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94-512: In 1486, Columbus met with Ferdinand II and Isabella I to propose his plan of finding a passage to India by sailing west rather than east. While the Spanish monarchs were interested in his plans, they turned him down on the basis that they were financially tied up with fighting the Moors . To prevent Columbus from seeking out competing monarchs and nations, Ferdinand II and Isabella provided Columbus with

188-460: A Papal dispensation . Consequently, Ferdinand's father forged a papal dispensation for the two to marry. Isabella believed that the dispensation was authentic and the marriage went ahead. A genuine papal dispensation arrived afterwards. Later Pope Alexander VI bestowed upon them the title of 'los Reyes Católicos' ('the Catholic Monarchs'). Henry IV , half brother of Isabella, considered

282-514: A Catalan noblewoman of Cervera, he had: With Joana Nicolaua: With Toda de Larrea: With Beatriz Pereira: Monarch of the Crown of Castille (with Isabella I) The Arms quarter the arms of Castile and León with the arms of Aragon and Aragonese Sicily , the last combining the arms of Aragon with the black eagle of the Hohenstaufen of Sicily . Crown of Castile The Crown of Castile

376-438: A highly effective sovereignty under equal terms. They utilised a prenuptial agreement to lay down their terms. During their reign they supported each other effectively in accordance to his joint motto of equality: "Tanto monta [or monta tanto], Isabel como Fernando" ("They amount to the same, Isabel and Ferdinand"). Isabella and Ferdinand's achievements were remarkable: Spain was united, or at least more united than it ever had been;

470-711: A retainer of 12,000 maravedis (about USD $ 840 in modern currency), and in 1489, they provided him with documentation to obtain food and lodging in any Spanish municipality. Following the Spanish victory against the Moors, Columbus was called to meet with the Spanish Monarchs again on January 12, 1492, to discuss funding his voyage. Isabella was still not convinced, and Columbus left the meeting upset, confiding in Santángel that he planned to seek financial funding from France or England—whichever nation agreed first. Using his position as

564-460: A royal treasurer, Santángel met with Isabella and convinced her to accept Columbus's proposal by alluding to the fame and glory that would come with Columbus's success in finding a new sea-route to the Indies. Going a step further, Santángel arranged for the majority of the funding by contributing much from his own pocket and additional money he had borrowed. He did so to keep the queen from having to pawn

658-574: A section of the 1491 Treaty of Granada peace treaty in 1502 by dismissing the clearly guaranteed religious freedom for Mudéjar Muslims. Ferdinand forced all Muslims in Castile and Aragon to convert, converso Moriscos , to Catholicism, or else be expelled. Some of the Muslims who remained were mudéjar artisans, who could design and build in the Moorish style. This was also practised by the Spanish inquisitors on

752-618: The Americas came through Castile which was one of the more dynamic, rich, and advanced territories in Europe in the 16th century. It started to realise that it could become immersed within an empire. This, added to the broken promise of Charles, only increased hostility towards the king. In 1520 in Toledo Parliament rejected a further subsidy for the king. Parliament in Santiago de Compostela reached

846-564: The Catholic Monarchs . Ferdinand is considered the de facto first king of Spain , and was described as such during his reign, even though, legally, Castile and Aragon remained two separate kingdoms until they were formally united by the Nueva Planta decrees issued between 1707 and 1716. The Crown of Aragon that Ferdinand inherited in 1479 included the kingdoms of Aragon , Valencia , Majorca , Sardinia , and Sicily , as well as

940-552: The Compromise of Caspe in 1412, Ferdinand left Castile to become King of Aragon . Upon the death of his mother, John II at the age of 14, took to the throne and married his cousin Maria of Aragon . The young king entrusted his government to regent Álvaro de Luna , the most influential person in court and allied with the lesser nobility, the cities, the clergy, and the Jews. This brought together

1034-615: The Concordia de Villafáfila of 1506, Ferdinand returned to Aragon and Phillip was recognized as King of Castile, with Joanna a co-monarch. In the Treaty of Villafáfila in 1506 King Ferdinand the Catholic renounced not only the government of Castile in favour of his son-in-law Philip I of Castile but also the lordship of the Indies, withholding a half of the income of the kingdoms of the Indies. Joanna of Castile and Philip immediately added to their titles

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1128-658: The Count-Duke of Olivares , the king's favourite (valido) from 1621 to 1643, tried to introduce a series of reforms. Among these was the Unión de Armas , the creation of a new army of 140,000 reservists. Every territory within the kingdom contributed citizens proportionally in order to maintain the force. His aims of union did not work and the Spanish Crown continued as a confederation of kingdoms. Luis Méndez de Haro took over from Olivares as favourite Philip IV between 1659 and 1665. This

1222-456: The House of Trastámara 's position and created peace between England and Castile. During the reign of Henry III royal power was restored, overshadowing the much powerful Castilian nobility. In his later years Henry delegated some of his power to his brother Ferdinand I of Antequera , who would be regent, along with his wife Catherine of Lancaster , during the childhood of his son John II . After

1316-490: The House of Trastámara ) by his second wife, Juana Enríquez . Ferdinand married Isabella , the half-sister and heir presumptive of Henry IV of Castile , on 19 October 1469 in Valladolid , Kingdom of Castile and Leon . Isabella also belonged to the royal House of Trastámara , and the two were second cousins by descent from John I of Castile . They were married with a clear prenuptial agreement on sharing power, and under

1410-455: The Kingdom of Murcia from Al-Andalus , further extending the area of the Crown of Castile. Given this, the kings of the Crown of Castile traditionally styled themselves "King of Castile , León , Toledo , Galicia , Murcia , Jaén , Córdoba , Seville , and Lord of Biscay and Molina ", among other possessions they later gained. The heir to the throne has been titled Prince of Asturias since

1504-413: The Kingdom of Navarre , ruling all the territories comprising modern-day Spain until his death in 1516. He was nominally succeeded by his daughter Joanna, but power was soon assumed by her son Charles I (later Holy Roman Emperor Charles V ). Ferdinand was born on 10 March 1452, in the town of Sos del Rey Católico , Kingdom of Aragon , as the son of John II of Aragon (whose family was a cadet branch of

1598-637: The Morisco Revolt (1568–1571), which was put down by John of Austria . Castile entered a phase of recession in 1575; Spain as a whole followed, which provoked the suspension of wages (the third of his reign). In 1590 the Cortes approved the millones ; a new tax on food. This exhausted Castilian cities and hindered the economy. In 1596, pay was once again suspended. In the previous kingdoms, positions in national institutions were filled by educated gentlemen. Philip II's administrators would normally come from either

1692-635: The Ordenamiento de Alcalá (1348) and the Leyes de Toro (1505). These laws continued to be in force until 1889, when a new Spanish civil code, the Código Civil Español, was enacted. In the 13th century there were many languages spoken in the Kingdoms of León and Castile among them Castilian , Leonese , Basque and Galician-Portuguese . But, as the century progressed, Castilian gained increasing prominence as

1786-653: The Principality of Catalonia . His marriage to Isabella is regarded as the "cornerstone in the foundation of the Spanish monarchy". They played a major role in the European colonization of the Americas , sponsoring the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492. That year the couple defeated Granada , the last Muslim state in Western Europe , thus completing the centuries-long Reconquista . Following Isabella's death in 1504,

1880-752: The Republic of Venice , in which all the other powers with interests on the Italian peninsula, including Louis XII, Ferdinand II, Maximilian, and Pope Julius II joined together in the League of Cambrai . Although the French were victorious against Venice at the Battle of Agnadello , the League of Cambrai soon fell apart, as both the Pope and Ferdinand II became suspicious of French intentions. Instead,

1974-626: The Spanish Inquisition targeted and persecuted Jews, including conversos believed to be practicing Judaism privately , Santángel and his immediate family were protected from the persecution. However, one of his relatives was burned at the stake in Saragossa. On May 30, 1497, Ferdinand II issued a royal decree that exempted Santángel, his family, and his future successors, from the Inquisition. Despite this protection and high status, Santángel

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2068-743: The Treaty of Villafáfila , and upon the death of Ferdinand the Catholic. The discovery of the Pacific Ocean , the conquest of the Aztec Empire , the conquest of the Inca Empire , the Spanish conquest of New Granada as well as the conquest of the Philippines all helped shape the Crown of Castile into a global empire in the 16th Century. The title of "King of Castile" remained in use by the Habsburg rulers during

2162-594: The University of Alcalá or the University of Salamanca . After Philip III the nobility once again asserted their right to govern the country. In order to show that there was a new order ruling there was a cleansing of the blood of Spain . Religious persecution led Philip to declare the expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609. Faced with the collapse of the Exchequer, in order to maintain the hegemony of Philip IV's Spanish Empire,

2256-644: The War of the Castilian Succession broke out over who would ascend to the throne. It lasted until 1479 when Isabella and her supporters came out victorious. After Isabella's victory in the civil war and Ferdinand's ascension to the Aragonese throne the two crowns were united under the same monarchs. However, this was a personal union and both kingdoms remained administratively separate to some extent, each maintaining largely its own laws; both parliaments remained separate,

2350-575: The War of the Spanish Succession . After the war, all the territories were unified as a single country under the Crown of Spain . North – Septentrional South – Meridional In the viceroyalties the viceroy, whose term etymologically means "in the place of the king", concentrated all public power. They were freely appointed and removed by the Monarch, when the sovereign wanted he/she could remove

2444-510: The converso Marrano Jewish population of Spain. The latter part of Ferdinand's life was largely taken up with disputes with successive kings of France over control of Italy, the Italian Wars . In 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded Italy and expelled Alfonso II , who was Ferdinand's first cousin once removed and step nephew, from the throne of Naples . Ferdinand allied with various Italian princes and with Emperor Maximilian I to expel

2538-417: The 'Holy League' was formed, in which now all the powers joined together against Louis XII and France. In November 1511 Ferdinand and his son-in-law King Henry VIII of England signed the Treaty of Westminster , pledging mutual aid between the two against Navarre and France ahead of the Spanish invasion of Navarre as of July 1512. After the fall of Granada in 1492, he had manoeuvred for years to take over

2632-475: The 14th century. Almost immediately after the union of the two kingdoms under Ferdinand III, the parliaments of Castile and León were united. It was divided into three estates, which corresponded with the nobility, the church and the cities, and included representation from Castile , León , Galicia , Toledo , and the Basque Provinces . Initially the number of cities represented in the Cortes varied over

2726-416: The 16th and 17th centuries. Charles I was King of Aragon, Majorca , Valencia , and Sicily , and Count of Barcelona , Roussillon and Cerdagne , as well as King of Castile and León, 1516–1556. In the early 18th century, Philip of Bourbon won the War of the Spanish Succession and imposed unification policies over the Crown of Aragon , supporters of their enemies. This unified the Crown of Aragon and

2820-484: The Crown of Aragon were united in a personal union . The various states were not formally administered as a single unit, but as separate political units under the same monarchs. (The legal merging of Aragon and Castile into a single Spain occurred under Philip V in 1707–1715.) The first years of Ferdinand and Isabella's joint rule saw the Spanish conquest of the Emirate of Granada , the last Islamic al-Andalus entity on

2914-462: The Crown of Castile into the kingdom of Spain. Even though the Nueva Planta decrees did not formally abolish the Crown of Castile, the country (of Castile and Aragon) was called "Spain" by both contemporaries and historians. The Kingdom of León arose out of the Kingdom of Asturias . The Kingdom of Castile appeared initially as a county of the Kingdom of León. From the second half of the 10th century to

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3008-412: The French and Ferdinand taking Apulia and Calabria . The agreement soon fell apart and, over the next several years, Ferdinand's great general Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba fought to take Naples from the French, finally succeeding by 1504. The King of France complains that I have twice deceived him. He lies, the fool; I have deceived him ten times and more. Some time before 1502 Andreas Palaiologos ,

3102-564: The French by 1496 and install Alfonso's son, Ferdinand II , on the Neapolitan throne. In 1500, following Ferdinand II's death and accession of his uncle Frederick , Ferdinand signed an agreement with Charles VIII's successor, Louis XII , who had just successfully asserted his claims to the Duchy of Milan , to partition Naples between them, with Campania and the Abruzzi , including Naples itself, going to

3196-484: The French from Milan, which was restored to its Sforza dukes by the peace treaty in 1513. The French were successful in reconquering Milan two years later, however. Ferdinand II died on 23 January 1516 in Madrigalejo , Extremadura , Kingdom of Castile and Leon. He is entombed at Capilla Real , Granada . His wife Isabella, daughter Joanna, and son-in-law Philip rest beside him there. Ferdinand and Isabella established

3290-627: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and by Pope Leo X . Consequently, after Ferdinand II's funeral on 14 March 1516, Charles I was proclaimed King of Castile and of Aragon jointly with his mother. Finally, the Castilian Regent , Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros accepted the fait accompli , and the Castilian and Aragonese Cortes paid homage to him as King of Aragon jointly with his mother. Ferdinand's grandson and successor Charles,

3384-768: The Iberian peninsula, completed in 1492. The completion of the Reconquista was not the only significant act performed by Ferdinand and Isabella in that year. In March 1492, the monarchs issued the Edict of Expulsion of the Jews, also called the Alhambra Decree , a document which ordered all Jews either to be baptised and convert to Christianity or to leave the country. It allowed Mudéjar Moors (Islamic) and converso Marrano Jews to stay, while expelling all unconverted Jews from Castile and Aragon (most Jews either converted or moved to

3478-489: The Indies". The widowed Ferdinand made an alliance with France in July 1505 and married Germaine of Foix , cementing the alliance with France. She was the granddaughter of his half-sister Queen Eleanor of Navarre and niece of Louis XII of France. Had Ferdinand's son with Germaine, John, Prince of Girona, born on 3 May 1509, survived, "the crown of Aragon would inevitably been separated from Castile" and denied his grandson Charles

3572-476: The Kingdom of Castile from his mother, Queen Berengaria of Castile granddaughter of Sancho III in 1217, and the Kingdom of León from his father Alfonso IX of León son of Ferdinand II in 1230. From then on the two kingdoms were united under the name of the Kingdom of León and Castile, or simply as the Crown of Castile. Ferdinand III later conquered the Guadalquivir Valley , while his son Alfonso X conquered

3666-552: The Ottoman Empire). 1492 was also the year in which the monarchs commissioned Christopher Columbus to find a westward maritime route for access to Asia, which resulted in the Spanish arrival in the Americas. In 1494 the Treaty of Tordesillas divided the entire world beyond Europe between Portugal and Castile (Spain) for conquest and dominion purposes – by a north–south line drawn down the Atlantic Ocean. Ferdinand abrogated

3760-567: The Pyrenees was annexed to Castile. Charles I received the Crown of Castile, the Crown of Aragon and the empire through a combination of dynastic marriages and premature deaths: Charles I was not well received in Castile. This was partly because he was a foreign-born king (born in Ghent ), and even before his arrival in Castile he had granted important positions to Flemish citizens and had used Castilian money to fund his court. The Castilian nobility and

3854-514: The Royal court, the Spanish Inquisition, and Columbus's journey. It discusses the impact of the Spanish Inquisition on conversos who were often still suspected when it came to religion and explores Santángel's desperate intervention towards Columbus's meetings with the Spanish Monarchs in attempt to discover a place that offers acceptance rather than terror and violence for Jews and conversos at

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3948-554: The above-mentioned Henry, who disputed Peter's right to the throne once the latter became king. In the resulting struggle, in which both brothers claimed to be king, Pedro allied himself with Edward, Prince of Wales , "the Black Prince". In 1367, the Black Prince defeated Henry II's allies at the Battle of Nájera , restoring Pedro's control of the kingdom. The Black Prince, seeing that the king would not reimburse his expenses, left Castile. Henry, who had fled to France, took advantage of

4042-457: The case that Joanna "didn't want to or couldn't fulfil her duties". In the 'Salamanca Agreement' of 1505, it was decided that the government would be shared by Philip I, Ferdinand V and Joanna. However, poor relations between Phillip, who was supported by the Castilian nobility, and Ferdinand resulted in Ferdinand renouncing his regent's powers in Castile in order to avoid an armed conflict. Through

4136-514: The cities were on the verge of an uprising to defend their rights. Many Castilians favoured the king's younger brother Ferdinand , who grew up in Castile, and in fact the Council of Castile opposed the idea of Charles as King of Castile. In 1518 the Castilian parliament in Valladolid named the Wallonian Jean de Sauvage as its president. This caused angry protests in the parliament, which rejected

4230-478: The city. He then moved on to occupy Santiago de Compostela , Pontevedra and Vigo . He asked John I , Henry II's son, to give up the throne in favor of Constance. John declined but proposed that his son, the Infante Henry , marry John of Gaunt's daughter Catherine . The proposal was accepted, and the title Prince of Asturias was created for Henry and Catherine. This ended the dynastic conflict, strengthened

4324-636: The completion and end of the Reconquista . Also in 1492, the Christopher Columbus maritime expedition claimed the newly found lands in the Americas for the Crown of Castile and began the New World conquests. In 1497 Castile conquered Melilla on the north coast of North Africa. After Castile's conquest of the Kingdom of Granada, its politics turned towards the Mediterranean, and Castile militarily helped Aragon in its problems with France, culminating in

4418-506: The cost quadrupled. During his reign, as well as increasing existing taxes he created some new ones, among them the excusado in 1567. That same year Philip ordered the proclamation of the La Pragmática ; an act whereby all Moriscos had to abandon all Moorish traditions and become true Catholics. This edict limited religious, linguistic and cultural freedom of the Morisco population and provoked

4512-400: The couple's daughter Joanna became queen of the Crown of Castile . That year, after a war with France, Ferdinand conquered the Kingdom of Naples . In 1507 he became regent of Castile on behalf of Joanna, who was alleged to be mentally unstable. In 1506, as part of a treaty with France, Ferdinand married Germaine of Foix , with whom he had no surviving children. In 1512 he conquered most of

4606-486: The crown jewels. Columbus's letter on the first voyage was addressed to Santángel. Santángel's grandfather, the Jewish Azarias Chinillo, converted to Christianity during the fifteenth century and changed his name to Luis de Santángel. After this conversion, the Santángel family began to prosper economically and in status; all three Santángels served the Royal crown and possessed a large sum of wealth. While

4700-604: The crown of Aragon. But the infant Prince John died within hours and was buried in the convent of Saint Paul in Valladolid , Kingdom of Castile and Leon , and later transferred to Poblet Monastery , Vimbodí i Poblet , Principality of Catalonia ( Crown of Aragon ), traditional burial site of the kings of Aragon. Ferdinand had no legal position in Castile, with the cortes of Toro recognizing Joanna and her children as heirs and Ferdinand left Castile in July 1506. After his son-in-law Philip's untimely death in September 1506, Castile

4794-399: The crown power was centralised, at least in name; the reconquista was successfully concluded; the groundwork for the most dominant military machine of the next century and a half was laid; a legal framework was created; the church was reformed. Even without the benefit of the American expansion, Spain would have been a major European power. Columbus' discovery set the country on the course for

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4888-399: The death of Alfonso XI a dynastic conflict started between his sons, the Infantes Peter (Pedro) and Henry , Count of Trastámara, which became entangled in the Hundred Years' War (between England and France). Alfonso XI had married Maria of Portugal with whom he had his heir, the Infante Peter. However, the King also had many illegitimate children with Eleanor of Guzman , among them

4982-411: The dominating partner in the union. As a result of the Reconquista (Reconquest) the Castilian aristocracy had become very powerful. The monarchs needed to assert their authority over the nobility and the clergy. With this end in mind they founded a law enforcement body, the Consejo de la Hermandad , more commonly known as the Santa Hermandad (the Holy Brotherhood), which was staffed and funded by

5076-549: The first half of the 11th century it changed hands between León and the Kingdom of Navarre. In the 11th century, it became a kingdom in its own right. The two kingdoms had been united twice previously: From 1199 to 1201 under Alfonso VIII the Castilian king's armies invaded the Kingdom of Navarre , annexing thereafter Álava , Durangaldea and Gipuzkoa , including San Sebastián and Vitoria (Gasteiz) . However, these western Basque territories saw their Navarrese charters confirmed under Castilian rule. Ferdinand III received

5170-430: The first modern world power. During the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, Spain pursued alliances through marriage with Portugal, Habsburg Austria , and Burgundy . Their first-born daughter Isabella was married to Manuel I of Portugal , and their first-born son John was married to Margaret of Austria. However, the deaths of these children, and the death of Isabella, altered the succession plan forcing Ferdinand to yield

5264-421: The first universities in Europe. In the 13th century, emerging groups of local grazers coalesced into the powerful Mesta , the headpin for wool trade over the following three centuries. In time, Castile would become a leading export market for wool in the late middle ages. The Castilian Civil War pitting supporters of Henry of Trastámara against Peter I entailed a struggle of competing factions, with

5358-440: The former party being favoured by the Castilian nobility (and, to a lesser extent, the Clergy), whereas the latter party lied on the side of Jews', conversos ' and town councils' interests. A substantial transfer from the royal patrimony to the nobles ensued upon the prevail of the Trastámaras in the conflict. Likewise, the resulting dynastic change ran parallel to a radicalization of the antisemitic sentiment in Castile. On

5452-401: The government of Castile in favor of Philip but also the lordship of the Indies, withholding half of the income of the "kingdoms of the Indies". Joanna and Philip immediately added to their titles the kingdoms of Indies, Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea. But the Treaty of Villafáfila did not hold for long because of the death of Philip; Ferdinand returned as regent of Castile and as "lord of

5546-438: The government of Castile to Philip of Habsburg the husband of his second daughter Joanna. In 1502, the members of the Aragonese Cortes gathered in Zaragoza , and Parliaments of the Kingdom of Valencia and the Principality of Catalonia in Barcelona , as members of the Crown of Aragon, swore an oath of loyalty to their daughter Joanna as heiress, but Alonso de Aragón , Archbishop of Saragossa, stated firmly that this oath

5640-412: The joint motto " tanto monta, monta tanto ". He became jure uxoris King of Castile when Isabella succeeded her deceased brother in 1474. The two young monarchs were initially obliged to fight a civil war against Joanna , the purported daughter of Henry IV, and were swiftly successful. When Ferdinand succeeded his father as King of Aragon in 1479, the Crown of Castile and the various territories of

5734-411: The kingdoms of Indies, Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea. Phillip died and Ferdinand returned in 1507 once again to be regent for Joanna. Her isolated confinement-imprisonment in the Santa Clara Convent at Tordesillas , to last over forty years until death, began with her father's orders in 1510. In 1512 a joint Castilian-Aragonese force invaded Navarre and most of the Kingdom of Navarre south of

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5828-585: The language of culture and communication – one example of this is the Cantar de Mio Cid . In the last years of the reign of Ferdinand III , Castilian began to be used for some important documents, such as the Visigothic Code , the basis of the legal code for Christians living in Muslim Cordova , but it was during the reign of Alfonso X that it became the official language. Henceforth all public documents were written in Castilian, likewise all translations of Arabic legal and government documents were made into Castilian instead of Latin. Some scholars think that

5922-424: The last exiled claimant to the Byzantine throne of his house, sold his titles and royal and imperial rights to Ferdinand. Those, however, had never been made use of, due to the doubtful nature of the deal. Isabella made her will on 12 October 1504, in advance of her 26 November 1504 death. In it she spelled out the succession to the Crown of Castile, leaving it to Joanna and then to Joanna's son Charles. Isabella

6016-410: The line of succession. After the death of Alfonso in an accident, Henry IV signed the Treaty of the Bulls of Guisando with his half-sister Isabella I in which he named her heiress in return for her marrying a prince chosen by him. In October 1469 Isabella I and Ferdinand II , heir to the throne of Aragon , married in secret in the Palacio de los Vivero in Castilian Valladolid . The consequence

6110-402: The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella as breaking the Treaty of the Bulls of Guisando , under which Isabella would ascend to the Castilian throne on his death only if her suitor was approved by him. Henry wanted to ally Castile with Portugal or France rather than Aragon. He therefore decided to name his daughter Infanta Joanna as heiress to the throne rather than Isabella I. When he died in 1474

6204-426: The marriage of the Catholic Monarchs up to the promulgation of the Nueva Planta decrees by Philip V in 1716. In 1492, the voyage of Christopher Columbus and the discovery of the Americas were major events in the history of Castile. The West Indies , Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea were also a part of the Crown of Castile when transformed from lordships to kingdoms of the heirs of Castile in 1506, with

6298-416: The monarchs decided that those who would not convert would be expelled. It is estimated that between 50,000 and 70,000 people were expelled from Castile. From 1502 onwards, they began to convert the Muslim population. Between 1478 and 1497 the monarchs' forces conquered the three Canary Islands of Gran Canaria , La Palma and Tenerife . On 2 January 1492 the monarchs entered Granada 's Alhambra marking

6392-414: The municipalities. They also took further measures against the nobility, destroying feudal castles, prohibiting private wars and reducing the power of the Adelantados (a governor-like military office in regions recently conquered). The monarchy incorporated military orders under the Consejo de las Órdenes in 1495, reinforced royal judicial power over the feudal one and transformed the Audiencias into

6486-399: The mutual dislikes of the king shared by the greater Castilian nobility and the Aragonese Infantes , sons of Ferdinand I of Antequera , who sought to control the Castilian crown. This eventually led to war in 1429 and 1430 between the two kingdoms. Álvaro de Luna won the war and expelled the Aragonese Infantes from Castile. Henry IV unsuccessfully tried to re-establish the peace with

6580-831: The next century, until John I permanently set those that would be allowed to send representatives ( procuradores ): Burgos , Toledo , León, Sevilla, Córdoba, Murcia, Jaén, Zamora , Segovia , Ávila , Salamanca , Cuenca , Toro , Valladolid , Soria , Madrid and Guadalajara (with Granada added after its conquest in 1492). Under Alfonso X , most sessions of the Cortes of both kingdoms were held jointly. The Cortes of 1258 in Valladolid comprised representatives of Castile, Extremadura and León (" de Castiella e de Estremadura e de tierra de León ") and those of Seville in 1261 of Castile, León and all other kingdoms (" de Castiella e de León e de todos los otros nuestros Regnos "). Subsequent Cortes were celebrated separately, for example in 1301 that of Castile in Burgos and that of León in Zamora, but

6674-430: The nobility that his father, John II, had shattered. When his second wife, Joan of Portugal , gave birth to Infanta Joanna , it was claimed that she was the result of an affair of the Queen with Beltrán de la Cueva , one of the King's chief ministers. The King, besieged by riots and the demands of the nobles, had to sign a treaty in which he named as his successor his half-brother Alfonso , leaving Infanta Joanna out of

6768-534: The only common institution would be the Inquisition . Despite their titles of "Monarchs of Castile, Leon, Aragon and Sicily" Ferdinand and Isabella reigned over their respective territories, although they also took decisions together. Its central position, larger territorial area (three times greater than that of Aragon) and larger population (4.3 million as opposed to the 1 million in Aragon) led to Castile becoming

6862-519: The only monarch of Spain. Philip II continued the politics of Charles I, but unlike his father he made Castile the core of the Spanish Empire , centralising all administration in Madrid . The other Spanish regions maintained certain degree of autonomy, being governed by a Viceroy . In fact, since the reign of Charles I the financial burden of the empire had fallen mainly on Castile, but under Philip II

6956-485: The opportunity and recommenced the fight. Henry finally was victorious in 1369 in the Battle of Montiel , in which he had Peter killed. In 1371 the brother of the Black Prince, John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , married Constance , Peter's daughter. In 1386, he claimed the Crown of Castile in the name of his wife, the legitimate heir according to the Cortes de Seville of 1361. He arrived in A Coruña with an army and took

7050-534: The presence of foreigners in its deliberations. Despite threats, the parliament led by Juan de Zumel representing Burgos , resisted and forced the king to respect the laws of Castile, remove all foreigners from important governmental posts, and learn to speak Castilian . After taking his oath, Charles received a subsidy of 600,000 ducats. Charles was conscious of the fact that he had options to become emperor and needed to impose his authority over Castile to gain access to its riches for his imperial goals. The riches from

7144-535: The reconquest of Naples for the Crown of Aragon in 1504. Later that same year, Queen Isabella died, on November 26. Upon Queen Isabella I's death 1504, the crown passed to her daughter Joanna , who was married to Philip of Austria (nicknamed 'Philip the Handsome'). But Isabella knew of her daughter's possible mental health incapacities ( and so nicknamed 'Juana la Loca' or 'Joanna the Mad' ) and named Ferdinand as regent in

7238-550: The representatives demanded that the parliaments be reunited from then on. Although the individual kingdoms and cities initially retained their individual historical rights-including the Old Fuero of Castile (Viejo Fuero de Castilla) and the different fueros of the municipal councils of Castile, León, Extremadura and Andalucía-a unified legal code for the entire new kingdom was created in the Siete Partidas ( c.  1265 ),

7332-543: The revolts released Joanna, claiming to support her to be the sole monarch and encouraging her to agree the dethronement of Charles. While sympathetic to revolts, Joanna however refused to sign any documents to support them or depose her son. Los comuneros were defeated one year later (1521). After their defeat, Parliament was reduced to a merely consultative body. To prevent Joanna from being proposed to be an alternative monarch by opponents again, Charles continued her confinement until her death in 1555, after which Charles became

7426-535: The same decision. Finally, when Parliament was held in A Coruña , many members were bribed and others denied entry, with the result that the subsidy was approved. Those members who voted in favour were attacked by the Castilian people and their houses were burned. Parliament was not the only opposition which Charles would come up against. When he left Castile in 1520, the Castilian War of the Communities broke out, and

7520-567: The substitution of Castilian for Latin was due to the strength of the new language, whereas others consider that it was due to the influence of Hebrew-speaking intellectuals who were hostile towards Latin, the language of the Christian Church. In 1492, under the Catholic Monarchs , the first edition of the Grammar of the Castilian Language by Antonio de Nebrija was published. Castilian

7614-425: The supreme judicial bodies. The crown also sought to better control the cities, and so in 1480 in the Cortes of Toledo it created the corregidores , representatives of the crown, which supervised the city councils. In religion, they reformed religious orders and sought unity of the various sections of the church. They pressured Jews to convert to Catholicism, in some cases persecuted by the Inquisition. Finally in 1492,

7708-597: The throne of the Basque kingdom, ruled by Queen Catherine of Navarre and King John III of Navarre , also lords of Béarn and other sizeable territories north of the Pyrenees and in Gascony . Ferdinand annexed Navarre first to the Crown of Aragon, but later, under the pressure of Castilian noblemen, to the Crown of Castile. The Holy League was generally successful in Italy, as well, driving

7802-418: The time. Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called Ferdinand the Catholic , was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of Castile , he was also King of Castile from 1475 to 1504 (as Ferdinand V ). He reigned jointly with Isabella over a dynastically unified Spain ; together they are known as

7896-510: The treasurer. Dr. David Raphael author of The Alhambra Decree and director of the musical documentary Song of the Sephardi is a descendant of Luis Santangel. In April 2010, author Mitchell James Kaplan published a book titled By Fire, By Water that explored a fictitious retelling of Luis de Santángel's life during the 15th century. The novel, while not necessarily accurate, incorporated prominent events and situations such as Santángel's position in

7990-421: Was a dynastic union of the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon in 1479 when Ferdinand ascended to the Aragonese throne. This union however was not effective until the reign of his grandson Charles I (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) . Ferdinand and Isabella were related and had married without papal approval. Although Isabella wanted to marry Ferdinand, she refused to proceed with the marriage until she received

8084-487: Was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then Castilian king, Ferdinand III , to the vacant Leonese throne . It continued to exist as a separate entity after the personal union in 1469 of the crowns of Castile and Aragon with

8178-528: Was believed to have wanted to help Jews escape their persecution by funding Columbus's journey, which would potentially offer a safer place for them to reside. After his expeditions, Columbus was granted the island of Jamaica , which became a place of refuge for many Sephardi Jews after their expulsion from Spain and Portugal. The descendant of Luis Santangel, Antonio de La Cadena Maluenda, born around 1490 and his sister Catalina settled 1525 in New Spain (Mexico) as

8272-407: Was dubious of Joanna's ability to rule and was not confident of Joanna's husband Archduke Philip . Ferdinand moved quickly after his wife's death to continue his role in Castile. On the day of his wife's death, he formally renounced his title as King of Castile and instead became governor ( gobernador ) of the kingdom, as a way to become regent. Philip deemed his wife sane and fit to rule. A compromise

8366-629: Was eventually carried to the Americas in the 16th century by the conquistadors . Because of Castilian's importance in the land ruled by the Spanish Crown , the language is also known as Spanish. Furthermore, in the 13th century many universities were founded where instruction was in Castilian, such as the Leonese University of Salamanca , the Castilian Estudio General of Palencia and the University of Valladolid , which were among

8460-468: Was forged between Philip and Ferdinand, which gave Ferdinand a continued role in Castile. Ferdinand had served as Joanna's regent during her absence in the Netherlands , ruled by her husband Archduke Philip. Ferdinand attempted to retain the regency permanently, but was rebuffed by the Castilian nobility and replaced with Joanna's husband. In the Treaty of Villafáfila of 1506, Ferdinand renounced not only

8554-561: Was in crisis. Joanna was allegedly mentally unstable, and Joanna's and Philip's son, Charles, the future Emperor Charles V , was only six years old. Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros , the Chancellor of the Kingdom, was made regent, but the upper nobility reasserted itself. Ferdinand led an army against Pedro Fernández de Córdoba y Pacheco , the marquis of Priego of Córdoba , who had seized control there by force. By 1508 Ferdinand had triumphed and war resumed in Italy, this time against

8648-452: Was in order to alleviate interior conflicts sparked off by his predecessor (revolts in Portugal , Catalonia and Andalusia ) and achieve peace in Europe. Upon the death of Philip IV in 1665, and with the incapacity of Charles II to govern, Spain suffered an economic slowdown and battles for power between the different 'favourites'. The death of Charles II in 1700 without descendants provoked

8742-514: Was invalid and did not change the law of succession which could only be done by formal legislation by the Cortes with the King. So, when King Ferdinand died on 23 January 1516, his daughter Joanna inherited the Crown of Aragon , and his grandson Charles became Governor General (regent). Nevertheless, the Flemish wished that Charles assume the royal title, and this was supported by his paternal grandfather

8836-804: Was to inherit not only the Spanish lands of his maternal grandparents, but the Austrian and Burgundian lands of his paternal family, which would make his heirs the most powerful rulers on the continent and, with the discoveries and conquests in the Americas and elsewhere, of the first truly global empire. With his wife Isabella I the Catholic (whom he married 19 October 1469), King Ferdinand had seven children: With his second wife, Germaine of Foix (whom he married on 19 October 1505 in Blois , Kingdom of France ), King Ferdinand had one son: He also left several illegitimate children, two of them were born before his marriage to Isabella: With Aldonça Ruiz d'Ivorra i Alemany ,

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