Spain: The
Politics of the Catholic Monarchs
Ferdinand/
Fernando II (King of Aragon from 1479-1516) and Isabella/Isabel I (Queen of
Castile from 1474-1504)
On the
morning of October 19, 1469, the marriage took place between Isabella and
Ferdinand, heirs respectively to the thrones of Castile and Aragon that would
have far-reaching consequences. The
omens were not favourable:
The
Catholic Monarchs:
• they were both teenagers, the older,
Isabella, being 18 years-old and her husband, Ferdinand, 17;
• Isabella's claim to the throne of
Castile was disputed, and Ferdinand’s claim to the throne of Aragon was
endangered by civil war;
• since they were cousins they married in
secret and required special papal dispensation, which turned out to be a
forgery concocted by Ferdinand and his supporters;
• both had numerous enemies, and in
Castile political conditions were chaotic, with powerful nobles determined to
retain their influence.
Nevertheless, Isabella succeeded to the
throne of Castile in 1474 and Ferdinand to that of Aragon in 1479.
Together,
Ferdinand and Isabella laid the foundations of Spain’s Golden Age (Siglo de
Oro), a period during which it became the largest empire the world had ever
seen. However, some clarification is in order here:
• although both monarchs worked closely
together in running the country, neither was officially more than a consort in
the other’s kingdom;
• both Castile and Aragon retained their
own laws and customs;
• the kingdom of Aragon included the
modern autonomous communities of Catalonia and Valencia, as well as southern
Italy (the kingdom of Naples) and Sicily and Sardinia;
• Castile because of its larger size and
greater population dominated the relationship;
• the term “Golden Age” tends to view
Spain’s achievements during this period through Castilian eyes
Ferdinand
and Isabella shared similar goals when they took power. These goals included:
• peace and order through the reduction
of aristocratic power and concentration of political authority in their hands;
• the support of the Cortes (Parliament),
the body that represented not only the nobility but also the church and the
municipalities;
• the conquest of the kingdom of Granada
(the last Muslim enclave in the peninsula), and religious uniformity.
That these
national goals were achieved says much for the organisational skills,
astuteness and maturity of Ferdinand and Isabella**. For the general public,
the best known of these goals is the conquest of Granada in 1492, followed by
the expulsion of those Jews and Muslims who refused to convert to Christianity.
An added bonus to the fame of the Reyes Católicos (Catholic Monarchs, a title
conferred on Ferdinand and Isabella by the Pope Alexander VI in 1494) was the
achievement of Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor who set out from the
south of Spain for India and found America, or Las Indias as they called it.
Perhaps
less generally known is that it was during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs
that the Spanish Inquisition became
a feared social scourge. Long dormant in
Aragon, it was introduced into Castile in 1478 at the request of Ferdinand and Isabella
to investigate the religious orthodoxy of conversos (Jewish converts to
Christianity). However, since it fell
under the direct control of the Crown, it became a political as well as
religious tool, and was to have a profound effect on Spanish society for
centuries.
On the
international front, the Catholic Monarchs sought to contain the influence of
Spain’s main rival, France. France had
already annexed the Catalan counties of Cerdanya and Rossello (in 1463) and
also invaded Naples (1495) which belonged to the crown of Aragon. Marriage was the most expedient way of
setting up alliances to contain France. The Monarchs succeeded in this by
marrying:
• their son and heir, Juan, to the
daughter of the powerful Hapsburg Emperor, Maximilian;
•
their eldest daughter, Isabel to Manuel of Portugal;
• another daughter, Catalina/Catherine to
Prince Arthur of England. (Catalina is the famous Catherine of Aragon who
married Henry VIII of England after the death of Arthur.)
An
unfortunate sequence of deaths, however, had unforeseen consequences. Juan died without issue in 1497, and then the
deaths of both Isabel of Portugal and her infant son soon after meant that the
right of succession to the Spanish throne passed to another daughter of Ferdinand
and Isabella: Juana, who –as it happens-- had married Maximilian’s son, the
Archduke Philip/ Felipe and was living in Flanders. Juana eventually succeeded to the throne of
Castile upon the death of Isabella in 1504, but her father, Ferdinand, remained
king of Aragon.
Fortune
didn’t favour either Juana or Philip.
Philip died suddenly in September 1506 when he’d hardly stepped on
Spanish soil, and Juana –whose mental health was delicate--was soon confined to
the isolated castle of Tordesillas.
Since their son and heir, Carlos/Charles, was only 6 and living in
Flanders, Ferdinand remained as regent of Castile (and King of Aragon) for 10
years, until his death in 1516.
Charles’s arrival in Spain in the following year as King of both Castile
and Aragon marks the beginning of the Hapsburg dynasty in Spain.
The Holy Brotherhood (1479) was a militia
created by the Catholic Monarchs in Castile to restore peace in the countryside
after the chaos of the Succession War (1474-1479)
The War of the Castilian Succession was the
military conflict contested from 1475 to 1479 for the succession of the Crown
of Castile fought between the supporters of Joanna la Beltraneja, daughter of
the late monarch Henry IV of Castile, and those of Henry's half-sister,
Isabella, who was ultimately successful.
The war had
a marked international character, as Isabella was married to Ferdinand, heir to
the Crown of Aragon, while Joanna was strategically married to King Afonso V of
Portugal, her uncle, after the suggestion of her supporters. France intervened
in support of Portugal, as they were rivals with Aragon for territory in Italy
and Roussillon
The war
between Castile and Portugal alone continued. This included naval warfare in
the Atlantic, which became more important: a struggle for maritime access to
the wealth of Guinea (gold and slaves). In 1478, the Portuguese navy defeated
the Castilians in the decisive Battle of Guinea.
The war
concluded in 1479 with the Treaty of Alcáçovas, which recognized Isabella and
Ferdinand as sovereigns of Castile and granted Portugal hegemony in the
Atlantic, with the exception of the Canary Islands. Joanna lost her right to
the throne of Castile and remained in Portugal until her death.
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the
Inquisition was
established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I
of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms
and to replace the Medieval Inquisition, which was under Papal control. It
became the most substantive of the three different manifestations of the wider
Christian Inquisition along with the Roman Inquisition and Portuguese
Inquisition. The "Spanish Inquisition" may be defined broadly,
operating "in Spain and in all Spanish colonies and territories, which included
the Canary Islands, the Spanish Netherlands, the Kingdom of Naples, and all
Spanish possessions in North, Central, and South America." For the period
during which Portugal and Spain were under common rule consult Portuguese Inquisition
and Goa Inquisition.The Inquisition was originally intended in large part to
ensure the orthodoxy of those who converted from Judaism and Islam. This
regulation of the faith of the newly converted was intensified after the royal
decrees issued in 1492 and 1502 ordering Jews and Muslims to convert or leave
Spain.The body was initiated and under the control of the Spanish monarchy. It
was not definitively abolished until 1834, during the reign of Isabella II,
after a period of declining influence in the previous century.The Spanish
Inquisition is often cited in popular literature and history as an example of
Catholic intolerance and repression. Modern historians have tended to question
earlier and wildly exaggerated accounts concerning the severity of the
Inquisition
Exercises:
1. Chart
with information about the catholic monarchs: drawbacks to the throne, Spanish
empire, goals and marriages for territories.
2. Timeline
of the unit
