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Called by her people Isabella la Catolica, she was by any standard one of the greatest women of all history. A saint in her own right, she married Ferdinand of Aragon, and they forged modern Spain, cast out the Moslems, discovered the New World by backing Columbus, and established a powerful central government in Spain. This story is so thrilling it reads like a novel. Makes history really come alive. Highly readable and truly great in every respect!
The Queen who shaped the music, literature, architecture, and painting of late medieval Spain. This multidisciplinary volume was inspired by the quincentenary of the death of Queen Isabel I of Castile, early modern Europe's first powerful queen regnant. Comprising work by distinguished art historians, musicologists, historians, and literary scholars from England, Spain, and the United States, it begins with a theoretical examination of medieval queenship itself that argues - against the grain of the volume - for its inseparability from kingship. Several essays examine the complex ways in which the Queen and her advisers shaped the music, literature, architecture, and painting of fifteenth-century Spain and how these in turn shaped the sovereign's power and persona. Others analyze influences on Isabel's reign from Aragón, Portugal, and northern Europe. A third group deals with issues of periodization, arguing from a variety of perspectives for the modernity of Isabelline culture. The evolving construction of Isabel's image from the mid-fifteenth to the late-twentieth century is also studied. BARBARA WEISSBERGER is Associate Professor Emerita of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Minnesota. OTHER CONTRIBUTORS: Rafael Domínguez Casas, Theresa Earenfight, Michael Gerli, Chiyo Ishikawa, Tess Knighton, Kenneth Kreitner, Elizabeth A. Lehfeldt, Nancy F. Marino, William D. Phillips, Jr., Emilio Ros-Fábregas, Ronald E. Surtz
An engrossing and revolutionary biography of Isabella of Castile, the controversial Queen of Spain who sponsored Christopher Columbus's journey to the New World, established the Spanish Inquisition, and became one of the most influential female rulers in history. In 1474, when most women were almost powerless, twenty-three-year-old Isabella defied a hostile brother and a mercurial husband to seize control of Castile and León. Her subsequent feats were legendary. She ended a twenty-four-generation struggle between Muslims and Christians, forcing North African invaders back over the Mediterranean Sea. She laid the foundation for a unified Spain. She sponsored Columbus’s trip to the Indies and negotiated Spanish control over much of the New World. She also annihilated all who stood against her by establishing a bloody religious Inquisition that would darken Spain’s reputation for centuries. Whether saintly or satanic, no female leader has done more to shape our modern world. Yet history has all but forgotten Isabella’s influence. Using new scholarship, Downey’s luminous biography tells the story of this brilliant, fervent, forgotten woman, the faith that propelled her through life, and the land of ancient conflicts and intrigue she brought under her command.
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1897 edition. Excerpt: ... 303 CHAPTER I Ecclesiastical reforms introduced by Isabella--Death of Cardinal Mendoza--Ximenfo--His rise--Is confessor to the Queen--Disorders of the Franciscans--Ximends Archbishop of Toledo--Reform of the clergy--Opposition--Concurrence of Isabella--Policy of Ximenes after the death of Isabella-- Is regent of the kingdom after the death of Ferdinand--His expedition to Oran--Founds the university of Alcala--The Polyglot Bible--He resigns the kingdom to Charles V.--His fall--Death. Isabella, as we have already seen, would take no part in the Italian wars. She looked upon the expedition and conquest as coming within the province rather of her ambitious consort; for the Princes of Arragon had long since regarded Naples as their own. But with whatever pride she may have viewed the marvellous success of the Great Captain she had singled out, her cares were devoted exclusively to the internal government of her beloved Castile, and especially to the reforms to be introduced into the religious Orders, a matter which singularly interested her. Cardinal Mendoza, Archbishop of Toledo, one of the Queen's most influential counsellors, was just dead (1495). He had succeeded the fiery Archbishop Carillo, who had taken so large a part in the ignominious downfall of Henry IV. at the scene of Avila. Wiser and far more respectful than he of the royal authority, Mendoza devoted himself, his counsels, and his great influence to the service of the Queen. In those days the position of an Archbishop of Toledo, Primate of Spain, almost equalled that of the Sovereign, and thus he came to be termed the third King of Spain. The death of Cardinal Mendoza left a great void in the council of the Crown. The Queen, struck by this circumstance, asked Mendoza on his...
"The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic" in 3 volumes is one of the best-known works by the American historian William Hickling Prescott. Isabella I (1451-1504) was Queen of Castile from 1474 and Queen consort of Aragon from 1479, reigning over a dynastically unified Spain jointly with her husband Ferdinand II (1452-1516). 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. Isabella's marriage to Ferdinand in 1469 created the basis of the de facto unification of Spain. Isabella and Ferdinand are known for completing the Reconquista, ordering conversion or exile to their Jewish and Muslim subjects, and for supporting and financing Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage that led to the opening of the New World and to the establishment of Spain as a major power in Europe and much of the world for more than a century.