Today is the birthday of Katherine of Aragon’s mother, Isabella of Castile.
She was the Queen of Castile from 1474 and, as the wife of King Ferdinand II, Queen of Aragon from 1479 until her death, reigning over a dynastically unified Spain jointly with her husband Ferdinand; together they would be known as the Catholic Monarchs because they finally completed the reconquest of Spain from the Moors, which had taken seven centuries to complete.
It was in 1492 when the city of Granada fell, and the monarchs would live in the Alhambra Palace for several years.
But they also negotiated the marriage of their daughter Katherine to the son of Henry VII, so she is the grandmother to the future Mary I, the first woman to independently rule England – fitting, coming from a woman to independently rule in Spain.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Episode 060 Sarah Gristwood on Game of Queens: The Women Who Made 16th Century Europe
Episode 69: Supplemental – Chat with James Boulton on Katherine of Aragon
Episode 122: Christine Morgan on The Spanish Princess