( Isabel of Castille - © Royal Collection Trust )
Today, we remember the anniversary of the death of Isabella of Castile. Isabella of Castile is best known for being the mother of Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and of course, being the mother of Joanna of Castile who was Queen of Castile and Aragon in her own right. First and foremost, Isabella was Queen of Castile in her own right but also Queen of Aragon as the wife of Ferdinand II. They are referred to as the first monarchs of Spain. She was born on 22nd April 1451 and died on 26th November 1504. She would not see her daughter Catherine become Queen of England as Catherine did not marry Henry until 1509 and Catherine’s marriage to Henry would arguably be the most well-known part when it comes to looking at Isabella’s life and her relatives. She reigned as Queen of Castile and Aragon from 1474 and 1479 respectively until her death. Also, she was deeply religiously devoted and her life was dominated by this.
This article will explore the later years of Isabella’s life from around ten years before her death and her legacy. We will ask the following questions: what were the last years of her reign like? What was her marriage like? Who are her most well-known relatives?
Firstly, Isabella was born in Madrigal de las Altas Torres in Spain to John II of Castile and Isabella of Portugal. She would become the sole heir to the kingdom of Castile after being appointed by her half-brother, Henry IV of Castile. Her younger brother, Alfonso, had died young leaving the path open for Isabella. She would become Queen in 1474 upon Henry’s death after winning the war of succession. Isabella sought to marry well and she was highly wanted in the marriage market. In 1469, she married Ferdinand II of Aragon. He would become King in 1479, leading to Isabella becoming Queen of Castile. The marriage is seen as creating modern Spain with Isabella and Ferdinand as joint monarchs. The marriage produced five children: Isabella, Juan, Catherine, Juana, and Maria. Isabella and Juan would die during Isabella’s life.
The early years of her reign had involved the conquering of Grenada, a Muslim stronghold. It was the aim of Isabella to bring Spain under the Catholic Church which led to the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain. Also, this involved the Spanish Inquisition which involved torturing those who were not Catholic and forcing them to submit to the Catholic faith. If they didn’t, they would be executed. Even though these events happened during the middle of Isabella’s reign, they are the most memorable of her ‘achievements’, so to speak. It could be argued her reign changed during the last decade of her life. In addition to these historical events, Isabella granted permission to Christopher Columbus to set sail on the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus eventually found a new island and brought back inhabitants as slaves to Spain. Isabella was against this and ordered them to be set free. She was concerned with the problems associated with Columbus’ discoveries up to her death.
A defining moment of the last years of her reign was the death of her only son Juan in 1497. As we know, the medieval era was a dangerous time for female heirs and monarchs so the loss of her son would have hit Isabella hard. As Juan’s death occurred in 1497 and then her daughter Isabella’s death in 1504, it is clear to see that their deaths affected her greatly due to the short time that they occurred. Her daughter Isabella had died in childbirth. The child Isabella had given birth to was a son called Miguel, but he too died in 1500 not long after his mother. Isabella had been Queen of Portugal at the time of her death so this would have hurt Spain politically too. Three deaths had occurred during the last decade of Isabella’s life, this would have led to trauma and the realisation that time was precious. As Isabella was deeply religious, she would have turned to God for comfort during this time. Her remaining children were Catherine, Juana, and Maria.
The elder of the three was Juana and she would become Isabella’s heir. She would become Queen on the death of her mother in 1504 and, Queen of Aragon in 1516. She died in 1555 leaving the crown to her son, Charles, who would become Holy Roman Emperor. Historically Juana is known as ‘Juana the Mad’ and she spent most of her life imprisoned with regents ruling on her behalf. We often wonder how Isabella would have reacted to this treatment of her daughter. The difference in their reigns is evident as Isabella had a long successful reign but Juana did not so that is interesting how different their lives were. The second eldest surviving daughter was Maria, and she married her sister’s widower, Manuel I of Portugal in 1500. There is a pattern occurring here. As we know, the other surviving daughter is Catherine and she went on to marry Arthur, Prince of Wales in 1501 but he died in 1502. Therefore, Catherine did a similar thing as her sister, Maria, as married her late husband’s brother, Henry VIII of England, in 1509.
Isabella and Ferdinand spent the final years of their reign together by securing Spanish control of Alcantara, Calatrava, and Santiago. This increased their wealth and power. It is interesting to find that this part was completed later in Isabella’s reign as normally securing control over dominions would be a monarch’s top priority, particularly in the medieval era. Also, Isabella sought to increase the power of the royal family, decreasing the power of the Spanish Parliament. This would have helped future monarchs of Spain to feel secure in their position. Besides this, she would have been overseeing the marriages of her surviving children as mentioned previously. As a mother, it would be expected that Isabella would organise her children’s education for their future royal positions, particularly her daughters. It could be argued that she was successful in this as all her children married into the royal houses of Europe.
Before her death, Isabella had sought comfort in prayer and remained religiously devoted even when she was ill. In her last months, she was bedridden in her palace suffering from a high fever and tiredness. However, she carried on with politics for as long as she could. She only stopped participating in politics in September of 1504. She began to write her will which stated her wish for the Iberian Peninsula to be united, for the continuation of control over the Strait of Gibraltar, for expansion into Muslim North Africa, and the reforming of the Spanish Church. Even in her will, she is focused on politics and military control. She died between 11 am and 12 pm on Tuesday 26th November 1504. It is clear to see that with the time being recorded, how important it was for history to document her death. On her death, Isabella had been Queen of Castile for thirty years and Queen of Aragon for twenty-five years.
As previously mentioned, Isabella was only Queen of Aragon as the wife of Ferdinand. Isabella had married him without the permission of Henry IV of Castile which indicates it may have been a love match and Isabella was apparently devoted to Ferdinand. They did successfully rule as joint monarchs of Spain. However, Ferdinand had mistresses, this was the norm in the medieval era. He also fathered two illegitimate children. It is believed that Isabella asked Ferdinand not to remarry after her death, but he did remarry for a second time to Germaine de Foix in 1505, only a year after Isabella’s death. Despite this, Ferdinand was buried alongside her when he died. Isabella’s coffin travelled to Grenada to be buried in the Franciscan monastery in the Alhambra Palace. Grenada had been a place she had conquered as a monarch, so it is interesting that she chose to be buried here. This may be because she wished to be remembered for this part of her reign.
So, how do we remember Isabella of Castile? How did she create a legacy in the royal European houses during the medieval era? Well, her most well-known daughter was Catherine of Aragon which I have previously spoken about.
Catherine’s marriage to Henry VIII of England only produced one surviving child after many pregnancies and the child was Mary I of England. Mary was Queen of England from 1553 to 1558. She was also the Queen of Spain as the wife of Philip II of Spain, whom she married in 1556 and they would remain married till Mary’s death. Philip was the great-grandson of Isabella making him and Mary cousins and thus, both related to Isabella. Mary did not have any children, so Isabella’s line only continued through her three daughters. Juana was the mother of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor who reigned from 1519 to 1556, he was also King of Spain from 1516 to 1556. He was the heir and head of the House of Habsburg. Finally, there was also Isabella of Portugal who was the daughter of Maria. She was the wife of Charles and was Empress Consort of the Holy Roman Empire and Queen of Spain. So, there were a few marriages involving cousins and this is how Isabella’s legacy was created.
As this article has been written to remember Isabella’s death, I will reflect on my thoughts about her. She lived to a good age, especially during this era, and had a long and complex reign with many major historical events occurring. She managed to marry her daughter into the English royal family meaning as historians we have a connection with her as we often read about her when researching Catherine.
A portrayal I have seen of Isabella of Castile is in The Spanish Princess. A particular scene stood out to me and it when was Isabella went off to fight and lead her own army. We are unsure if this is historically accurate but if it was, it would certainly be impressive as women were not expected to do that. Leading an army was a man’s job. Also, Catherine carries on this tradition in The Spanish Princess by leading her army to defeat the Scots at the Battle of Flodden in September 1513. Catherine also speaks about her mother leading an army when she was pregnant with her and riding out shortly after Catherine’s birth. Also, this series presents the struggle Catherine went through after the death of her mother as she was no longer the daughter of the Queen of Castile and so her marriage value dropped. This increased the difficulty in trying to marry Henry. This highlights how after a parent dies in the medieval era, it can lessen the value of royalty/peerage in the marriage markets. From this, Isabella is portrayed as a remarkable woman. I believe she was more involved in politics which was the norm for women, and I think being queen in her own right helped with this.
In addition to The Spanish Princess, Isabella was portrayed in The White Princess. Here we can see how she arranged the marriage of Catherine and Arthur. In this series, she won’t allow Catherine to be married to Arthur until Henry VII executed both Perkin Warbeck and Edward, Earl of Warwick. Here she is shown as a formidable woman and one not to be messed with. Also, Spain is presented as more majestic than England and this highlights how both Isabella and Ferdinand used their reign to establish this. Finally, Spain adapted their own TV series about Isabella, so she is a popular figure in Spanish history. I do believe we need to remember that the Inquisition involved the murder and torture of innocent people just because of what religion they belonged to. Isabella strongly defended her Catholic faith, and this led to the Inquisition and her wish to establish a strong Catholic faith. Spain would remain Catholic, particularly under Philip II as he was willing to go to war over Catholicism with Elizabeth I of England who was Protestant. It is important to remember the worst parts of her reign.
Overall, she was Queen in her own right, and this was rare in this era but would start to change.
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