Isabella of Castile

An abandoned childhood, a marriage for love, a bloody civil war and the re-conquest of Grenada (the last Muslim municipality in Spain), these are the things we credit this great woman for. Few women in this world's history have achieved so much in their short lifetimes. In an age where women were expected to be subordinates to their husbands for their weaker minds, Isabella stood alone a fortress in strength, an empire in greatness and a symbol to all what Spain stood for.

                At the time Isabella's birth, 1451, Europe was emerging into a new age, that of the renaissance, however, Spain was held back as it lacked capable monarchs who would've wisely ruled the country. Very early on in her life, she found herself without any real guidance, her father had died a short time after her birth, and her mother chose to lock herself away mourning for her deceased husband. Soon, Isabella found herself at the mercy of her half-brother Henry IV who, because of his mental instability chose to lock away his poor sister for fear she might rise against him and claim the throne to herself, out of this came out a strong-willed, god-fearing Isabella. Such as when it came to the question of marriage, Isabella's courage was suffice, allowing her to reject all the proposals her brother offered her (relatives of the Kings of France and England, as well as the King of Portugal). Instead, she chose a man she loved and esteemed dearly, even though she had never met, the all-powerful King of Aragon, Ferdinand. It is very important to understand that Spain in the 15th century was not the Spain we know it as today, in fact it was a patchwork of regions, each having their own ruling monarch, Aragon and Castile were the most-dominant of these Kingdoms. In choosing, Ferdinand, she was allying herself to a man she loved, but also a powerful force, that would later unify Spain under one monarchy. However, her marriage angered her brother, who felt even more threatened, the next few years would be spent by Isabella in hiding till her brother's demise.

                When Henry IV's body lay cold, Isabella stood up to claim the throne of Castile. However, Castile being a problematic region, it refused to accept Isabella and her husband as monarchs of the Kingdom, the result was a civil war that lasted for ten years.

                With Ferdinand on her side, and a steel-hard will, at the end of the ten years the people of Castile soon realized that Isabella was winning the war on every front, they gave in and accepted her as their rightful Queen. Soon, other smaller Kingdoms in modern-day Spain were pledging alliance to Europe's triumphant couple.

                By 1476, Isabella had stabilized the troubled region of Castile and went onto considering the aspects of Spanish life and social welfare. Her most notable endeavors in this field was establishing local militants that would later be the basis of the Spanish army, these local militants upheld justice in various villages, towns and cities, they were Europe's first "authentic" police force. A less admirable, but comprehensible policy, was establishing the inquisition, whose job was to monitor the lives of the Spanish people making sure they were all moral Christians. However, the Inquisition would later be responsible for the murder of many Jews, Muslims and Protestants (whom Catholic Spain would consider to be heretics in the 16th century). Another considerable achievement was sponsoring Christopher Columbus on his expedition to the West Indies that brought Spain massive wealth in the form of gold and silver.

                Isabella's moment of glory came when she restored all the Spanish lands as they were ruled by her forbearers. She worked on a massive campaign against the last standing Muslim territory, which she regained in 1492, in a battle that showed Isabella as a magnificent leader of any army, Isabella brought her nation victory against the odds, and won the title of Europe's Catholic monarch from the Pope.

                All these achievements, however, were forgotten in Isabella's final years which as troubled as her first few, she found herself amidst tragedies that enthralled her beloved family. Three of her five children died suddenly, shortly after their prestigious marriages to European royal families. Catherine of Aragon would marry the famous womanizer Henry VIII of England; who would abandon her for Anne Boleyn and later poison Isabella's daughter. The daughter that was left, blissfully married a man she loved far too much, and when he died she went mad with grief for him; Spain as it seemed, was destined never to have a monarch greater than Isabella, whose health declined as a result of these sudden strikes.