Just finished this book. Fascinating story with an interesting resonance for today.
An engrossing and revolutionary biography of Isabella of Castile, the controversial Queen of Spain who sponsored Christopher Columbus’s journey to the New World, established the Spanish Inquisition, and became one of the most influential female rulers in history.
In 1474, when most women were almost powerless, twenty-three-year-old Isabella defied a hostile brother and a mercurial husband, coronated herself and seized control of Castile and León. Her subsequent feats were legendary.
Joan of Arc was her role model. She ended a twenty-four-generation struggle between Muslims and Christians, forcing North African invaders back over the Mediterranean Sea. She laid the foundation for a unified Spain. She sponsored Columbus’s trip to the Indies and negotiated Spanish control over much of the New World. Writing Pope Alexander the VI, who then drew a line through the Americas, giving North America to Spain and South America to Portugal.
All while birthing and raising 5 children.
Isabella’s life was an unending struggle to assert herself while navigating the countless intrigues and treacheries of men who wanted to bring her down, including her own faithless and jealous husband, Ferdinand.
No female leader has done more to shape our modern world. Yet history has all but forgotten Isabella’s influence. Using new scholarship, Downey’s luminous biography tells the story of this brilliant, fervent, forgotten woman, the faith that propelled her through life, and the land of ancient conflicts and intrigue she brought under her command.
