Isabella of Spain: The Last Crusader

William Thomas Walsh

• Publisher: Hauraki Publishing
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781786259929
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

Called by her people Isabella la Catolica, she was by any standard one of the greatest women of all history. A saint in her own right, she married Ferdinand of Aragon, and they forged modern Spain, cast out the Moslems, discovered the New World by backing Columbus, and established a powerful central government in Spain. This story is so thrilling it reads like a novel. Makes history really come alive. Highly readable and truly great in every respect!

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER

Thank you so much for reading our book, we hope you really enjoyed it.

As you probably know, many people look at the reviews before they decide to purchase a book.

If you liked the book, could you please take a minute to leave a review with your feedback?

60 seconds is all I’m asking for, and it would mean the world to us.

Thank you so much,

Pickle Partners Publishing

{1} Dr. Lea is so violently prejudiced that his conclusions are untrustworthy and his methods sometimes reprehensible, but he is an indefatigable hunter of facts and documents. His Inquisition of the Middle Ages and History of the Inquisition of Spain are useful, provided the student takes the trouble to verify his references. Vermeersch justly says of Lea’s History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages, “This book imposes upon many persons by its confused mass of apparent erudition, but it is as deficient in synthesis as in impartiality and accuracy.” I have found the same to be true of The Inquisition of Spain, as I shall endeavour to demonstrate later on.—W.T.W.

{2} Vol. XI, p. 485.

{3} Mariana, Historia general de España.

{4} Amador de los Rios, Historia de los Judios de Espana y Portugal, Vol. III, p. 62.

{5} He was a diplomat, a scholar, and one of the chief contemporary chroniclers of the reign of Enrique IV, and the first part of Isabel’s.

{6} Castillo, Crónica del Rey Don Enrique el Quarto, cap. I, 1787 edition.

{7} The Stuttgart portrait seems to bear out this impression of Alonso de Palencia.

{8} Amador de los Rios, Historia de los Judíos, Vol. III, p. 34, note r.

{9} A. Paz y Melia, El Cronista Alonso de Palencia, Madrid, 1914.

{10} Hernando de Pulgar, Crónica de los reyes católicos.

{11} Enrique’s two principal chroniclers were Castillo, his chaplain, who recorded chiefly his virtues, and Palencia, who despised him and evidently took pleasure in exposing his vices. Many Spanish historians, including Zurita, commend the veracity of Palencia. One of his latest champions is Señor A. Paz y Melia, who makes out a plausible case in El Cronista Alonso de Palencia, Madrid, 1914.

{12} Pulgar, Claros varones de Castilla.

{13} This is Palencia’s description of Queen Juana’s damsels.

{14} Pulgar, Crónica.

{15} Pulgar, in his Crónica, attributes the death of Don Pedro to an esquinencia. Prescott and others have translated this as “quinsy,” but Colmenares, in his Historia de la insigne ciudad de Segovia (Lib. II, cap. 33) explains that the Old Spanish word esquinencia is “a sickness which today they call garrotilla,” or croup. He adds that Don Pedro’s brother, the Marqués of Villena, died of the same...

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• DEDICATION
• FOREWORD
• I-THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF THE INFANTA ISABEL-HER EDUCATION-LIFE AT ARÉVALO
• II-ENRIQUE IV SENDS FOR THE INFANTA-ISABEL’S LIFE AT COURT-THE WHITE KNIGHT
• III-ISABEL A SUBJECT OF MATRIMONIAL INTRIGUES-DON ALFONSO DECLARED KING OF CASTILE-THE MEETING OF THE THREE KINGS
• IV-THE DEATH OF DON ALFONSO-ISABEL REFUSES THE CROWN-THE MARRIAGE SETTLEMENT WITH FERNANDO OF ARAGON SIGNED
• V-THE INFANTA ISABELLA’S SECRET BETROTHAL-HER MARRIAGE-THE DEATH OF PAUL II
• VI-THE PAPAL COURT IN 1471-THE REFORMATIONS OF SIXTUS IV-CARDINAL BORGIA’S MISSION TO CASTILE-THE DEATH OF ENRIQUE IV
• VII-THE CORONATION OF THE INFANTA ISABEL AS QUEEN OF CASTILE-THE QUEEN RESTORES ORDER AT COURT-CARDINAL MENDOZA’S RISE TO POWER-BEGINNING OF WAR WITH PORTUGAL
• VIII-THE QUEEN’S MILITARY GENIUS-THE CHURCH SACRIFICES HER TREASURES-THE BATTLE OF TORO-DEFEAT OF ALFONSO V OF PORTUGAL
• IX-RESTORATION OF ORDER IN THE KINGDOM-SEVERITY OF THE NEW MEASURES-THE YOUNG INFANTA IN DANGER OF CAPTURE-THE RESCUE
• X-THE QUEEN ASSUMES CONTROL OF THE ORDER OF SANTIAGO-CARDENAS APPOINTED GRAND MASTER-THE MOORS REFUSE TO PAY TRIBUTE
• XI-THE QUEEN’S ENTRY INTO SEVILLE-THE SUBJECTION OF THE INSURGENTS-BIRTH AND BAPTISM OF PRINCE JUAN
• XII-THE CHURCH’S ENEMIES-THE CATHARI-THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE INQUISITION
• XIII-REORGANIZATION OF THE GOVERNMENT-THE TREATY OF ST. JEAN DE LUZ-THE MOHAMMEDAN ADVANCE THROUGH THE MEDITERRANEAN-THE MASSACRE OF OTRANTO
• XIV-THE JEWS’ ACTIVITIES IN SPAIN-THEIR PERSECUTION IN EUROPE-THE CONVERSOS-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SPANISH INQUISITION
• XV-THE JEWISH CONSPIRACY-PUNISHMENT OF THE RINGLEADERS-SPAIN SWEPT BY THE PLAGUE
• XVI-DEATH OF MOHAMMED II-THE INQUISITION INCURS THE POPE’S CENSURE-THE MOORS TAKE THE OFFENSIVE
• XVII-THE WAR-ALHAMA-LOJA-MÁLAGA-DISASTER
• XVIII-THE CONFLICT OF MOOR AND SPANIARD-BOABDIL-RELATIONS WITH FRANCE-TARRAGONA
• XIX-CENSURE OF THE SPANISH INQUISITION BY POPE SIXTUS IV-ITS REFORM BY TORQUEMADA
• XX-REORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY-THE CHRISTIANS DEFEATED NEAR MOCLIN-THEIR VICTORIES AT RONDA, CAMBIL AND ALBAHAR
• XXI-COLUMBUS FIRST APPEARS AT COURT-HIS PLANS AND PROPOSALS-THE CRUSADE AGAINST ISLAM
• XXII-EUROPE IN PERIL-THE SIEGE OF MÁLAGA-SURRENDER-THE KING’S BLUNDER
• XXIII-THE THREE FRIARS-THE RETURN TO THE SOUTH-THE SIEGE AND CAPITULATION OF GRANADA
• XXIV-TRIUMPH IN EUROPE-THE SOVEREIGNS DECIDE TO FIT OUT COLUMBUS FOR HIS EXPEDITION
• XXV-THE TRIAL OF BENITO GARCIA-EXPULSION OF THE JEWS-RITUAL MURDER
• XXVI-COLUMBUS SAILS-PEACE AND RECONSTRUCTION-FRANCISCO XIMENES
• XXVII-CHARLES VIII OF FRANCE-PLOT AND COUNTERPLOT-ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE KING
• XXVIII-THE RETURN OF COLUMBUS-THE SHIP’S LOG-THE INVASION OF ITALY
• XXIX-CHARLES VIII OUTWITTED-SPAIN BECOMES A FIRST RANK POWER-ROYAL ALLIANCES
• XXX-UNREST AMONG COLUMBUS’S CREW-HIS CHARACTER-MARRIAGE AND DEATH OF THE PRINCE DON JUAN
• XXXI-THE MISFORTUNES OF ALEXANDER VI-SAVONAROLA-COLUMBUS RETURNS FROM HIS THIRD VOYAGE IN CHAINS
• XXXII-THE DIVISION OF NAPLES-SPAIN DOMINATES ITALY-REVOLT IN GRANADA
• XXXIII-THE PRINCESS CATALINA MARRIES THE PRINCE OF WALES-QUEEN ISABEL’S LAST CAMPAIGN-HER ILLNESS AND DEATH
• SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
• REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER