The woman who created “an empire over which the sun did not set” is Queen Isabella I the Catholic. She unified Spain, expelled the Moors from Europe, sent Columbus on his famous expedition. Before the female charm of Isabella, no man could resist, but she remained faithful to her husband, King Ferdinand, all her life.
What kind of reform queen was she? An energetic and capable ruler who made a series of important decisions over several centuries that strongly influenced Spain and Latin America. Or a monster, a zealous Catholic woman, whose faith swept aside any doubts about her being wrong, and whose act brought unheard-of disasters to the peoples of Europe for many centuries after … the queen who founded the Inquisition.
In 1451, when Isabella was born in the city of Madrigal, Spain as such did not exist. Modern Spain at that time was divided into four states: Castile - the largest, Aragon - in the northeastern part of modern Spain, Navarre - in the east and the Granada Emirate, which belonged to the Moors.
Isabella's childhood was spent in solitude in the mountainous Castile, where her elder brother, King of Castile Enrique IV (Henry), sent her along with her younger brother Alfonso.
From the very beginning, Isabella was not prepared to rule Castile, it was assumed that the line of the eldest son Enrique would rule, that is, after his death, his children would become the owners of the Castilian crown. Her father died when the Infanta was 3 years old, she grew up with her mother - Isabella of Portugal.
At the end of 1460, Isabella, who was the likely heir to the throne of Castile, was the richest heiress in Europe, and various princes sought her hand. Enrique IV tried to marry his sister Isabella by offering her several candidates, but she rejected his options, choosing Ferdinand, Prince of Aragon. Isabella was told so many times about the heir to the Aragonese throne Fernando (Ferdinand) that she fell in love with him in absentia - from a portrait, or maybe the ambitious princess just wanted to avoid the political tutelage of her husband chosen by her brother?
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The marriage was secret, since King Enrique did not give his permission for it. The groom's retinue arrived in Castile, disguised as merchants. Since Isabella and Ferdinand were cousins to each other, marriage required the permission of the Pope. But Paul II did not dare to give it. Then the required document was forged in the expectation that the papal seal could be obtained retroactively. And so it happened. Two years later, Pope Sixtus IV gave them legal permission. Meanwhile, Isabella deceived her grandees, showing the authorization letter, which the pope approved orally and allegedly promised to sign.
The marriage contract concluded between the future spouses is quite remarkable. It was decided that the administration of the state should exclusively belong to Isabella, Ferdinand can only participate in it as her authorized representative, the acts of appointment and the pronouncement of court sentences should be carried out on behalf of both spouses, their names should be minted on coins, but the treasury and the army of Castile and Leona should be in Isabella's exclusive possession. Thus, the Castilian side and Isabella herself in the first place, insured against the excessive influence of Ferdinand in Castile. Isabella's influence in Aragon was not considered in any way. The young queen was very adventurous.
Enrique, enraged, and he had other plans for his sister, declared this marriage invalid. But in 1474, Enrique died suddenly and his death did not take Isabella by surprise. She behaved like an experienced politician. Two days after her brother's funeral, on December 13, 1474, Isabella received the crown of Castile from the treasurer's hands and crowned herself. Such agility confused even Ferdinand. And although even before the wedding he signed an agreement in which he recognized all the rights of his wife to the throne and his subordinate position, he was still offended. But Isabella also caressed her husband with a siren voice, imperious and at the same time melodious, which, according to the stories of contemporaries, fascinated all men, explained who should be the master in Castile. He didn't mind her anymore. Five years later, Ferdinand's father died, and he became king, and Isabella - queen of Aragon. From that moment on, both crowns united into a double monarchy.
At the time of accession to the throne of Isabella, the nobility in Castile was omnipotent. However, there was one large organization that did not obey them - the Sacred Brotherhood of Cities - Santa Ermandad, a kind of police force created to maintain public order. Isabella subjugated them and turned them into detachments of the people's militia, from which she could gather a well-armed army at any moment. As a result, the robbers and the military, who caused unrest throughout the country, were quickly destroyed, and the strongest noble clans returned to their estates from occupied foreign lands. Compliance with the law in Castile has become a prerequisite for promotion.
The war against the Emirate of Granada, the last stronghold of Mohammedanism in the Iberian Peninsula, resumed in 1481 and ended in 1492 with the complete victory of Isabella and Ferdinand. In 11 years of war, the best army in Europe has grown from a poorly trained militia. With the conquest of Granada, Spain received almost the same territory that it occupies today. The small state of Navarre was captured by Ferdinand in 1512 after the death of Isabella.
The time has come for a total dictatorship of power. In such an environment, Isabella could begin the final "liberation" of Spain from the Moors.
With the fall of Granada, the religious enthusiasm of the Spaniards peaked and inflamed hatred of the heretics. "Cross and Saint James!" - with these words they went to their death. All who did not profess the Catholic faith, that is, Mohammedans, Jews and compatriots who had deviated from the faith, became heretics.
Finally, in 1478, the Holy Inquisition was introduced. Pope Sixtus IV, with his bull, imposed on the “Catholic kings” Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile the duty to introduce a special tribunal in their lands to combat crimes against faith. But the tribunal practically did not work until the Dominican monk, the personal confessor of the queen, Maran, the super-fanatical Grand Inquisitor Thomas Torquemada, took up the case. The suspects had little or no opportunity to refute the charges against them. They were not read out the testimony or given the names of the prosecutors. Those who refused to plead guilty were subjected to terrible torture until the unfortunates confessed. By the most conservative estimates, at least nine thousand people were burned at the stake during the first twenty years of the Spanish Inquisition.
Significantly, the Inquisition was not intended to convert Jews to Catholicism, but in 1492, not without the influence of Torquemada, Ferdinand and Isabella signed a decree that all Jews living in Spain either convert to Catholicism or leave the country within four months, leaving all their property. For some 200,000 Spanish Jews, this expulsion decree was a disaster, and many perished before reaching refuge. In Spain, the loss of a large part of the most industrious and skilled traders and artisans led to the country's economic decline.
When Granada fell, a peace treaty allowed Muslims living in Spain to continue practicing their religion, but the Spanish government soon canceled the agreement. The Moors revolted, but their performances were suppressed. In 1502, all Muslims living in Spain were offered a choice - either Catholicism or exile, the same that was offered to the Jews a few years earlier. The announcement and execution of sentences was presented as “an act of faith, a testimony of faith, a manifestation of faith - an auto-da-fe”.
It is interesting to note that the Inquisition did not prosecute for nationality. Famous Marranos who held high posts were the Grand Inquisitor Torquemada, the Chancellor of King Ferdinand Louis de Santanel, the Treasurer of Aragon Gabriel Sanchez, the Royal Chamberlain Juan Cabrero, Columbus and many others.
Death came early to Isabella; she died at the age of 53 on November 26, 1504. Buried in the Cathedral of Granada, in the Royal Chapel.
The religious fanaticism of Ferdinand and Isabella and the founding of the Inquisition had a huge impact on the entire future history of the country. In Spain, the Inquisition only allowed tough Catholicism. By 1700, Spain was an intellectual backwater compared to the rest of Western Europe. It is not surprising that in a society where any manifestation of dissent threatened a person to be arrested by the Inquisition, there was a lack of individuality. Although it has been five hundred years since Ferdinand and Isabella founded the Inquisition, and 150 years since it was abolished, Spain has still not recovered from this enormous influence.
There is no doubt that Isabella was the outstanding daughter of her era. Beautiful, ambitious, educated, she forever turned the Moorish page of Spanish history and began writing the history of the New World. But the absolute power, concentrated in the hands of Isabella, multiplied by fanatical faith and infallible self-righteousness gave a monstrous result.
The influence of the Inquisition will grow and spread throughout Europe like a painful tumor, without knowing borders, seizing more and more territories, entering the palaces and houses of the poor as a mistress, causing massive psychosis, carrying with it the crippled lives and ashes of hundreds of thousands of people. The smoke of bonfires will cover the skies of Europe for three centuries. Perhaps the Inquisition is not the bloodiest event in human history, judging by the number of victims, but there is little that can compete with it in senselessness and insane cruelty, even from a modern point of view. More on this next time …