Spanish Royalty: Isabella I La Catolica (1474-1504)


Figure 1.--The painting here is believed to be Isabella. Her face certainly seems similar to known paintings of the older Isabella. As she is wearing a crown, it would have been painted some time around 1474, she would have been in her early 20s. Although scholars are not sure it is Isabella, it is the earliest image we know of depicting the young monarch. Her clain to the vthrone of Castille was contested andca civil war ensued. The work has been attributed to Gerard David or an anonanous Flemish artist in the circle of Jan Gossaert.

Isabella was Spain's greatest queen and along with her husband Ferdinand were the country's two greatest monarchs. In fact the royal couple created Spain out of the many different kingdoms that by their time were essentially Castille and Aragon. They oversaw Spain's passage from the medieval era to the Renaissance. Isabel also written as Isabella was born (1451). Her parents were King John II (Juan II) of Castile, King of Castile and León (1405- ) and Isabella of Portugal (1428- ). She ruled as queen of Castille (1474-1504). Isabella succeeded to the throne of Castile on the death of her half brother Henry IV (December 1474). Her claim to the crown was contested by Juana La Meltraneja and resulted in a civil war that was not resolved untl 1479. Her new husband, King Ferdinand of Aragon, helped win her throne. She and Ferdinand jointly rules a unified for 35 years. The two kingdoms as well as other regions of Spain (Leon, Catalonia, and others) maintained their separate laws, institutions and governments, but 35 years of joint rule was a powerful step toward union. She was known as "The Catholic" of Castile because she was very pious. Her piety did not impair her interest in jewels and beautiful gowns. Contemporary accounts describe her as having beautiful blue eyes and chestnut hair and a striking accounts. Surviving portraits do not seem to do her justice. Unlike many queens at the time, she and her husband ruled as co-soverigns. In fact, as Catille was the much larger kingdom, she took precedence. The relationship was notable for the absence of differences as they completed the Reconquista, took thhe initiial steps that would lead to uniting the two kingdoms and launched the Spanish Empire. There may have been discussions in private, but historians can not identify even one issue of any importance on which the two disagreed. It was Isabel and Ferdinand after much peocrastination, finally after the fall of Granada approved Columbus' voyage. Isabella died several years before Ferdinand (1504). Isabella was undeniably a great queen. She played a mjor role in completing the Reconquisa, laubching the Spanish Empire, uniting the country, and establishing the authority of the monarchy. Her Catholcism, however, led her to establish the Spanish Inquisition as a royal council under royal control (1478). And it was the Iquisition that led her to expel Jews and Muslims (1492). This was seen as the time as an importantvstep needed for national unity. The intolerance of the Inquistion and supressing diversity of thought as a danger insulated Spain from the scientific, cultural, and economic trends that would propel Western Europe into the modern age and turn Spain into a European backwater.







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Created: 6:41 AM 10/14/2009
Last updated: 6:41 AM 10/14/2009