The Rise of Isabel of Castile

Summary

The Rise of Isabel of Castile Not Just the Tudors
Hosted by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb
Episode Release Date: July 28, 2025

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Introduction to Isabel of Castile

In this compelling episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb delves into the life and legacy of Isabel of Castile, one of Europe's most formidable rulers. Joined by historian Giles Tremlett, author of "Isabella of Castile: Europe's First Great Queen," the discussion navigates through Isabel's ascent to power, her strategic alliances, and the transformative impact she had on Castile and the broader European landscape.

Succession and Early Challenges

Isabel's path to the throne was anything but straightforward. After the death of her half-brother, Henry IV, in December 1473, Castile was embroiled in turmoil marked by lawlessness, feuding nobles, and a fragmented power structure. Isabel's claim to the crown was contested by her rival, Juana La Beltraneja, who was either the legitimate heir or a product of Henry IV's dubious methods to secure succession, including alleged artificial insemination techniques to produce an heir (00:32).

Giles Tremlett explains, "Isabel is essentially a usurper in a land rife with factions vying for control. Her half-brother's condition and the questionable legitimacy of Juana's birth set the stage for her bold claim" (06:57).

Marriage to Fernando of Aragon

A pivotal moment in Isabel's rise was her strategic marriage to Fernando of Aragon. Defying the norms of the 15th century, Isabel insisted on choosing her own consort, a significant assertion of power for a woman of her time. Their union not only solidified Isabel's claim but also laid the groundwork for the unification of Spain.

At [10:53], Giles Tremlett highlights their partnership: "Isabel and Fernando operated as a companion monarchy, sharing power and responsibilities in a way that was exceedingly rare. Their mutual respect and shared political vision were the bedrock of their successful reign."

Governance and Political Reforms

Isabel and Fernando embarked on extensive administrative reforms to centralize power and reduce the influence of the entrenched grandees. They established a centralized police force, the hermandades, which marked the beginning of a more modern, centralized state. This move diminished the power of the nobility and laid the foundation for the Spanish state that would dominate Europe in the centuries to follow.

Professor Lipscomb notes, "Their creation of dedicated bureaucratic bodies was revolutionary, transitioning Castile from a feudal society to a centralized, bureaucratic state" (34:12 ).

Military Campaigns and Strategy

Isabel's reign was also marked by significant military endeavors, most notably the Reconquista—the centuries-long effort to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule. Under her leadership, Castilian forces modernized their military tactics, incorporating artillery and professional armies, which proved decisive in capturing Granada in 1492.

Giles Tremlett emphasizes Isabel's strategic acumen: "While Ferdinand led the armies on the field, Isabel's expertise in logistics and planning ensured that their campaigns were well-supplied and effectively coordinated, demonstrating her prowess as a military strategist" (30:33).

Religious Policies and the Spanish Inquisition

One of the most controversial aspects of Isabel's rule was the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition. Driven by a desire for religious uniformity and purity, Isabel and Fernando sought to eliminate heretical influences and enforce Catholic orthodoxy. The Inquisition targeted conversos—Jewish converts to Christianity—and Muslims, leading to forced conversions and expulsions that have left a lasting and contentious legacy.

Professor Lipscomb discusses, "The Inquisition was a tool for statecraft as much as it was an expression of personal religious devotion. Isabel aimed to unify her kingdom under a single faith to strengthen her rule and consolidate power" (50:11).

Dynasty and Children

Isabel and Fernando's union produced several children, including the notable Catherine of Aragon, who would later become Queen of England through her marriage to Henry VIII. Their efforts to secure alliances through their daughters were part of a broader strategy to strengthen Spain's political standing across Europe.

Giles Tremlett reflects on their progeny: "While they had high hopes pinned on their son, his untimely death led to their daughters becoming key political figures, further extending Isabel and Fernando's influence through strategic marriages" (41:08).

The Court and Cultural Influence

The Castilian court under Isabel was a hub of cultural and political activity, renowned for its opulence and patronage of the arts. Visitors to the court were often dazzled by the display of wealth, including rich jewelry, elaborate attire, and a fusion of cultural influences from both Christian and Muslim traditions.

Professor Lipscomb remarks, "The court was meticulously crafted to project power and sophistication, leaving a lasting impression on foreign ambassadors and reinforcing Castile's status as a burgeoning European power" (45:23).

Conclusion and Legacy

Isabel of Castile's reign was transformative, steering Castile from a fragmented medieval realm into a centralized, powerful monarchy that would spearhead the Spanish Empire. Her strategic marriage, administrative reforms, military campaigns, and religious policies collectively reshaped the Iberian Peninsula and left an indelible mark on European history.

In closing, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb summarizes, "Isabel was not just a monarch; she was a visionary leader whose actions laid the groundwork for modern Spain. Her legacy is a complex tapestry of progress and persecution, innovation and oppression" (55:15).

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Notable Quotes:

• Giles Tremlett (06:57): "Isabel is essentially a usurper in a land rife with factions vying for control. Her half-brother's condition and the questionable legitimacy of Juana's birth set the stage for her bold claim."

• Giles Tremlett (10:53): "Isabel and Fernando operated as a companion monarchy, sharing power and responsibilities in a way that was exceedingly rare. Their mutual respect and shared political vision were the bedrock of their successful reign."

• Giles Tremlett (30:33): "While Ferdinand led the armies on the field, Isabel's expertise in logistics and planning ensured that their campaigns were well-supplied and effectively coordinated, demonstrating her prowess as a military strategist."

• Professor Suzannah Lipscomb (55:15): "Isabel was not just a monarch; she was a visionary leader whose actions laid the groundwork for modern Spain. Her legacy is a complex tapestry of progress and persecution, innovation and oppression."

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This episode offers a thorough exploration of Isabel of Castile's rise to power, her collaborative governance with Ferdinand, and the enduring impact of their rule on Spanish and European history. Whether you're a history enthusiast or new to the subject, Professor Lipscomb and Giles Tremlett provide an engaging and informative narrative that brings this pivotal period to life.

Transcript

[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

Hello, I'm Professor Susannah Lipscomb. If you'd like Not Just the Tudors ad free to get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to historyhit with a historyhit subscription. You can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, including my own recent two part series A World Torn, the Dissolution of the Monasteries and enjoy a new release every week. Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward/subscribe.

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[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

Hello, I'm Professor Susannah Lipscomb, and welcome to Not Just the Tudors From History Hit the podcast in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs, from Holbein to the Huguenots, from Shakespeare to samurais relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft. Not, in other words, just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors.

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[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

At a time when female monarchs were relatively rare and powerful ones even rarer, Isabella Castile defied expectations to become one of the most formidable rulers in European history. Crowned in 1474 after a disputed succession, she inherited a kingdom in disarray, riddled with lawlessness, fellow feuding nobles, and a deeply decentralized system of power. Yet over the next three decades, she transformed Castile from a fractious medieval realm into a centralized, modernizing monarchy at the heart of a new European empire. Her legacy is astonishing. As proprietary queen of Castile, Isabelle reformed the justice system, established professional armies, strengthened royal authority, and managed to do it all as a woman in a male dominated world. Importantly, she forged a political and marital alliance with Fernando, soon to be King of Aragon, that would lay the foundations of modern Spain. Together, they presided over the completion of the reconquest of Muslim Spain, authorized the Spanish Inquisition and expelled the Jews from their kingdom. In 1492, they funded the voyage of Christopher Columbus, launching Spain's imperial project and opening Europe's eyes to the Americas. But the most Catholic monarchs remain deeply controversial, praised both as pious reformers and national unifiers, but also condemned as intolerant religious zealots to help us impact their lives, legacy and contradictions. I'm delighted to be joined today by Giles Tremlett, author of Isabella of Castile, Europe's first great queen. I'm Professor Suzanne Lipscomb, and this is not just the Tudors from history hit. Charles, welcome back to the podcast.

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[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

Ah, so much envy. I'll try and distract myself from my greenness and go back to the subject at hand. In fact, if I might be rather naughty, could we start by talking about Enrique IV and his semen?

[ACAST Advertiser]

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[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

Or more to the point, is Isabel's situation with regard to succession in her early years.

[ACAST Advertiser]

There's a fabulous story which sort of sums up the state of Castile before Isabel takes power. I say take because essentially she's a usurper. And it's about her half brother who is her predecessor, Henry iv. Henry IV has, let's call it a medical condition. It's a form of gigantism. Everything in Henry IV keeps on growing and growing, including his penis. And this means that he has trouble, let's say, maintaining erections and having sexual intercourse. Course. And therefore he will go down in history as Henry the Impotent. In fact, what we know about Henry IV's sex life, or his procreational life, shall we call it, with his second wife, who is a Portuguese princess, Juana, is that they actually invent a form of artificial insemination. Henry has doctors, these doctors masturbate him, produce his semen, and that semen is delivered into the queen through a little golden tube. And this, allegedly or not, depending on whose side you want to take. In the historical debate about whether Isabella was or was not a legitimate queen, this either worked and the queen became pregnant by her husband, the king, or this didn't work, and the queen became pregnant by someone else, probably the king's privado, his sort of powerful counselor, whose name was Beltran. And so the daughter who was then born is known as Juana, label Traneja after her supposed biological father. And when Isabella decides that she wants to claim the title, she has a rival. And in fact, that rival is quite obviously the legitimate heir to the crown. But Isabella is already showing that she is a powerful and canny actor and manages to grab the crown almost from the start.

[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

And in the run up to that, she makes what perhaps we might consider her greatest power move in choosing Fernando of Aragon. Why does she choose him? Who was he?

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Well, I think the first thing to consider there is the fact that she actually has a choice or the fact that she reserves a choice for herself. So we're talking about what, in our terms is a teenage girl, 15, 16, 17, when various decisions are being made about her and her future, whether she is a candidate to be heiress to her brother in law. And when the opportunities come round for her to negotiate deals with her brother in law or with these noble factions, the Spanish grandees, who are very powerful, who are constantly divided into different factions who are fighting for control of the monarchy, she very cleverly always insists that what she wants to do is to be able to choose her own husband. This is the 15th century. Princesses are there as bargaining chips to be used as marital tokens if you want to form alliances with other kingdoms. And so if the princess herself gains control over that part of her life, she has already gained a huge amount of power. And this is what Isabella has done. There's been various moments of negotiation. It gets a bit messy towards the end, but the one thing she holds out for is this. And finally, on her own terms, she has maintained that and decides that she wants Ferdinand of Aragon. So who is Ferdinand? Ferdinand is a bit younger than her. When they marry, he is only 17 and she is in her early 20s. And Ferdinand is basically the heir to the other part of Spain. So Spain, we have to imagine in the 15th century, is it basically in, let's say, four bits? But there are the two big bits are Castile, which is the Portuguese frontier, over to what we would think now as Aragon and Catalonia and the Crown of Aragon, which is basically the whole of the Mediterranean seaboard to the east. And you can sort of think of it as a big sort of triangular slab, if you want, which starts in the middle of the Pyrenees and goes across Spain towards the Mediterranean So those are the two big blocks of land in Spain. There's still a Muslim kingdom in Granada, there's still a small Christian kingdom in Navarra, in Navarre, in the north. And so by marrying Fernando, she is bringing together in effect, Spain, I have to say, at the stage where she actually chooses Fernando. She's just signed a treaty with Henry IV and with the grandees where everybody thinks they have a veto on who she marries. And in fact, Fernando has to dress up as a servant boy and sneak into Castile with a party of noblemen pretending to be the lad who looks after the, after the horses in order to get to her. And so that the two of them can then basically defy the monarch, defy everybody else and say, here we are, we've done it. This is a fait accomplice. The heiress or the self proclaimed heiress to Castile and the heir to Aragon have married. Now deal with it.

[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

And I should probably say for the sake of the audience, that we are going to switch between Isabel and Isabella, Fernando and Ferdinand. Ah, yes, we've already both started doing it because there are English versions and Spanish versions of their names. But if you're getting confused, that's what we're doing. They're the same people. So let's talk about the nature of that relationship because, you know, they get married and then the, the blood stained sheet is proudly displayed as trumpets are blown. And so it's obviously very important that this is politically proclaimed as a marriage. But as a couple, they do seem to fall in love. It's one of these instances of a political marriage that proves a love match, I think. What do you think?

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Yes, well, I think yes, but I think we have to sort of imagine what love looks like in the 15th century. It's not our 20, 21st century, you know, Hollywood version of love. It's something else where I always say the kind of, the key element is mutual respect and mutual admiration. From there, the details of how you do that well will vary in many ways. Isabella or Isabel herself is obviously very passionate about her husband and there's a spark, there's obviously some kind of spark, sexual or whatever, but there's an instant bonding. But they're both also quite politically hard headed. They know they've made a political choice. They have a sort of joint political project. And in that sense they're more remarkable even as sort of joint CEOs shall we call them, of an enterprise, than they are as a married couple. Because they will rule together through mutual understanding, duplicating their efficiency. If you want, because they can move around Spain separately at a time where the physical presence of the monarch is really a very important and potent thing. And they managed to do this not seamlessly, but pretty well. And I have to say, when I wrote this biography, I actually thought, let's go into the studies of 20th, 21st century businesses and see how many co presidents, co CEOs there are of companies. Now, does this really, historically, how often does this actually work where you have two people sharing power? And it's actually exceedingly rare.

[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

Yes, that's so interesting, because we have to sort of understand that when she becomes queen of Castile, he does not become king of Castile, he is king of Aragon. And the unified nature of Spain is in the persons of these two and the way they work together. And I wonder, what do you think about the dynamics of that marriage? As far as we can tell, of course, their motto is famously tanto monto, monto, tanto. You know, as much Isabel as Fernando. So this sense that they're sharing power, I mean, is that pr. Do you think one of them is in charge? Or do you really get this sense of this companion monarchy as you describe it?

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I really get the sense of a companion monarchy. Obviously, there are disagreements. There are disagreements not just between them, but between them and their counselors, between them and the grandees, who are sort of a rival power to them. And in many ways, what bonds them together is the fact that they have another rival which is beyond them, which is the historical rival to the monarchy in Castile, which is the grandees. And the factions of the grandees, who are very powerful and very rich, have their own private armies, standing armies, almost compared to what the monarchy has, which has to go to them to ask for armies when it needs them. And so both Henry IV, Isabel's half brother, Juan II, her father, who ruled for 45 years, they both depended heavily on the grandees. And the grandees had abused their position and were sort of fighting amongst themselves as well, which made Castile a fairly chaotic and lawless place. And so in that sense, they're helped by having a joint project and a joint enemy. It's always easier to unite against something, and in this case, they have something to unite against. I think, you know, in some ways we have to tip our hat to Ferdinand here, because we are in a world where lots of people expect him to rule on her behalf. He's the man. We do not have a tradition in Castile, and certainly not in Aragon, where women actually, by law, cannot rule. And even really in the rest of Europe, we do not have much of a tradition of queens regnant, not in the mid 15th century. In fact, in many ways, Isabella is the one who's going to establish that precedent. And so many of Ferdinand's own counselors, and I would say his father, who was a very wily and long lived monarch, expected him to govern, but he was sort of prepared to share. He was at a disadvantage. This wasn't his kingdom. The factions, the grandee factions within that kingdom were more likely to be closer to, to Isabella than to him. And so in that sense, and also Aragon was a smaller and weaker kingdom, fewer people, less wealthy. Castile itself is actually going through a moment of great wealth. It has 5 million sheep. And those 5 million sheep are the sort of the backbone of a very vibrant export economy, if you want. I think one historian called it the Australia of the Middle Ages in that sense. So Ferdinand, he could have made the push, but he didn't. And I think I get the sensation also that he was quite good at, I don't say managing his wife, but he was quite good at when there were moments of conflict. And his counselors are saying, you know, this is bad. You've got to kind of read her the riot act or whatever. He says, don't worry, we understand each other. We're going to talk about this in private. It'll all be sorted out. And you can see there are moments where the two of them are just able to sort things out. We have no witnesses, we don't know how or what was said or in what way it was said. But Ferdinand has a sort of quiet confidence about this and he doesn't feel a need to confront his wife, to try. And, you know, there are people who would like to humiliate her in public. She's a woman that's easy to do. And he's saying, no, we don't need to do that. All this can function a different way and we can all get what we want. And as we basically want the same thing, that shouldn't be a problem.

[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

So can we describe the moment at which she took the throne of Castile and that procession through the square at Segovia and what that signaled about her intentions as a queen.

[ACAST Advertiser]

Okay, so in December 1473, we have Henry IV's death. Isabella is in Segovia. It's one of the great cities of Castile, very beautiful, well worth a visit even today. And he's been ill for a few days. So Isabella knows that an opportunity is coming up and she is obviously very prepared. She also knows that by the letter of the law, the most recent and very public and publicized treaty, Henry has appointed her rival, Juana, his daughter, La Beldraneja, if she isn't his biological daughter, but she is his daughter. He has recognized her as his daughter. It doesn't even matter, in fact, whether she is or not his biological daughter. He has recognized her, and legally, that's. That's enough. So Isabella grabs the moment. She organizes a procession through the streets of Segovia. She is preceded by a grandee who has a sword in his hand. He's actually holding it by the tip, and marches in front of her. And she's wearing her full regal bling and her richest clothes. She knows she has to impress. This is a time where, you know, jewelry and clothing for queens, for monarchs, for kings as well, is often brought out as a sort of power statement. And. And so she, you know, dresses up in the full garb and processes around the streets with this man with the sword in his hand. And what is the sword saying? The sword is saying, I am the monarch. I have a right to impose my will on the people, and I have a right to use violence as a form of. Even if it's only to impose justice. But I have that right, and I am publicly displaying here, that is my intention, and that's what I'm claiming, and this is my right. And again, it's one of those and now deal with it moments. And the grandees, who are the ones who are going to decide on this, sort of have to stand back and go, okay, now what do we do? And everybody has to decide which side they're on.

[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

Yes, because, I mean, your book really brings out how Isabel acts as this modernizing force is transforming Castile from this medieval feudalism into a kind of Renaissance modernity. So you've given us a bit of a sense, but what are some of the issues that she faces coming to the throne? And how does she go about stamping her authority over previously autonomous regions and nobles who have been exercising their own power in previous years?

[ACAST Advertiser]

Well, she has several problems to deal with. Some of them are real, and some of them, I would say, are invented. All politicians are good at inventing problems which then need to be solved if they think they can solve them. So the very real problems are the sort of lawlessness across Castile, which is a result of sort of weak government and overpowerful grandees. So that lawlessness goes tied in to a second problem, which is the grandees themselves. You know, I have these rivals there are always going to be factions who will want to topple me, just as there were for my half brother and my father. How am I going to deal with that? Part of the lawlessness is also expressed in confrontations, mainly in cities, funnily enough, kind of rioting and street battles that occur constantly in the big cities of Castile between what are known as New Christians and Old Christians. The New Christians are converts, or the children, now grandchildren of the converts from Judaism from the late 14th century, when there were pogroms across Spain. And this is, funnily enough, both Aragon and Castile. So it's a very general problem. And there's a sort of mass conversion that happens at the same time. And as those converts are now Christians, they have equal rights to the Old Christians, and they're now full rivals within all these cities to the Old Christians, and particularly some of the Jews, especially very well educated. And so they have received that inheritance, and some of them become very powerful as a result. They're very good at maneuvering through the power structures of the kingdom. And so in all these cities, we end up getting rivalries between New Christians and Old Christians. The New Christians are still in their kind of ghettos, and they live very close or close by the Jews who are still there. Antonio. We have sort of Cordova, Seville, city after city. It's like every summer. It's like the summer of riots, if you want, but it happens continually, so that's a problem. And then she has the Reconquista, the Reconquest of Spain, which has been going on for seven centuries. This reconquest, I'm doing air quotes here, by the way you can't see me, is the Christian re appropriation of Spain, because the Muslims arrived in 7 11, swept across Spain in just two to three years and took control of it. And ever since, there's been this kind of slow southward march of the Christian kingdoms which have formed. Castile itself is named after the castles that are left behind along the way as they push south. So there's still one Muslim kingdom, it's Granada. It's based on the Alhambra, if anybody's been to Granada. And that also needs to be dealt with. And then she has a fourth problem, which for me is the invented one, which is that some of these New Christians are considered by. There's a man in Serovia called Torquemada who is a very powerful prior of a monastery who she listens to, who says that these New Christians are not real Christians, that they're heretic, they're actually Jews pretending to be Christians. And Therefore, we need a full Inquisition to deal with them. The previous monarchs had also heard the same thing. They'd ask people to do reports, those reports would come back saying, no, this is rubbish. This is just the old Christians trying to find a way to do down their rivals. But there, Isabella and Ferdinand, but mainly Isabella sort of listened to what's basically a kind of populist argument and sides with the easy majority. But he's also personally very concerned with the idea of the ideological and religious purity of Spain. Foreign travelers who are coming to Spain at the time, and you can read their diaries and their travelogues, you know, they're appalled because in Spain there's tolerance of Jews, there's tolerance of Muslims. This isn't a sort of idealized coexistence, perfectly harmonious. No, this is toleration. This is say, you know, you're different, I don't necessarily like you, but we can all live together. And this actually appalls people from other countries because everybody else has expelled the Jews already. England had expelled the Jews when in the 13th century. Isabella is very easily persuaded that part of this new country, that she and Ferdinand are building on this new combination of kingdoms. Because it's also important to point out that they don't create Spain, they unite in themselves as monarchs. Two kingdoms, but she's the queen of one and he's the king of the other. And, you know, that doesn't mean that there's a fusion of the kingdom. It simply means that they have more than one kingdom. It's an important point to make. But in terms of purifying the soul of Castile, if you want Isabella, it seems to be the one who is sort of the driving force and who will eventually expel the Jews. Again, this is an idea that comes from Torquemada, who becomes the head of the Inquisition and she will eventually forcibly convert the Muslims, both the tolerated Muslim minorities who've been living in Castile for centuries, and the other Muslims who she is about to acquire, shall we say, as part of the of her project.

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[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

And we shall come to all of that. Let's talk a little bit more, though, first of all, about Isabel and her governance, I suppose, you know, in two different ways. The first I'd like to talk about is in terms of the military, because, of course, she's immediately fighting a war to defend her crown and then will go on to fight wars in order to expand her territories. And one of the things that is really striking is that there are problems of supply and embracing new technologies like the artillery, the great sort of wall breakers that you can use in sieges, moving from cavalry to an extent towards professional armies with guns. Do you think there's a sense that she demonstrates kind of strategic brilliance, or do you think she's just got really good political advisors? How much praise should we give her as military genius? And indeed, Fernando, because he's the one on the field.

[ACAST Advertiser]

Indeed. Well, again, we're in the realm of the joint project, and again, like sort of, you know, successful joint projects. The division of labor is quite well delineated and clear to each of them. So Ferdinand is going to be the commander in the field. He is going to lead armies. That is a man's job. In this case, you know, Isabella is a queen regnant, but she's not what we would call a sort of revolutionary feminist in any sense, so that she doesn't want to change anything about the status of women. But she herself has the power of a queen, which she considers, you know, she has received this from God, and therefore it's not a complicated issue in that sense. And so what do they do? Well, he runs the field armies, and. And she is very clever and good at logistics and planning and also to a certain degree, at sort of morale building. And so, you know, they get it wrong to begin with. They're new, they're very young. You know, some of their first battles, when they're fighting the other Grandees who want to bring in La Beldraneja with the help of the Portuguese, you know, they're up against people who have more experience than they get. A few things wrong.

[Foreign Advertiser]

And.

[ACAST Advertiser]

And there is one famous moment where Isabella sort of ticks off Ferdinand's army because it's retreated and saying, even though I am a weak woman, I would have stood my ground and fought. To which Ferdinand is one of those few times where you can see Ferdinand is not pleased by the accusation of cowardice that comes from his wife. But over time, they learn, and especially when it comes to the war in Granada, which is where they're going to finish the reconquest of Spain. This is a magnificent project for them because it also takes the grandees and gives them something else to do. So that's a lovely way of sorting out the Grandees who also can gain bounties and lands and things like that. And by the time they're doing that, she is very. On top of a lot of things you mentioned the artillery cannons have just reached this sort of new, new point of development where they are now powerful enough to bring down the walls of castles. This is a, you know, a huge technological step in warfare. And she is very good at understanding that, at sourcing the materials and making sure that her armies have those cannons. And those cannons are really what win it for them. In Granava, you know, they knocked down a few castle walls, and after that, they. Virtually every town they camped outside said, okay, we surrender, because we know what's going to happen here. So in that sense, she's very good at. We can call her the quartermaster, and she's very good at that. Again, she makes mistakes to begin with, but she learns. And then again, she gets on very well with the general of her armies. They're a splendid team.

[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

They are. They are. We're going to get into the depths of her religious zeal and her imperial ambitions over the course of these two episodes. But can I ask you what might also look like a slightly dry question, but is important? Can you tell me a bit about things like the legal and administrative reforms she introduced and the way in which, you know, how much credit we should give her for shaping what we might recognise as a modern state?

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Yes. Well, I think we had to give her and Ferdinand together a lot of credit for certain things that happen which centralize the state, make the state powerful and make the monarchy powerful. One of the first things they do is organize a sort of national police force. They convert these sort of militia units, let's call them. They're kind of like the Home Guard. They can be called up at times of. Of crisis, and they turn them into a sort of permanent police force. And it's the first time you have centralized power extending into the daily life of the entire kingdom, because these hermandades, brotherhoods, as they're called, they're everywhere. And so for the medieval mindset, it's a bit creepy and totalitarian indeed, because you have this sort of, you know, this power that's emanating from the monarchy, which you didn't feel directly, perhaps before it was mediated by the aristocrats, by the grandees, or you just didn't fit it at all. You were sort of more enthralled to your local grandee than you were to the monarchy. So that's a very important. And it creates rebellions in various cities. There's a famous moment where in Seville, one of the browniest cities and the biggest city in Spain, they're all going, ha, ha, ha. They'll never, you know, they'll never be able to impose, you know, a police force on us. And so what does Isabella do? She goes there herself in person. And the Sevillanos, the people of Sevilla, still laughing, going, ha, ha, ha. What does she think she's gonna do? And two months later, they're begging her to sort of to relax, you know, to not to be so strict on them. There's this famous scene where the Bishop of Cadiz is this kind of representative saying, you know, hi, you know, well, we were all really happy to see you, but now, you know, everybody's miserable and lots of people have had to run away. And we're all very sorry. And could you please tone this down a bit, that the. Too many people are in jail. Too many people are being, you know, who are used to doing what they want, have suddenly had to be bend to the will of the monarchy. And she herself has gone against the advice of her counsellors to say, no, here I am, it's me, I'm the monarch. This is how it's going to be. Ferdinand is somewhere else doing something similar somewhere else, but in this case, it is her in person, dealing with the disorder and the lawlessness and the lack of respect that she's getting from the biggest city in Spain. And the other part of the project is this centralization of power in the sense that they begin to organize instead of leaning on the grandees and giving them all these sort of wonderful titles and giving them power over what Happens, which is her stepbrother and her father had done, they begin to hire, let's call them lawyers, they're hiring bureaucrats. Spain already has a long tradition of universities in Salamanca and elsewhere, and it has produced, let's call it a sufficiency of capable people who can run a realm. And this is what they do, they attract these people to them. These are people who don't have titles, they're not aristocrats. So their careers depend entirely on the monarchs, and therefore their loyalty is without doubt, because they depend on the monarchs. And so obviously the grandees are not terribly happy about this, but, you know, they're busy fighting in Granada and they've also, you know, had to buckle. Anyway, and so we have this new. It's an itinerant court, and so you have these sort of massive mule trains trekking across Castile as they change their residency every three weeks or whatever. These extraordinary ma exist of their roots across Spain over a decade. It's kind of crisscrossing the entire country. But they're taking with them this small nucleus of bureaucrats who are divided into different councils to deal with different matters. They're sort of like small ministries, if you want. And it's the beginning of a centralized administration. And at the same time, it's also. It's a kind of proto absolutism, because now it's them who are in control, it's not the grandees. They're not sharing power, they're not a first amongst equals in any sense. No, this is royal supremacy, and that's hard for the grandees to swallow. But if everything's working and there are ventures like Granada and other ventures across the seas, that will happen, well, as long as things are going along well, people are going to fall into line. And at the same time, they're building up this nucleus of power which will stay. You know, this is the beginning of the new state in Spain, and this new state is going to be very successful over the coming centuries. And it starts there with Isabella and it starts with Ferdinand.

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[Tristan Hughes]

Ever wondered what it feels like to be a gladiator facing a roaring crowd and potential death in the Colosseum? Find out on the Ancients podcast from History hit twice a week. Join me, Tristan Hughes, as I hear exciting new research about people living thousands of years ago, from the Babylonians to the Celts to the Romans, and visit the ancient sites which reveal who and just how amazing our distant ancestors were. That's the ancients from History hit.

[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

And they're also building a dynasty, aren't they? Because they are, unlike her half brother, remarkably fertile. And indeed, their children will become part of their reaching for power, the way that they will use them. Can you tell me a bit about their children, their ambitions for them and how they were raised?

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Yes. So every monarch wants a son to begin with, and Isabella might be one, but she wants a son. She's traditionalist and old fashioned. In fact, she gets four daughters and a son. And the joy of being able to call that first daughter, who's also called Isabella Infanta, meaning Princess of Castile and of Aragon, must have been fantastic because there you see for the first time in one person's name, the concept of a united Spain. And so that in itself is the sort of the beginning of what can happen when you get this personal monarchy. But the offspring of the personal monarchy is going to, instead of having a queen of Castile and a king of Aragon, the next generation down is going to be the monarch of everything. And so that's going to be a spectacular change in his Spanish history. So he had these four daughters and this one son, the son of course, is spoiled and looked after and, you know, and all the hopes are pinned on him. Unfortunately, the son will die in his late teenage years and won't make it to the crown. So they have four daughters. The most famous of them for a British public is Catherine of Aragon, who will go to England and will marry Prince Arthur and then Henry VIII and then the other daughters. Again, they're used as bargaining chips. There's no change here. They're used as bargaining chips. They had to be married off to other powerful monarchies to cement alliances. And in one case, the eldest marries Portugal, then dies, and the next one down is sent off to marry Portugal. And then finally there is Juana, who will go and marry in what is modern day Holland, shall we call it. And so you have these four daughters. But these four daughters have been educated very differently to most princesses and certainly very differently to most noble women in Spain. Isabella herself is aware of her own ignorance. She has not been well schooled. She will hire herself a Latin tutor, Beatriz Galindo. I know that because my children's secondary school was called the Beatrice Galindo because she is, you know, a famous teacher. And Isabella herself wants to learn. She wants to learn and so she studies and she wants her daughters to learn as well. And so, you know, we have remarkably well educated daughters who know about, not just about, you know, the normal things that princesses are taught, sewing and dancing and whether whatever else, but they also have knowledge that extends into the, let's call it the literary sphere and are used to listening to people talk or taking part in conversations amongst learned people, some of whom will then later on comment about, you know, how special these princesses are because they can hold down these conversations. So that's very interesting too. It seems to be a very personal thing. Again, Isabella is not saying, you know, women should be well educated, etc. She's saying, no, my daughters have to be well educated, educated. They had to be well prepared. Maybe because she's thinking about what their future careers as queen consorts, wherever they go, will be. But that is very interesting and very different for the time.

[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

And can you give me a sense of what someone visiting their court would have noticed? You know, she's got women around her like Berthry Scalindo, who are speaking Latin. They're extraordinary patrons of the arts. And you've given us a sense already, a flavor already of their ostentation. What would it have been like to turn up at their court?

[ACAST Advertiser]

Well, this is very interesting because we have all these wonderful descriptions of people who do turn up at their court. And the answer is they know how to put on a show. So we get these fantastic descriptions. One of them is from this, the ambassadors who arrive, who Henry VII of England sends over when he's negotiating the future marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales, with Catherine of Aragon. And part of their job is to report back and say, you know, what is this court like? And Isabella knows that is their job and she knows she has to impress them and. And boy, do they roll it out. You know, you can hear the herald's description. The herald is a man called Machado. I think he's half Portuguese, but he's the herald who accompanies the English ambassadors and he's the one who writes the report and he's trying to actually calculate how much all this is worth. You know, that ruby the size of a tennis ball that I've seen, you know, these amazing necklaces These rich, glamorous, beautiful clothes that I've seen not just on Isabella, but on Ferdinand, on their daughters as well. And so, you know, over several days, when these kind of visits are on, they've turned the volume up to the absolute maximum. And it's quite dizzying for the people who turn up. You can absolutely see it in the way they're writing about it. The dizzying effect might also be helped by the fact that they then go home laden with personal gifts, which obviously helps them think nice ideas about the great Castilian monarchs. But it's there. You know, one of the interesting things about the Castilian court is it can not only draw on French or Italian or Spanish fashions, courtly fashions, it also has its own source of Muslim, Arab, if you want, finery, which has always been around the Castilian court because frontiers are porous and there's still a frontier with Granada. And so you have sort of different things which sometimes surprise visitors, which are equally sort of wonderful to view. Though often I have to say those clothes are more on display for a domestic audience because the foreigners might not quite understand. You know, I might think we're all sort of a bit too pro Muslim over here. That said, when the visitors have gone, they're actually quite doorstep. There's no sort of showing off for showing off's case, except when there's partying, formal partying to be done. It's quite exhausting to be an itinerant court and to be traveling constantly from one castle to another castle. So there's not always room for showing off. And certainly when you see the later portraits of Isabella, she looks positively dowdy, partly because I think by then she's gone into a sort of ultra, sort of religious mode. Things have happened to her, especially to her children and her grandchildren, that make her very unhappy. People start to die. Her son, her grandson, who she then hopes is going to be the heir, one of her daughters. And then she starts to rail with her heiress, who is Juana, another Juana. And so things get a bit messy and difficult towards the end and we get a very different kind of Isabella, still potent, still powerful, but perhaps in a sort of a more depressive state. Her own mother was deeply depressive. Ended locked up in a. In a room, barely speaking to any. Anybody. And she worried that her eldest surv daughter, Juana, would be the same and they would have these awful rows.

[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

Well, let me ask you one last question for this episode, which draws on that sense of her being this deeply religious woman which is what you've already alluded to the founding of the Inquisition. If anybody knows anything about Isabel Ferdinand, it's going to be the Spanish Inquisition. So to what extent is this using the Catholic Church as an extension of state power? Why is it founded? And do you believe that it is rooted in statecraft more than personal devotion? Or is it both?

[ACAST Advertiser]

Okay, so I think there's certainly a bit of both in this. But there is no doubt that Isabella wants Castile to be religiously pure. And the Inquisition is one of her tools. She is prepared to believe things which frankly are false that previous monarchs were not prepared to believe about new Christians being crypto Jews or heretics of some kind. An Inquisition itself is ghastly in the sense that it's sort of self fulfilling. It's based on anonymous denunciations. And then the easiest way to get off is to admit partially that yes, you've done something wrong. Therefore you acquire lots of evidence that there are lots of secret Jews amongst new Christians and it becomes a kind of snowballs. And it is pretty violent in its first few years. Though I have to say, in defense of the Inquisition, I never thought I'd say that. But anyway, in defense of the Inquisition, if you compare it to Protestant witch hunts across the rest of Europe at the same time, whose victims are almost entirely women, those victims are many, many times higher than the victims that the Spanish Inquisition will have over is very long life. It actually lasts all the way through to, I think it's 1835, by which time it's really a kind of. It's about censorship and other things. But anyway, but let's go back to the beginning and what's really happening is it's anti Semitism in the literal ethnic sense. These new Christians, they're rather like immigrants because they've just crossed the border between being a tolerated minority to being a full citizen. So they are new members of their new citizens, if you want, of Castile. And I mean, interestingly, the great historian on this, or one of the great historians on this, his grandson is now the Prime Minister of Israel Netanyahu. And Netanyahu father wrote a book in which he actually, and it's interesting because his intention, and he writes this clearly is to prove that these secret Jews really were secret Jews. He wanted them to be secret Jews. He thought that was more noble for the Jews, that they'd been forced into this Christianity. They weren't real Christians. And in his research he comes to an opposite conclusion. He can see that the Jews, the surviving Jews, the remaining Jews think of them as ghastly apostates and that they're enough, in many cases, they're better Christians than the old Christians, because people's idea of actually, you know, what the right way to be a Christian is, is pretty basic anyway. And so, I mean, I'm simplifying here, but, you know, it basically becomes a sort of a kind of racial thing based on your bloodline. And in fact, at the same time, this is when we start to get the concept of bloodlines introduced into Spanish history as something that needs to be checked. We begin to find the first religious orders, the first monasteries who want to check whether you have Jewish blood. They could check Ferdinand if they want, because if you go back far enough, there's actually Jewish blood in his family. And then, and this is where you start getting the, you know, the purity of blood thing starts to happen. And it sort of builds in Spain after that. And it begins to be a problem for people who come from converso as their known families or marano, which then becomes an insult. It sort of means paid to. And so, you know, we're starting a, you know, what to our 21st century sensibilities is a very unpleasant thing. To her, it's simply about purifying the nation. And if there's a little bit of sort of overreach, that probably doesn't matter, and she will do something similar to the Muslims anyway, who to begin with, Remember he talked about the Congress of Granada yet. But, you know, Granada is conquered, that she assumes a new population of Muslims into Castile. She promises them that they can carry on with their faith, that they will not be persecuted, and just over a decade later, they are being forcibly converted or told to leave. And again, that's the same thing. She's purifying the state.

[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

Well, Jos, this has been an amazing introduction to Isabel and Fernando. And in the next episode, let's talk about how that anti Semitism and desire for religious unity is ramped up with the expulsion of the Jews and the conquest of the Muslim emirate of Granada, and as you say, their subsequent expulsion, plus, of course, the funding of Columbus's voyages and the deaths of Isabel and Fernando. We've still got lots to get through. I look forward to speak to you again.

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There is loads here. Likewise. Susanna, thank you very much.

[Professor Susannah Lipscomb]

Thank you for listening to this episode of Not Just the Tudors from History hit. Thank you also to my researcher Max Wintool, my producer Rob Weinberg, and to Amy Haddo, who edited this episode. We are always eager to hear from you including receiving your brilliant ideas for subjects we can cover. So do drop us a [e-mail] and I look forward to joining you again for another episode. Next time on Not Just. Just the Tutors from History. Hit.

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[Tristan Hughes]

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