Queen Isabella of Spain, Servant of God: Part One: The Princess

Note: This is going to be a three part series with lots of history. Isabella and the events of her life are so woefully misunderstood today, even to the point of being incorrectly taught in Catholic schools, that there’s a need for extra details. Of course, if you want even more details, I highly recommend her biography written by William Thomas Walsh. It’s a fascinating and a wonderfully Catholic and factual account of her life. Isabella of Spain: The Last Crusader

Have you ever wondered why the queen is the most powerful piece on the chessboard, even though the king is more important? She dashes around in all directions and rushes to his aid when he’s in check. She’s more valuable to the king than all his bishops, knights, and castles. But that’s not the way it used to be. In the original game of chess, developed in northern India in the 6th century, the king’s counterpart was once a kind of vizier or advisor, and could only move one space at a time, like the king. It wasn’t until Queen Isabella of Spain was at the height of her power in the late 15th century that the modern form of this chess piece developed. As we shall see, this was no accident.

Isabella of Castile is woefully misunderstood in our day and age. Her life and actions have been misrepresented as being motivated by greed, lust for power, and intolerance. Her involvement in the Inquisition, the crusades against the Moors, and Columbus’s voyage to the New World are often portrayed in an unfavorable light at best, and at worst, in a hostile one. Living in a post-modern and post-Christian society makes it difficult for us to understand the world as it was when Queen Isabella lived, during the transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, at the dawn of the Age of Exploration. Despite how she is typically portrayed, Isabella was a truly devout Catholic woman, and all that she did during her life, and especially during her reign as queen, was done for the glory of God and His Church, and for the good of her people.

When Isabella was born in 1451, Spain did not exist as a united political entity. Like many regions during this time, it was a puzzle of smaller kingdoms, some united to each other through treaties or marriage, the largest of which were Castile and Aragon. The Muslim Turks were a very real threat to Christendom at this time. After taking Constantinople in 1453, they were poised to conquer Rome itself. In Western Europe they had been steadily pushed back, since the time of Charles Martel, until they only controlled Granada, the southern tip of Spain, from where there was a constant threat of their reconquest of the Christian West. The Jews also caused much unrest in Spain during this time, not least of all because they often allied with and aided the Muslims against their common enemy, the Christians. Violence between Jews and Christians was brutal and frequent.

Isabella was born to King Juan II of Castile and his second wife Doña Isabella of Portugal. Her younger brother Alfonso was born three years later. Shortly after, the king died, and his son by his first wife became King Enrique (Henry) IV. Enrique was not the sovereign his father would have wished to leave behind. Irreligious, cruel, and immoral, his reign was one filled with scandal and unrest. Isabella and Alfonso had lived happily with their mother, even though their living conditions were difficult because Enrique did not give them the income his father had intended them to receive. Isabella and Alfonso were carefully brought up by their mother to be educated and devout Catholics.

The members of the royal family were not the only ones to suffer during Enrique’s rule. Crime was rampant, travel was dangerous due to the number of bandits, the economy was in shambles, and the government was bankrupt. There were factions of the nobles who sought to depose Enrique and replace him with his half-brother Alfonso. (As a male, he was in line for the throne before Isabella.) Matters became more serious when Enrique’s wife gave birth to a daughter, Juana, but there were serious doubts as to her legitimacy. In 1467, when Alfonso was only fourteen, many nobles approached him and convinced him to rise up against Enrique. After a single battle between the supporters of Enrique and those of Alfonso, the king agreed to recognize Alfonso as his successor, provided he marry Juana. All would have been well, but the following year Alfonso died suddenly, either the result of the plague, or as was not uncommon, poisoning.

Alfonso had named Isabella as his successor, and now the nobles approached her and asked her to rise up against Enrique and claim the throne. She refused, and in order to end the rebellion, she met with Enrique to work out an agreement. He reluctantly recognized her as his successor, and she in turn agreed not to marry without his consent, though the final power of refusal rested with Isabella. The question of Isabella’s marriage had long been undecided. Enrique had arranged betrothals for her to various rulers, princes, and nobles, all for political gain, and all of them had failed to end in an actual marriage for a variety of reasons. Finally a marriage was successfully arranged between Isabella and Prince Fernando of Aragon. They married in 1469, when Isabella was eighteen years old (Fernando was 17). In addition to being a strategic political alliance, Fernando and Isabella were well suited for each other, and their mutual affection blossomed into a deep and true love. Five years into their marriage, Enrique died, and Isabella became the Queen of Castile.

Isabella and Fernando jointly ruled their two kingdoms of Castile and Aragon (after Fernando’s father died in 1479). They shared all power equally, which was unusual for their time. Together they worked to reverse the problems which existed in their realms. They sought to bring peace and prosperity to a troubled kingdom, and to bring unity to the Iberian Peninsula. Tune in next week when we look at how they accomplished their goals.