What was founded by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile to keep Catholic orthodoxy as the major religion of their kingdoms?
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Fernando II de Aragón  (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called the Catholic, was King of Sicily from 1468 and King of Aragón  from 1479 until his death. As a consequence of his marriage to Isabella I, he was  King of Castile jure uxoris as Ferdinand V from 1474 until her death in 1504. He was recognised as regent of Castile for his daughter and heir, Joanna, from 1508 until his own death. In 1504, after a war with France, he became King of Naples as Ferdinand III, reuniting Naples with Sicily permanently and for the first time since 1458. In 1512, he became King of Navarre by conquest.

Ferdinand is today best known for his role in inaugurating the discovery of the New World, since he and Isabella sponsored the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492. That year he also fought the final war with Granada which expunged the last Islamic state on Iberian soil, thus bringing to a close the centuries-long Reconquista. At his death he was succeeded by Joanna, who co-ruled with her son, Charles V, over all the Iberian kingdoms save Portugal.

Biography

Acquiring titles and powers

Ferdinand was born in Sada Palace, Sos del Rey Católico, Kingdom of Aragon, as the son of John II of Aragon (whose family was a cadet branch of the House of Trastámara) by his second wife, Juana Enríquez.  He married Infanta Isabella, the half-sister and heiress of Henry IV of Castile, on 19 October 1469 in Valladolid, Kingdom of Castile and Leon. Isabella also belonged to the royal House of Trastámara, and the two were cousins by descent from John I of Castile. They were married with a clear prenuptial agreement on sharing power, and under the joint motto "tanto monta, monta tanto." He became jure uxoris King of Castile when Isabella succeeded her deceased brother in 1474 to be crowned as Queen Isabella I of Castile. The two young monarchs were initially obliged to fight a civil war against Joan of Castile (also known as Juana la Beltraneja), the purported daughter of Henry IV, and were swiftly successful.  When Ferdinand succeeded his father as King of Aragon in 1479, the Crown of Castile and the various territories of the Crown of Aragon were united in a personal union.  For the first time since the 8th century, this union created a single political unit referred to as España (Spain), the root of which is the ancient name Hispania. The various states were not formally administered as a single unit, but as separate political units under the same Crown.  (The legal merging of Aragon and Castile into a single Spain occurred under Philip V in 1707–1715.)

The first years of Ferdinand and Isabella's joint rule saw the Spanish conquest of the Nasrid dynasty of the Emirate of Granada (Moorish Kingdom of Granada), the last Islamic al-Andalus entity on the Iberian peninsula, completed in 1492. 

The completion of the Reconquista was not the only significant act performed by Ferdinand and Isabella in that year. In March 1492, the monarchs issued the Edict of Expulsion of the Jews, also called the Alhambra Decree,  a document which ordered all Jews either to be baptised and convert to Christianity or to leave the country.  That document was signed with the defeated Moorish Emir of Granada Muhammad XII, who had bargained for the Muslims of Spain to be left alone. It allowed Mudéjar Moors (Islamic) and converso Marrano Jews to stay, while expelling all unconverted Jews from Castile and Aragon (most Jews either converted or moved to Islamic lands of North Africa and the Ottoman Empire). 1492 was also the year in which the monarchs commissioned Christopher Columbus to find a westward maritime route for access to Asia, which resulted in the Spanish arrival in the Americas.

In 1494 the Treaty of Tordesillas divided the entire world beyond Europe between Portugal and Castile (Spain) for conquest and dominion purposes – by a north–south line drawn down the Atlantic Ocean.

Forced conversions

Ferdinand violated the 1492 Alhambra Decree peace treaty in 1502 by dismissing the clearly guaranteed religious freedom for Mudéjar Muslims. Ferdinand forced all Muslims in Castile and Aragon to convert, converso Moriscos, to Catholicism, or else be expelled. Some of the Muslims who remained were mudéjar artisans, who could design and build in the Moorish style. This was also practised by the Spanish inquisitors on the converso Marrano Jewish population of Spain. The main architect behind the Spanish Inquisition was King Ferdinand II, whom was ironically of converso heritage (or perhaps because of it, he may have been embittered by being the great-grandson of Fadrique's mistress).   Ferdinand destroyed over ten thousand Arabic manuscripts in Granada alone, burning them.

The latter part of Ferdinand's life was largely taken up with disputes with successive Kings of France over control of Italy, the so-called Italian Wars. In 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded Italy and expelled Alfonso II, who was Ferdinand's first cousin once removed and stepson of Ferdinand's sister, from the throne of Naples. Ferdinand allied with various Italian princes and with Emperor Maximilian I to expel the French by 1496 and install Alfonso's son, Ferdinand, on the Neapolitan throne. In 1501, following the death of Ferdinand II of Naples and accession of his uncle Frederick, Ferdinand signed an agreement with Charles VIII's successor, Louis XII, who had just successfully asserted his claims to the Duchy of Milan, to partition Naples between them, with Campania and the Abruzzi, including Naples itself, going to the French and Ferdinand taking Apulia and Calabria. The agreement soon fell apart and, over the next several years, Ferdinand's great general Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba fought to take Naples from the French, finally succeeding by 1504.

After Isabella

After Isabella I's death in 1504, her kingdom went to their daughter Joanna. Ferdinand II served as the latter's regent during her absence in the Netherlands, ruled by her husband Archduke Philip. Ferdinand attempted to retain the regency permanently, but was rebuffed by the Castilian nobility and replaced with Joanna's husband, who became Philip I of Castile. After Philip's death in 1506, with Joanna supposedly mentally unstable, and her and Philip's son, the future Emperor Charles V, only six years old, Ferdinand resumed the regency, ruling through Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, the Chancellor of the Kingdom. Charles I (to later become Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) became the King of Aragon in 1516, with his mother Joanna as Queen in name, upon Ferdinand's death.

Ferdinand disagreed with the policies and foreignness of Philip I. Ferdinand remarried to Germaine of Foix on October 19, 1505 in Blois, Kingdom of France, the granddaughter of his half-sister Queen Eleanor of Navarre and niece of Louis XII of France. His hope to father a new heir of Aragon, separating it from Castile, was not realised. It would have denied his son-in-law Philip I, and his grandson Charles I, from inheriting the crown and governance of Aragon. A son, John, Prince of Girona, was born on May 3, 1509, but died within hours. John was buried in the convent of Saint Paul in Valladolid, Kingdom of Castile and Leon, and later transferred to Poblet Monastery, Vimbodí i Poblet, Catalonia, Kingdom of Aragon, traditional burial site of the kings of Aragon. 

Ferdinand also had children from his mistress, Aldonza Ruiz de Iborre y Alemany of Cervera. He had a son, Alonso de Aragón (born in 1469), who later became Archbishop of Saragossa, and a daughter Joanna (born in 1471), who married Bernardino Fernández de Velasco, 1st Duke of Frías.

In the 16th century his son Alonso de Aragón, found a hidden study under Ferdinand's palace containing over 400 documents written by Ferdinand. In these documents Ferdinand explained his general outlook on political power, and his true goals behind all his decisions during life as the King of Castile and Aragon. Also through these documents, Ferdinand wrote that "during times of very complicated decision making he blindfolded himself to concentrate on the true matter of a situation, and not let other things 'cloud his judgment'."

In 1508 war resumed in Italy, this time against the Republic of Venice, which all the other powers with interests on the Italian peninsula, including Louis XII, Ferdinand II, Maximilian, and Pope Julius II joined together against as the 'League of Cambrai'. Although the French were victorious against Venice at the Battle of Agnadello, the League of Cambrai soon fell apart, as both the Pope and Ferdinand II became suspicious of French intentions. Instead, the 'Holy League' was formed, in which now all the powers joined together against Louis XII and France.

In November 1511 Ferdinand II and his son-in-law King Henry VIII of England signed the Treaty of Westminster, pledging mutual aid between the two against Navarre and France ahead of the Castilian invasion of Navarre as of July 1512. After the fall of Granada in 1492, he had manoeuvred for years to take over the throne of the Basque kingdom, ruled by Queen Catherine of Navarre and King John III of Navarre, also lords of Béarn and other sizeable territories of the Pyrenees and western Gascony. Ferdinand annexed Navarre first to the Crown of Aragon, but later, under the pressure of Castilian noblemen, to the Crown of Castile. The Holy League was generally successful in Italy, as well, driving the French from Milan, which was restored to its Sforza dukes by the peace treaty in 1513. The French were successful in reconquering Milan two years later, however.

Ferdinand II died on January 23, 1516 in Madrigalejo, Extremadura, Kingdom of Castile and Leon.
He is entombed at Capilla Real, Granada, Kingdom of Castile and Leon. Isabella I, Joanna I, and Philip I are beside him there.

Legacy and succession

Ferdinand and Isabella established a highly effective sovereignty under equal terms. They utilised a prenuptial agreement to lay down their terms. During their reign they supported each other effectively in accordance to his joint motto of equality: "Tanto monta (or monta tanto), Isabel como Fernando", ("They amount to the same, Isabel and Ferdinand"). Isabella and Ferdinand's achievements were remarkable: Spain was united, or at least more united than it ever was, the crown power was centralised, at least in name, 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 for the first modern world power.

During the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, Spain pursued alliances through marriage with Portugal, Habsburg Austria, and Burgundy. Their first-born daughter Isabella was married to Alfonso of Portugal, and their first-born son John was married to Margaret of Austria. However, the deaths of these children, and the death of Isabella, altered the succession plan forcing Ferdinand to yield the government of Castile to Philip of Habsburg the husband of his second daughter Joanna. 

In 1502, the members of the Aragonese Cortes gathered in Zaragoza, and Parliaments of the Kingdom of Valencia and the Principality of Catalonia in Barcelona, as members of the Crown of Aragon, swore an oath of loyalty to their daughter Joanna as heiress, but Alonso de Aragón, Archbishop of Saragossa, stated firmly that this oath was invalid and did not change the law of succession which could only be done by formal legislation by the Cortes with the King.   So, when King Ferdinand died on 23 January 1516, his daughter Joanna inherited the Crown of Aragon, and his grandson Charles became Governor General (regent).  Nevertheless, the Flemish wished that Charles assume the royal title, and this was supported by his paternal grandfather the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and by Pope Leo X. Consequently, after Ferdinand II's funeral on 14 March 1516, Charles I was proclaimed King of Castile and of Aragon jointly with his mother. Finally, the Castilian Regent, Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros accepted the fait accompli, and the Castilian and Aragonese Cortes paid homage to him  as King of Aragon jointly with his mother. 

Ferdinand's grandson and successor Charles, was to inherit not only the Spanish lands of his maternal grandparents, but the Habsburg and Burgundian lands of his paternal family, which would make his heirs the most powerful rulers on the continent and, with the discoveries and conquests in the Americas and elsewhere, of the first truly global Empire.

Issue

With his wife Isabella I the Catholic (whom he married 19 October 1469), King Ferdinand had 7 children:

# Isabella (1470–1498), Princess of Asturias (1497–1498). She married first Prince Afonso, Prince of Portugal, but after his death she married his cousin Prince Manuel, the future King Emanuel I of Portugal. She died in childbirth delivering her son Miguel da Paz (Michael of Peace), Crown Prince of both Portugal and Spain who, in turn, died in infancy.
# A Son miscarried on 31 May 1475 in Cebreros
# John (1478–1497), Prince of Asturias (1478–1497). He married Margaret of Habsburg (daughter of King Maximilian I). He died of tuberculosis and his posthumous child with Margaret was stillborn.
# Joanna I (1479–1555), Princess of Asturias (1500–1504), Queen of Castile (1504–1555), Queen of Aragon (1516–1555). She married Philip I (Philip the handsome) (son of the Emperor Maximilian I); and was the mother of King Charles I of Spain (also known as Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor). Ferdinand made her out to be mentally unstable and was incarcerated by her father, and then by her son, in Tordesillas for over 50 years. Her grandson, Philip II of Spain, was crowned in 1556.
# Maria (1482–1517). She married King Emanuel I of Portugal, the widower of her elder sister Isabella, and was the mother of King John III of Portugal and of the Cardinal-King, Henry I of Portugal.
# A Stillborn Daughter, twin of Maria. Born 1 July 1482 at dawn.
# Catalina, later known Catherine of Aragon, queen of England, (1485–1536). She married first Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of and heir to King Henry VII of England and, after Prince Arthur's death, she married his brother Henry, Duke of York, who also became Prince of Wales and then King Henry VIII. She thus became Queen of England and was the mother of Queen Mary I.

With his second wife, Germaine of Foix, niece of Louis XII of France 
(whom he married on 19 October 1505 in Blois, Kingdom of France) King Ferdinand had one son:
* John, Prince of Girona, who died hours after being born on 3 May 1509.

He also left several illegitimate children:

With Aldonza Ruiz de Iborre y Alemany, a Catalan noblewoman of Cervera, he had:
* Alonso de Aragón (1470 – 1520). Archbishop of Zaragoza and Viceroy of Aragon.
* Juana de Aragón (1471 – bef. 1522). She married Bernardino Fernández de Velasco, 1st Duke of Frías.

With Toda de Larrea:
* María Esperanza de Aragón (1477 – 1543). Abbess of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas.

With Beatriz de Pereira:
* María Blanca de Aragón (1483 – 1550). Nun at Madrigal de las Altas Torres.

Ancestry

Heraldry Isabel I (, Old Spanish: Ysabel I; Madrigal de las Altas Torres, 22 April 1451–Medina del Campo, 26 November 1504) was Queen of Castille. She was married to Ferdinand II of Aragon. Their marriage became the basis for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. After a struggle to claim her right to the throne, she reorganized the governmental system, brought the crime rate to the lowest it had been in years, and unburdened the kingdom of the enormous debt her brother had left behind.  Her reforms and those she made with her husband had an influence that extended well beyond the borders of their united kingdoms.  Isabella and Ferdinand are known for completing the Reconquista, ordering conversion or exile of their Muslim and Jewish subjects in the Spanish Inquisition, and for supporting and financing Christopher Columbus' 1492 voyage that led to the opening of the New World and to the establishment of Spain as the first global power which dominated Europe and much of the world for more than a century. Isabella was granted the title Servant of God by the Catholic Church in 1974.

Life and reign

Early years

Isabel was born in Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Ávila, to John II of Castile and Isabella of Portugal on 22 April 1451.    At the time of her birth, she was second in line to throne after her older half-brother Henry. Henry was 26 at that time and married but childless. Her younger brother Alfonso was born two years later on 17 November 1453, lowering her position to third in line.  When her father died in 1454, her half-brother ascended to the throne as Henry IV. Isabella and Alfonso were left in Henry's care.  She, her mother and her brother Alfonso then moved to Arévalo. 

These were times of turmoil for Isabella. Living conditions in their castle in Arévalo were poor, and they suffered from a shortage of money. Although her father arranged in his will for his children to be financially well taken care of, Henry did not comply with their father's wishes, either from a desire to keep his half-siblings restricted or from ineptitude. Even though living conditions were lackluster, under the careful eye of her mother, Isabella was instructed in lessons of practical piety and in a deep reverence for religion.

When the King's wife, Joan of Portugal, was about to give birth to their daughter Joanna, Isabella and Alfonso were summoned to court (Segovia) to come under the direct supervision of the King and to finish their education.  Alfonso was placed in the care of a tutor while Isabella became part of the Queen's household. 

Some of Isabella's living conditions improved in Segovia. She always had food and clothing and lived in a castle that was adorned with gold and silver. Isabella's basic education consisted of reading, spelling, writing, grammar, mathematics, art, chess, dancing, embroidery, music, and religious instruction. She and her ladies-in-waiting entertained themselves with art, embroidery, and music. She lived a relaxed lifestyle, but she rarely left Segovia as Henry forbade this. Her half-brother was keeping her from the political turmoils going on in the kingdom, though Isabella had full knowledge of what was going on and of her role in the feuds.

The noblemen, anxious for power, confronted King Henry, demanding that his younger half brother Infante Alfonso be named his successor. They even went so far as to ask Alfonso to seize the throne. The nobles, now in control of Alfonso and claiming that he was the true heir, clashed with Henry's forces at the Second Battle of Olmedo in 1467. The battle was a draw. Henry agreed to recognise Alfonso as heir presumptive, provided that he would marry his daughter, Joanna.  Soon after he was named Prince of Asturias, Alfonso died in July 1468, likely of the plague. The nobles who had supported him suspected poisoning. As she had been named in her brother's will as his successor, the nobles asked Isabella to take his place as champion of the rebellion. However, support for the rebels had begun to wane, and Isabella preferred a negotiated settlement to continuing the war.  She met with Henry and, at Toros de Guisando, they reached a compromise: the war would stop, Henry would name Isabella his heir-presumptive instead of Joanna, and Isabella would not marry without Henry's consent but he would not be able to force her to marry against her will.  Isabella's side came out with most of what they desired, though they did not go so far as to officially depose Henry: they were not powerful enough to do so, and Isabella did not want to jeopardise the principle of fair inherited succession, since it was upon this idea that she had based her argument for legitimacy as heir-presumptive.

Marriage

The question of Isabella's marriage was not a new one. Indeed, she had made her debut in the matrimonial market at the tender age of six, with a betrothal to Ferdinand, the younger son of John II of Navarre (whose family was a cadet branch of the House of Trastámara). At that time, the two kings, Henry and John, were eager to show their mutual love and confidence and they believed that this double alliance would make their eternal friendship obvious to the world.  This arrangement, however, did not last long.

Ferdinand's uncle Alfonso V of Aragon died in 1458. All of Alfonso's Spanish territories, as well as the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, were left to his brother John II. John now had a stronger position than ever before and no longer needed the security of Henry's friendship. Henry was now in need of a new alliance. He saw the chance for this much needed new friendship in Charles of Viana, John's elder son.  Charles was constantly at odds with his father, and because of this, he secretly entered into an alliance with Henry IV of Castile. A major part of the alliance was that a marriage was to be arranged between Charles and Isabella. When John II learned of this arranged marriage he was outraged. Isabella had been intended for his favourite younger son, Ferdinand, and in his eyes this alliance was still valid. John II had his son Charles thrown in prison on charges of plotting against his father's life; Charles died in 1461. 

In 1465 an attempt was made to marry Isabella to Alfonso V of Portugal, Henry's brother-in-law. Through the medium of the Queen and Count of Ledesma, a Portuguese alliance was made.Edwards,John. The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs 1474–1520. Blackwell Publishers Inc, 2000, p. 5 Isabella, however, was wary of the marriage and refused to consent. 

A civil war broke out in Castile over King Henry's inability to act as sovereign.  Henry now needed a quick way to please the rebels of the kingdom.  As part of an agreement to restore peace, Isabella was to be betrothed to Pedro Girón Acuña Pacheco, Master of the Order of Calatrava and brother to the King's favourite, Juan Pacheco. In return, Don Pedro would pay into the impoverished royal treasury an enormous sum of money. Seeing no alternative, Henry agreed to the marriage. Isabella was aghast and prayed to God that the marriage would not come to pass.  Her prayers were answered when Don Pedro suddenly fell ill and died while on his way to meet his fiancée. 

When Henry recognised Isabella as his heir-presumptive on 19 September in 1468, he also promised that his sister should not be compelled to marry against her will, while she in return agreed to obtain his consent. It seemed that finally the years of failed attempts at political marriages were over.  There was talk of a marriage to Edward IV of England or to one of his brothers, probably Richard, Duke of Gloucester,  but this alliance was never seriously considered. Once again in 1468, a marriage proposal arrived from Alfonso V of Portugal.  Going against his promises made in September, Henry tried to make the marriage a reality.  If Isabella married Alfonso, Henry's daughter Joanna would marry Alfonso's son John II and thus, after the death of the old king, John and Joanna could inherit Portugal and Castile.  Isabella refused and made a secret promise to marry her cousin and very first betrothed, Ferdinand of Aragon.

After this failed attempt, Henry once again went against his promises and tried to marry Isabella to Louis XI's brother Charles, Duke of Berry.  In Henry's eyes, this alliance would cement the friendship of Castile and France as well as remove Isabella from Castilian affairs. Isabella once again refused the proposal. Meanwhile, John II of Aragon negotiated in secret with Isabella a wedding to his son Ferdinand. 

On 18 October 1469, the formal betrothal took place.  Because Isabella and Ferdinand were second cousins, they stood within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity and the marriage would not be legal unless a dispensation from the Pope was obtained.  With the help of the Valencian cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (later Alexander VI), Isabella and Ferdinand were presented with a supposed papal bull by Pius II (who had died in 1464), authorising Ferdinand to marry within the third degree of consanguinity, making their marriage legal. Afraid of opposition, Isabella eloped from the court of Henry with the excuse of visiting her brother Alfonso's tomb in Ávila. Ferdinand, on the other hand, crossed Castile in secret disguised as a servant. They were married immediately upon reuniting, on 19 October 1469, in the Palacio de los Vivero in the city of Valladolid. 

War with Portugal

Isabella's reign got off to a rocky start.  Because her brother had named Isabella as his successor, when she ascended to the throne in 1474, there were already several plots against her.  Diego Pacheco, the Marquis of Villena, and his followers maintained that Joanna, daughter of Henry IV, was the rightful queen.  Shortly after the Marquis made his claim, a longtime supporter of Isabella, the Archbishop of Toledo left court to plot with his great-nephew the Marquis.   The Archbishop and Marquis made plans to have the Infanta Joanna marry her uncle, King Alfonso V of Portugal and invade Castile to claim the throne for themselves. 

In May 1475, Alfonso and his army crossed into Spain and advanced to Plasencia. Here he married the young Joanna.  A long and bloody war for the Castilian succession then took place.  The war went back and forth for almost a year until 1 March 1476 when the Battle of Toro took place, a battle in which both sides claimed victory↓ Spanish historian Ana Carrasco Manchado: "...The battle [of Toro] was fierce and uncertain, and because of that both sides attributed themselves the victory. Prince John, the son of Alfonso of Portugal, sent letters to the Portuguese cities declaring victory. And Ferdinand of Aragon did the same. Both wanted to take advantage of the victory's propaganda." In [http://books.google.pt/books?id
qADOoHct1MwC&printsecfrontcover&dq
Isabel+I+de+Castilla+y+la+sombra+de+la+ilegitimidad.+Propaganda+y+representación+en+el+conflicto+sucesorio+%281474–1482%29&sourcebl&ots
sxnzroys_j&sigaM79jFNVQ3dl8c47tP2FGbR  Isabel I de Castilla y la sombra de la ilegitimidad: propaganda y representación en el conflicto sucesorio (1474–1482)], 2006, p. 195, 196.↓ Spanish historian Cesáreo Fernández Duro: "...For those who ignore the background of these circumstances it will certainly seem strange that while the Catholic Monarchs raised a temple in Toledo in honour of the victory that God granted them on that occasion, the same fact [the Battle of Toro] was festively celebrated with solemn processions on its anniversary in Portugal"  in [http://descargas.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/hist/09255096579869640757857/023863.pdf?incr1  La batalla de Toro (1476). Datos y documentos para su monografía histórica], in Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, tome 38, Madrid, 1901,p. 250. and celebrated↓ Manchado, [http://books.google.pt/books?id
qADOoHct1MwC&printsecfrontcover&dq
Isabel+I+de+Castilla+y+la+sombra+de+la+ilegitimidad.+Propaganda+y+representaci%C3%B3n+en+el+conflicto+sucesorio+%281474%E2%80%931482%29&sourcebl&ots
sxnzroys_j&sigaM79jFNVQ3dl8c47tP2FGbR#v
onepage&q&ffalse  Isabel I de Castilla y la sombra de la ilegitimidad: propaganda y representación en el conflicto sucesorio (1474–1482)], 2006, p. 199 (foot note nr.141). the victory: the troops of Afonso V were beaten↓ Pulgar, [http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/cronica-de-los-senores-reyes-catolicos-don-fernando-y-dona-isabel-de-castilla-y-de-aragon--2/  Crónica de los Señores Reyes Católicos Don Fernando y Doña Isabel de Castilla y de Aragón], chapter XLV.↓ Garcia de Resende- Vida e feitos d'El Rei D.João II, chapter XIII. by the Castilian centre-left commanded by the Duke of Alba and Cardinal Mendoza while the forces led by Prince John of Portugal defeated↓ chronicler Hernando del Pulgar (Castilian): "...promptly, those 6 Castilian captains, which we already told were at the right side of the royal battle, and were invested by the prince of Portugal and the bishop of Évora, turned their backs and put themselves on the run." in [http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/cronica-de-los-senores-reyes-catolicos-don-fernando-y-dona-isabel-de-castilla-y-de-aragon--2/  Crónica de los Señores Reyes Católicos Don Fernando y Doña Isabel de Castilla y de Aragón], chapter XLV.↓ chronicler Garcia de Resende (Portuguese): "... And being the battles of both sides ordered that way and prepared to attack by nearly sunshine, the King ordered the prince to attack the enemy with his and God's blessing, which he obeyed (...). (...) and after the sound of the trumpets and screaming all for S. George invested so bravely the enemy battles, and in spite of their enormous size, they could not stand the hard fight and were rapidly beaten and put on the run with great losses." In Vida e feitos d'El Rei D.João II, chapter XIII.↓ chronicler Juan de Mariana (Castilian): "(...) the [Castilian] horsemen (...) moved forward(...).They were received by prince D. John... which charge... they couldn't stand but instead were defeated and ran away " in
[https://books.google.com/books?idOvUA8yjTEoMC&pg
PA296&dqMariana+%22Historia+general+de+España%22&as_brr
3&hlpt-PT&source
gbs_toc_r&cad4#v
onepage&q&ffalse  Historia General de España], tome V, book XXIV, chapter X, p. 299,300.↓ chronicler Damião de Góis (Portuguese): "(...)these Castilians who were on the right of the Castilian Royal battle, received [the charge of] the Prince's men as brave knights invoking Santiago but they couldn't resist them and began to flee, and [so] our men killed and arrested many of them, and among those who escaped some took refuge (...) in their Royal battle that was on left of these six [Castilian] divisions. " in [http://purl.pt/286/3/  Chronica do Principe D. Joam], chapter LXXVIII. the Castilian right wing and remained in possession↓ chronicler Juan de Mariana (Castilian): "...the enemy led by prince D. John of Portugal, who without suffering defeat, stood on a hill with his forces in good order until very late (...). Thus, both forces [Castilian and Portuguese]
remained face to face for some hours; and the Portuguese kept their position during more time (...)" in [https://books.google.com/books?idOvUA8yjTEoMC&pg
PA296&dqMariana+%22Historia+general+de+España%22&as_brr
3&hlpt-PT&source
gbs_toc_r&cad4#v
onepage&q&ffalse  Historia General de España], tome V, book XXIV, chapter X, p. 299,300.↓ chronicler Rui de Pina (Portuguese): "And being the two enemy battles face to face, the Castilian battle was deeply agitated and showing clear signs of defeat if attacked as it was without King and dubious of the outcome.(...) And without discipline and with great disorder they went to Zamora. So being the Prince alone on the field without suffering defeat but inflicting it on the adversary he became heir and master of his own victory" in [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24508/24508-h/24508-h.htm  Chronica de El- rei D.Affonso V...] 3rd book, chapter CXCI. of the battlefield.

But despite its uncertain↓ French historian Jean Dumont in [https://books.google.com/books?id
rkTcRTRCSYgC&pgPA49&dq
%22batalla+de+Toro+indecisa&hlpt-PT&ei
coyjTumhOqLP4QSCsq3mBA&saX&oi
book_result&ctbook-thumbnail&resnum
8&ved0CEsQ6wEwBzhk#v
onepage&q&ffalse  La "imcomparable" Isabel la Catolica/ The incomparable Isabel the Catholic], Encuentro Ediciones, printed by Rogar-Fuenlabrada, Madrid, 1993 (Spanish edition), p. 49: "...But in the left [Portuguese] Wing, in front of the Asturians and Galician, the reinforcement army of the Prince heir of Portugal, well provided with artillery, could leave the battlefield with its head high. The battle resulted this way, inconclusive. But its global result stays after that decided by the withdraw of the Portugal's King, the surrender... of the Zamora's fortress on March 19, and the multiple adhesions of the nobles to the young princes."↓ French historian Joseph-Louis Desormeaux: "... The result of the battle was very uncertain; Ferdinand defeated the enemy's right wing led by Alfonso, but the Prince had the same advantage over the Castilians." In
[https://books.google.com/books?id3x4JAAAAQAAJ&printsec
frontcover&dq%22Abrégé+chronologique+de+l%27histoire+d%27Espagne++%22&source
bl&ots_Mc5v0VA-Z&sig
CGnv50KIfo_KbppxzabHt2YvJGI&hlfr&ei
2LHvTKbDNtSxhAeZsoi5DA&saX&oi
book_result&ctresult&re  Abrégé chronologique de l'histoire de l'Éspagne], Duchesne, Paris, 1758, 3rd Tome, p. 25. outcome, the Battle of Toro represented a great political victory↓ Spanish academic António M. Serrano: " From all of this it is deductible that the battle [of Toro] was inconclusive, but Isabella and Ferdinand made it fly with wings of victory. (...) Actually, since this battle transformed in victory; since 1 March 1476, Isabella and Ferdinand started to rule in the Spain's throne. (...) The inconclusive wings of the battle became the secure and powerful wings of San Juan's eagle [the commemorative temple of the Battle of Toro] ." in [http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo4208108  San Juan de los Reyes y la batalla de Toro], revista [http://www.realacademiatoledo.es/files/toletum/0009/toletum09_maciadiscurso.pdf  Toletum], segunda época, 1979 (9), [http://biblioteca2.uclm.es/biblioteca/ceclm/ARTREVISTAS/Toletum/tol09/toletum09_maciadiscurso.pdf  pp. 55–70]. Real Academia de Bellas Artes y Ciencias Históricas de Toledo, Toledo. ISSN: [http://bddoc.csic.es:8080/detalles.html;isessionid
A31394B29A781B0B063B6993FDA9FAEE?id30676&bd
HISTORI&tabladocu  0210-6310]↓ A. Ballesteros Beretta: "His moment is the inconclusive Battle of Toro.(...) both sides attributed themselves the victory.... The letters written by the King [Ferdinand] to the main cities... are a model of skill. (...) what a powerful description of the battle! The nebulous transforms into light, the doubtful acquires the profile of a certain triumph. The politic [Ferdinand] achieved the fruits of a discussed victory." In [http://web.archive.org/web/http://www.portalcultura.mde.es/Galerias/revistas/ficheros/RET_016.pdf  Fernando el Católico, el mejor rey de España], Ejército revue, nr 16, p. 56, May 1941.↓ Vicente Álvarez Palenzuela- [http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/la-guerra-civil-castellana-y-el-enfrentamiento-con-portugal-14751479-0/  La guerra civil Castellana y el enfrentamiento con Portugal (1475–1479)]: "That is the battle of Toro. The Portuguese army had not been exactly defeated, however, the sensation was that D. Juana's cause had completely sunk. It made sense that for the Castilians Toro was considered as the divine retribution, the compensation desired by God to compensate the terrible disaster of Aljubarrota, still alive in the Castilian memory".↓ Spanish academic Rafael Dominguez Casas: "...San Juan de los Reyes resulted from the royal will to build a monastery to commemorate the victory in a battle with an uncertain outcome but decisive, the one fought in Toro in 1476, which consolidated the union of the two most important Peninsular Kingdoms." In [http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2689349  San Juan de los reyes: espacio funerário y aposento régio] in Boletín del Seminário de Estúdios de Arte y Arqueologia, number 56, p. 364, 1990. for the Catholic Monarchs, assuring them the throne since the supporters of Juana disbanded and the Portuguese army, without allies, left Castile.
As summarised by the historian Justo L. González: "Both armies faced each other at the camps of Toro resulting in an indecisive battle. But while the Portuguese King reorganised his troops, Ferdinand sent news to all the cities of Castile and to several foreign kingdoms informing them about a huge victory where the Portuguese were crushed. Faced with these news, the party of "la Beltraneja" [Joanna] was dissolved and the Portuguese were forced to return to their kingdom."↓ Justo L. González- [http://pt.scribd.com/doc/27826340/Justo-L-Gonzalez-Historia-Del-Cristianismo-Tomo-II  Historia del Cristianismo], Editorial Unilit, Miami, 1994, Tome 2, Parte II (La era de los conquistadores), p. 68.
With great political vision, Isabella took advantage of the moment and convoked courts at Madrigal-Segovia (April–October 1476)↓ Historian Marvin Lunenfeld: "In 1476, immediately after the indecisive battle of Peleagonzalo [near Toro], Ferdinand and Isabella hailed the result as a great victory and called a cortes at Madrigal. The newly created prestige was used to gain municipal support from their allies(...)" in [http://books.google.pt/books?ei
h-Q1T83PEoK2hAfisv2RAg&ctbook-thumbnail&hl
pt-PT&idQoFBAQAAIAAJ&dq
%22The+council+of+the+Santa+hermandad%3A+a+study+of+the+pacification+forces+of+Ferdinand+and+Isabella%2C+Marvin+Lunenfeld%22&q=%22indecisive+battle+of+Peleagonzalo%22  The council of the Santa Hermandad: a study of the pacification forces of Ferdinand and Isabella], University of Miami Press, 1970, p. 27. where her daughter was sworn heiress of Castile's crown. That was equivalent to legitimising Isabella's own throne.

In August of the same year, Isabella proved her abilities as a powerful ruler on her own.  A rebellion broke out in Segovia and Isabella rode out to suppress it, as her husband was off fighting at the time.  Going against the advice of her male advisors, Isabella rode by herself into the city to negotiate with the rebels.  She was successful and the rebellion was quickly brought to an end.  Two years later, Isabella further secured her place as ruler with the birth of her son John, Prince of Asturias, on 30 June 1478.  To many, the presence of a male heir legitimised her place as ruler.

Meanwhile, the Castilian and Portuguese fleets fought for hegemony in the Atlantic Ocean and for the wealth of Guinea (gold and slaves) where the decisive naval Battle of Guinea was fought.Battle of Guinea: ↓ Alonso de Palencia, [http://books.google.pt/books?id
-1A3cWT_1kAC&pgPA93&lpg
PA93&dq%22Alonso+de+Palencia+decada+cuarta+naves+castellanas%22&source
bl&otskdDs0IZIC2&sig
1GhLLlK7uT95iMhwkS2KqoLeBJQ&hlpt-PT&ei
zGpZTbrYFIKAhQf-9YyDDQ&saX&oi
book_result&ctresult&resnum
1&ved  Década IV], Book XXXIII, Chapter V ( "Disaster among those sent to the mines of gold [Guinea]. Charges against the King..."), pp. 91–94. This was a decisive battle because after it, in spite of the Catholic Monarchs' attempts, they were unable to send new fleets to Guinea, Canary or to any part of the Portuguese empire until the end of the war. The Perfect Prince sent an order to drown any Castilian crew captured in Guinea waters. Even the Castilian navies which left Guinea before the signature of the peace treaty had to pay the tax ("quinto") to the Portuguese crown when they returned to Castile after the peace treaty. Isabella had to ask permission of Afonso V so that this tax could be paid in Castilian harbours. Naturally all this caused a grudge against the Catholic Monarchs in Andalusia.↓ Historian Malyn Newitt: "However, in 1478 the Portuguese surprised thirty-five Castilian ships returning from Mina [Guinea] and seized them and all their gold. Another...Castilian voyage to Mina, that of Eustache de la Fosse, was intercepted ... in 1480. (...) All things considered, it is not surprising that the Portuguese emerged victorious from this first maritime colonial war. They were far better organised than the Castilians, were able to raise money for the preparation and supply of their fleets, and had clear central direction from ... [Prince] John." In [http://www.google.com/search?q
%22the+Portuguese+emerged+victorious+from+this+first+maritime+colonial+war.%22+&btnGPesquisar+livros&tbm
bks&tbo1&hl
pt-PT  A history of Portuguese overseas expansion, 1400–1668], Routledge, New York, 2005, pp. 39–40.

The war dragged on for another three years  and ended with a Castilian victory on land↓ Bailey W. Diffie and George D. Winius "In a war in which the Castilians were victorious on land and the Portuguese at sea, ..." in [http://books.google.pt/books?id
VsqCelF9OdkC&pgPA152&lpg
PA152&dq%22foundations+of+the+Portuguese+empire....In+a+war+in+which+the+Castilians+were+victorious+on+land+and+the+Portuguese+on+sea%22&source
bl&ots_6XiLcq0Ez&sig
MxqBFdBqI-MryupkXAHW3pBa9LU&hl Foundations of the Portuguese empire 1415–1580], volume I, University of Minnesota Press, 1985, [http://www.google.com/search?q
%22In+a+war+in+which+the+Castilians+were+victorious+on+land+and+the+Portuguese+at+sea%22&btnGPesquisar+livros&tbm
bks&tbo1&hl
pt-PT  p. 152]. and a Portuguese victory on the sea. The four separate peace treaties signed at Alcáçovas (4 September 1479) reflected that result: Portugal gave up the throne of Castile in favour of Isabella in exchange for a very favourable share of the Atlantic territories disputed with Castile (they all went to Portugal with the exception of the Canary Islands:: ↓ Alonso de Palencia, [http://books.google.pt/books?id
-1A3cWT_1kAC&pgPA93&lpg
PA93&dq%22Alonso+de+Palencia+decada+cuarta+naves+castellanas%22&source
bl&otskdDs0IZIC2&sig
1GhLLlK7uT95iMhwkS2KqoLeBJQ&hlpt-PT&ei
zGpZTbrYFIKAhQf-9YyDDQ&saX&oi
book_result&ctresult&resnum
1&ved  Decada IV], Book XXXI, Chapters VIII and IX ("preparation of 2 fleets [to Guinea and to Canary, respectively] so that with them King Ferdinand crush its enemies [the Portuguese]...").↓ Alonso de Palencia, [http://books.google.pt/books?id
-1A3cWT_1kAC&pgPA93&lpg
PA93&dq%22Alonso+de+Palencia+decada+cuarta+naves+castellanas%22&source
bl&otskdDs0IZIC2&sig
1GhLLlK7uT95iMhwkS2KqoLeBJQ&hlpt-PT&ei
zGpZTbrYFIKAhQf-9YyDDQ&saX&oi
book_result&ctresult&resnum
1&ved  Decada IV], book XXXII, chapter III: on 1478 a Portuguese fleet intercepted the armada of 25 navies sent by Ferdinand to conquer Gran Canary – capturing 5 of its navies plus 200 Castilians – and forced it to fled hastily and definitively from Canary waters. This victory allowed Prince John to use the Canary Islands as an "exchange coin" in the peace treaty of Alcáçovas. Guinea with its mines of gold, Cape Verde, Madeira, Azores and the right of conquest over the kingdom of Fez↓ Pina, [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24508/24508-h/24508-h.htm  Chronica de El-Rei D. Affonso V], 3rd book, chapter CXCIV (Editorial error: Chapter CXCIV erroneously appears as Chapter CLXIV.Reports the end of the siege of Ceuta by the arrival of the fleet with Afonso V).↓ Quesada, [http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/ELEM/article/view/ELEM0000110067A/22548  Portugueses en la frontera de Granada], 2000, p. 98. In 1476 Ceuta was simultaneously besieged by the moors and a Castilian army led by the Duke of Medina Sidónia. The Castilians conquered the city from the Portuguese who took refuge in the inner fortress, but a Portuguese fleet arrived "in extremis"  and regained the city. A Ceuta dominated by the Castilians would certainly have forced the right to conquer Fez (Morocco) to be shared between Portugal and Castile instead of the monopoly the Portuguese acquired.) plus a big war compensation: 106.676 dobles of gold.↓ Mendonça, 2007, p. 101–103. The Catholic Monarchs also had to accept that Joanna remain in Portugal instead of Spain and to pardon all rebellious subjects who had supported Joanna and Alfonso.  And the Catholic monarchs –  who had proclaimed themselves rulers of Portugal and donated lands to noblemen inside this country↓ Mendonça, 2007, p. 53. –  had to give up the Portuguese crown.

At Alcáçovas, Isabella and Ferdinand had conquered the throne but the Portuguese exclusive right of navigation and commerce in all the Atlantic ocean south of the Canary islands meant that Spain stayed practically out of the Atlantic and was deprived of the Gold of Guinea, which induced anger in Andalusia. Spanish academic Antonio Rumeu de Armas claims that with the peace treaty of Alcáçovas,1479, the Catholic Monarchs "...buy the peace at an excessively expensive price...↓ António Rumeu de Armas- [http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4335425-el-tratado-de-tordesillas  book description], MAPFRE, Madrid, 1992, page 88. and historian Mª Monserrat Léon Guerrero added that they "...find themselves forced to abandon their expansion by the Atlantic..."↓ Mª Monserrat Léon Guerrero in [http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/el-segundo-viaje-colombino--0/ El segundo viaje colombino], University of Valladolid, 2000, chapter 2, pp. 49–50.

Columbus freed Castile from this difficult situation because his New World discovery led to a new and much more balanced sharing of the Atlantic at Tordesillas in 1494, as the orders received by Columbus in his first voyage (1492) show:"[the Catholic Monarchs]have always in mind that the limits signed in the share of Alcáçovas should not be overcome, and thus they insist with Columbus to sail along the parallel of Canary." Thus, when sponsoring the Columbian adventure to the west the Spanish monarchs were trying the only remaining way of expansion. As it is known, they would be extremely successful on this issue. Isabella had proven herself to be a fighter and tough monarch from the start. Now that she had succeeded in securing her place on the Castilian throne, she could now begin to make the reforms that the kingdom desperately needed.

Reform

Regulation of crime

When Isabella came to the throne in 1474, Castile was in a state of despair thanks to her brother Henry's reign.  It was not unknown that Henry IV was a big spender and did little to enforce the laws of his kingdom.  It was even said by one Castilian citizen of the time that murder, rape, and robbery happened without punishment.  Because of this, Isabella needed desperately to find a way to reform her kingdom. Due to the measures imposed, historians during her lifetime saw her to be more inclined to justice than to mercy, and indeed far more rigorous and unforgiving than her husband Ferdinand. 

La Santa Hermandad

Isabella's first major reform came during the cortes of Madrigal in 1476 in the form of a police force, La Santa Hermandad (the Holy Brotherhood).   While 1476 was not the first time that Castile had seen the Hermandad, it was however the first time that the police force was used by the crown.  During the late medieval period, the expression hermandad had been used to describe groups of men who came together of their own accord to regulate law and order by patrolling the roads and countryside and punishing malefactors.  These brotherhoods, however, had usually been suppressed by the monarch.
Before 1476, the justice system in most parts of the country was effectively under the control of dissident members of the nobility rather than royal officials.  To fix this problem, during the Cortes of 1476, a general Hermandad was established for Castile, Leon, and Asturias.  The police force was to be made up of locals who were to regulate the crime occurring in the kingdom.  It was to be paid for by a tax of 1800 mavedus on every one hundred households.  In 1477, Isabella visited Extremadura and Andalusia to introduce this more efficient police force there as well. 

Other criminal reforms

Keeping with her reformation of the regulation of laws, in 1481 Isabella charged two officials with restoring peace in Galicia. This turbulent province had been the prey of tyrant nobles since the days of Isabella's father, John II.  Robbers infested the highways and oppressed the smaller towns and villages. These officials set off with the Herculean task of restoring peace for the province. The officials were successful. They succeeded in driving over 1,500 robbers from Galicia. 

Finances

From the very beginning of her reign, Isabella fully grasped the importance of restoring the Crown's finances. The reign of Henry IV had left the kingdom of Castile in great debt. Upon examination, it was found that the chief cause of the nation's poverty was the wholesale alienation of royal estates during Henry's reign.  To make money, Henry had sold off royal estates at prices well below their value.  The Cortes of Toledo of 1480 came to the conclusion that the only hope of lasting financial reform lay in a resumption of these alienated lands and rents.  This decision was warmly approved by many leading nobles of the Court but Isabella was reluctant to take such large actions.  It was decided that the Cardinal of Spain would hold an enquiry into the tenure of estates and rents acquired during Henry IV's reign.  Those that had not been granted as a reward for services were to be restored without compensation; while those that had been sold at a price far below their real value were to be brought back at the same sum.   While many of the nobility were forced to pay large sums of money for their estates, the royal treasury became ever richer.  Isabella's one stipulation was that there would be no revocation of gifts made to churches, hospitals, or the poor. 

Another issue of money was the over production of coinage and the abundance of mints in the kingdom.  During Henry's reign the number of mints regularly producing money had increased from just five to one hundred and fifty. Much of the coinage produced in these mints was nearly worthless.  During the first year of her reign Isabella established a monopoly over the royal mints and fixed a legal standard to which the coinage must approximate.   By shutting down many of the mints and taking royal control over the production of money, Isabella restored the confidence of the public in the crown's ability to handle the kingdom's finance.

Government

Both Isabella and Ferdinand established very few new governmental and administrative institutions in their respective kingdoms.  Especially in Castile, the main achievement was to use more effectively the institutions that had existed during the reigns of John II and Henry IV.  Historically, the center of the Castilian government had been the royal household, together with its surrounding court.  The household was traditionally divided into two overlapping bodies.  The first body was made up of household officials, mainly people of the nobility, who carried out governmental and political functions for which they received special payment.  The second body was made up of some 200 permanent servants or continos who performed a wide range of confidential functions on behalf of the rulers.  By the 1470s when Isabella began to take a firm grip on the royal administration, the senior offices of the royal household were simply honorary titles and held strictly by the nobility.  The positions of a more secretarial nature were often held by senior churchmen.  Substantial revenues were attached to such offices and were therefore enjoyed greatly, on an effectively hereditary basis, by the great Castilian houses of nobility.  While the nobles held the titles, those individuals of lesser breeding did the real work. 

Traditionally, the main advisory body to the rulers of Castile was the Royal Council.  The Council, under the monarch, had full power to resolve all legal and political disputes.  The Council was responsible for supervising all senior administrative officials, such as the Crown representatives in all of the major towns.  It was also the supreme judicial tribunal of the kingdom.  In 1480, during the Cortes of Toledo, Isabella made many reforms to the Royal Council.  Previously there had been two distinct yet overlapping categories of royal councillor.  One formed a group which possessed both judicial and administrative responsibilities.  This portion consisted of some bishops, some nobles, and an increasingly important element of professional administrators with legal training known as letrados. The second category of traditional councillor had a less formal role.  This role depended greatly on the individuals' political influence and personal influence with the monarch.   During Isabella's reign, the role of this second category was completely eliminated.  As mentioned previously, Isabella had little care for personal bribes or favours.  Because of this, this second type of councillor, usually of the nobility, was only allowed to attend the council of Castile as an observer.

Isabella began to rely more on the professional administrators than ever before.  These men were mostly of the bourgeoisie or lesser nobility.  The Council was also rearranged and it was officially settled that one bishop, three caballeros, and eight or nine lawyers would serve on the council at a time.   While the nobles were no longer directly involved in the matters of state, they were welcome to attend the meetings.  Isabella hoped by forcing the nobility to choose whether to participate or not would weed out those who were not dedicated to the state and its cause. 

Isabella also saw the need to provide a personal relationship between herself as the monarch and her subjects.  Therefore, Isabella and Ferdinand set aside a time every Friday during which they themselves would sit and allow people to come to them with complaints.   This was a new form of personal justice that Castile had not seen before.  The Council of State was reformed and presided over by the King and Queen.  This department of public affairs dealt mainly with foreign negotiations, hearing embassies, and transacting business with the Court of Rome.   In addition to these departments, there was also a Supreme Court of the Santa Hermandad, a Council of Finance, and a Council for settling purely Aragonese matters.  Although Isabella made many reforms that seem to have made the Cortes stronger, in actuality the Cortes lost political power during the reigns of Isabella and Ferdinand.  Isabella and her husband moved in the direction of a non-parliamentary government and the Cortes became an almost passive advisory body, giving automatic assent to legislation which had been drafted by the royal administration. 

After the reforms of the Cortes of Toledo, the Queen ordered a noted jurist, Alfonso Diaz de Montalvo, to undertake the task of clearing away legal rubbish and compiling what remained into a comprehensive code.   Within four years the work stood completed in eight bulky volumes and the Ordenanzas Reales took their place on legal bookshelves. 

Events of 1492

Granada

At the end of the Reconquista, only Granada was left for Isabella and Ferdinand to conquer. The Emirate of Granada had been held by the Muslim Nasrid emirate since the mid-thirteenth century.  Protected by natural barriers and fortified towns, it had withstood the long process of the reconquista. On 1 February 1482, the king and queen reached Medina del Campo and this is generally considered the beginning of the war for Granada.  While Isabella's and Ferdinand's involvement in the war was apparent from the start, Granada's leadership was divided and never able to present a united front.  However, it still took ten years to conquer Granada, culminating in 1492.

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 only a fortnight due to extensive bombardment.  The following year, Loja was taken, and again Muhammad XII 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 and at the end of the year, Muhammad XII surrendered. On January 2, 1492 Isabella and Ferdinand entered Granada to receive the keys of the city and the principal mosque was reconsecrated as a church.  The Treaty of Granada was signed later that year, and in it Ferdinand and Isabella gave their word to allow the Muslims and Jews of Granada to live in peace. An uprising by the Moors in 1500 caused the Catholic side to consider that the Moors had violated the Treaty: this gave them a justification for revoking its provisions. See Morisco Revolt.

During the war, Isabella noted the abilities and energy of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba and made him one of the two commissioners for the negotiations. Under her patronage, De Córdoba went on to an extraordinary military career that revolutionised the organisation and tactics of the emerging Spanish military, changing the nature of warfare and altering the European balance of power.

Columbus and Portuguese relations

Just three months after entering Granada, Queen Isabella agreed to sponsor Christopher Columbus on an expedition to reach the Indies by sailing west (2000 miles, according to Columbus).  The crown agreed to pay a sum of money as a concession from monarch to subject. 

On 3 August 1492 his expedition departed and arrived in what is now known as Watling Island on 12 October.  He named it San Salvador, after Jesus the Savior. He returned the next year and presented his findings to the monarchs, bringing natives and gold under a hero's welcome.  Although Columbus was sponsored by the Castilian queen, treasury accounts show no royal payments to him until 1493, after his first voyage was complete.  Spain entered a Golden Age of exploration and colonisation, the period of the Spanish Empire. The Portuguese did not recognise that South America belonged to the Spanish because it was on Portugal's sphere of influence and the Portuguese King John II threatened to send an army to claim the land for the Portuguese. In 1494, by the Treaty of Tordesillas, Isabella and Ferdinand agreed to divide the Earth, outside of Europe, with king John II of Portugal.

Isabella was not in favour of Columbus' enslavement of the American natives and attempted to enforce the recent policies of the Canaries upon the 'New World', stating that all peoples were under the subject of the Castilian Crown and could not be enslaved in most situations. The principles she established would have very little effect during her lifetime, however.[https://books.google.com/books?id
bIXh4xsCfUAC&printsecfrontcover&dq
Isabel+I&hlen&sa
X&eiHJBsUdv7AYOGyAG12YGwAQ&ved
0CDEQ6AEwAA#vonepage&q
Isabel%20I&f=false F. Weissberger, Barbara Queen Isabel I of Castile: Power, Patronage, Persona], Tamesis Books, 2008, p. 27, accessed 9 July 2012

Expulsion of the Jews

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 and national unity. Though Isabella opposed taking harsh measures against Jews on economic grounds, Torquemada was able to convince Ferdinand. On 31 March 1492, the Alhambra decree for the expulsion of the Jews was issued.  The Jews had until the end of July, three months, to leave the country and they were not to take with them gold, silver, money, arms, or horses. Traditionally, it had been claimed that as many as 200,000 Jews left Spain, but recent historians have shown that such figures are exaggerated: Henry Kamen has shown that out of a total population of 80,000 Jews, a maximum of 40,000 left and the rest converted.  Hundreds of those that remained came under the Inquisition's investigations into relapsed conversos (Marranos) and the Judaizers who had been abetting them. 

Later years

Isabella received the title of Catholic Monarch by Pope Alexander VI, a pope of whose behaviour and involvement in matters 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 institutionalised. After a Muslim uprising in 1499, and further troubles thereafter, the Treaty of Granada was broken in 1502, and Muslims were ordered to either become Christians or to leave. 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. By early 1497 all the pieces seemed to be in place: John, Prince of Asturias, married Archduchess Margaret of Austria, establishing the connection to the Habsburgs. The eldest daughter, Isabella, married Manuel I of Portugal, and Joanna was married to another Habsburg prince, Philip of Burgundy.

However, Isabella's plans for her two eldest children did not work out. John died shortly after his marriage. Isabella, Princess of Asturias, died in childbirth and her son Miguel died at the age of two. Queen Isabella I's crowns passed to her daughter, Joanna of Castile, and her son-in-law, Philip of Habsburg. 

Isabella did, however, make successful dynastic matches for her three youngest daughters. The death of Isabella, Princess of Asturias, created a necessity for Manuel I of Portugal to remarry and Isabella's third child, Maria, became his next bride. Isabella's youngest daughter, Catherine, married England's Arthur, Prince of Wales, but his early death resulted in her being married to his younger brother, Henry VIII of England.

Isabella officially withdrew from governmental affairs on 14 September 1504 and she died that same year on 26 November in Medina del Campo, but it is said that she had truly been in decline since the death of her son Prince John in 1497.  She 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 Joanna and Joanna's husband Philip; and Isabella's 2-year-old grandson, Miguel (the son of Isabella's daughter, also named Isabella, and King Manuel I of Portugal). The museum next to the Capilla Real holds her crown and scepter.

Appearance and personality

Isabella was short but of strong stocky build, of a very fair complexion, and had a hair color that was between strawberry-blonde and auburn. Her daughters, Joanna and Catherine, were thought to resemble her the most. Isabella maintained an austere, temperate lifestyle, and her religious spirit influenced her the most in life. In spite of her hostility towards the Muslims in Andalusia, Isabella developed a taste for Moorish decor and style. Of her, contemporaries said:

* Fernández de Oviedo: "To see her speak was divine."
* : "She was an endeavored woman, very powerful, very prudent, wise, very honest, chaste, devout, discreet, truthful, clear, without deceit. Who could count the excellences of this very Catholic and happy Queen, always very worthy of praises."
* Hernando del Pulgar: "She was very inclined to justice, so much so that she was reputed to follow more the path of rigor than that of mercy, and did so to remedy the great corruption of crimes that she found in the kingdom when she succeeded to the throne." 
* : "[The royal knight Alvaro Yáñez de Lugo] was condemned to be beheaded, although he offered forty thousand ducados for the war against the Moors to the court so that these monies spare his life. This matter was discussed with the queen, and there were some who told her to pardon him, since these funds for the war were better than the death of that man, and her highness should take them. But the queen, preferring justice to cash, very prudently refused them; and although she could have confiscated all his goods, which were many, she did not take any of them to avoid any note of greed, or that it be thought that she had not wished to pardon him in order to have his goods; instead, she gave them all to the children of the aforesaid knight." 
* Ferdinand, in his testament, declared that "she was exemplary in all acts of virtue and of fear of God."
* Fray Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, her confessor, praised "her purity of heart, her big heart and the grandness of her soul".

Family

Isabella and Ferdinand had five children.

* Isabella (1470–1498) married firstly to Alfonso, Prince of Portugal, no issue. Married secondly to Manuel I of Portugal, had issue.
* A son miscarried on 31 May 1475 in Cebreros
* John (1478–1497), Prince of Asturias. Married Archduchess Margaret of Austria, no surviving 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.
* A stillborn daughter, twin of Maria. Born 1 July 1482 at dawn.
* 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.

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 Isabella's son Miguel (who could have united the kingdoms of the Catholic Monarchs with that of Portugal), the madness of her daughter Joanna and the indifference of Philip the Handsome, and the uncertainty Catherine was in after the death of her husband 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."

Sanctity

It is important to note that Isabella's reputation for sanctity derives in large measure from an image carefully shaped and disseminated by the queen herself.  In 1958, the Catholic canonical process of the Cause of Canonization of Isabella was started by José García Goldaraz, the Bishop of Valladolid, where she died in 1504.  17 experts were appointed to investigate more than 100,000 documents in the archives of Spain and the Vatican and the merits of opening a canonical process of canonisation.  3,500 of these were chosen to be included in 27 volumes.

In 1970, the Commission determined that "A Canonical process for the canonization of Isabella the Catholic could be undertaken with a sense of security since there was not found one single act, public or private, of Queen Isabella that was not inspired by Christian and evangelical criteria; moreover there was a 'reputation of sanctity' uninterrupted for five centuries and as the investigation was progressing, it was more accentuated."

In 1972, the Process of Valladolid was officially submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the Vatican. This process was approved and Isabel was given the title "Servant of God" in March 1974. 

Arms

As Princess of Asturias, Isabella bore the undifferenced royal arms of the Crown of Castile and added the Saint John the Evangelist's Eagle, an eagle displayed as single supporter.   As queen, she quartered the Royal Arms of the Crown of Castile with the Royal Arms of the Crown of Aragon, she and Ferdinand II of Aragon adopted a yoke and a bundle of arrows as heraldic badges. As co-monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand used the motto "Tanto Monta" ("They amount to the same", or "Equal opposites in balance"), it refers their prenuptial agreement. The conquest of Granada in 1492 was symbolised by the addition enté en point of a quarter with a pomegranate for Granada (in Spanish Granada means pomegranate).  There was an uncommon variant with the Saint John the Evangelist's eagle and two lions adopted as Castilian royal supporters by John II, Isabella's father. 

Commemoration

Isabella was the first woman to be featured on US postage stamps,  namely on three stamps of the Columbian Issue, also in celebration of Columbus. She appears in the 'Columbus soliciting aid of Isabella', 5-cent issue, and on the Spanish court scene replicated on the 15-cent Columbian, and on the $4 issue, in full portrait, side by side with Columbus.

The $4 stamp is 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 was also the first named woman to appear on a United States coin, an 1893 commemorative quarter, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus's first voyage.

Depiction in media

Films

TV series

Books

Isabella is the subject of "The Queen's Vow" by C.W. Gortner, published in 2012

A young Isabella is the main protagonist in " Isabel, Jewel of Castile," a part of the Royal Diaries series by Scholastic.

Isabella's life from her early youth through the conquest of Granada is novelised in The Queen's Cross: A biographical romance of Queen Isabella of Spain by Lawrence Schoonover, William Sloane Associates, Inc. (New York: 1 January 1955), reprinted 1st September 2008, Fountain City Publishing, ISBN 0976086743.

Isabella is a main character in The Prisoner of Tordesillas by Lawrence Schoonover, Boston: Little, Brown & Company; 2nd Printing edition (1959), ASIN B000P0O1DM, a novel of her daughter and successor, Joanna of Castile, mother of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

Isabella is the narrator of Crown of Aloes by Norah Lofts, Doubleday (1973) ASIN B00DY1H8TI.

Video games

As the leader of the Spanish civilisation in Sid Meier's Civilization V, Isabella I is depicted carrying a gilded Christian cross while standing behind a Moorish-style palace likely to be the Alhambra.

Isabella I is listed in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy as a potential assassination target for the player's assassin recruits.

She made an appearance in Age of Empires III, where her personality can be seen when the AI plays Spain. Special dialogue has been written to reflect her personality and behaviour.

Ancestry

Gallery

Image:La Rendición de Granada - Pradilla.jpg|The Capitulation of Granada by F. Padilla: Muhammad XII before Ferdinand and Isabella.
Image:Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze - Columbus Before the Queen.JPG|Isabella meeting Christopher Columbus
Image:Monumento a Colón (Madrid) 02b.jpg|Columbus before Queen Isabella. Detail of the Columbus monument in Madrid (1885).
Image:Isabel la Católica cede sus joyas.jpg|Engraving of Isabella donating her jewels for Columbus' voyage
Image:Doña Isabel la Católica dictando su testamento (Rosales).jpg|Queen Isabella's Will, by Eduardo Rosales. On the left: Juana and Ferdinand; on the right: Cardinal Cisneros (black cap).
Image:Isabel la Católica 01b.jpg|Statue of Isabella at the Sabatini Gardens in Madrid
Image:Isabelle catile crown.jpg|Isabella's crown and scepter, and Ferdinand's sword, are preserved in the Capilla Real of Granada
Image:Isabeldecastilla.jpg|Posthumous portrait of Isabella
Image:Royal Monogram of Queen Isabella I of Castile.svg|Royal Monogram
Image:Isabel la Católica rezando.jpg|This section of the main front altar of the church of Miraflores Charterhouse in Burgos portrays Isabella at prayer. Isabella commissioned it herself in honour of her parents, who are buried within the church.
Image:Capilla real tombs.jpg|Isabella and Ferdinand's tomb in La Capilla Real, in Granada
Image:Socha Izabely I Katolickej.JPG|Statue of Isabella I the Catholic in front of the seat of the Organization of American States in Washington D.C.

Notes The Catholic Monarchs ()  is the joint title used in history for Queen Isabella I of Castile  and King Ferdinand II of Aragon.  They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being both descended from John I of Castile; on marriage they were given a papal dispensation to deal with consanguinity by Sixtus IV. They married on October 19, 1469, in the city of Valladolid; Isabella was eighteen years old and Ferdinand a year younger; this marriage united both kingdoms under one crown. It is generally accepted by most scholars (John Elliott being an English-speaking  example) that the unification of Spain can essentially be traced back to the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella. Some newer historical opinions propose that under their rule, what later became Spain was still a union of two crowns rather than a unitary state, as to a large degree Castile and Aragon remained separate kingdoms, with most of their own separate institutions, for decades to come. The court of Ferdinand and Isabella was constantly on the move, in order to bolster local support for the crown from local feudal lords.

The title of "Catholic King and Queen" was bestowed on Ferdinand and Isabella by Pope Alexander VI in 1494,  in recognition of their defence of the Catholic faith within their realms.

"Catholic monarchs" or "kings" can also be used in a generic sense (e.g., "the Pope had authority over Catholic monarchs..."); the particular or generic use can be distinguished from the context.

Succession

Isabella was named heir to the throne of Castile by her half brother Henry IV of Castile in the Treaty of the Bulls of Guisando. She became Queen of Castile in 1474. Her niece, Joanna of Castile, attempted to gain the throne by bringing in the foreign help of Afonso V of Portugal, leading to the War of Castilian Succession. More recently, some speculate that Joanna was the legitimate successor, though Isabella was able to portray herself as such.   Isabella's supporters came out ahead in good part due to Aragon's support through Ferdinand, and she officially won in 1479 via the Treaty of Alcáçovas. Ferdinand became the King of Aragon in 1479. Though their marriage united the two kingdoms, leading to the beginnings of modern Spain, they ruled independently and their kingdoms retained part of their own regional laws and governments for the next few centuries.

Domestic policy

The Catholic Monarchs set out to restore royal authority in Spain.  To accomplish their goal, they first created a group named the Holy Brotherhood.  These men were used as a judicial police force for Castile, as well as to attempt to keep Castilian nobles in check. To establish a more uniform judicial system, the Catholic Monarchs created the Royal Council, and appointed magistrates (judges) to run the towns and cities. This establishment of royal authority is known as the Pacification of Castile, and can be seen as one of the crucial steps toward the creation of one of Europe's first strong nation-states. Isabella also sought various ways to diminish the influence of the Cortes Generales in Castile, though Ferdinand was too thoroughly Aragonese to do anything of the sort with the equivalent systems in the Crown of Aragon. Even after his death and the union of the crowns under one monarch, the Aragonese, Catalan, and Valencian cortes (corts) retained significant power in their respective regions. Further, the monarchs continued ruling through a form of medieval contractualism, which made their rule pre-modern in a few ways. One of those is that they traveled from town to town throughout the kingdom in order to promote loyalty, rather than possessing any single administrative center. Another is that each community and region was connected to them via loyalty to the crown, rather than bureaucratic ties. 

Ferdinand and Isabella were noted for being the monarchs of the newly united Spain at the dawn of the modern era. They had a goal of conquering the Muslim kingdom of Granada and completing the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula. The beginnings of a series of campaigns known as the Granada War began with the attack on Alhama de Granada. The attack was led by two Andalusian nobles, Rodrigo Ponce de León and Diego de Merlo. The city fell to Andalusian forces in 1482. The Granada War was aided by Pope Sixtus IV by granting a tithe and implementing a crusade tax to invest in the war. After 10 years of fighting the Granada War ended in 1492 when Emir Boabdil surrendered the keys of the Alhambra Palace in Granada to the Castilian soldiers.

Expulsion of non-Christians and the Spanish Inquisition

After a number of revolts, Ferdinand and Isabella ordered the expulsion from Spain of all Jews and Muslims.  People who converted to Catholicism were not subject to expulsion, but between 1480 and 1492 hundreds of those who had converted (conversos and moriscos) were accused of secretly practising their original religion (crypto-Judaism or crypto-Islam) and arrested, imprisoned, interrogated under torture, and in some cases burned to death, in both Castile and Aragon.

The Inquisition had been created in the twelfth century by Pope Lucius III to fight heresy in the south of what is now France and was constituted in a number of European kingdoms. The Catholic Monarchs decided to introduce the Inquisition to Castile, and requested the Pope's assent. On 1 November 1478 Pope Sixtus IV published the Papal bull Exigit Sinceras Devotionis Affectus, by which the Inquisition was established in the Kingdom of Castile; it was later extended to all of Spain. The bull gave the monarchs exclusive authority to name the inquisitors.   Many of these claims are thought to be exaggerated as a result of an anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic propaganda phenomenon known as The Black Legend.

During the reign of the Catholic Monarchs and long afterwards the Inquisition was active in persecuting people for offences such as crypto-Judaism, heresy, Protestantism, blasphemy, and bigamy. The last trial for crypto-Judaism was held in 1818.

In 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella ordered segregation of communities to create closed quarters which eventually became what were later called "ghettos". They also furthered economic pressures upon Jews and other non-Christians by increasing taxes and social restrictions. In 1492 the monarchs issued a decree of expulsion of Jews, known formally as the Alhambra Decree, which gave Jews in Spain four months to either convert to Catholicism or leave Spain.  Tens of thousands of Jews emigrated to other lands such as Portugal, North Africa, the Low Countries, Italy and the Ottoman Empire. Later in 1492, Ferdinand issued a letter addressed to the Jews who had left Castile and Aragon, inviting them back to Spain if they had become Christians. 

Exploration

They authorized and financed the expedition of Christopher Columbus, who was given the name of Admiral of the Ocean Sea by the monarchs, and who discovered the Americas and brought the knowledge of its existence to Europe. Columbus' first expedition to the supposed Indies actually landed in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492. He landed on the island of Guanahani, and called it San Salvador. He continued onto Cuba, naming it Juana, and finished his journey on the island of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, calling it La Isla Española ("the Spanish Island" in Spanish).  On his second trip, begun in 1493, he found more Caribbean islands including Puerto Rico. His main goal was to colonize the existing discoveries with the 1500 men that he had brought the second time around. Columbus finished his last expedition in 1498, and discovered Trinidad and the coast of present-day Venezuela. The colonies Columbus established, and conquests in the Americas in later decades, generated an influx of wealth into the new unified state of Spain, leading it to be the major power of Europe from the end of the sixteenth century until the mid-seventeenth century, and the largest empire until 1810.

Children and alliances

Isabella ensured long-term political stability in Spain by arranging strategic marriages for each of her five children. Her first-born, a daughter named Isabella, married Afonso of Portugal, forging important ties between these two neighbouring countries which would lead to enduring peace and future alliance. Joanna, Isabella's second daughter, married Philip the Handsome, the son of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. This ensured alliance with the Holy Roman Empire, a powerful, far-reaching territory which assured Spain's future political security. Isabella's only son, John, married Margaret of Austria, maintaining ties with the Habsburg dynasty, on which Spain relied heavily. Her fourth child, Maria, married Manuel I of Portugal, strengthening the link forged by her elder sister's marriage. Her fifth child, Catherine, married Arthur, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne of England, in 1501; he died at the age of 15 a few months later, and she married his younger brother shortly after he became King Henry VIII of England in 1509.

Motto and badges

The Monarchs' joint motto was "Tanto monta, monta tanto". The motto was created by Antonio de Nebrija and was either an allusion to the Gordian knot: Tanto monta, monta tanto, cortar como desatar ("It's one and the same, cutting or untying"), or an explanation of the equality of the monarchs: Tanto monta, monta tanto, Isabel como Fernando ("It's one and the same, Isabella the same as Ferdinand")

Their badges or heraldic devices were el yugo y las flechas, a yoke, possibly a reference to the yoke tied with the Gordian knot, and a fasces (bundle) of arrows. Y and F are the initials of Ysabel (spelling at the time) and Fernando. This let otherwise illiterate peasants recognize the royal crest; similar consonance is used in stained glass. (These badges were later used gathered by the fascist, from fasces, Spanish political party Falange, which claimed to represent the inherited glory and the ideals of the Reyes Católicos.)

Death

Isabella died in 1504. Ferdinand remarried Germaine of Foix in 1505; he died in 1516.

Citations
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