Isabel of Castile and the making of the Spanish nation, 1451-1504

There are some characters in history, whose reputation for heroism is beyond reproach in the eyes of the general public. There are others, however, whose claims to glory are ard...

“I the King ... make known to you that by the grace of Our Lord, this Thursday just past the Queen Doña Isabel, my dear and well-beloved wife, was delivered of a daughter; the w...

Henry IV. had been merely a figurehead at the meeting of Fuenterrabia, a rôle to which with his habitual lethargy he had no objection. When, however, he attempted to obtain poss...

The news of Henry IV.’s death was the signal for Isabel’s proclamation as Queen in Segovia. Riding through the crowded streets, her palfrey led by two of the “regidores” of the...

were sent at once to Rome, who, mainly through French influence, wrung the desired bull from Sixtus IV. Fortune seemed to throw her weight into his scales, for in January, 1477,...

Isabel and Ferdinand had emerged victorious from the Portuguese war; but the wounds their power had received were to be long in healing; and one at least, the poverty of their e...

“A people that for generations had lived to fight.” This summary of the Castilian race explains the fervour of enthusiasm with which the project of renewed war against Granada w...

The kingdom of Granada had been cut off by land and sea from outward assistance, her plains and valleys had been ravaged by a foreign foe, her principal towns were torn by the f...

Some allusion has already been made in our introductory chapter to the character of the Castilian Church in mediæval times. Strongly national in its resentment of papal interfer...

The Inquisition, which made life impossible for Spanish heretics, had no direct power over unbaptized Jews, since it could not convict them of apostasy in connection with a fait...

The name of Christopher Columbus stands already on the roll of “Heroes of the Nations.” “Hero of two nations” we should perhaps call him,—by birth a son of Genoa, and by adoptio...

If it is true that the trappings of the monk often conceal the wearer’s individuality, it might be added that so also do royal robes. The contemporary historian is apt to portra...

A cloud of grief hung over Spain, but abroad her sun was rising. The union of Castile and Aragon, the Conquest of the Moors, the campaign against heresy, the discovery of unknow...

The peace that she had done so much to promote and that her presence had insured was threatened by the incapacity of her successor, and by the restless rivalry of the Archduke P...

Columbus, Christopher, early life, 286; nautical theories, 291; appears at Spanish Court, 295; character, 294, 298, 300, 302, 314; appearance, 295; prepares to leave Spain, 299;...