Name
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.
Genealogy
Main article:
Kings of Spain family tree
Isabella was great-great-granddaughter of both
Henry II of Castile and his half-brother
Pedro of Castile and their respective wives (Juana
Manuel of Castile and
Maria de Padilla). She was also great-great-granddaughter of
Peter IV of Aragon and his wife
Eleanor of Sicily, daughter of King
Peter II of Sicily, as well as of
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
Constance of Castile, a daughter of
Pedro 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 Inês Peres,
and his wife
Beatriz Pereira Alvim, countess of Barcelos and first
Duchess of Braganza (daughter of the above mentioned
Nuno Álvares Pereira).
Her paternal grandparents were King
Henry III of Castile and
Katherine of Lancaster of the
House of Lancaster, a half sister of King
Henry IV of England. Her maternal grandparents were Prince
John 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.
Early years
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 in the
Treaty of the Bulls of Guisando, rather than Joan whose paternal
origin was in dispute. In 1475, Joan married her uncle, the King of
Portugal, but their marriage was later annulled by the Pope because of
their family relation. 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).
Accession
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. The
War of the Castilian Succession had begun. 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.
The events of 1492
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, and
with the Dominican friar
Tomás de Torquemada as the first Inquisitor General, the Catholic
Monarchs pursued a policy of "religious cleansing". Though Isabella
opposed taking harsh measures against Jews on economic grounds,
Torquemada was able to convince Ferdinand. On
March 31,
1492, the
Alhambra Decree for the expulsion of the Jews and Muslims was issued
(See main article on
Inquisition). 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
in 1502 (see
Moriscos).
Later years
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, Isabella, 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.
Children
Isabella had 5 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.
-
Juan, 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" ("the Mad")(b. November 6, 1479; d.
April 13, 1555) — married
Philip the Handsome and later ruled Castile with him. She was the
mother of
Charles V.
-
Maria of Aragon (b. June 29, 1482; d. March 7, 1517) — married
Manuel I of Portugal after Isabella's death and had 6 children,
including
John III.
-
Catherine of Aragon (born Catalina) (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. Their only surviving child was
Mary I of England, who became known as "Bloody Mary" during her
five year reign of England, due to her persecutions of Protestants.
Influence
Isabella and her husband established a highly effective coregency
under equal terms. They 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"). In addition to her sponsorship of Columbus, Isabella was
also the principal sponsor of
Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, the greatest military genius and
innovator of the age. Isabella and Ferdinand's achievements are
remarkable - Spain was united, the crown power was centralized, the
reconquista was successfully concluded, the groundwork for the most
dominant military machine of the next century was laid, 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.
Isabella and
contemporary politics and religion
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 to
be featured on U.S. postal stamps, namly on three stamps of the
Columbian Issue, also in celebration of Columbus. She appears in the
Spanish court scene replicated on the 15-cent Columbian (above), on the
$ 1 issue, 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.
Isabella in fiction
- 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 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.
- A fictitious book in the Royal Diaries called
Isabel, Jewel of Castilla, Spain, 1466, By: Carolyn Meyer was also
published detailing her life from the time she was exiled to the time
she married.
- The role
Rachel Weisz played in the movie
The Fountain was inspired by Isabella, as well as a section of
the plot that deals with the
Spanish Inquisition.
References
- 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)
- Rubin, Stuart, Nancy. "Isabella of Castile: The
First Renaissance Queen" ( New York, St. Martin's Press, 1991,)
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