Isabella and Ferdinand: What Do Their Internal Motivations - Assignment Example

Isabella and Ferdinand: Their internal Motivations Introduction Queen Isabella of Castille and King Ferdinand of Aragon together succeeded in uniting Spain as a nation like no other Spanish monarchs that preceded them. Prior to their remarkable reign in the mid to late 15th century, Spain had been collection of loosely associated republics ruled by competing monarchs and existing uneasily along side the presence of Moorish kingdoms that had crossed the strait the Gibraltar from Northern Africa to claim Spanish territory. After their deaths Spain was a unified political entity, reversing the conquests by the Moors, ruled by a centralized monarchy characterized by its strong brand of Catholicism, and growing into a imperial maritime nation that launched its fateful exploration of the new world. To understand the driving forces of both monarchs and their unique collaborative effort it is necessary to delve into their respective origins and their motivations for their feats. This paper will explore the origins of both rulers and their motivations for their actions during their reign and how the union was so successful. Origins: Isabella of Castille Isabella of Castille succeeded her half brother Henry IV in 1474. Some historians have painted Henry IV's reign in ignominious terms. They point to the ascendancy of powerful nobles who rather than serve their king were very much in pursuit of their own selfish ends leading to an ongoing civil war. A writer from Castille of the 1480's, Andres Bernaldez said of him "justice became moribund and force ruled; greed reigned and decadent sensuality spread, and the cruel temptation of sovereignty overcame the humble persuasion of obedience" 1 This may have been the case to a degree but it tended to paint Henry IV in broad strokes which failed to consider the promising period of his early reign beginning in 1454. Perhaps the great success of his half sister heightened the sense of King Henry's shortcomings but they also were the training ground for Isabella's new direction with the throne. Early in his reign Henry had a good deal of authority but later it seemed he was forced to barter control in return for allegiance. He was hampered by a number of administrative limitations placed upon him. He received no taxes, had no standing army and, by in large, depended on the loyalty of nobles to his authority. Furthermore he made many compromises with members of the nobility parceling out land and favors so that he could build support for succession by his daughter Joanna. The trouble was he made many enemies with key members of the aristocracy as Woodward points out: “ In 1464 certain aristocratic factions, like the Enriquez and Manrique families and the archbishops of Toledo and Seville, who resented Henry's autocratic style of kingship, were joined by the Marquis of Villena when he was dismissed as the King's principal adviser.” 2 The lessons that Isabella learned observing her half brother served her well later. First she knew and managed the fact that the King favored his daughter Joanna as a successor more so than her, and second that she learned to centralize her power so that she could not be undermined like him. From the very outset Isabella demonstrated a remarkable political acumen. She stood first as an outsider championed by the nobles that challenged King Henry's rule. Then when she had assumed a position from which to bargain with considerable support behind her, she surprised all around her by refusing to back an overthrow of the king and respecting his authority. This did much to engender the trust of the king. She then assumed the mantle of successor of the throne but further added to her claim by suggesting to King Henry that Joanna was not his legitimate daughter. Isabella had been witness to much in her short life. Her father King John II's death in 1454 paving the way for the accession of her half brother King Henry IV had forced both her and her half brother Alfonso onto the sidelines. They had been brought back into the political world as Alfonso became the choice for the new regent to replace the unpopular King Henry IV. The King suggested the possibility of compromise, offering succession to Alfonso if he in turn agreed to marry his daughter Joanna. Initially Alfonso agreed but then reneged on the agreement leading to further escalation of the conflict. Alfonso's early death paved the way for the support falling behind his sister, Isabella. Perhaps Isabella learned from her brother's mistakes and whatever may have been the case she made a stronger claim to the throne through her precocious shrewdness. While Isabella demonstrated remarkable instincts it did not harm her cause that her husband and co-sovereign Ferdinand was a remarkably astute politician, respected by no less a figure than Niccolo Machiavelli author of the seminal work on dealing in real politic. Ferdinand of Aragon Ferdinand of Arragon has been done something of a disservice in the historical record portrayed as a secondary figure to the great personality of Isabella but he was instrumental in securing the throne for Isabella in the aftermath of her half brother's death in 1474, and in the turmoil that followed. Ferdinand had also been witness to the undermining of his father's royal authority during his reign. The kingdom of Arragon was marked by a recent civil war and threats from abroad when Ferdinand assumed the throne in 1479 but he spent the earlier years using his considerable acumen aiding Isabella in a war for succession of the throne of Castille with her cousin Joanna and in fending of the the territorial advances of the king of Portugal. It was Ferdinand who assumed control of the Castillian armed forces and fended off the Portuguese and the collective forces of the nobles who wished Joanna to replace Isabella. The union of Isabella and Ferdinand: The Early years Isabella and Ferdinand were married in 1469. Kamen suggests that Alfonso Carillo, the Archbishop of Toledo made the arrangement for the marriage for purposes of strategy in a power game with supporters of Joanna, "In search of allies, Carrillo committed Isabella (in January 1469) to marry the son of King Juan II of Arragon, related by marriage to Isabella's supporters the Enriquez family." 3 Regardless of motivation history proved the union to be a wise choice for the political fortunes of the country. Initially the union was not well received on a number of fronts. King Henry IV, most notably, greatly disapproved of the union and withdrew his support of Isabella's claim to the throne but at this point it did not matter, as he was ailing and did not stop Isabella's regency. The first order of business for Isabella and Ferdinand as the new joint rulers of Castille was reversing the invasion of the Portuguese King, an invasion from the French in the north and quelling a civil insurrection that included the former engineer of the match between Isabella and Ferdinand, Carillo. These may have seemed insurmountable challenges but the mutual alliance of the two new sovereigns dealt with them in succession. In their support the two new sovereigns had the timely support of the Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza and a number of other noblemen. The decisive victory against the civil insurrection which was supported by the Portuguese came at the Battle of Toros in 1476. Throughout this conflict it was clear that the support of Ferdinand was instrumental not only in the forces he had under him as the heir to the throne of Arragon but also in the new alliances he forged with other neighboring powers. The pendulum swung both ways, for at the resolution of the Castilian conflict, the Kingdom of Arragon was similarly under siege from outside forces. The support of Castille was not the only ace that Ferdinand used; he further his skillful diplomatic forays and enlisted the support of outside forces from Naples and Burgundy and secured Arragon for his father King Juan II. At the conclusion of these conflicts a meeting of nobles took place where a number of administrative changes were made in the centralization of royal authority in the government of Castille and Arragon These changes were the most important changes and the true legacy of Isabella and Ferdinand. A peace was made with France in 1478 and the remaining civil wars came to an end in 1479. In this same year Ferdinand's father King Juan II died and Ferdinand became king of Arragon The two kingdoms were now firmly united and Ferdinand placed his base in Castille alongside Isabella ruling Arragon for the most part in absentia. The formal institutionalization of the monarchy as the central authority began in 1480 and continued on into 1481. Ferdinand with his customary thoroughness to detail ensured that cities across Spain swore allegiance to the new rulers. The underlying motivation for such actions can be clearly re-traced to the degree of anarchy that both Isabella and Ferdinand had been witness in their early lives. With the country unified the threat of the Moorish presence in Spain came to the attention of the newly powerful monarchs. Perhaps it was an understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of their authority as much as a sincere belief in their cause that the new monarchs launched an offensive on alien faiths in the form of an inquisition and a war on the Moors principally against the the city of Granada which was under Moorish rule and increasingly defiant of an outside authority. The Recapture of Granada and the war against Heresy The Moors conquest of the town of Zahara 1481 provided the immediate pretext for declaration of war as Prescott elegantly describes the motives: No sooner had Ferdinand and Isabella restored internal tranquility to their dominions, and made the strength effective, which had been acquired by their union under one government, than they turned their eyes to those fair regions of the Peninsula, over which the Moslem crescent had reigned triumphant for nearly eight centuries. Fortunately an act of aggression on the part of the Moors furnished a pretext for entering on their plan of conquest, at the moment when it was ripe for execution. 4 The plan was 10 years in the execution as the Moors proved to be difficult foes. Throughout these campaigns Ferdinand served as the principal commander and he again provides evidence of a greatness of his own, distinct from his wife, Isabella. In 1492 Granada fell to the forces of Ferdinand. Even with this victory, Isabella and Ferdinand did not cease in their efforts to secure the political legitimacy of their rule. Along with reclamation of land from Moorish conquest was the institution of the Spanish Inquisition which sought to systematically purge the heterogeneous group of beliefs that existed in Spain at the time as a consequence of traffic from North Africa. Some historians, Henry Kamen, among them have argued effectively that the mission of the Inquisition was less guided by anti-Islamic or anti-semitic – as Jewish people also suffered under its sway- feelings but with the desire to centralize the political authority of the new order under Isabella and Ferdinand. Undoubtedly the Inquisition became an instrument of totalitarian injustice but the point remains that the evidence suggests that Isabella and Ferdinand were driven by the political motives that grew out of their mutual need to reinforce the legitimacy of their rule . Unfortunately as Loomie points out it changed the cultural landscape of the nation: “The medieval coexistence of Christianity with Judaism was over, and the poorly concealed ambition of the "Old Christian" majority to hold the exclusive access to positions of importance in Arragon and Castille was assured. The other medieval minority, the Muslims, would face a similar decree of conversion or expulsion for different reasons” 5 Remarkably the dual sovereigns were restless throughout their rule. The energy and drive to ensure the idea of a unified Spain under their authority did not rest at their own borders. Imperial Ambitions and the Discovery of the New World Having secured their authority and established an intimate relationship with the Catholic church which reinforced their political rights with spiritual authority, Isabella and Ferdinand continued to explore other avenues to strengthen the new unified Spain that they had succeeded in creating . As Storrs says they continued in an almost indomitable way, “ "They had also initiated Spanish expansion into Italy and north Africa. Their diplomacy ensured that Spain's growing empire would soon include the Low Countries. Spain's empire continued to expand, to include Portugal" 6 The expansion was in extension no doubt of the desire to control the elements of anarchy from incursions that had characterized their early lives in their respective kingdoms. In 1492 Christopher Columbus under the royal patronage of Isabella and Ferdinand became first European of his era to discover a path to the New World of America. Unknown to Isabella and Ferdinand it was to be the most far reaching result of their restless ambition in so far as establishing the extent of Spanish influence in the modern world. It was perhaps fitting that this discovery would occur during their rule because it is a living testament of their energy and drive to secure their nation. Conclusion Isabella's and Ferdinand's reign was characterized an indefatigable energy that succeeded in securing their authority through both political and spiritual channels. Having both been subject to anarchic political forces throughout their early lives it seemed they responded in many far sighted ways to ensure the land around them would be secure and under their considerable authority. To the modern sensibility the totalitarian aspects of the Inquisition the took place under their rule can be better understood out of less a an inherent intolerance but the willful desire to to ensure the validity of their rule. Under their rule Spain grew into a great Imperial nation whose footprints can be seen even today in the establishment of Spanish culture throughout North and South America. WORKS CITED "Isabella I." In The Columbia Encyclopedia 6th ed., edited by Lagass, Paul. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. Database on-line. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=101251088. Internet. Accessed 25 June 2006. Kamen, Henry. Spain, 1469-1714: A Society of Conflict. 2nd ed. London: Longman, 1991. Book on-line. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=25044837. Internet. Accessed 25 June 2006. Loomie, Albert J. "The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision." Theological Studies 60, no. 2 (1999): 365. Database on-line. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001267504. Internet. Accessed 25 June 2006. Prescott, Willam H. History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella: The Catholic. Vol. 1. Boston: John B. Russell, 1837. Book on-line. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5266669. Internet. Accessed 25 June 2006. Prescott, William H. History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic. Vol. 2. Boston: American Stationers' Co., 1838. Book on-line. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=70541048. Internet. Accessed 25 June 2006. Prescott., William Hickling. History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic. Vol. 3. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1962. Book on-line. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=98950057. Internet. Accessed 25 June 2006. Storrs, Christopher. "Spain's Road to Empire the Making of a World Power, 1492-1763." History Today, May 2003, 77. Database on-line. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5008183944. Internet. Accessed 25 June 2006. Sued-Badillo, Jalil. "Christopher Columbus and the Enslavement of the Amerindians in the Caribbean." Monthly Review, July-August 1992, 71+. Database on-line. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002178475. Internet. Accessed 25 June 2006. Woodward, Geoffrey. "Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain 1474-1516 a Re-assessment." History Review (1998): 11. Database on-line. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001402931. Internet. Accessed 25 June 2006. Read More