(1451-1504)
[Footnote 13: Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.]
[Illustration: Isabella. [TN]]
Isabella, the only daughter of John II., of Castile, and Isabella, of
Portugal, his second wife, was born in Madrigal, Spain, in 1451. Upon
the death of her father her elder half-brother succeeded to the throne
in 1454, as Henry IV. The queen dowager retired from court life with her
infant son Alfonso, and her daughter Isabella, then in her fourth year.
The royal children were reared by a wise mother in the seclusion of the
little town of Arevalo, until Isabella was twelve years old. How
carefully the seeds of character were sown in these early years is shown
by the after-fruits. Her fervent piety and unwavering faith, her strict
integrity and self-abnegation, disarmed the enemies of her crown, as
they disarm the unprejudiced historian of to-day. The verdict of four
hundred years is still: "Her faults were the faults of her age, her
virtues were her own." The quiet home life at Arevalo came suddenly to
an end in 1463, when King Henry arbitrarily ordered the infantas, as all
royal children are called in Spain, to repair to the palace as members
of his court. Thus at the early age of twelve years Isabella entered
upon her public career, and from thenceforth the eyes of the civilized
world were turned upon her. Shortly after, a revolution deposed Henry
and placed Alfonso upon the throne. Both kings had their followers, and
the boy-king, eleven years old, rode on horseback at the head of his
troops beside his appointed regent. But the crown was too heavy for the
young victim, and Alfonso was one morning found dead in his bed. To
Isabella, a beautiful girl of sixteen, the fallen crown was offered and
urged; but in spite of the fact that the old standard had already been
unfurled in her honor, and unmoved by the eloquence of the primate and
the arguments of the first nobles of the land, Isabella, with a wisdom
beyond her years, resolutely refused to take the throne. Her reasons
baffled her advisers: "So long as King Henry lives none other has the
right to wear the crown." She advised his reinstatement and promised to
help redress the wrongs of which the nation had the unquestioned right
to complain. An amnesty was declared and a reconciliation was effected;
but not until Henry had consented to divorce his queen and to
acknowledge Isabella as the heir-apparent to the throne in place of his
reputed daughter, Joanna. The cortes, or parliament, was assembled to
ratify the treaty, and at the same time, passed a resolution that the
infanta was not to be coerced in her matrimonial alliance. In 1468,
with great pomp and ceremony, Isabella was solemnly proclaimed Princess
of Asturias, heir-apparent to the throne of Castile and Leon. She is
described as of medium height, of fair complexion, regular features,
auburn hair, clear blue eyes, and with a sweet but serious expression
that told both sides of her character. She inherited from her father a
desire for knowledge and a love of literature, and was herself a fine
linguist. These graces of mind and person, added to her nearness to the
throne, soon brought many ardent suppliants from the principal thrones
of Europe for the honor of her hand. Her cousin, Prince Ferdinand of
Aragon, was her wise choice, and to him she was married, notwithstanding
her brother's opposition, in 1469. The brilliant wedding at Valladolid,
in the presence of the nobility and about two thousand persons, closes
the second period of her life. Five years intervened before the Princess
of Asturias became Queen of Leon and Castile. Stormy years, for the
angry brother instituted a fresh rebellion against her succession, and
Isabella was again the peace-maker; years of poverty, also, for the
heirs-apparent of Castile and Aragon had scarcely a competency for their
daily needs. Isabella was residing in Segovia at the time of her
brother's death; hence, in Segovia, with more than the usual solemnities
which accompany the accession of a new sovereign even in Spain, she took
the vows and was crowned Queen of Castile and Leon in 1474. During the
first four years and a half of her reign civil war desolated her
kingdom, for Joanna, the reputed daughter of Henry IV., again contested
her right to the crown, supported by the King of Portugal, to whom she
was affianced. But the same people who had said "Isabella shall be the
heir-apparent," said now "Isabella shall rule over us," and conquered.
The reign of Isabella, therefore, dates from 1479, when she was left in
undisputed possession of her throne, rather than from 1474, when she
wore her crown for the first time in Segovia. The same year that brought
peace to the Queen of Castile elevated Ferdinand to the throne of
Aragon.
No more important epoch marks the history of Spain than the union of the
crowns of Castile and Aragon; it meant the end of petty principalities
and powers, it meant united Spain. But the crowns were only linked
together, for Isabella, even in her marriage contract, had maintained
the independence of the crown of Castile and her individual right to
rule over it. It was this loyalty to her inherited crown that won the
love and confidence of her people and made them ready, when the need
came, to die for Isabella of Castile. And it was this independence of
her crown that enabled her to say at last to Columbus: "I will assume
the enterprise for mine own crown of Castile," and "to the crown of
Castile" belonged the first discovered territories in the New World.
Had the reign of Isabella been less distinguished for events of such
momentous magnitude as to involve the future interests of the world, her
personal life would yet furnish data for a series of volumes, so replete
was it with stirring incidents and with heart-breaking sorrows. But the
same mental strength and moral courage that made her eminent as a queen,
made her remarkable also as a friend and mother. Prescott says: "Her
heart overflowed with affectionate sensibilities to her family and
friends. She watched over the declining years of her aged mother and
ministered to her sad infirmities with filial tenderness; we have
abundant proofs of how fondly and faithfully she loved her husband to
the last; while for her children she lived more than for herself, and
for them too she died; for it was their loss and their afflictions which
froze the current of her blood before age had had time to chill it."
Five children, four daughters and one son, grew to maturity under her
guiding influence. Isabella, the first born, and ever the favorite child
of the sovereigns, was born in 1470. She was twice married, first to
Alfonso, Prince of Portugal, who was killed by a fall from his horse
within five months after their marriage. Seven years later she married
his brother, Emanuel, King of Portugal. To the intense grief of her
husband, her parents, and her kingdom, she died in 1498, just one hour
after the birth of her son, the first and only heir to the kingdoms of
Castile, Aragon, and Portugal. The little Prince Miguel did not live to
fulfil the hopes that were centred in him, for he died, to the great
grief of the nation, before he had completed his second year.
The only son of Ferdinand and Isabella, Juan, Prince of Asturias, was
born in 1478. In his twentieth year he married the Princess Margaret,
daughter of the Emperor Maximilian; but before the elaborate nuptial
rejoicings had ended the young bridegroom died suddenly of a malignant
fever.
The Infanta Joanna, born 1479, married Philip I., son of the German
emperor, and became the mother of the great Emperor Charles V. of
Germany, Charles I. of Spain. Her mental derangement, tending to
permanent insanity, was a sore grief to the great queen, who
nevertheless made her the heir to her crown, with Ferdinand as regent.
The Infanta Maria, born in 1482, married Emanuel, the King of Portugal,
in 1600. Her daughter Isabella married her cousin, Charles V., and was
the mother of Philip II.
The fifth and last child of Ferdinand and Isabella, Catalina, was born
in 1485. She married, when scarcely sixteen, Arthur, Prince of Wales,
son of Henry VII., but was left a widow within a year. By special
dispensation from the Pope she married her brother-in-law in 1509, and
is better known in history as Catharine of Aragon, first wife of Henry
VIII., of England, mother of Mary I., or "bloody Mary." Knowing her
Spanish parentage, we can better understand why she was such an ardent
Roman Catholic. Strange that one so loyal to the forms of her religion
should have been the innocent cause of the English Reformation! The
injured queen, divorced, remained in England, a religious recluse, until
her death in 1536.
This brief outline of family life, with its joys, disappointments, and
heart-breaking sorrows, brings into clearer relief the mental strength
and moral courage of Isabella, who, while carrying this burden on her
heart never relaxed for a moment her vigilant, vigorous rule over a
mighty empire; and this brings us at last to the