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Catholic Monarchs of Spain
The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile (r. 1474–1504) and King Ferdinand II of Aragon (r. 1479–1516), whose marriage and joint rule marked the de facto unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, as they were both descended from John I of Castile. To remove the obstacle that this consanguinity would otherwise have posed to their marriage under canon law, they were given a papal dispensation by Sixtus IV. They married on October 19, 1469, in the city of Valladolid; Isabella was 18 years old and Ferdinand a year younger. Most scholars generally accept that the unification of Spain can essentially be traced back to the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella. Their reign was called by W.H. Prescott "the most glorious epoch in the annals of Spain."
Spain was formed as a dynastic union of two crowns rather than a unitary state, as Castile and Aragon remained separate kingdoms until the Nueva Planta decrees of 1707–1716. The court of Ferdinand and Isabella was constantly on the move in order to bolster local support for the crown from local feudal lords. The title of "Catholic King and Queen" was officially bestowed on Ferdinand and Isabella by Pope Alexander VI in 1494, in recognition of their defence of the Catholic faith within their realms.
At the time of their marriage on October 19, 1469, Isabella was eighteen years old and the heiress presumptive to the Crown of Castile, while Ferdinand was seventeen and heir apparent to the Crown of Aragon. They met for the first time in Valladolid in 1469 and married within a week. From the start, they had a close relationship and worked well together. Both knew that the crown of Castile was "the prize, and that they were both jointly gambling for it."[citation needed] However, it was a step toward the unification of the lands on the Iberian Peninsula, which would eventually become Spain.
Because they were second cousins, they needed a papal dispensation to marry. Pope Paul II, an Italian pope opposed to Aragon's influence on the Mediterranean and to the rise of monarchies strong enough to challenge the Pope, refused to grant one, so they falsified a papal bull of their own. Although the bull is known to be false, it is uncertain who the actual author of the falsification was. Sources tend to cite Alfonso Carrillo de Acuña, Archbishop of Toledo, as the person who provided the dispensation, while other scholars point at Antonio Veneris.
Isabella's claims to Castile were not secure because her marriage to Ferdinand enraged her half-brother, Henry IV of Castile, who had withdrawn his support for her to be his heiress presumptive, a status that had been codified in the Treaty of the Bulls of Guisando. Henry instead recognised Joanna la Beltraneja, born during his marriage to Joanna, Princess of Portugal, but whose paternity was in doubt because Henry was rumoured to be impotent. When Henry died in 1474, Isabella asserted her claim to the throne, which was contested by thirteen-year-old Joanna. Joanna sought the aid of her husband (who was also her uncle), Afonso V of Portugal, to claim the throne. This dispute between rival claimants led to the War of the Castilian Succession from 1475–79. Isabella called on the aid of Aragon, with her husband, the heir apparent, and his father, Juan II of Aragon providing it. Although Aragon provided support for Isabella's cause and acknowledged her as the sole heir to the crown of Castille, her supporters had extracted concessions. Juan II died in 1479, and Ferdinand succeeded to the throne in January of that year.
In September 1479, Portugal and the Catholic Monarchs of Aragon and Castile resolved major issues between them through the Treaty of Alcáçovas, including the issue of Isabella's rights to the crown of Castile. Through close cooperation, the royal couple were successful in securing political power in the Iberian Peninsula. Ferdinand's father had advised the couple that "neither was powerful without the other." Though their marriage united the two kingdoms, leading to the beginnings of modern Spain, they ruled independently, and their kingdoms retained part of their own regional laws and governments for the next two centuries.
The coat of arms of the Catholic Monarchs was designed by Antonio de Nebrija with elements to show their cooperation and working in tandem. The royal motto they shared, Tanto monta ("as much one as the other"), came to signify their cooperation." The motto was originally used by Ferdinand as an allusion to the Gordian Knot: Tanto monta, monta tanto, cortar como desatar ("It's one and the same, cutting or untying"), but later adopted as an expression of equality of the monarchs: Tanto monta, monta tanto, Isabel como Fernando ("It's one and the same, Isabella the same as Ferdinand").
Their emblems or heraldic devices, seen at the bottom of the coat of arms, were a yoke (yugo) and a sheaf of arrows (haz de flechas). Y and F are the initials of Ysabel (spelling at the time) and Fernando. A double yoke is worn by a team of oxen, emphasizing the couple's cooperation. Isabella's emblem of arrows showed the armed power of the crown, "a warning to Castilians not acknowledging the reach of royal authority or that greatest of royal functions, the right to mete out justice" by force of violence. The iconography of the royal crest was widely reproduced and was found on various works of art. These badges were later used by the Fascist political party FET y de las JONS, the official party of Francoist Spain (1939–1975), which claimed to represent the inherited glory and the ideals of the Catholic Monarchs.
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Catholic Monarchs of Spain
The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile (r. 1474–1504) and King Ferdinand II of Aragon (r. 1479–1516), whose marriage and joint rule marked the de facto unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, as they were both descended from John I of Castile. To remove the obstacle that this consanguinity would otherwise have posed to their marriage under canon law, they were given a papal dispensation by Sixtus IV. They married on October 19, 1469, in the city of Valladolid; Isabella was 18 years old and Ferdinand a year younger. Most scholars generally accept that the unification of Spain can essentially be traced back to the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella. Their reign was called by W.H. Prescott "the most glorious epoch in the annals of Spain."
Spain was formed as a dynastic union of two crowns rather than a unitary state, as Castile and Aragon remained separate kingdoms until the Nueva Planta decrees of 1707–1716. The court of Ferdinand and Isabella was constantly on the move in order to bolster local support for the crown from local feudal lords. The title of "Catholic King and Queen" was officially bestowed on Ferdinand and Isabella by Pope Alexander VI in 1494, in recognition of their defence of the Catholic faith within their realms.
At the time of their marriage on October 19, 1469, Isabella was eighteen years old and the heiress presumptive to the Crown of Castile, while Ferdinand was seventeen and heir apparent to the Crown of Aragon. They met for the first time in Valladolid in 1469 and married within a week. From the start, they had a close relationship and worked well together. Both knew that the crown of Castile was "the prize, and that they were both jointly gambling for it."[citation needed] However, it was a step toward the unification of the lands on the Iberian Peninsula, which would eventually become Spain.
Because they were second cousins, they needed a papal dispensation to marry. Pope Paul II, an Italian pope opposed to Aragon's influence on the Mediterranean and to the rise of monarchies strong enough to challenge the Pope, refused to grant one, so they falsified a papal bull of their own. Although the bull is known to be false, it is uncertain who the actual author of the falsification was. Sources tend to cite Alfonso Carrillo de Acuña, Archbishop of Toledo, as the person who provided the dispensation, while other scholars point at Antonio Veneris.
Isabella's claims to Castile were not secure because her marriage to Ferdinand enraged her half-brother, Henry IV of Castile, who had withdrawn his support for her to be his heiress presumptive, a status that had been codified in the Treaty of the Bulls of Guisando. Henry instead recognised Joanna la Beltraneja, born during his marriage to Joanna, Princess of Portugal, but whose paternity was in doubt because Henry was rumoured to be impotent. When Henry died in 1474, Isabella asserted her claim to the throne, which was contested by thirteen-year-old Joanna. Joanna sought the aid of her husband (who was also her uncle), Afonso V of Portugal, to claim the throne. This dispute between rival claimants led to the War of the Castilian Succession from 1475–79. Isabella called on the aid of Aragon, with her husband, the heir apparent, and his father, Juan II of Aragon providing it. Although Aragon provided support for Isabella's cause and acknowledged her as the sole heir to the crown of Castille, her supporters had extracted concessions. Juan II died in 1479, and Ferdinand succeeded to the throne in January of that year.
In September 1479, Portugal and the Catholic Monarchs of Aragon and Castile resolved major issues between them through the Treaty of Alcáçovas, including the issue of Isabella's rights to the crown of Castile. Through close cooperation, the royal couple were successful in securing political power in the Iberian Peninsula. Ferdinand's father had advised the couple that "neither was powerful without the other." Though their marriage united the two kingdoms, leading to the beginnings of modern Spain, they ruled independently, and their kingdoms retained part of their own regional laws and governments for the next two centuries.
The coat of arms of the Catholic Monarchs was designed by Antonio de Nebrija with elements to show their cooperation and working in tandem. The royal motto they shared, Tanto monta ("as much one as the other"), came to signify their cooperation." The motto was originally used by Ferdinand as an allusion to the Gordian Knot: Tanto monta, monta tanto, cortar como desatar ("It's one and the same, cutting or untying"), but later adopted as an expression of equality of the monarchs: Tanto monta, monta tanto, Isabel como Fernando ("It's one and the same, Isabella the same as Ferdinand").
Their emblems or heraldic devices, seen at the bottom of the coat of arms, were a yoke (yugo) and a sheaf of arrows (haz de flechas). Y and F are the initials of Ysabel (spelling at the time) and Fernando. A double yoke is worn by a team of oxen, emphasizing the couple's cooperation. Isabella's emblem of arrows showed the armed power of the crown, "a warning to Castilians not acknowledging the reach of royal authority or that greatest of royal functions, the right to mete out justice" by force of violence. The iconography of the royal crest was widely reproduced and was found on various works of art. These badges were later used by the Fascist political party FET y de las JONS, the official party of Francoist Spain (1939–1975), which claimed to represent the inherited glory and the ideals of the Catholic Monarchs.