Isabella I of Castile

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"Isabella the Catholic" redirects here. For other uses, see Isabella the Catholic (disambiguation).
Isabella I of Castile
Queen of Castile[lower-alpha 1]
Queen consort of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia and countess consort of Barcelona
Isabella the Catholic, by an anonymous artist (c. 1490). Oil, 21 × 13.3 cm, Museo Nacional del Prado (Madrid).[1]
Queen of Castile
Reign13 December 1474 – 26 November 1504
with Ferdinand V from 1475
Coronation13 December 1474
in the Church of San Miguel of Segovia
PredecessorHenry IV
SuccessorJoanna I
Queen consort of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia and countess consort of Barcelona
Reign20 January 1479 – 26 November 1504
PredecessorJuana Enríquez
SuccessorGermaine of Foix
Queen consort of Sicily
Reign19 October 1469 – 26 November 1504
PredecessorJuana Enríquez
SuccessorGermaine of Foix
Queen consort of Naples
Reign31 March 1504 – 26 November 1504
PredecessorAnne of Brittany
SuccessorGermaine of Foix
Born(1451-04-22)22 April 1451
Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Crown of Castile
Died26 November 1504(1504-11-26) (aged 53)
Medina del Campo, Crown of Castile
Burial
Royal Chapel of Granada
SpouseFerdinand II of Aragon (1469–1504)
IssueSee issue
HouseTrastámara
FatherJohn II of Castile
MotherIsabella of Portugal
ReligionCatholic

Isabella I of Castile (Madrigal de las Altas Torres, 22 April 1451 – Medina del Campo, 26 November 1504) was Queen of Castile[lower-alpha 1] from 1474 to 1504, Queen consort of Sicily from 1469 and of Aragon from 1479,[2] through her marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon. She also served as Queen of Toledo, of León, of Galicia, of Seville, of Córdoba, of Murcia, of Jaén, of the Algarve, of Algeciras, of Gibraltar and Lady of Biscay and of Molina.

Isabella I of Castile is also known as Isabella the Catholic, a title granted to her by Pope Alexander VI through the bull Si convenit, on 19 December 1496.[3] Together with her husband she bore the name of Catholic Monarchs, a title that practically all the kings of Spain would use thereafter.

On 19 October 1469 she married Prince Ferdinand of Aragon. Because they were second cousins, they needed a papal bull of dispensation, which they only obtained from Sixtus IV through his envoy, Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, in 1472. She and her husband Ferdinand conquered the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada and took part in a network of marriage alliances that led their grandson, Charles, to inherit the crowns of Castile and Aragon, as well as other European territories, and to become Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.[4]

Isabella and Ferdinand gained the throne after a long struggle, first against King Henry IV (see Conflict over the succession of Henry IV of Castile) and, from 1475 to 1479, in the War of the Castilian Succession against the supporters of the other claimant to the throne, Joanna.[5] Isabella reorganized the system of government and the administration, centralizing powers previously held by the nobles; she reformed the system of public security and carried out an economic reform to reduce the debt the kingdom had inherited from her half-brother and predecessor on the throne, Henry IV. After winning the Granada War, the Catholic Monarchs expelled the Jews from their kingdoms.[6]

She gave her support to Christopher Columbus in the search for the West Indies, which led to the discovery of America.[7][8] This event would result in the conquest of the discovered lands and the creation of the Spanish Empire.

She lived fifty-three years, of which she ruled thirty as Queen of Castile and twenty-six as Queen consort of Aragon alongside Ferdinand II. Since 1974 she has been considered a Servant of God by the Catholic Church, and her cause for beatification is open.

Biography

Early years

Birthplace of Isabella the Catholic, in the town of Madrigal de las Altas Torres.

Isabella of Castile, daughter of John II of Castile and his second wife, Isabella of Portugal (1428–1496), was born in Madrigal de las Altas Torres[lower-alpha 2] on 22 April 1451, Holy Thursday, in the palace now occupied by the Monastery of Nuestra Señora de Gracia. The place and date of birth have historically been disputed, since when she was born no one was aware of the importance this girl would have in the future. Madrigal de las Altas Torres was then a small royal town where her mother, Isabella of Aviz, was circumstantially residing, and it is from her that she received her name, which was not common in Spain at the time. Two years later, in Tordesillas, her brother Alfonso was born.

Twenty-five years earlier, from the marriage of John II of Castile and Maria of Aragon, and therefore Isabella's half-brother on her father's side, Henry (1425) had been born; he would accede to the throne in 1454 as Henry IV.

On her father's death in 1454, Isabella was sent with her mother and her brother Alfonso to the town of Arévalo, where she would witness her mother's attacks of madness. This was a time of hardship, even economic hardship. During this period Isabella devoted herself to reading religious books. She also struck up a friendship with Beatriz de Silva (1424–1491), whom she would later help in founding the Order of the Immaculate Conception and to whom she donated the Galiana palaces in the City of Toledo. Other important figures at this time, and in her life in general, were, in the Toledan sphere, Gutierre de Cárdenas, his wife Teresa Enríquez and Gonzalo Chacón.

In 1461, Isabella and her brother Alfonso were moved to Segovia, where the Court was located, because the birth of the daughter of the King and Queen, Doña Joanna of Castile, was approaching. The King's enemies soon nicknamed her Joanna la Beltraneja, spreading the rumor that her father was a courtier, Beltrán de la Cueva.

In 1465 a part of the nobility rose against King Henry, formed a faction around his half-brother Alfonso, only twelve years old, and went so far as to depose Henry in the "Farce of Ávila". Isabella remained at Alfonso's side during this time. However, in 1468, Alfonso died in Cardeñosa, perhaps poisoned.

Despite pressure from the nobles, Isabella refused to proclaim herself queen while Henry IV was alive. Instead, she got her half-brother to grant her the title of Princess of Asturias in a disputed ceremony held at the Toros de Guisando on 19 September 1468, known as the Concord of Guisando. Isabella thus became heir to the crown, ahead of Joanna, her niece and goddaughter, whom part of the nobility did not consider legitimate to occupy the throne because of the doubts about her paternity. From this point on, Isabella went to live in Ocaña, a town belonging to Don Juan Pacheco, Marquis of Villena. The King began diplomatic contacts with other royal houses to secure a marriage agreement that would bring him benefits.

Marriage arrangements

Combined arms of the Catholic Monarchs

The supporter of the Eagle of Saint John with a nimbus was already used in 1473 in Isabella's coat of arms while she was still a princess. The motto "Tanto monta..." explained the personal device of Ferdinand II of Aragon, who adopted a yoke with a cut knot in allusion to the Gordian knot, whereby it was all the same (tanto montaba) whether to untie it or to cut it. The Queen's own device was the sheaf of arrows. After the union of the crowns, these two elements passed into the common blazon, which took heraldic elements from both consorts.[10][11] From the age of three, Isabella had been betrothed to Ferdinand, son of John II of Aragon.

However, Henry IV broke this agreement six years later in order to betroth her to Charles, Prince of Viana. The marriage never materialized, due to the fierce opposition of John II of Aragon. Henry IV's attempts to marry her to King Afonso V of Portugal, Isabella's second cousin and almost twenty years her senior, were also fruitless. In 1464 he managed to bring them together at the Monastery of Guadalupe, but she rejected him, citing the difference in age between them.

Isabella I of Castile depicted in the painting known as the Virgin of the Fly, which is in the sacristy of the Collegiate Church of Toro, in the Province of Zamora.

Later, when she was sixteen, Isabella was betrothed to Pedro Girón, aged forty-three, Master of the Order of Calatrava and brother of Juan Pacheco; but Girón died of unknown causes while traveling to meet his betrothed.

On 18 September 1468, Isabella was proclaimed Princess of Asturias by means of the Concord of the Toros de Guisando, Henry IV thereby revoking the earlier appointment of his daughter Joanna. After the ceremony, Isabella went to live in Ocaña, in close contact with the Court. Henry IV once again arranged the match between Isabella and the Duke of Braganza and King of Portugal, Afonso V, since the Treaty of the Toros de Guisando had stipulated that Isabella's marriage must take place with the approval of the Castilian Monarch. The proposal also involved the plan to marry his daughter Joanna to the heir, Prince John, son of Afonso V of Portugal. In this way, Isabella would be moved to the neighboring kingdom and, on her husband's death, the thrones of Portugal and Castile would pass to John II of Portugal and his wife, Joanna. Isabella refused.

After this, the King tried to have her marry the Duke of Guyenne, brother of Louis XI of France; again Isabella refused. The French Monarch then asked for Joanna's hand for his brother, the Duke of Guyenne; Louis XI wanted to keep the Duke away from his circle because he posed a threat to him. The betrothal took place in 1470 in Medina del Campo, but the Duke died in 1472 of tuberculosis,[12] before meeting the bride.

Meanwhile, John II of Aragon tried to negotiate secretly with Isabella her marriage to his son Ferdinand. Isabella and her advisers considered him the best candidate for a husband, but there was a legal impediment, since they were second cousins (their grandfathers, Ferdinand of Antequera and Henry III, were brothers). They therefore needed a papal bull exempting them from consanguinity. The Pope, however, never signed this document, fearing the possible negative consequences this act could bring him by incurring the enmity of the kingdoms of Castile, Portugal and France, all of them involved in negotiations to marry Princess Isabella to another suitor.

Document signed by the Catholic Monarchs.

People in Isabella's circle forged a supposed bull issued in June 1464 by the previous pope, Pius II, in favor of Ferdinand, permitting him to marry any princess to whom he was related by consanguinity up to the third degree. Isabella accepted, and the marriage capitulations of Cervera were signed on 5 March 1469. For the betrothal, and fearing that Henry IV would thwart her plans, in May 1469, on the pretext of visiting the tomb of her brother Alfonso, who lay in Ávila, Isabella escaped from Ocaña, where she was closely guarded by Don Juan Pacheco. Ferdinand, for his part, crossed Castile in secret, disguised as a mule boy of some merchants.[13] Finally, on 19 October 1469, they were married in the Palacio de los Vivero in Valladolid.

The marriage cost Isabella a confrontation with her half-brother the King. In 1471 Pope Sixtus IV sent Cardinal Rodrigo de Borja to Spain as papal legate to settle various political matters in the peninsula, among them this marriage. With him he brought the Bull of Simancas, which dispensed the princes Isabella and Ferdinand from consanguinity.[lower-alpha 3] Borja negotiated with them: he would give them the bull in exchange for their granting the city of Gandía to his son Pedro Luis. Isabella and Ferdinand would fulfill their part of the bargain in 1485.[14]

Reign

Proclamation of Isabella the Catholic in Segovia. F. de P. Van Halen, drew, lithographed and painted it.

On the death of Henry IV, Isabella proclaimed herself Queen of Castile on 13 December 1474 in Segovia, basing her legitimacy on the Treaty of the Toros de Guisando. There then broke out the War of the Castilian Succession (1475–1479) between the supporters of Isabella and those of her niece Joanna. The Treaty of Alcáçovas ended the conflict, recognizing Isabella and Ferdinand as monarchs of Castile in exchange for certain concessions to Portugal. After the war Isabella ordered the construction of the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes.[15]

She taught her children that they had obligations by virtue of their rank as children of monarchs, and that they must make great sacrifices for that reason. She took them with her during the military campaigns, but she also always watched over their well-being, as shown by her courage in the face of the riot that took place in the Alcázar of Segovia in 1476.[16] The King and Queen had established the Court there, and there, in the alcázar, lived their eldest daughter Isabella under the protection and care of her friend Beatriz de Bobadilla and her husband, the alcaide Andrés Cabrera. He was of Jewish origin, which at that time was a source of racial tensions, and he was accused of wanting to take advantage of the trust the King and Queen placed in him, as well as being accused of embezzlement and tyranny. The tumult turned into a riot when some agitators, disguised as peasants and with concealed weapons, harangued the population to depose the alcaide. A furious mob, armed with farm tools, sticks and stones, headed for the alcázar. The Queen was with Cardinal Mendoza when she learned what had happened, but neither of them had enough troops to defend the place. Fearful of the danger her daughter might face, the Queen mounted her horse and, accompanied by three guards, rode 60 kilometers to Segovia. At the entrance, the Bishop tried to stop her because of the great danger she was running, but Isabella ignored the advice and advanced to the alcázar. She entered and left the gates open so that all the rioters could come in to present their grievances to her. After studying the grievances, she kept Andrés Cabrera in his post. The people of Segovia remained loyal to her from that moment on.[17]

During Ferdinand's military campaigns, the Queen was always in the rearguard, accompanied by her children and attentive to providing what was needed. Her help was decisive for the Castilian-Aragonese victory in the Granada War,[18] as the events of the surrender of Baza demonstrate. The city had been besieged for quite some time, but the population did not want to surrender and the Christian soldiers were beginning to lose heart because of the long siege. King Ferdinand asked his wife to appear on the battlefield to raise the morale of the troops. Isabella did so, accompanied by several ladies and by her eldest daughter Isabella. The impact of her presence was immediate, not only on the Christian troops but also on the besieged population, which began its surrender, not before the warrior King, but before the valiant queen.[19] In addition, Isabella was the forerunner of the field hospital, by having herself accompanied by medical staff and assistants to care for the wounded on the battlefield.[20]

Juan de Flandes: portrait of Isabella I around 1500. Patrimonio Nacional.

She believed in the projects of Christopher Columbus, despite the many criticisms and adverse political reactions of the Court and the scientists. During the joint reign with Ferdinand, events of great importance for the future of the kingdom took place, such as the establishment of the Holy Inquisition (1480), the creation of the Santa Hermandad, the incorporation of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, as well as the religious unification of the Hispanic Crown, based on the forced conversion of the Jews, on pain of death or expulsion (Edict of Granada, 1492), and later of the Muslims.

After the discovery of America in 1492, the process of evangelizing the native peoples began, a task entrusted to the Hungarian Pauline monks, who went to the new lands on Columbus's next voyages.[21] The King and Queen were concerned with the conversion and just treatment of the Amerindians. They limited the enslavement of the natives, begun by Columbus, to the cases provided for in the Castilian laws of the time, and they prohibited, with little success, the repartimiento de indios among the Spaniards settled in the Caribbean. After her death, Governor Ovando took advantage of the power vacuum to establish the institution of the encomienda on the Island of Hispaniola.[22] Isabella and Ferdinand signed with Portugal the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), which delimited their spheres of influence in the Atlantic Ocean. At the wish of the urban merchants she created the Santa Hermandad, a police force for the suppression of banditry, creating much safer conditions for trade and the economy.

The Surrender of Granada, by Francisco Pradilla (1882). Palacio del Senado, Madrid.

For her military campaigns she had the service of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (the Great Captain), who took part in the conquest of Granada (1492), in the first two wars of Italy and in the taking of Cephalonia (1500).

Given the historical involvement of the Crown of Aragon in Italy and for a series of other reasons[23] (her Christian virtues, the conquest of Granada, the expulsion of the Jews and the crusade against the Muslims), Ferdinand and Isabella received the title of Catholic Monarchs, granted by Pope Alexander VI through the bull Si convenit of 19 December 1496. This title was inherited by their descendants on the throne (both Habsburgs and Bourbons), and is currently held by King Felipe VI of Spain.[lower-alpha 4] Pope Alexander VI granted her the honorary distinction of the Golden Rose of Christendom in 1500.

At the end of her days, family misfortunes struck her hard. The death of her mother Isabella, of her only son and the miscarriage of his wife, the death of her eldest daughter and of her grandson Miguel (who was to unite the kingdoms of the Catholic Monarchs with that of Portugal); the alleged "madness" of her daughter Joanna (who openly defied her mother in Medina del Campo) and the slights of Philip the Handsome; the departure of her daughter Maria to Portugal after marrying Manuel I of Portugal and the uncertain situation of her daughter Catherine after the death of her English husband plunged her into a deep depression that led her to dress in strict mourning for the rest of her life.

Death

Doña Isabel la Católica dictando su testamento, by Eduardo Rosales, 1864, Museo del Prado.

The court was in Medina del Campo when the serious illness broke out, a dropsy, as Peter Martyr stated as a witness. Aware of the outcome, she ordered that the masses for her health be turned into masses for her soul, and she asked for extreme unction and the Blessed Sacrament. Having made her will on 12 October, she died shortly before noon on 26 November 1504, in the Royal Palace:

Let my body be buried in the monastery of St. Francis which is in the Alhambra of the city of Granada (...) in a low tomb that has no monument whatsoever, save a low slab on the ground, flat, with its letters on it. But I wish and command that, if the King should choose a tomb in any other church or monastery in any other part or place of these my kingdoms, my body be moved there and buried beside him (...). Diego Clemencín, 1821.

She was first buried in the Monastery of San Francisco of the Alhambra, on 18 December 1504, in a simple tomb, according to her wishes. Shortly afterward, her mortal remains, together with those of her husband Ferdinand the Catholic, were moved to the Royal Chapel of Granada. Her daughter Joanna I and her husband, Philip the Handsome, also rest there. Also buried in this place were her grandson Miguel da Paz, son of King Manuel I of Portugal, and the Infanta Isabella of Aragon, who died shortly before turning two years old. The museum of the Royal Chapel holds the crown and scepter of the Queen, who also endowed the Chapel with an important group of paintings (still in situ), by Sandro Botticelli, Dirk Bouts, Rogier van der Weyden and Hans Memling, among others, and many of her personal belongings.

Will and succession

Will of Isabella I.

In her will the Queen stipulated that, although the heir to the throne was her daughter Joanna, King Ferdinand would administer and govern Castile in her name at least until the Infante Charles, Joanna's eldest son, turned twenty.[24] After Joanna's children, the line of succession would pass to Maria, Isabella's youngest daughter, and only after her to Catherine.[25]

However, the Castilian nobility did not support Ferdinand, and he chose to withdraw to Aragon. The government of Castile then fell to King Philip I, Joanna's husband, but a few months later he died suddenly, which led to Ferdinand being named regent again.[26] Joanna was confined in Tordesillas by her father, who governed Castile until his death in 1516. He was succeeded by Charles, son of Joanna and grandson of Isabella and Ferdinand.

In addition, in her will Isabella asked her successors to strive to conquer North Africa for Christianity, continuing the peninsular Reconquista,[27] and that the inhabitants of America ("las yslas y Tierra Firme del Mar Oçéano", "the islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea") be converted to Christianity and treated justly.[24]

The Queen's original will is preserved in the Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe. One copy was sent to the Monastery of Santa Isabel of the Alhambra in Granada. And another to the cathedral of Toledo, although from 1575 it passed to the General Archive of Simancas.[25]

In 1864 Eduardo Rosales depicted the moment when the queen dictates her will in the painting Doña Isabel la Católica dictando su testamento.[28]

Legacy

Spanish banknote from 1957 with the portraits and coat of arms of the monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand.

During the 16th and 17th centuries the figure of Isabella was relatively eclipsed in historical memory by that of her husband, King Ferdinand,[29] whom the chroniclers of those times portrayed as magnanimous, affable, temperate and willing to negotiate, in contrast with the rigor and inflexibility projected in the portraits of Isabella.[30] At the beginning of the 19th century Diego Clemencín wrote an Elogio de la Reina Católica, which for the first time focused on the figure of the queen, whom he showered with virtues, relegating her husband to the background. This work influenced all subsequent historians until at least the middle of the 20th century.[29][31] In 1815 King Ferdinand VII, after returning to Spain and restoring absolutism, created the Order of Isabella the Catholic, a high decoration that the Spanish Government continues to award today. Later, the Spanish liberals and Romantics of the 19th century tended to have a positive image of the Catholic Monarchs, whom they regarded as the last national monarchs.[29] From 1938 onward, the Dictatorship of Francisco Franco made extensive use in its propaganda of the figure and symbols of Isabella the Catholic (see Symbols of Francoism).

Equestrian statue on the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid

In 1952 the text of the bull Si convenit, which granted Isabella and Ferdinand the title of "Catholic", was published for the first time.[32]

The beatification process continues today, sustained by the financial support of the heirs of the Mexican businessman Pablo Díaz.[33] Isabella's supporters attribute the Holy See's failure to beatify her to the opposition of a "Jewish lobby".[33]

Issue

Isabella had at least seven children with Ferdinand (who had had other children before his marriage):

  • Isabella (1 or 2 October 1470 – 1498), Princess of Asturias (1476–1480; 1498), married the infante Afonso in 1490, but on his death she married in 1495 the uncle[lower-alpha 5] of the deceased, Manuel, who was King of Portugal under the name of Manuel I, the Fortunate. She was Queen of Portugal between 1495 and 1498, and died giving birth to her first child, Miguel da Paz.
  • Miscarriage of a boy (31 May 1475), which occurred in the town of Cebreros.
  • John (30 June 1478 – 1497), Prince of Asturias (1480–1497). In 1497 he married Margaret of Austria (daughter of the German emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg); he died of tuberculosis shortly afterward. He had a posthumous daughter who was stillborn. Margaret left Spain and for a time took charge of her nephew Charles, the future Emperor Charles V.
  • Joanna I of Castile (6 November 1479 – 1555), Princess of Asturias (1502–1504), Queen of Castile (1504–1555) under the name of Joanna I, and popularly known as Joanna the Mad. In 1496 she married Philip the Handsome of Habsburg (also a son of Emperor Maximilian I). With him a new dynasty entered Spain, that of the Habsburgs, who formed the House of Austria. Her eldest daughter was Eleanor of Austria (1498–1558). In 1500 Joanna became a mother for the second time, this time of her first son, the future Charles I, who would succeed her and would also be emperor of the Holy Roman Empire as Charles V. In 1503 she gave birth to Ferdinand, Charles's successor in the Holy Roman Empire as Ferdinand I, who restored the Austrian imperial branch of the House of Austria. Mentally affected by the death of her husband, she was confined by her father Ferdinand in Tordesillas, where she died.
  • Maria (29 June 1482 – 1517), married in 1500 the widower of her sister Isabella, Manuel I of Portugal, the Fortunate. She was the mother of ten children, among them: John III, Henry I of Portugal and Empress Isabella, wife of Charles V.
  • Stillborn baby (29 June 1482), identical or fraternal twin of Maria; the sources are not unanimous regarding its sex.[34][35][36][37]
  • Catherine (16 December 1485 – 1536), married Arthur, Prince of Wales in 1502, who died a few months after the wedding. In 1509 she married her late husband's brother, who would become Henry VIII. She thus became Queen of England; she was the mother of Queen Mary I of England, Mary Tudor.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Isabella I of Castile

Titles

Portrait of the queen

Image of Isabella of Castile in the Conquistato de Granada, of 1482, by Pedro Marcuello.

Of her, contemporary chroniclers said:

  • Peter Martyr d'Anghiera: "Her personal modesty and admirable meekness"; "of the king it is not surprising that he should be admirable... for we read in the histories countless examples of men who were just, strong, endowed with virtue, even wise. But she... whom would you find for me among the women of old, of those who wielded the scepter, who has brought together in lofty undertakings these three things: a great spirit to undertake them, constancy to complete them, and together with these the decorum of purity? This woman is strong, more than the strongest man, constant as no other human soul, a marvelous example of purity and honesty. Never did nature produce a woman like this one. Is it not worthy of admiration that what was always strange and foreign to woman, more than the contrary to its contrary, that very thing should be found in her abundantly and as if it were connatural to her?"
  • Hernando del Pulgar: "A very good woman; exemplary, of good and praiseworthy habits... Never was anything disordered seen in her person... in her deeds anything badly done, nor in her words a word ill spoken"; "a lady of great restraint in her movements and in the expression of emotions... her self-control extended to concealing the pain of childbirth, to neither saying nor showing the suffering that women feel and show at that hour"; "most chaste, full of all honesty, a great enemy of dishonest words or displays"; "a woman very ceremonious in her clothing and finery, and in her daises and seats, and in the service of her person; and she wished to be served by great and noble men, and with great reverence and humility. (...) because of this trait some vice was imputed to her, it being said that it was excessive pomp".[38]
  • Lucio Marineo Sículo: "And the queen was of no less strong a spirit in enduring bodily pains... Neither in the pains she suffered from her illnesses, nor in those of childbirth, which is a thing of great admiration, was she ever seen to complain; rather, with incredible and marvelous fortitude she endured and concealed them"; "sharp, discreet, of excellent wit"; "she speaks well and courteously".
  • Andrés Bernáldez: "She was a woman very courageous, very powerful, most prudent, wise, most honest, chaste, devout, discreet, truthful, clear, without deceit. Who could recount the excellences of this most Christian and blessed queen, most worthy of praise forever? Besides being of pure lineage and of so most noble and most excellent a progeny of women queens of Spain, as the chronicles make manifest, she had many other excellences with which Our Lord adorned her, in which she exceeded and surpassed all the Christian queens who were before her, I do not say only in Spain but in all the world, of those for whom (for their virtues or for their graces or for their knowledge or power) their memory and fame live on... of those whose memory lives and will live for one single thing they had or did; how much more, then, must the memory and fame live on of so most Christian a queen, who had so many excellences and through whom Our Lord, while she reigned in her kingdoms, made and wrought so many wonders".
  • Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo: "To see her speak was a divine thing; the value of her words was of such great and lofty weight and measure that she said neither less nor more than what was pertinent to the business and to the nature of the matter she was dealing with".
  • Diego Enríquez del Castillo: "Prudent and of great good sense".
  • Diego de Valera: "Full of humanity".
  • Alfonso de Palencia: "Kind"; "A woman of modesty and purity in her habits"; "intelligent".
  • Alonso Flores (Flórez): "Of a graceful and honest gaze".
  • Ferdinand the Catholic, in his will, declared that "she was exemplary in all acts of virtue and of the fear of God".
  • Friar Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, her confessor, praised "her purity of heart"; "her great heart and greatness of soul".
  • The relazione of a Venetian ambassador who was at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella states that the sovereign had a stridula vox. That is, she had a shrill, strident tone.[39]

As for her physical appearance, Isabella had skin so fair that it seemed white, blue-green eyes,[40] and hair between reddish-gold and copper, features shared by some of her daughters, especially Catherine.

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The full titulature was: Queen of Castile, of Toledo, of León, of Galicia, of Seville, of Córdoba, of Murcia, of Jaén, of the Algarve, of Algeciras, of Gibraltar and Lady of Biscay and of Molina.
  2. ↑ Some authors place her birth in Ávila or Madrid.[9]
  3. ↑ So states the chronicler Zurita, but there is however no documentary evidence of it, according to Fernández de Córdova Miralles 2005, p. 231
  4. ↑ Article 56-2. His title is that of King of Spain and he may use the others that belong to the Crown.

    Article 57-1. The Crown of Spain is hereditary in the successors of H. M. Don Juan Carlos I de Borbón, legitimate heir of the historic dynasty. (...)

  5. ↑ The mother of the infante Afonso, Eleanor of Viseu, and Manuel I of Portugal were siblings, both children of Ferdinand of Portugal, Duke of Viseu, and his wife Beatrice of Aveiro.

References

  1. ↑ "Galería online P07656" (in español). Museo Nacional del Prado. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Jackson-Laufer 1999, p. 180.
  3. ↑ Fernández de Córdova Miralles 2005.
  4. ↑ Kutz, Jens Peter. Universität Hannover (ed.). "Karl V. (1500-1558). Kaiserwahl und Kaiseridee" (PDF) (in Deutsch).
  5. ↑ Elliot 2002, p. 23.
  6. ↑ Liss 1992, p. 298.
  7. ↑ Verlinden & Pérez-Embid 2006, pp. 48–49.
  8. ↑ Arranz Márquez 2006, pp. 184–186.
  9. ↑ Foronda y Aguilera 1920.
  10. ↑ Various authors 2004, pp. 72 ff. Cf. for the heraldry of Isabella and Ferdinand.
  11. ↑ Menéndez Pidal de Navascués 2005, pp. 99–138.
  12. ↑ Stein, Henri (1919). Charles de France, Frère de Louis XI (PDF) (in français). Paris: Société de l’École des Chartres. pp. 452–453. Retrieved 8 September 2918. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  13. ↑ Losada Castro 1983, p. 26.
  14. ↑ Cloulas, Ivan (1989). Les Borgia (in français). Geneva: Éditions de Crémille. p. 100. OCLC 81228381..
  15. ↑ Losada Castro 1983, p. 44.
  16. ↑ Sáez y Romero, Mariano (1918). Las calles de Segovia (in español). Segovia: Antonio San Martín. p. 199. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  17. ↑ Losada Castro 1983, pp. 45–47.
  18. ↑ Liss 1998, pp. 206–213.
  19. ↑ de Miguel Mora 2006, p. 18.
  20. ↑ Losada Castro 1983, p. 85.
  21. ↑ Fehérné Walter Anna: Az ékírástól a rovásírásig. II. köt. 207-208. p.; 210 p. Buenos Aires, 1975.
  22. ↑ Mira Caballos, Esteban (2005). Isabel la Católica y el indio americano. XXXIII Coloquios Históricos de Extremadura. pp. 411-425.
  23. ↑ Leralta, Javier (2008). "Apodos reales: historia y leyenda de los motes regios" (in español). Madrid: Sílex. pp. 375 y 376. ISBN 978-84-7737-211-0. Retrieved 13 February 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Szászdi León-Borja, István (2005). "Ysabel y la excelente señora en 1504: ¿Razón de estado o usurpación a un trono? Un nuevo documento" (PDF). Estudios de historia de España (in español). VII. Buenos Aires: Universidad Católica Argentina: 147–168. ISSN 0328-0284. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Luis Suárez Fernández, Análisis del testamento de Isabel la Católica. Testamento de la Señora Reyna Católica Doña Isabel, hecho en la villa de Medina del Campo, a doce de octubre del año 1504, text on Wikisource.
  26. ↑ Junta de Castilla y León (ed.). "Reyes Católicos. Isabel y Fernando". ArteHistoria (in español). Archived from the original on 22 February 2014.
  27. ↑ Suárez Fernández, Luis (1992). "Análisis del testamento de Isabel la Católica". Cuadernos de Historia Moderna (in español) (13): 81–89.
  28. ↑ "Testamento de Isabel la Católica". ArteHistoria (in español). Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 Joseph Pérez. "Isabel I la Católica: Biografía" (in español). Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  30. ↑ Boruchoff 2003, pp. 242–247.
  31. ↑ Ladero Quesada, Miguel Ángel (2004). "Diego Clemencín. Elogio de la Reina Católica doña Isabel...". Isabel la Católica en la Real Academia de la Historia (in español). Real Academia de la Historia. pp. 102–104. ISBN 8495983540.
  32. ↑ Rey, Eusebio (1952). "La Bula de Alejandro VI otorgando el título de «católicos» a Fernando e Isabel". Razón y Fe (in español) (146): 59–75, 324–347.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Vidal, José Manuel (1 August 2004). "El obispo judío que bloquea a la "santa"" (in español). El Mundo. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  34. ↑ García, Azahara; Quirós, Paloma (28 October 2013). "¿Tuvo gemelos Isabel 'La católica'?". RTVE (in español). Madrid. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  35. ↑ Isabel La Católica en la producción teatral española del siglo XVII. Maria Yaquelin Caba. Pag 98.
  36. ↑ Breve historia de Isabel la Católica. Sandra Ferrer Valero. 2017. ISBN: 9788499678382
  37. ↑ Biografía Histórico-Médica de Isabel la Católica. Julio Cruz Y Hermida. Pag 127.
  38. ↑ Carrasco Manchado, Ana Isabel (June 2006). "Isabel la Católica y las ceremonias de la monarquía". e-Spania (in español) (1). doi:10.4000/e-spania.308. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  39. ↑ Caro Baroja, Julio (1986). Los judíos en la España moderna y contemporánea (in español). Vol. Vol. 3 (3ª ed.). Madrid: Ediciones ISTMO. p. 302. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  40. ↑ Weir, Alison "The six wives of Henry VIII" p. 18.

Bibliography

Specialized bibliography

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  • Javierre, José María (2004). Isabel la Católica, el enigma de una reina (in español). Salamanca.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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  • Nervo, Barón de (1938). Isabel la Católica (in español). Zaragoza.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Prescott, William H (1837). History of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic. London.
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