Who Was Queen Isabella of Castile?
Spain’s Iron Queen
Pre-modern history saw the rise and fall of many great men, may they be kings and emperors like Alexander the Great or the Emperor Constantine, warriors and generals like Spartacus or Sun Tzu, and politicians and philosophers like Demosthenes or Aristotle. What all these men had in common that they were men.
And generally pretty proud of it and quite convinced that the levers of power should be held by their gender.
Yet, from time to time, some women rose to the top, and undoubtedly, one such example was Queen Isabella of Castile, one of the most important rulers in the history of the Iberian Peninsula.
Early life
Born in 1451, Isabella was the daughter of King Juan II of Castile and Queen Isabella of Portugal.
Juan had been ruling Castile since 1406, when he was 1, as his father died quite young, aged only 37.
Juan first married in 1420 to Princess Maria of Aragon. The marriage lasted until 1445 when Maria died. They had three children, but only Prince Henry survived infancy.
After his wife died, King Juan remarried, taking the young Isabella of Portugal as his new wife in 1447. Their marriage lasted until 1454 when Juan died and produced two children, Isabella and Alfonso.
