Isabella of Castile
Isabella of Castile (
April 22,
1451 –
November 26,
1504) was
Queen regnant of Castile and Leon. She and her husband,
Ferdinand II of Aragon, laid the foundation for the political unification of
Spain under their grandson,
Carlos I of Spain (Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor).
The
Castilian version of her name was
Ysabel or
Isabel, which traces etymologically to Hebrew
Elisth or 'Elizabeth'. In Germanic countries, she is usually known by the Italian form of her name, 'Isabella.' Likewise, her husband is
Fernando in Spain, but
Ferdinand elsewhere. The official inscription on their tomb renders their names in Latin as "Helizabeth" and "Fernandus".
Pope
Alexander VI named Ferdinand and Isabella "The
Catholic Monarchs." She is also known as
Isabel la Católica.
Isabella was great-great-granddaughter of both
Henry II of Castile and his half-brother
Peter I of Castile and their respective wives (
Joan of Villena and
Maria de Padilla). She was also great-great-granddaughter of
Peter IV of Aragon and his wife
Leonor of Portugal, daughter of King
Afonso IV of Portugal, as well as of her half-brother
Peter I of Portugal and his mistress Teresa Lourenço. Through John of Gaunt she was great-great-granddaughter of King
Edward III of England and his wife
Philippa of Hainault and through his first wife of
Henry of Grosmont,
Duke of Lancaster and his wife
Isabel de Beaumont. Finally she was great-great-granddaughter to
Nuno Alvares Pereira, Count de Barcelos and his wife Leonor Alvim, Countess of Barcelos.
She was great-granddaughter of
John I of Castile and his wife
Eleanor of Aragon, a sister of Kings
John I of Aragon and
Martin I of Aragon.She was also great-granddaughter of
John of Gaunt,
Duke of Lancaster and his second wife
Constanza of Castile, a daughter of
Peter I of Castile. Her third set of great-grandparents were King
John I of Portugal and his wife
Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt from his first wife
Blanche of Lancaster. Her final set of great-grandparents were
Afonso, Duke de Braganza, a son of John I of Portugal by Inez Perez, and his wife Beatriz Pereira, countess of Barcelos.
Her paternal grandparents were King
Henry III of Castile and
Catherine Plantagenet of the
House of Lancaster, a half sister of King
Henry IV of England. Her maternal grandparents were Prince
João of Portugal, Grand Master of Santiago, who was a brother of
Henry the Navigator, and his wife
Isabella de Bragança.
Her parents were King
John II of Castile and his second wife Queen
Isabella of Portugal.
She was the last monarch of the
Trastámara dynasty established by
Henry II of Castile.
Isabella was born in
Madrigal de las Altas Torres on
April 22,
1451. Her brother Alfonso was born three years later. When her father,
John II, died in
1454, her much older half-brother
Henry IV became king. As soon as he ascended to the throne, he
sequestered his half-siblings to
Segovia and his stepmother to
Arévalo, in virtual
exile.
Henry IV, whose first marriage to
Blanca of Navarre was not consummated and had been annulled, remarried to have his own offspring. He then married
Joana of Portugal. His wife gave birth to
Joan, princess of Castile. When Isabella was about ten, she and her brother were summoned to the court, to be under more direct supervision and control by the king. In the
Representation of Burgos the nobles challenged the King; among other items, they demanded that Alfonso, Isabella's brother, should be named the heir to the kingdom. Henry agreed, provided Alfonso would marry his daughter, Joan. A few days later, he changed his mind.
The nobles, now in control of Alfonso and claiming him to be the true heir, clashed with Henry's forces at the
Battle of Olmedo in
1467. The battle was a draw. One year later, Alfonso died at the age of fourteen, and Isabella became the hope of the rebelling nobles. But she refused their advances, acknowledging instead Henry as king, and he, in turn, recognized her as the legitimate heir, after she managed to convince him that he had been impotent when he had fathered Joan (by now, married off to the King of Portugal). Henry tried to get Isabella married to a number of persons of his choice, yet she evaded all these propositions. Instead she chose
Ferdinand, heir to the throne of
Aragon. They were married
October 19,
1469 in
Ocaña (another source suggests
Valladolid, which was perhaps the place of
betrothal).
When Henry IV died on
December 10,
1474, Isabella acted quickly. She had herself crowned Queen of Castile at
Segovia three days later. While she and Ferdinand began to reorganize the court,
Afonso V of Portugal crossed the border and declared Joan the rightful heir. Ferdinand beat the invaders back at the
Battle of Toro in
1476, and the challenge to the crown of Castile was rejected. In a series of separate marches, Ferdinand and Isabella went on to subjugate renegade and rebellious towns, fortresses, and points of power that had developed over time. In
1479, Ferdinand's father then died, and they became King and Queen of Aragon. In
1480, the couple assembled the
Cortes of Toledo where, under their supervision, five royal councils and 34 civilian representatives produced a codex of laws and edicts as the legal groundwork for the future Spain. This established the centralization of power with the royals and set the basis for economic and judicial rehabilitation of the country. As part of this reform, and in their attempt to unify the country, Ferdinand and Isabella solicited Pope
Sixtus IV to authorize the Inquisition. In 1483,
Tomás de Torquemada became the first
Inquisitor General in
Seville.
1492 was an important year for Isabella, seeing the conquest of
Granada and hence the end of the '
Reconquista' (reconquest), her successful patronage of Christopher Columbus, and her expulsion of the Jews and Muslims.
Granada
 |
The Capitulation of Granada by F. Padilla: Boabdil before Ferdinand and Isabella |
The Kingdom of
Granada had been held by the
Moors since their invasion of Spain in the
8th century. Protected by natural barriers and fortified towns, it had withstood the long process of the
reconquista. However, in contrast to the determined leadership by Isabella and Ferdinand, Granada's leadership was divided and never presented a united front. It took ten years to conquer Granada, culminating in 1492.
When the Spaniards, early on, captured
Boabdil, one of the rulers, they set him free - for a ransom - so that he could return to Granada and resume his reign. The Spanish monarchs recruited soldiers from many European countries and improved their artillery with the latest and best cannons. Systematically, they proceeded to take the kingdom piece by piece. In
1485 they laid siege to
Ronda, which surrendered after extensive bombardment. The following year,
Loja was taken, and again Boabdil was captured and released. One year later, with the fall of
Málaga, the western part of the Moorish kingdom had fallen into Spanish hands. The eastern province succumbed after the fall of
Baza in
1489. The siege of Granada began in the spring of
1491. When the Spanish camp was destroyed by an accidental fire, the camp was rebuilt, in stone, in the form of a cross, painted white, and named Santa Fe (
i.e. 'Holy Faith'). At the end of the year, Boabdil surrendered. On
January 2,
1492 Isabel and Ferdinand entered Granada to receive the keys of the city and the principal
mosque was reconsecrated as a church. The
Treaty of Granada signed later that year was to assure religious rights to the Islamic believers - but it did not last.
Columbus
 |
Columbus before Isabella and Ferdinand |
Queen Isabella rejected
Christopher Columbus's plan to reach the
Indies by sailing west three times before changing her mind. His conditions (the position of Admiral; governorship for him and his descendants of lands to be discovered; and ten percent of the profits) were met. On
August 3, his expedition departed. He returned the next year and presented his findings to the monarchs, bringing natives and gold under a hero's welcome. Spain entered a
Golden Age of
exploration and
colonization. In
1494, by the
Treaty of Tordesillas, Isabella and Ferdinand divided the Earth - outside of Europe - with
Portugal.
Isabella tried to defend the
American aborigines against the abuse of the colonists. In 1503, she established the Secretary of Indian Affairs, which later became the
Supreme Council of the Indies.
Expulsion of the Jews and Muslims
With the institution of the Roman Catholic Inquisition in Spain, with the Dominican friar, the
converso Tomás de Torquemada, as the first Inquisitor General, the Catholic Monarchs set a policy of "religious cleansing". On
March 31,
1492, they issued the
Alhambra Decree for the expulsion of the Jews (See main article on
Inquisition) as well as Muslims in Spain. Approximately 200,000 people left Spain. Others converted, often only to be persecuted further by the Inquisition investigating Judaizing
conversos (
Marranos). The Muslims of the newly conquered Granada had been initially granted religious freedom, but pressure to convert increased, and after some revolts, a policy of forced expulsion or conversion was also instituted after 1500 (see
Moriscos).
 |
Queen Isabella's Will, by E.Rosales. On the left: Juana and Ferdinand, on the right: Cardinal Cisneros (black cap) |
Isabella, a very religious person, received with her husband the title of
Reina Católica by
Pope Alexander VI, a pope of whose secularism Isabella did not approve. Along with the physical unification of Spain, Isabella and Ferdinand embarked on a process of spiritual unification, trying to bring the country under one faith (Roman Catholicism). As part of this process, the Inquisition became institutionalized. After an uprising in
1499, the
Treaty of Granada was broken in
1502 and Muslims were forced to either be baptized or to be expelled. Isabella's confessor,
Cisneros was named Archbishop of
Toledo. He was instrumental in a program of rehabilitation of the religious institutions of Spain, laying the groundwork for the later
Counter-Reformation. As Chancellor, he exerted more and more power.
Isabella and her husband had created an empire and in later years were consumed with administration and politics; they were concerned with the succession and worked to link the Spanish crown to the other rulers in
Europe. Politically this can be seen in attempts to outflank France and to unite the Iberian peninsula. By early 1497 all the pieces seemed to be in place: Juan, the Crown Prince, married
Margaret of Austria, establishing the connection to the
Habsburgs. The eldest daughter, Isabelle, married
Manuel I of Portugal, and Juana was married to another Habsburg prince, Philip. However, Isabella's plans for her children did not work out. Juan died shortly after his marriage. Isabella died in childbirth and her son Miguel died at the age of two. Queen Isabella's titles passed to her daughter
Juana the Mad ('la Loca') whose marriage to
Philip the Handsome was troubled. Isabella died in
1504 in
Medina del Campo, before Philip and Ferdinand became enemies.
Isabella is entombed in
Granada in the
Capilla Real, which was built by her grandson,
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (Carlos I of Spain), alongside her husband Ferdinand, her daughter Juana and Juana's husband Philip; and Isabella's 2-year old grandson, Miguel (the son of Isabella's daughter, also named Isabella, and King Manuel of Portugal). The museum next to the Capilla Real houses her crown and scepter.
Isabella had five children with Ferdinand:
*
Isabella of Asturias (b. October 1, 1470; d. August 23, 1498) — first married
Afonso of Portugal, and, after his death,
Manuel I of Portugal; died in childbirth; her child died two years later.
*
John, Prince of Asturias (b. June 28, 1478; d. October 4, 1497) — married
Margaret of Austria (1480–1530), died after six months of marriage without offspring
*
Juana of Castile, "La Loca" (b. November 6, 1479; d. April 13, 1555) — married
Philip the Handsome*
Maria of Aragon (b. June 29, 1482; d. March 7, 1517) — married
Manuel I of Portugal after Isabella's death.
*
Catherine of Aragon (b. December 15, 1485; d. January 7, 1536) — first married
Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales, and, after his death, his brother
Henry VIII, King of England. Mother of Queen
Mary I of England.
Isabella and her husband established a highly effective coregency under equal terms. He utilized a prenuptial agreement to lay down their terms. During their reign they supported each other effectively in accordance to their joint motto of equality:
Tanto monta, monta tanto, Isabel como Fernando ("They amount to the same, Isabella and Ferdinand"). Their achievements are remarkable - Spain was united, under the crown power was centralized, the reconquista was successfully concluded, a legal framework was created, the church reformed. Even without the benefit of the American expansion, Spain would have been a major European power. Columbus' discovery set the country on the course for the first modern
world power.
The dark side of their reign also had long-term consequences. The Inquisition and their intolerant treatment of religious minorities was harsh and cruel. A negative historic model was set.
In the
twentieth century, the regime of
Francisco Franco claimed the prestige of the Catholic Monarchs. As a result, Isabella was despised by those opposed to Franco.
Some Catholic Spaniards have attempted to have Isabella declared as
Blessed, with the aim of later having her
canonized as a Saint. Their justification is that Isabella was a protector of the Spanish poor and of the
Native Americans from the rapacity of the Spanish nobility; in addition,
miracles have reportedly been attributed to her. This movement has met with opposition from Jewish organizations,
Liberation theologians and
Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger, due to the fact that Isabella had many Moors killed after her entrance to
Cordoba. In
1974,
Pope Paul VI opened her cause for
beatification. This places her on the path towards possible
sainthood. In the Catholic Church, she is thus titled
Servant of God.
Isabella was the first named woman to appear on a United States coin, an 1893
commemorative quarter, celebrating the 400th anniversary of
Columbus's first voyage. In the same year she was the first woman and only foreign ruler to be featured on a U.S. postal stamp, also in celebration of Columbus. She appears in the Spanish court scene replicated on the 15-cent Columbian (above) and in full portrait, side by side with Columbus, on the $4 Columbian, the only stamp of that denomination ever issued and one which collectors prize not only for its rarity (only 30,000 were printed) but its beauty, an exquisite carmine with some copies having a crimson hue. Mint specimens of this commemorative have been sold for more than $20,000.
*Ferdinand and Isabella appear in
Lope de Vega's play
Fuente Ovejuna (
c. 1611), represented positively as supporters of a group of villagers in their struggle against their
feudal overlord.
*In film, Isabella has been played by
Lola Flores, in
Juana la Loca, de vez en cuando (
1983) and by
Sigourney Weaver, in
1492: Conquest of Paradise (
1992).
*Isabella has been featured in the PC
video game Civilization IV. In the game, Isabella is the lone civilization leader of the
Spanish Empire.
*Isabella is featured in the PC
video game Age of Empires III. In the game, Isabella is one of the leaders representing their European Countries. Isabella, of course, represents Spain.
*Isabella appears as the mother of Catherine, the titular heroine of the novel
The Constant Princess, by
Philippa Gregory.
*Christopher Columbus negotiates with Isabella and her husband, Ferdinand of Aragon, in
Orson Scott Card's
Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus.
*Isabella is a character in the
short story "Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain Consummate Their Relationship" by
Salman Rushdie.
*Miller, T.
The Castles and the Crown. Spain 1451-1555 (New York: Coward-McCann, New York, 1963)
*Carroll, Warren H.
Isabel Of Spain: The Catholic Queen.
*Meyer, Carolyn.
Isabel: Jewel of Castilla, Spain, 1466 (The Royal Diaries)
*
Al-Andalus*
Cardinal Cisneros, Isabella and Ferdinand's famous and powerful Cardinal.
*
History of Spain.
*
Moors.
*
Reconquista*
Kings of Spain family tree*
El obispo judío que bloquea a la "santa". A report in Spanish about the beatification at
El Mundo.
*
Isabella I in the Catholic Encyclopedia *
Medieval Sourcebook: Columbus' letter to King and Queen of Spain, 1494*
Music at Isabella's court*
University of Hull: Genealogy information on Isabella I
>|-
|
|
|
|
-
|
