceli. They descend from the eldest son of king Alfonso X. The infantes of la Cerda lost the war against their own uncle Sancho IV, son of Alfonso X.
Another offshoot branch of the House of Burgundy is the House of Manuel or House of Villena. They descend from the infante Manuel, brother of Alfonso X. The most notable member of this lineage is Don Juan Manuel, prince of Villena, duke of Peñafiel, lord of Belmonte, etc. Also known as the author of "El conde Lucanor".
The list can go all day long with the many descendants of the various kings, in different ways. The Silvas and the Tenorios are descendants of king Alfonso IX of León, a king who sired a great many bastards.