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Who were the rulers of Spain
in 1492? Why were they so well known? Why did they send Columbus
to the "New World"? These are some of the many questions that will
be answered in this report about Spain in 1492. The three main subjects
that will be explored in this paper are the rulers of Spain in 1492, what
made them so important, and why they sent Columbus to the "New World".
The rulers of Spain back in 1492 were Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand
II. When telling about the king and queen, there will be five main
topics. These topics are birth, early life, marriage, reign, and
death. What made them so important will be a basic overview of some
of the most important things that the king and queen did in his/her lifetime.
Why they sent Columbus to the "New World" will have two main points, political,
and religious. Moving forward, let's hear about the king and queen
of Spain in 1492.
There were many kingdoms of Spain in 1492 (look at maps) ruled by different people. But, with the help of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I, these kingdoms were turned into the modern day Spain. These two people married without family consent, and turned Spain into a very powerful country. Each person had his/her important role that they accomplished. First, let's look into the life of Queen Isabella I of Castile. Queen Isabella I of Castile (look at picture of Isabella I of Castile) was born on April 22nd, 1451 in Madrigal, Spain. She was the daughter of King John II of Castile and his second wife, Isabella of Portugal. Isabella I had two siblings. The oldest was named Henry IV who was Isabella's half-brother. Three years after Isabella I was born, he became king of Castile. She also had a younger brother named Alfonso. At age 13, Isabella I was brought to the court under King Henry IV watchful eye. Alfonso and Henry IV's didn't like each other very much and got into many quarrels. This started a large rival between Alfonso and Henry IV. In July of 1468, Alfonso died which started a rival between Henry IV and Isabella. But, on September 19, 1468, Henry IV recognized her as heiress. She and Henry IV signed an agreement known as the Accord of Toros de Guisando, which stated that Isabella I was heiress to the throne. There were many people that wanted to marry Isabella I. These people were the prince of Portugal, the prince of Aragon, and the prince of France. Her brother King Henry IV preferred Alfonso V of Portugal but Isabella I had other ideas. Without the consent of her brother King Henry IV, she married Prince Ferdinand II of Aragon. They were married in the Palace of Juan de Vivero in Valladolid in October of 1469. Since she married Ferdinand II, which was not her brother Henry IV's choice, he rejected her from the family. In 1474 when King Henry IV died, a war broke out between the Argonians and the Castilians. Within a couple of years, the war was over and forgotten about. In Queen Isabella's life, many of the important things she did happened during the time she reigned. During the first four years of Isabella's reign, there was a large civil war. The war was between the Castilian people and the Portuguese people. In the end, the Castilians conquered the Portuguese. The same year the civil war ended, Isabella's father, John II died. That gave Isabella the right to be the queen of Castile. Then, Aragon and Castile were joined together. 1475, Ferdinand made Isabella I his heir to the throne of Aragon. One of the major things that happened in the reign of Isabella I was the conquest of Granada in 1482. The conquest was extremely hard on Castile because they ran short of money. During the conquest, Isabella I was in charge of running and improving the military hospitals. In 1461, she built a very large temporary hospital in Santa Fe until Granada fell on January 2, 1492. While she was in Santa Fe, Columbus went to ask her for money for his expedition to the "New World". At first Isabella said no, but when she heard that he was going to ask France if Spain said no, she immediately said yes. She said yes so suddenly because at the time, France and Spain were enemies, and she didn't want France to get any recognition if Columbus found something interesting or worthwhile. Columbus' first and main voyage was on April 17, 1492. He came back to Spain with Indians that he was going to sell as slaves. He sold Isabella I some slaves, but she then set them free. From then on, Isabella tried to prevent any trading of slaves. The last seven years of Isabella's reign were very hard on her. There were many deaths in her family. In 1497, her son Juan died, in 1498, her daughter Isabella died, and in 1498, her grandson Miguel died. She lived six years after the main deaths in her family. She died in the castle of Medina del Campo on November 26, 1504. Her death had a major impact on her husband, Ferdinand so, let's hear about his life now. King Ferdinand II of Aragon (look at picture of King Ferdinand II of Aragon) was born on March 10, 1452 in Sos, Aragon. King Ferdinand was known by two main names, King Ferdinand II of Aragon or King Ferdinand V of Castile. He was called these different names in different places. Ferdinand was the son of John II of Aragon and Juana EnrÌquez. Both of his parents were of Castilian origin. King Ferdinand II had two siblings, one boy, and one girl. Their names were Alfonso and Juana. Alfonso was future archbishop of Saragossa and his father's favorite child. In 1461, John II named Ferdinand heir of the throne. Until he would get the throne, he was governor and was assured future king in 1466. In 1468, he was named king of Sicily. When he was younger, he saw battles during the Catalonian wars, which got him very, interested in battles. This also gave him some battle strategies for when he got older. In October of 1469, he married Isabella I of Castile. King Ferdinand II had five children with Isabella I. Their first child was born in 1470 and was named Isabella. Their second child was born in 1478 and was named Juan. Their last three children were named Joana (later know as Joan the Mad), Catalina (later known as Catherine of Aragon), and MarÌa. Since Ferdinand traveled a lot, he ended up in "other women's arms". In doing so, he had at least two children with other women. King Ferdinand II had a very successful reign. Between 1475 and 1479, he made many new policies. One policy that made a lot of controversy was the policy to ban all other religions except Catholicism. This began the expulsion of Jews from Spain. In doing this, the Spanish Inquisition began. On January 2, 1492, Ferdinand conquered Granada "inch by inch". Then, at age 50, Pope Alexander VI gave Ferdinand the title "the Catholic" which is a very high title. That same year, his daughter Joana started showing signs of insanity. In 1504 a very important event happened that affected him greatly; Isabella I died. To secure his position as king, he re-married a lady named Germaine de Foix. They married on October 19, 1505. She was the niece of the King of France. Ferdinand's health declined very suddenly. When he found out that his health was starting to decline, he said that his grandson Charles would be heir to the throne since the original heir was Isabella I but she had died. In early 1516, he started a trip to Granada. He stopped in Madrigalejo, which was the sight of the Sanctuary of Guadalupe. He died there, in the sanctuary on January 23, 1516. He died at the age of 72, which, at that time, was very old. There were many things that both King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I did that made them so important and famous. One main thing that they did that affects people now is that they were the king and queen that put Spain together from many little kingdoms into one large, powerful country. Queen Isabella showed how to run a successful military hospital. This set an example for the military hospitals that we have today. There was another thing that Ferdinand II did that may not have been such a good thing, but the world would be very different without it. He started the Spanish Inquisition in 1480. This was a good thing for the Spanish because it showed the power they had but it was a very bad thing for the Jews. This showed that they could easily be pushed around which led to later expulsion of the Jews in other places. Queen Isabella did something that was extremely important to the development and exploration of North America. She was the person that gave Columbus the money to go to the "New World". If he wouldn't have gotten the money from Spain, America might not be like it is today. There may have been a different language, different type of government, and basically, a different history. There were many things that motivated King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I to sent Columbus to the "New World". One main motivation was the fact that if Spain would have said no to Columbus that he would have asked France for money for his expedition. This may not seem like a big thing now, but back in the 1490's, Spain and France were enemies the Spanish didn't want France to get any chances to get more recognition for any finds by Columbus. Another modivation was the spread of Catholicism. If Columbus did find people in the "New World", he could explain to them why being Catholic was such a good thing and convince them to convert to the Catholic religion. In conclusion, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I were very important people and did some very important things that affected not just the history of Spain, but the history of many other places as well. One major thing that they did was send Columbus to the "New World". There were many things that motivated them to send Columbus to the "New World" such as spreading Catholicism. King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I had very interesting lives with many obstacles that they had to overcome such as the Spanish Inquisition. What would you do if you were Queen Isabella I and a man named Columbus asked you for money for an expedition to a placed named the "New World"? Would you give him the money? Bibliography
"Isabella I the Catholic, of Castile," Encyclopedia Britannica, 1980, pages 906-908 "Ferdinand II or Ferdinand the Catholic." Encyclopedia Entry. November 16, 1999. HYPERLINK http://cbs.infoplease.com/ce5/CE018151.html http://cbs.infoplease.com/ce5/CE018151.html "Isabella I or Isabella the Catholic." Encyclopedia Entry. November 16, 1999. HYPERLINK http://cbs.infoplease.com/ce5/CE026072.html http://cbs.infoplease.com/ce5/CE026072.html "Ferdinand and Isabella." Compton's Encyclopedia Online. November 16, 1999. HYPERLINK http://www.optonline.com/comptons/ceo/01620_A.html http://www.optonline.com/comptons/ceo/01620_A.html "Ferdinand V." Encarta. November 16, 1999 HYPERLINK http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=05F0B000 http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=05F0B000 "Isabella I." Encarta. November 16, 1999 HYPERLINK http://encarta.msn.com/find/concise.asp?z=1&pg=ti=064F1000 http://encarta.msn.com/find/concise.asp?z=1&pg=ti=064F1000 |