Isabella of Castile

Isabella I
A detail of the painting Our Lady of the Fly, attributed to Gerard David and/or someone of the circle of Jan Mabuse
Queen of Castile and León
Reign	10 December 1474 - 26 November 1504
Coronation	13 December 1474 [1]
Predecessor	Henry IV
Co-ruler	Ferdinand V
Successor	Joanna and Philip I
Queen consort of Aragon, Majorca, Naples, and Valencia
Tenure	20 January 1479 - 26 November 1504
Spouse	Ferdinand II of Aragon
Issue
Isabella, Queen of Portugal John, Prince of Asturias Joanna the Mad Maria, Queen of Portugal Catherine, Queen of England
House	House of Trastámara
Father	John II of Castile
Mother	Isabella of Portugal
Born	April 22, 1451 Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Spain
Died	November 26, 1504 (aged 53) Medina del Campo, Spain
Burial	Capilla Real, Granada, Spain

Isabella I (Spanish: Isabel I) (Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Ávila, April 22, 1451 – November 26, 1504 in Medina del Campo, Valladolid) was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon, laid the foundation for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

As a key character in completing the Reconquista, establishing the Spanish Inquisition, sponsoring Christopher Columbus' voyages that led to the discovery of America, laying the foundations of modern Spain and the Spanish Empire, she is considered one of the most important sovereigns in world history.

The original Spanish version of her name was Ysabel (Isabel in modern spelling), which is etymologically the same as Elizabeth, but in Germanic countries she is nevertheless usually known by a Latin form of her name, Isabella. The official inscription on her tomb renders her names in Latin as "Helizabeth". Pope Alexander VI named Isabella and her husband the Catholic Monarchs for which reason she is often known as Isabel la Católica ("Isabella the Catholic") in Spanish.

Early years

Image of Isabel de Castilla in the Rimdao de la Conquista de Granada, from 1482, by Pedro Marcuello

Isabella was born Isabella of Trastámara in the municipality of Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Spain. She was named after her mother Isabella of Aviz, a name that was uncommon then in Castile. At the time of her birth she was second in line to the Castilian throne after her older half brother Henry; he was twenty-six at that time and was married but childless giving Isabella a fair chance of one day succeeding to the throne. Her brother Alfonso was born two years later and displaced her in the line of succession. When her father, John II, died in 1454, her much older half-brother Henry IV became king. She and her mother and brother then moved to Arevalo. It is here when her mother the Queen began to lose her sanity, a trait that would haunt the Spanish monarchy and the royal houses of Europe that descended from her. These were times of turmoil for Isabella; she also suffered from shortage of money. Even though her father arranged in his will for his children to be well taken care of, her brother Henry didn’t comply with this. During this time Isabella found strength in scripture and books. Isabella’s friendship with Saint Beatrix de Silva, whom she helped to found the order of the Conceptionists was very influential in her early years.

When the Queen, Princess Juana, was about to give birth to the King’s daughter, Isabella and her brother were taken away from their mother and brought to court in Segovia. Queen Joan was rumored to have had many lovers, one being Beltrán de la Cueva, and upon the birth of her daughter Juana the child was referred to as Juana la Beltraneja as she was thought of as child of Beltran and not the King.

The noblemen who were anxious for power confronted the King, demanding that his younger stepbrother Infante Alfonso be named his successor. They even went as far as to ask Alfonso to seize the throne, something to which Isabella was totally opposed and only agreed on him becoming Prince of Asturias. 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. Henry agreed to make Alfonso his heir, provided Alfonso would marry his daughter, Joan. A few days later, he changed his mind; Henry wanted to protect the interest of his daughter and his name since by this time he was being called Henry the Impotent. Soon after Alfonso was created Prince of Asturias, the title given to the heir of Castile and Leon, he died; the nobles who had supported him suspected poisoning.

Princess of Asturias

On the death of Isabella’s brother Alfonso the nobles then turned to her in hopes that she too could be easily manipulated as her brother Alfonso was. Without the need of the nobles telling her to ask her brother to invest her as Princess of Asturias, Isabella knew that this title was hers and hers only since she was in agreement that Juana was not the King's daughter. When the nobles came to her asking Isabella to take the crown and become Queen 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. It is said that Don Andres de Cabrera, Royal Treasurer, told the king: “The virtue and modesty of the Infanta shows us that she will follow no other will but her own, nor will the ambitions of the Grandees tempt her, if so she wouldn’t have turned down the title of Queen she was offered instead being satisfied with the title of Princess, that to her knowledge, belongs to her.” Therefore, Isabella secured her succession ahead of her niece and goddaughter Juana and soon after King Henry began looking for a suitable husband for Isabella.

Potential Husbands

At the age of three Isabella was betrothed to Ferdinand the son of John II of Aragon (whose family was a cadet branch of the House of Trastámara). Nonetheless, Henry broke this agreement six years later so that she could marry Charles IV of Navarre, another son of John II of Aragon. This marriage did not come about because of John’s refusal. Other attempts were to marry Isabella to Alfonso V of Portugal. In 1464 Henry managed to unite Afonso and Isabella in the Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Guadalupe, but she refused him due to the great age difference between them.

Later on when she was sixteen Isabella was betrothed to Pedro Giron, Maestre de Calatrava and brother to the King’s favorite Don Juan Pacheco. Due to Juan’s power over the King, this marriage was granted and Isabella made a plea to God that marriage to this 43-year-old man would not come to pass. Don Pedro died from a burst appendix while on his way to meet his fiancée.

The King then tried to marry her to Afonso V of Portugal once more as part of a scheme in which his daughter Juana would marry Afonso's son John II and thus, after the death of the old king, John and Juana could inherit Portugal and Castile. Isabella refused.

After this failed attempt Henry then tried to marry Isabella to Louis XI’s brother Charles, Duke of Berry. Meanwhile John II of Aragon negotiated in secret with Isabella a wedding to his son Ferdinand. Isabella felt that he was the best candidate for her, but there was a problem, Ferdinand and Isabella’s grandparents were both brothers, so a papal dispensation was needed. The pope was afraid of granting one from fear of bringing hostilities towards Rome from the kingdoms of Castile, Portugal and France, all of which had an interest in this matter.

The fervent Isabella would not agree to marriage until the dispensation was granted. With the help of Rodrigo Borgia (later Alexander VI) Isabella and Ferdinand were presented with a supposed Papal Bull by Pius II in their favor and Isabella agreed to the marriage. Isabella managed to escape the court with the excuse of visiting her brother’s tomb that was in Avila. Ferdinand, on the other hand, crossed Castile in secret disguised as a merchant. Finally, on October 19, 1469 they married in Palacio de los Vivero in Valladolid.

Once Henry found out about the marriage he quickly urged the Pope to dissolve the marriage using the grounds of Isabella and Ferdinand’s kinship. But Pope Sixtus IV resolved this matter by dispensing Isabella and Ferdinand with a Papal Bull.

The events of 1492

Isabella and Ferdinand with their daughter, Joanna, c. 1482.

Isabel and her husband, Ferdinand, with their subjects

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 Jews and Muslims from Spain.

Granada

The Kingdom of Granada had been held by the Muslim Nasrid dynasty. 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 (Sultan of Granada) 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. Often Isabella would inspire her followers and soldiers by praying in the middle of, or close to, the battle field, that God's will may be done. 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 Muslim Nasrid 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 Muslims - but it did not last.

Columbus

This section of the main altar at Cartuja de Miraflores church in Burgos portrays Isabella at prayer. She commissioned it herself in honor of her parents, who are buried in the church.

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, 1492 his expedition departed and arrived in America on October 12. 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 king John II of Portugal.

Isabella tried to defend the Indians 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 unity. 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 was issued (See main article on Inquisition). Approximately 200,000 left Spain. Others converted, but often came under scrutiny by the Inquisition investigating relapsed conversos (Marranos) and the Judaizers who had been abetting them. 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). One Converso who didn't suffer from the effects of the Inquisition was Luis de Santángel, including his family; he was the financial minister of the King and Queen, and was of great help when it came to the discovery of the New World.

Later years

Castilian and Leonese royalty
House of Trastámara

Henry II and I of Leon Children include    John I    Eleanor, Queen of Navarre John I Children include    Henry III of Castile and II of Leon)    Ferdinand I of Aragon, Valencia and Sicily Henry III and II of Leon Children include    John II    Maria, Queen of Aragon, Valencia, Sicily and Naples John II Children include    Henry IV of Castile and III of Leon    Isabella I    Alfonso, Prince of Asturias Henry IV and III of Leon Children    Joan, Queen of Portugal Isabella I with Ferdinand V Children    Isabella, Queen of Portugal    John, Prince of Asturias    Joanna the Mad    Maria, Queen of Portugal    Catherine, Queen of England Joanna

A document signed by Isabella I in Granada in March 1501.

Portrait of Isabella in her later years, by Juan de Flandes, c. 1500.

Isabella 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: Don Juan, the Crown Prince, married Margaret of Austria, establishing the connection to the Habsburgs. The eldest daughter, Infanta Isabella, married Manuel I of Portugal, and the Infanta Juana was married to another Habsburg prince, Philip of Burgundy. However, Isabella's plans for her children did not work out. Juan died shortly after his marriage. Isabella, Princess of Asturias died in childbirth and her son Miguel died at the age of two. Queen Isabella's titles passed to her daughter Joan the Mad (Juana la Loca) whose marriage to Philip the Handsome was troubled. Another daughter, Catherine of Aragon, became the first wife of King Henry VIII of England. She gave birth to a daughter, Mary I of England, who would become the fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty. 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.

Family

Isabella and Ferdinand had six children, four daughters and two sons:

• Isabella (1470-1498) married firstly to Alfonso, Prince of Portugal, no issue. Married secondly to Manuel I of Portugal, had issue.
• John (1478-1497), Prince of Asturias. Married Archduchess Margaret of Austria, had issue
• Joanna (1479-1555), Queen of Castile. Married Philip the Handsome, had issue
• Maria (1482-1517), married Manuel I of Portugal, her sister's widower, had issue
• Catherine (1485-1536), married firstly to Arthur, Prince of Wales, no issue. Married his younger brother, Henry VIII of England and was mother of Mary I of England.
• Peter (1488-1490), died young

Towards the end of her life family tragedies overwhelmed her, although she met these reverses with grace and fortitude. The death of her beloved son and heir and the miscarriage of his wife, the death of her daughter Isabella and her son Miguel (who could have united the kingdoms of the Catholic kings with that of Portugal), the madness of her daughter Joan (that defied her in public in Medina del Campo) and the indifference of Felipe the Handsome, and the uncertainty Catalina was in after the death of her Princes Arthur, submerged her in profound sadness that made her dress in black for the rest of her lifetime. Her strong spirituality is well understood from the words she said after hearing of her son’s death: “The Lord gave him to me, the Lord hath taken him from me, glory be His holy name.”

Legacy

Isabella and her husband established a highly effective coregency under equal terms. They supported each other in accordance with their joint motto: Tanto monta, monta tanto, Isabel como Fernando, which translates as "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 and a half 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 to be the first modern world power.

Isabella and contemporary politics and religion

Madonna of the Catholic Monarchs, by Fernando Gallego, c. 1490-95

In the twentieth century, the Fascist regime of Francisco Franco glorified Isabella and hailed the prestige of the Catholic Monarchs in its nationalist propaganda.

Some Catholics from different countries, for example the Miles Jesu, 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 American Indians from the rapacity of the Spanish nobility; in addition, miracles have reportedly been attributed to her.^{[citation needed]} In 1974, Pope Paul VI opened her cause for beatification. This places her on the path toward possible sainthood. In the Catholic Church, she is thus titled Servant of God. This movement has met with opposition from Jewish organizations, Liberation theologians and the Jewish-born Archbishop of Paris Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger. Some arguments against sainthood are her Expulsion of the Jews in 1492, and her launching, together with husband Ferdinand, of the Spanish Inquisition, which persecuted those who had outwardly converted to Catholicism but who were believed to have secretly continued to practice Judaism or Islam.

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, namely 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, 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 popular culture

Statue of Isabella by Bigarny; it resides in the Capilla Real, in Granada.

• Queen's Cross by 20th Century New York author Lawrence Schoonover. Released in 1955, it was highly popular and has been reissued in several editions. In 2008 a new edition was released by Fountain City Publishing'. This is the first new edition from The Schoonover Collection of historical novels of European leaders and history.
• 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.
• Isabella appears as the mother of Catherine, the titular heroine of the novel The Constant Princess, by Philippa Gregory.
• The fantasy novel, "Curse of Chalion," by Lois McMaster Bujold, is a veiled retelling of the courtship and marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand.
• The Royal Diaries, a series of biographical novels about royal women from around the world, includes Isabel, Jewel of Castilla, Spain, 1466 by Carolyn Meyer. It details her life from the time she was exiled to the time she married.
• Isabella is movingly evoked in Norah Lofts' historical novel "Crown of Aloes" (1973).
• 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.
• In film, Isabella has been played by Lola Flores, in Juana la Loca, de vez en cuando (1983), by Sigourney Weaver, in Ridley Scott's 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), by Rachel Ward, in "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery" (1992), and fictionally interpreted by Rachel Weisz in Darren Aronofsky's film, The Fountain (2006).
• She was also played in the 1985 TV miniseries "Christopher Columbus" by Faye Dunaway, opposite Gabriel Byrne as Colombus.
• In the video game Civilization IV Isabella appears as a leader for the Spanish Empire.
• Isabella is the Royal leader of the Spanish Empire in the computer game Age of Empires III.

Ancestors

Isabella's great-great-grandfather, the founder of the Trastámara dynasty, Henry II of Castile was a son of Castilian King Alfonso XI and his mistress Eleanor of Guzman. Katherine of Lancaster, Isabella's paternal grandmother, was a granddaughter of Peter of Castile and his mistress/wife Maria de Padilla. Her maternal grandmother was the daughter of Afonso, 1st Duke of Braganza, whose mother was Ines Pirez, a mistress of John I of Portugal.

Gallery

Engraving of Isabella donating her jewels for Columbus' voyage	Columbus before Queen Isabella. Detail of the Columbus monument in Madrid (1885).	The Capitulation of Granada by F. Padilla: Muhammad XII before Ferdinand and Isabella.	Queen Isabella's Will, by Eduardo Rosales. On the left: Juana and Ferdinand; on the right: Cardinal Cisneros (black cap).
Posthumous portrait of Isabella	Statue of Isabella at the Sabatini Gardens in Madrid	Isabella's crown and scepter, and Ferdinand's sword, are preserved in the Capilla Real of Granada

Notes

References

See also

• 15th century
• Al-Andalus
• Cardinal Cisneros, Isabella and Ferdinand's famous and powerful Cardinal
• Descendants of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon
• History of Spain
• Monarchs of Spain family tree
• Moors
• Reconquista
• Lawrence Schoonover, New York author of European historical fiction and biographies

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Isabella of Castile

• El obispo judío que bloquea a la "santa". A report in Spanish about the beatification in 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