About Me

I was born on April 22, 1451 in Madrigal de las Alas Torres, Ávila. I was named after my mother, Isabella of Portugal who was married to John II of Castile, my father. When I was only three years old, my father died leaving the kingdom to my half brother Henry IV who made my life miserable. My mother and brother Alfonso had to move to Arévalo and though living was difficult there, my desire to learn about Castilian politics kept me from going insane. After many complications considering the true successor of the throne, I was named Queen of Castile and León on January 20, 1479. My marriage to Ferdinand II of Aragon not only expanded our power, but also our territory. Together, we unfied Spain permanently and have our kingdom was based on Catholicism. Therefore, our monarch turned into a Catholic Monarch. There were many disagreements and chaos that happened to my kingdom because of my desire of a Catholic centered Spain. I had six children, four daughters and two sons. Isabella, John, Joanna, Maria, Catherine, and Peter but he died young. Each on of them married into another territory which only benefited us by expanding it. Catherine was the first wife of King Henry VIII of England, Joanna’s son Charles V became Holy Roman Emperor as well as King of Spain. My husband, Ferdinand, and I agreed on everything together. We ruled together equally without any unbalanced decisions. I am widely known as the queen who financed Columbus and his voyage in search of a westward route to India. Spain could be known as the country that started the mass of explorations around the world. I was ambitious as a queen though not power hungry. Like I stated before, Ferdinand and I ruled equally which meant that if there was a fault in one of our decisions, the other would help to found what to do so that we could improve or finalize that final decision. Maybe for that reason, our country became stronger and more stable than it had before. I was also very curious even as a young child. I always wanted to learn about new things, even when Henry tried to keep me away from his political problems that he was having when he ruled, I always ended up knowing because of my curiosity. Sometimes I could also be daring of trying new things. When Henry would not approve of my marriage with Ferdinand, I ran away to him so that we could even though I knew what the consequences would have been. Another time was when I had to banish all the Jews and Muslims from Spain because of the contradictory religion. My work of stabilizing Spain also brought great benefits to not only the country, but to future generations as well. For example, Charles V, Joanna’s son, ruled with great authority and power because of such a strong foundation to start from. I would say that I wasn’t a bad queen but I also wasn’t a great queen either, every person has their faults here and there but I am just glad that I had my dear husband Ferdinand to rely on.

A Harsh Banishment

It wasn't my intention to expel the Jews and Muslims from Spain. Yes, I wanted a Catholic country but no, I didn't expect to see more than 200,000 Jews and Muslims getting banished from Spain. This all started with a friar by the name of Tomás de Torquemada. He convinced Ferdinand to take harsh measures in order to solve the problems of having other religions in our country. A decree, the Alhambra Decree or Edict of Expulsion, was made so that no Jew or Muslim were allowed to live in Spain, some converted but most were excommunicated. March 31, 1492 was a day where things got very complicated in Spain. It was sad to see so many of my people go, but it had to be done. After the banishment, Ferdinand and I was named Catholic monarchs by Pope Alexander VI. However, I didn't really favor Pope Alexander because he seemed very secularized and controversial to his beliefs. After the expulsion of the Jews and Muslims, Ferdinand and I continued to have a Catholic Spain and we sought to keep Spain under one religion, Roman Catholicism. Having the whole country being united in one religion could have been the cause of uprisings and chaos that happened because of religious reasons.
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A Voyage to Where?

When Columbus first told me that he was going to find a route westward to India, I thought the idea was absurd.  Columbus went through a series of explanations to describe how the voyage would be a success but Ferdinand and I had many doubts. After about one to two years, my curiosity led me to fund Columbus for mere interest to see if there might actually be a new route or possible a new world. We provided him three ships by the name of Niña, Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Columbus signed a contract stating that if he were to find anything, such as gold, Ferdinand and I would receive 10% of all his profits. "I will assume the undertaking for my own crown of Castile , and am ready to pawn my jewels to defray the expenses of it, if the funds in the treasury should be found inadequate." After that, he and his crew were off in search for a new route on August 3rd. I was shocked to receive a letter declaring that he has find land and possible had landed in India. Columbus promised to bring back gold, which he did, but he also brought natives and received an honorary welcome. After Columbus, more and more explorers sought new land to bring riches and gain fame. Confusion erupted as Portugal believed that South America belonged to them, which is preposterous. However, Ferdinand and I agreed to sign the Treaty of Tordesillas which meant that eastern lands belonged to Portugal and western lands belonged to Spain, us.
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Complicated Betrothals

I was betrothed to John II of Aragon's son, Ferdinand, since I was three. At the time, it didn't really matter to me who he was because of my young age. Henry separated the betrothal so that I can marry John II's second son, Charles IV of Navarre. Thankfully, his father refused for him to marry me, though his intentions are still unknown to me. Maybe the betrothal between me and Ferdinand were of more importance than that of Charles'. Henry asked several men, whom I did not enjoy the company of, if I were to put it nicely. Edward IV kindly declined which I was greatful for, but I had to refuse Alfonso V because of the enormous age difference that we had. I think the worst betrothal, though, was that of Pedro Giron. At the time, I was 16 and he was 43. I prayed for what seemed like endless nights so that this marriage would not be accepted but it did. Very fortunately, while Don Pedro was riding to come and meet me for the first time, his appendix gave out and died. I didn't expect such a harsh way of this marriage to end but at least there was no marriage. Henry tried many more suitable kings or men that can strengthen his kindom but during that time, I thought back to Ferdinand and how he was the best candidate for me. John II tried to negotiate a secret wedding because he knew that Henry would get extremely angry, however that was not the only issue. It seemed as if my grandfather and Ferdinand's grandfather were brothers, which meant that we needed to be granted by the pope. After many complications, the wedding could finally adjourn. It was absolutely romantic in my opinion, I pretended to visit dear Alfonso's grave in Avila while Ferdinand dressed as a merchant to meet me in Castile. We wed on October 19, 1469 in Valladolid. Soon, Henry found out and tried to break the marriage but the pope resolved it with the Papal Bull, to which we were grateful.
 
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Henry's Effect on My Life

After our father died, Henry took the throne and named himself Henry IV. Because Alfonso, my mother, and I had no other business we moved to Arévalo. It was horrible there and that is all that I can say. The castle had extremely poor conditions and we couldn't do anything about it because Henry didn't financially support us as he had to. The shortage of money didn't help at all either. However, mother believed in a good strong education so Alfonso and I would sometimes spend our days chasing rabbits and coming back to the castle to do our daily lessons with mother which consisted of reading, spelling, writing, grammar, mathematics, art, chess, dancing, embroidery, music, and religious readings. When I finally thought that things would start to turn around, Henry's dear wife Joan was having a baby and we had to leave our mother. Mother at the time, was beginning to lose her sanity, from old age or maybe just the castle, I might never know. "Queen Joan" was an idiotic woman, in my perspective, though if I ever mentioned that to Henry, I would have been beheaded faster than Joan's baby would have arrived on this world. I then moved to Segovia where my life really did improve there. Henry tried to keep his kingdom's problems from me, but of course I knew. His nobles confronted him one day and stated that they want Alfonso to be king instead of him, obviously Henry wasn't doing a very good job. The nobles sided with Alfonso and went to war with Henry. Henry eventually agreed to let Alfonso become king and even let him marry Joanna, his daughter. But again, Henry decided to take everything back but it was too late because Alfonso was already named king but then he soon died and so I had to confront Henry to change the succession of the throne from Joanna to me. From that day on, I was Queen Isabella of Castile and Léon.
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