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Isabella: The Warrior Queen
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
Born at a time when Christianity was dying out and the Ottoman Empire was aggressively expanding, Isabella was inspired in her youth by tales of Joan of Arc, a devout young woman who unified her people and led them to victory against foreign invaders. In 1474, when most women were almost powerless, twenty-three-year-old Isabella defied a hostile brother and mercurial husband to seize control of Castile and León.
Her subsequent feats were legendary. She ended a twenty-four-generation struggle between Muslims and Christians, forcing Moorish 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 with the help of Rodrigo Borgia, the infamous Pope Alexander VI. She also annihilated all who stood against her by establishing a bloody religious Inquisition that would darken Spain's reputation for centuries.
Whether saintly or satanic, no female leader has done more to shape our modern world, where millions of people in two hemispheres speak Spanish and practice Catholicism. Yet history has all but forgotten Isabella's influence, due to hundreds of years of misreporting that often attributed her accomplishments to Ferdinand, the bold and philandering husband she adored.
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.
Born at a time when Christianity was dying out and the Ottoman Empire was aggressively expanding, Isabella was inspired in her youth by tales of Joan of Arc, a devout young woman who unified her people and led them to victory against foreign invaders. In 1474, when most women were almost powerless, twenty-three-year-old Isabella defied a hostile brother and mercurial husband to seize control of Castile and León.
Her subsequent feats were legendary. She ended a twenty-four-generation struggle between Muslims and Christians, forcing Moorish 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 with the help of Rodrigo Borgia, the infamous Pope Alexander VI. She also annihilated all who stood against her by establishing a bloody religious Inquisition that would darken Spain's reputation for centuries.
Whether saintly or satanic, no female leader has done more to shape our modern world, where millions of people in two hemispheres speak Spanish and practice Catholicism. Yet history has all but forgotten Isabella's influence, due to hundreds of years of misreporting that often attributed her accomplishments to Ferdinand, the bold and philandering husband she adored.
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.
520 pages, Hardcover
First published October 28, 2014
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April 10, 2016
This massive undertaking by Kristin Downey gives context to the fifty-three years of Queen Isabella’s life and shares origin stories of people or events we may have heard bits of in our lives but never knew where to find the references:
Monty Python: The Monty Python skit of the soldier who first loses a leg, then an arm, then another arm…you know it…was based on the struggles of Portuguese soldier, Duarte de Almeida, to keep the Portuguese flag flying in the Battle of Toro against Ferdinand and Isabella, who were thought to be illegally seizing the throne in Castile.
Count Dracula: Mehmed the Conquerer was determined to expand the Ottoman Empire and conquered Constantinople in 1453. Mehmed renamed the city Istanbul and swore to take Rome within two years. He didn’t, but he managed to take Athens and Corinth and Serbia. In 1462, as Mehmed was attempting to subdue the geographical region of Romania, then called Wallachia, Mehmed came up against his father’s former hostage, Vlad, who had been beaten and abused in the Turkish court and then sent back to Wallachia to rule. “Vlad fought Mehmed ferociously, earning himself the name of Vlad the Impaler, the prototype for the character that came to be known as Count Dracula. He is estimated to have killed tens of thousands of people, partly in efforts to repel the Turks. He was finally assassinated.”
The game of chess: "Chess was enormously popular in Spain during Isabella’s rule…and soon after the battle [of Almeria during the Reconquest], the Queen became the single most powerful piece on the chessboard, able to move great distances in all directions, her mission is to protect and defend the key piece on the board, the King. Some versions of chess had had a Queen figure before Isabella’s birth, but it was at this time that the fame, originally invented in India, underwent a complete metamorphosis and the queen became a dominant figure. The changes in the game were chronicled in a popular book on the new rules of chess, published in Salamanca about 1496, written by Ramirez de Lucena. He described the game now as “queen’s chess,” and her new powers allowed her to “advance as far as she liked, as long as her path was clear.” Queen Isabella had memorialized herself as a powerful player in the game of war."
1492 was the year that Americans have enshrined as the year Columbus discovered North America. But in Spain, it is the year that Isabella and Ferdinand finally took back Granada, after the fighting of many years, from the Muslim Nasrid dynasty. “The victory over Granada won acclaim for Isabella and Ferdinand throughout Europe, because it was the first significant triumph against Islam in hundreds of years, and to many Europeans, it was partial payback for the loss of Constantinople.” Cristóbal Colón “was at Granada when the city finally fell to the Christians [to petition the Queen]...but court scholars once again rejected Columbus’s proposal as unsound.” Shortly after that unsuccessful meeting of Columbus with the Queen in Granada, however, the Queen sent a messenger after Columbus, reaching him about ten miles outside of Granada. The trip was approved. Three well-known mariners, the Pinzon brothers, agreed to sign on in leadership positions. Juan de la Costa brought his own ship, Santa Maria. They left August 3, 1492, and sighted land in the Caribbean on October 12, 1492.
Cristóbal Colón: Christopher Columbus was a dreamer with a streak of madness. He wrote in cipher, signed his name in and “indecipherable combination of letters and images.” He heard “voices in the air,” and spent many hours writing feverishly in the margins of books, developing his theories. “…although Columbus showed himself to be an excellent mariner, he was also exposed as a terrible administrator and a man of poor judgement…he faced an almost constant sequences of mutinies among his crew…Columbus’s ferocity in dealing with the Indians was a direct contradiction of his orders from Queen Isabella about how to interact with them…Columbus was viewed with a measure of contempt…Columbus had become very unpopular…at court, and it was getting more difficult for others to stand up for him…He compounded his own problems by denying what was patently obvious. He had promised the sovereigns that he would find a path to the Orient, He had stumbled on something large and important, but it was not the Indies.”
Syphilis It is thought Columbus’s returning ship brought the disease to Europe in 1493.
The Inquisition initially began as an attempt to ferret out insincere Christians, and to correct them. Those deemed unrepentant were burned at the stake, the traditional penalty for heresy. The thing was, Spain was filled with Muslims and Jews as a result of previous conquests. Many declared themselves to be Christians to get along, but retained their old customs and methods of worship. “The governing principle of an Inquisition is that failing to conform to religious and political norms is treason. In Isabella’s age, church and state were one—religious authority and secular power were intermingled….Historians once believed that immense numbers of people were burned at the stake, but more recent scholarship has cast doubt on those assertions…There is no questions that during Isabella’s reign, hundreds of people were put to the flame, probably at least 1,000…” Isabella chose a religious zealot, Cisneros, as archbishop of Toledo, the most important and powerful cleric in Spain. With this, she “put her kingdom on a less tolerant and more religious path,” leading to excesses in the Inquisition.
Cesare Borgia: Isabella was a devout Catholic and was pleased when Rodrigo Borgia ascended to the papacy in August 1492, the second time a Spaniard managed to do so. However, Borgia, who had taken the name of the Greek conquerer Alexander IV, proved himself a corrupt and promiscuous pontiff, fathering a vast number of “beautiful and intelligent” children whom he squired to important ranks in society. Cesare, “the cynical man whom Machiavelli called a political genius,” was one of these.
Bonfire of the Vanities took place in Florence, Italy during Lent in 1497 and 1498 when an Italian preacher, determined to rid the Catholic church of corruption, convinced crowds to burn objects that represented human vices and unnecessary luxury. “Items thrown into the bonfire included rich clothing, mirrors, playing cards, and paintings of books, some of which represented pornography but others of which were great works that represented the celebration of sensuality at the heart of the Italian Renaissance.”
Vasco de Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1498 and returned to Portugal with Indian and Asian spices, just about the time Isabella’s daughter, Maria, married Manuel, King of Portugal. Queen Isabella was at the end of her reign, but now that her daughter was Queen of Portugal, “together they ruled over much of the world, and wealth poured into their countries.” Isabella had always been a patron of the arts, commissioning paintings to mark major victories or family events.
Catherine of Aragon was Isabella’s fourth daughter. She was wed to Britain’s Prince of Wales, Arthur, but it is uncertain whether or not the marriage was consummated before Arthur died of the plague in 1502. It was suggested that she marry Arthur’s brother Henry instead of returning to Spain, but in order to do so, Isabella needed a papal dispensation from the Pope she had begun to hate for his excesses, Pope Alexander IV (Rodrigo Borgia). King Ferdinand therefore drafted the request, and after two years the dispensation returned from Italy and was subsequently sent to England.
When Isabella died in 1504, “even her enemies in other countries recognized her [as] one of the wisest and most honourable persons in the world.” In the prosaic way we might recognize today, her son dumped her vast collection of jewels and worldly goods, selling them far below market value so that they were resold later at far higher prices. Her priceless collection of paintings was salvaged in part by a daughter-in-law, Margaret, “who bought many of the paintings of Christ’s life,” which were kept as a set. “Today most of them remain in Madrid’s Royal Palace; the rest are part of the treasured collections of major art museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington.”
I am not a historian. The problem I had with this as a work of popular history is that Downey seemed to swoop and swerve, stall and reverse to include every detail that she’d encountered in her researches. The result is a spectacularly detailed, if sometimes mind-numbing, parade of personalities. The back and forth nature of writing history I found disconcerting, though it is surely the most logical way to go about telling such a large personal story. We certainly see the scope and importance of Isabella’s rule.
I read the paper copy and listened to the audio version published by Random House and narrated by Kimberly Farr. Both Downey and Farr did a herculean job.
Monty Python: The Monty Python skit of the soldier who first loses a leg, then an arm, then another arm…you know it…was based on the struggles of Portuguese soldier, Duarte de Almeida, to keep the Portuguese flag flying in the Battle of Toro against Ferdinand and Isabella, who were thought to be illegally seizing the throne in Castile.
"It was difficult to recount later exactly what happened because the Portuguese and Castilian accounts differed...the Castilians seized the battle flag, the royal standard of Portugal, despite the valiant efforts of a Portuguese soldier, Duarte de Almeida, to retain it. Almeida had been holding the flag aloft in his right arm, which was slashed from his body, and so he transferred the pendant to his other arm and kept fighting. Then his other arm was cut off, and he held the flag in his teeth until he finally succumbed to death."
Count Dracula: Mehmed the Conquerer was determined to expand the Ottoman Empire and conquered Constantinople in 1453. Mehmed renamed the city Istanbul and swore to take Rome within two years. He didn’t, but he managed to take Athens and Corinth and Serbia. In 1462, as Mehmed was attempting to subdue the geographical region of Romania, then called Wallachia, Mehmed came up against his father’s former hostage, Vlad, who had been beaten and abused in the Turkish court and then sent back to Wallachia to rule. “Vlad fought Mehmed ferociously, earning himself the name of Vlad the Impaler, the prototype for the character that came to be known as Count Dracula. He is estimated to have killed tens of thousands of people, partly in efforts to repel the Turks. He was finally assassinated.”
The game of chess: "Chess was enormously popular in Spain during Isabella’s rule…and soon after the battle [of Almeria during the Reconquest], the Queen became the single most powerful piece on the chessboard, able to move great distances in all directions, her mission is to protect and defend the key piece on the board, the King. Some versions of chess had had a Queen figure before Isabella’s birth, but it was at this time that the fame, originally invented in India, underwent a complete metamorphosis and the queen became a dominant figure. The changes in the game were chronicled in a popular book on the new rules of chess, published in Salamanca about 1496, written by Ramirez de Lucena. He described the game now as “queen’s chess,” and her new powers allowed her to “advance as far as she liked, as long as her path was clear.” Queen Isabella had memorialized herself as a powerful player in the game of war."
1492 was the year that Americans have enshrined as the year Columbus discovered North America. But in Spain, it is the year that Isabella and Ferdinand finally took back Granada, after the fighting of many years, from the Muslim Nasrid dynasty. “The victory over Granada won acclaim for Isabella and Ferdinand throughout Europe, because it was the first significant triumph against Islam in hundreds of years, and to many Europeans, it was partial payback for the loss of Constantinople.” Cristóbal Colón “was at Granada when the city finally fell to the Christians [to petition the Queen]...but court scholars once again rejected Columbus’s proposal as unsound.” Shortly after that unsuccessful meeting of Columbus with the Queen in Granada, however, the Queen sent a messenger after Columbus, reaching him about ten miles outside of Granada. The trip was approved. Three well-known mariners, the Pinzon brothers, agreed to sign on in leadership positions. Juan de la Costa brought his own ship, Santa Maria. They left August 3, 1492, and sighted land in the Caribbean on October 12, 1492.
Cristóbal Colón: Christopher Columbus was a dreamer with a streak of madness. He wrote in cipher, signed his name in and “indecipherable combination of letters and images.” He heard “voices in the air,” and spent many hours writing feverishly in the margins of books, developing his theories. “…although Columbus showed himself to be an excellent mariner, he was also exposed as a terrible administrator and a man of poor judgement…he faced an almost constant sequences of mutinies among his crew…Columbus’s ferocity in dealing with the Indians was a direct contradiction of his orders from Queen Isabella about how to interact with them…Columbus was viewed with a measure of contempt…Columbus had become very unpopular…at court, and it was getting more difficult for others to stand up for him…He compounded his own problems by denying what was patently obvious. He had promised the sovereigns that he would find a path to the Orient, He had stumbled on something large and important, but it was not the Indies.”
Syphilis It is thought Columbus’s returning ship brought the disease to Europe in 1493.
The Inquisition initially began as an attempt to ferret out insincere Christians, and to correct them. Those deemed unrepentant were burned at the stake, the traditional penalty for heresy. The thing was, Spain was filled with Muslims and Jews as a result of previous conquests. Many declared themselves to be Christians to get along, but retained their old customs and methods of worship. “The governing principle of an Inquisition is that failing to conform to religious and political norms is treason. In Isabella’s age, church and state were one—religious authority and secular power were intermingled….Historians once believed that immense numbers of people were burned at the stake, but more recent scholarship has cast doubt on those assertions…There is no questions that during Isabella’s reign, hundreds of people were put to the flame, probably at least 1,000…” Isabella chose a religious zealot, Cisneros, as archbishop of Toledo, the most important and powerful cleric in Spain. With this, she “put her kingdom on a less tolerant and more religious path,” leading to excesses in the Inquisition.
Cesare Borgia: Isabella was a devout Catholic and was pleased when Rodrigo Borgia ascended to the papacy in August 1492, the second time a Spaniard managed to do so. However, Borgia, who had taken the name of the Greek conquerer Alexander IV, proved himself a corrupt and promiscuous pontiff, fathering a vast number of “beautiful and intelligent” children whom he squired to important ranks in society. Cesare, “the cynical man whom Machiavelli called a political genius,” was one of these.
Bonfire of the Vanities took place in Florence, Italy during Lent in 1497 and 1498 when an Italian preacher, determined to rid the Catholic church of corruption, convinced crowds to burn objects that represented human vices and unnecessary luxury. “Items thrown into the bonfire included rich clothing, mirrors, playing cards, and paintings of books, some of which represented pornography but others of which were great works that represented the celebration of sensuality at the heart of the Italian Renaissance.”
Vasco de Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1498 and returned to Portugal with Indian and Asian spices, just about the time Isabella’s daughter, Maria, married Manuel, King of Portugal. Queen Isabella was at the end of her reign, but now that her daughter was Queen of Portugal, “together they ruled over much of the world, and wealth poured into their countries.” Isabella had always been a patron of the arts, commissioning paintings to mark major victories or family events.
Catherine of Aragon was Isabella’s fourth daughter. She was wed to Britain’s Prince of Wales, Arthur, but it is uncertain whether or not the marriage was consummated before Arthur died of the plague in 1502. It was suggested that she marry Arthur’s brother Henry instead of returning to Spain, but in order to do so, Isabella needed a papal dispensation from the Pope she had begun to hate for his excesses, Pope Alexander IV (Rodrigo Borgia). King Ferdinand therefore drafted the request, and after two years the dispensation returned from Italy and was subsequently sent to England.
When Isabella died in 1504, “even her enemies in other countries recognized her [as] one of the wisest and most honourable persons in the world.” In the prosaic way we might recognize today, her son dumped her vast collection of jewels and worldly goods, selling them far below market value so that they were resold later at far higher prices. Her priceless collection of paintings was salvaged in part by a daughter-in-law, Margaret, “who bought many of the paintings of Christ’s life,” which were kept as a set. “Today most of them remain in Madrid’s Royal Palace; the rest are part of the treasured collections of major art museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington.”
I am not a historian. The problem I had with this as a work of popular history is that Downey seemed to swoop and swerve, stall and reverse to include every detail that she’d encountered in her researches. The result is a spectacularly detailed, if sometimes mind-numbing, parade of personalities. The back and forth nature of writing history I found disconcerting, though it is surely the most logical way to go about telling such a large personal story. We certainly see the scope and importance of Isabella’s rule.
I read the paper copy and listened to the audio version published by Random House and narrated by Kimberly Farr. Both Downey and Farr did a herculean job.
October 10, 2014
Since I knew Queen Isabella was the financier of Columbus, a force behind the Spanish Inquisition, and the mother of Katherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII, I thought I would find this book about her interesting, but that was an underestimation because Isabella: The Warrior Queen turned out to be a treasure trove of fascinating information and stories. About Columbus the book has more detail than I expected, also covering early European interactions with various groups of Native Americans. About the Inquisition the book gives religious context and history that were unfamiliar to me, and after reading about Catherine of Aragon’s early life I have a greater understanding of and appreciation for her as a woman of strength and principle.
Also woven into the narrative is information about: the lives and historical impacts of Isabella’s other children, the balance of power in Isabella’s relationship with her husband Ferdinand (according to this account she was the one who was “more equal”), and fairly extensive background histories of European royal families and their politics, Islam’s presence on the Iberian Peninsula, the evolving role of the papacy, and the nature and progress of the Ottoman Empire. Isabella was a much stronger monarch than I realized, but she’s humanized here and I ended up liking her which wasn’t something I expected.
Author Kirstin Downey has taken obvious care to be fair and respectful to all parties in Isabella’s story, and without doing a lot of undocumented speculation about her subjects’ inner feelings, her book is written in a vivid, engaging style that had me hooked from its opening chapter. I kept finding myself rushing back to its pages the way you do when reading a gripping novel.
I received an advanced review copy of this book. Review opinions are mine.
Also woven into the narrative is information about: the lives and historical impacts of Isabella’s other children, the balance of power in Isabella’s relationship with her husband Ferdinand (according to this account she was the one who was “more equal”), and fairly extensive background histories of European royal families and their politics, Islam’s presence on the Iberian Peninsula, the evolving role of the papacy, and the nature and progress of the Ottoman Empire. Isabella was a much stronger monarch than I realized, but she’s humanized here and I ended up liking her which wasn’t something I expected.
Author Kirstin Downey has taken obvious care to be fair and respectful to all parties in Isabella’s story, and without doing a lot of undocumented speculation about her subjects’ inner feelings, her book is written in a vivid, engaging style that had me hooked from its opening chapter. I kept finding myself rushing back to its pages the way you do when reading a gripping novel.
I received an advanced review copy of this book. Review opinions are mine.
December 20, 2014
The book's a comedy of errors and stereotypes.
In the first chapter, I could see what seemed to be some definite Christianist bias and bad-type revisionist history. Downey lumps nearly 800 years of Muslim rule in Spain, under several different dynasties, some Arab, some Berber as "Muslim rule in general isn't what it has been cracked up to be," as in "hint, hint, Muslim Spain was bad."
She then connects this to wanting to make Isabella out to be a Joan of Arc with ruling powers. So, the position of women in Muslim Spain has to be called worse than in Christian Spain, even though this varied across nearly 800 years, too.
And, Muslims going on slave raids just to find Christian women to polygamously breed has to be stressed, too. It almost sounds racist, and also ignores that before the Reconquista was complete, Spain had joined Portugal in slaving in Africa, and impregnating Africans, if not marrying them.
Back to the Joan of Arc-ness. It's not enough for Downey to (rightly) have Isabella as much or more than Ferdinand as the driving force behind the Reconquista, and certainly the only one of the two to favor Columbus.
No, she has to be puffed up as the leader of the Christian response to the Ottoman Turks, who were nowhere near a threat to Spain at this time, and, in this period, would not face a semi-united Christian opposition until Lepanto, long after Isabella was dead, and not lead by Spain. (And, Lepanto wasn't a final check on Ottoman power anyway.)
But wait, it gets worse.
Downey apparently never mentions in the whole book that Isabella had converso/marrano heritage. (As did Ferdinand.) Gee, don't you think this was worth of mention?
But the topper? The guaranteed earning of a 1-star rating?
In the next chapter, Downey claims that Enrique, Isabella's older half-brother, Enrique, had ocelots among the animals in his menagerie.
Since ocelots are only native to the New World, and this was pre-Columbus, that's flatly impossible.
And, if you're going to make that big of a gaffe less than 100 pages into an already problematic book, ain't no way you're getting off the 1-star schneid in my world.
In the first chapter, I could see what seemed to be some definite Christianist bias and bad-type revisionist history. Downey lumps nearly 800 years of Muslim rule in Spain, under several different dynasties, some Arab, some Berber as "Muslim rule in general isn't what it has been cracked up to be," as in "hint, hint, Muslim Spain was bad."
She then connects this to wanting to make Isabella out to be a Joan of Arc with ruling powers. So, the position of women in Muslim Spain has to be called worse than in Christian Spain, even though this varied across nearly 800 years, too.
And, Muslims going on slave raids just to find Christian women to polygamously breed has to be stressed, too. It almost sounds racist, and also ignores that before the Reconquista was complete, Spain had joined Portugal in slaving in Africa, and impregnating Africans, if not marrying them.
Back to the Joan of Arc-ness. It's not enough for Downey to (rightly) have Isabella as much or more than Ferdinand as the driving force behind the Reconquista, and certainly the only one of the two to favor Columbus.
No, she has to be puffed up as the leader of the Christian response to the Ottoman Turks, who were nowhere near a threat to Spain at this time, and, in this period, would not face a semi-united Christian opposition until Lepanto, long after Isabella was dead, and not lead by Spain. (And, Lepanto wasn't a final check on Ottoman power anyway.)
But wait, it gets worse.
Downey apparently never mentions in the whole book that Isabella had converso/marrano heritage. (As did Ferdinand.) Gee, don't you think this was worth of mention?
But the topper? The guaranteed earning of a 1-star rating?
In the next chapter, Downey claims that Enrique, Isabella's older half-brother, Enrique, had ocelots among the animals in his menagerie.
Since ocelots are only native to the New World, and this was pre-Columbus, that's flatly impossible.
And, if you're going to make that big of a gaffe less than 100 pages into an already problematic book, ain't no way you're getting off the 1-star schneid in my world.
August 20, 2020
When I read European history it's usually English or Church history. Between London and Rome the rest of the European continent manages to sneak into the picture quite frequently and to significant extent. As a result I have more than a passing exposure to the histories of other European countries though my knowledge of Spanish history is rather limited and primarily involves England and France and Napoleon. So recently on a trip to Barnes and Noble in an effort to supplement my TBR shelf I ran across this book near the bottom shelf and there was nothing above it that struck my interest. My knowledge of Queen Isabella is limited to her relationship with the Columbus and his voyage of Discovery. So finding nothing else of interest I bought the book in hopes of filling a knowledge void.
One thing about English history that is very annoying is the fact that the nobility in that country seemed to have a lack of imagination when it came to naming their sons. In most of English history the male participants use only about a half dozen first names. These men are primarily Edwards, Henrys, Williams, Richards, Johns, Harold, or Arthur and that's about it. Consequently, they seem never to refer to themselves by their names but by their titles and that is the only way to keep track of who is who. Now let's start our introduction to Spanish history and what do I find but that the Spanish have their own little naming tradition to make their history incomprehensible. In Spain at the time of Isabella Spanish nobility preferred to name their children after their parents. Of course the parents had been named after their parents and so on. Isabella's mother was named Isabella and so was her grandmother. When Isabella had a daughter what else was she going to be named but Isabella. There were also some Juans, Juanas, Joaos, etc just to keep the reader on his/her toes. Maddening but not impossible to follow if you read slow and carefully. So my limited gripe is out of the way so how was the book? Quite good actually.
To begin with I picked up an interesting bit of trivia from reading this history concerning the game of chess. Chess was certainly in existence long before Isabella. However, around 1495 the rules were rewritten and a new version of the game called Queen's Chess came into being. This is the game we are all familiar with in which the queen is dominant piece on the board and whose duty is to protect the king. This new version of chess is attributed to the reign of Isabella and after reading this book I don't know why Isabella wasted her time on Ferdinand let alone protected him. After Isabella died the king displayed his true colors much to the displeasure of the Spanish nobility and people. Aside from learning this little gem about chess there is a great deal to be learned from this biography about Isabella, Ferdinand, the Inquisition, the discovery of the New World and the consequences of the discovery, of course Columbus is featured as is Pope Alexander VI, and more. Isabella and Spain's influence on the world at that time and in the present is quite remarkable and to think she accomplished what she did in a time when women were generally regarded as little better than children or incompetents is astonishing. Isabella would certainly seem to be the precursor to Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, and Victoria and deservedly so. This was definitely a biography worth reading.
One thing about English history that is very annoying is the fact that the nobility in that country seemed to have a lack of imagination when it came to naming their sons. In most of English history the male participants use only about a half dozen first names. These men are primarily Edwards, Henrys, Williams, Richards, Johns, Harold, or Arthur and that's about it. Consequently, they seem never to refer to themselves by their names but by their titles and that is the only way to keep track of who is who. Now let's start our introduction to Spanish history and what do I find but that the Spanish have their own little naming tradition to make their history incomprehensible. In Spain at the time of Isabella Spanish nobility preferred to name their children after their parents. Of course the parents had been named after their parents and so on. Isabella's mother was named Isabella and so was her grandmother. When Isabella had a daughter what else was she going to be named but Isabella. There were also some Juans, Juanas, Joaos, etc just to keep the reader on his/her toes. Maddening but not impossible to follow if you read slow and carefully. So my limited gripe is out of the way so how was the book? Quite good actually.
To begin with I picked up an interesting bit of trivia from reading this history concerning the game of chess. Chess was certainly in existence long before Isabella. However, around 1495 the rules were rewritten and a new version of the game called Queen's Chess came into being. This is the game we are all familiar with in which the queen is dominant piece on the board and whose duty is to protect the king. This new version of chess is attributed to the reign of Isabella and after reading this book I don't know why Isabella wasted her time on Ferdinand let alone protected him. After Isabella died the king displayed his true colors much to the displeasure of the Spanish nobility and people. Aside from learning this little gem about chess there is a great deal to be learned from this biography about Isabella, Ferdinand, the Inquisition, the discovery of the New World and the consequences of the discovery, of course Columbus is featured as is Pope Alexander VI, and more. Isabella and Spain's influence on the world at that time and in the present is quite remarkable and to think she accomplished what she did in a time when women were generally regarded as little better than children or incompetents is astonishing. Isabella would certainly seem to be the precursor to Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, and Victoria and deservedly so. This was definitely a biography worth reading.
December 11, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 8, 2020
Finished this book finally. Wonderful, rich detail about Isabel and the life and times she mastered.
Isabel is a fascinating if genocidal character. On the one hand she was a very powerful ruler in a turbulent kingdom and constantly at war during her reign.
In a time and place where women control little she controlled her Kingdom, had absolute custody and control of her children plus her husband somewhat, kinda, sorta worked for her. She made the real decisions for her Kingdom and managed to keep her equally yoked husband.
This is indeed a delicate and intricate dance. At the same time she used her religion as a vicious weapon of mass destruction.
She was virulently and violently Catholic which was unfortunately fatal for too many of her subjects.
She is Islamophobic & Antisemtic- both of which are common feelings for her time, religion and place.
She totally steals the thrown from her niece and her brother's rightful heir. When family steals the crown they often say the heir is illegitimate or not the king's etc
She steals from her subjects in cringeworthy ways. Mostly from her subjects who are already marginalized.
This book doesn't mention the Romani peoples but it's my understanding she both evicted them with the Jewish and Moorish Peoples and persecuted those that converted to Catholicism who stayed in Spsin during the Inquisition.
In addition this is the Queen that sends Columbus on an expedition that claims populated land masses as her own.
This ultimately standardizes, normalizes and adds the Catholic Church's blessing to a pattern of thinking that results in the horrors of colonialism: theft, genocide, chattel slavery.
This impacts multiple continents and at the least hundreds probably thousands of nations, countries, confederates, kingdoms, empires, democracies, etc. Millions of people die or are displaced.
Yet the author spends much time excusing Isabel's choices and behaviors while demonizing the Moors of Grenada. The author opens the book with the no doubt true but extremely detailed info about The Emirate conquering Granada. For comparison she talks about other European conquerors who no doubt employed many of the exact methods but she glosses over it with no violence at all. It's cringeworthy.
Especially given the level of violence that Spain will enact in the Americas for centuries. She makes colonialism's crimes seem like misunderstandings taken advantage of by a few bad apples.
I'm unsure how a historian could consider Muslim violence in light of the blood bath that Isabel will unleash over 2 continents considerably larger than all of Europe.
Clearly this author does not consider the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas as important as the European Catholic peoples living on part of the Iberian Peninsula.
Hm, could it be that this author has a problem valuing people who have brown and black skin? Or who don't practice Catholicism? Christianity?
She refers to the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon by name but refers to the Moors of Grenada as the generic 'Muslims'. So Castile is at war with 'The Muslims' vs Castile is at war with Grenada or the Emirate or whatever.
It's offensive and dismissive and calls into question the authenticity of the other facts given.
The author shares in the Afterward that her 'theory' is that Isabel 'protects' Europe from 'the Muslims' and the expansion of Islam throughout Europe.
However she seems unconcerned about Isabel doing that very same thing to continents full of millions of people.
The theory screams Islamophobic and explains much of why this book rubs me the wrong way.
TLDR: The author's bias is so blatant it makes me uncomfortable gleaning any true facts from this biography. It's a shame as this is very readable and interesting.
Updates while reading as my app was glitching:
*****Still reading I'm about 30% done I couldn't update for some reason????
So Isabella has married Ferdinand, become Queen of Castile, won the war of succession against Portugal and is setting about restoring order.
I am enjoying this book but the authors clear bias is difficult to ignore. I also am deeply impressed by Isabella's ability to maintain absolute control in Castile. It's impressive how she is able to keep Ferdinand both from power and still married to her. It's really too bad she turns into such a rampant racist and human rights violator. She had such promise.
Below was in response to a comment that was later erased.
***I am not a European and so I will not be reviewing this book from that standpoint. If that causes you to clutch your pearls in shock I advise you not to continue to read my review of this book. Queen Isabella is a horrible human rights violator, the first in history on such a global scale. I have little that is nice to say about her. Or the author of this biased biography.
Isabel is a fascinating if genocidal character. On the one hand she was a very powerful ruler in a turbulent kingdom and constantly at war during her reign.
In a time and place where women control little she controlled her Kingdom, had absolute custody and control of her children plus her husband somewhat, kinda, sorta worked for her. She made the real decisions for her Kingdom and managed to keep her equally yoked husband.
This is indeed a delicate and intricate dance. At the same time she used her religion as a vicious weapon of mass destruction.
She was virulently and violently Catholic which was unfortunately fatal for too many of her subjects.
She is Islamophobic & Antisemtic- both of which are common feelings for her time, religion and place.
She totally steals the thrown from her niece and her brother's rightful heir. When family steals the crown they often say the heir is illegitimate or not the king's etc
She steals from her subjects in cringeworthy ways. Mostly from her subjects who are already marginalized.
This book doesn't mention the Romani peoples but it's my understanding she both evicted them with the Jewish and Moorish Peoples and persecuted those that converted to Catholicism who stayed in Spsin during the Inquisition.
In addition this is the Queen that sends Columbus on an expedition that claims populated land masses as her own.
This ultimately standardizes, normalizes and adds the Catholic Church's blessing to a pattern of thinking that results in the horrors of colonialism: theft, genocide, chattel slavery.
This impacts multiple continents and at the least hundreds probably thousands of nations, countries, confederates, kingdoms, empires, democracies, etc. Millions of people die or are displaced.
Yet the author spends much time excusing Isabel's choices and behaviors while demonizing the Moors of Grenada. The author opens the book with the no doubt true but extremely detailed info about The Emirate conquering Granada. For comparison she talks about other European conquerors who no doubt employed many of the exact methods but she glosses over it with no violence at all. It's cringeworthy.
Especially given the level of violence that Spain will enact in the Americas for centuries. She makes colonialism's crimes seem like misunderstandings taken advantage of by a few bad apples.
I'm unsure how a historian could consider Muslim violence in light of the blood bath that Isabel will unleash over 2 continents considerably larger than all of Europe.
Clearly this author does not consider the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas as important as the European Catholic peoples living on part of the Iberian Peninsula.
Hm, could it be that this author has a problem valuing people who have brown and black skin? Or who don't practice Catholicism? Christianity?
She refers to the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon by name but refers to the Moors of Grenada as the generic 'Muslims'. So Castile is at war with 'The Muslims' vs Castile is at war with Grenada or the Emirate or whatever.
It's offensive and dismissive and calls into question the authenticity of the other facts given.
The author shares in the Afterward that her 'theory' is that Isabel 'protects' Europe from 'the Muslims' and the expansion of Islam throughout Europe.
However she seems unconcerned about Isabel doing that very same thing to continents full of millions of people.
The theory screams Islamophobic and explains much of why this book rubs me the wrong way.
TLDR: The author's bias is so blatant it makes me uncomfortable gleaning any true facts from this biography. It's a shame as this is very readable and interesting.
Updates while reading as my app was glitching:
*****Still reading I'm about 30% done I couldn't update for some reason????
So Isabella has married Ferdinand, become Queen of Castile, won the war of succession against Portugal and is setting about restoring order.
I am enjoying this book but the authors clear bias is difficult to ignore. I also am deeply impressed by Isabella's ability to maintain absolute control in Castile. It's impressive how she is able to keep Ferdinand both from power and still married to her. It's really too bad she turns into such a rampant racist and human rights violator. She had such promise.
Below was in response to a comment that was later erased.
***I am not a European and so I will not be reviewing this book from that standpoint. If that causes you to clutch your pearls in shock I advise you not to continue to read my review of this book. Queen Isabella is a horrible human rights violator, the first in history on such a global scale. I have little that is nice to say about her. Or the author of this biased biography.
December 6, 2015
People, generally, seem to either love or hate this book, but my take isn’t firmly in either camp. I think that their opinion of the book is wrapped up in their opinion of Isabella herself. Was she evil incarnate or sincerely pious and devout? I’m still not sure which is most descriptive, but her life was definitely fascinating. I became interested in Queen Isabella after reading The Constant Princess. Philippa Gregory showed Isabella as an intense, formidable woman through the eyes of her daughter Katherine of Aragon. As it turns out she was all that and more. Queen Isabella was a warrior, an astute politico, an intellectual, an aesthete, a devoted mother, and a zealous Catholic. She was such a complex person that hundreds of years later it is impossible to really know her.
But, Downey has a point of view, and it comes through. Downey respects Isabella and dislikes Ferdinand. She basically says that Isabella was responsible for everything good that happened, and Ferdinand was largely responsible for everything bad, and Downey makes excuses for Isabella’s role in the atrocities of the Inquisition. I don't really hold this against Downey too much. I believe that writing a biography is often a labor of love. Authors come to have affection for the people they write about, and it clouds their judgement. Downey, certainly, tries to shield Isabella from much of the responsibility of her crimes against humanity.
Another criticism I have is that the book lacked focus. It was too long with too many details about the indiscretions and personal lives of various Popes. Downey, probably included it for the salaciousness, but it just added too much irrelevant minutia to the plot of Isabella's life.
Overall, I think that Downey did a good job of compiling much of what is known about Queen Isabella in one place. From the extensive footnotes, I don’t think that she did a lot of research of primary documents, but, for my tastes, she wrote a very interesting biography.
But, Downey has a point of view, and it comes through. Downey respects Isabella and dislikes Ferdinand. She basically says that Isabella was responsible for everything good that happened, and Ferdinand was largely responsible for everything bad, and Downey makes excuses for Isabella’s role in the atrocities of the Inquisition. I don't really hold this against Downey too much. I believe that writing a biography is often a labor of love. Authors come to have affection for the people they write about, and it clouds their judgement. Downey, certainly, tries to shield Isabella from much of the responsibility of her crimes against humanity.
Another criticism I have is that the book lacked focus. It was too long with too many details about the indiscretions and personal lives of various Popes. Downey, probably included it for the salaciousness, but it just added too much irrelevant minutia to the plot of Isabella's life.
Overall, I think that Downey did a good job of compiling much of what is known about Queen Isabella in one place. From the extensive footnotes, I don’t think that she did a lot of research of primary documents, but, for my tastes, she wrote a very interesting biography.
July 3, 2021
Queen Isabella is a truly important figure in history but we rarely hear anything about her. I'm sure her name was mentioned in my elementary school history class, but only in relation to the fact that she financed Christopher Columbus' voyage to "The New World". And I didn't even remember her name, I could only recall that Spain had financed the voyage.
So who was Queen Isabella: The Warrior Queen?
Isabella of Castile reigned for 30 years and is considered Europe's 1st Great Queen. She's referred to as "The Warrior Queen" because she wasn't afraid to go to war in order to spread Catholicism and expand the power of Spain. She established The Spanish Inquisition, in which Jewish people, Muslims and anyone who wasn't Catholic were forced to convert to Catholicism or die and even after they converted they were often murdered for not being catholic enough. The Spanish Inquisition was a genocide and/ ethnic cleansing. It was horrific....But it was extremely successful in unifing Spain. As I previously mentioned she sponsored Christopher Columbus' journey to "The New World". She was also the mother of Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife. Making her the grandmother of Mary I Queen of England.
Isabella was a powerful and extremely influential woman. She was a great leader. She was also a woman who spread alot of misery throughout the world. The Inquisition was horrible and unforgivable. Between that and the massacres of the Indigenous people of "The New World" Queen Isabella has the murders of thousands of people on her hands.
FUN FACT: We all know that the Europeans brought disease to "The New World" that killed untold amounts of Indigenous people but the European people recieved a special gift in return from "The New World"
SYPHILIS!
Kristin Downey did a fantastic job bringing Queen Isabella to life in these pages. She made what could have been boring medieval history actually fun to read. Queen Isabella for better or worse deserves to be talked about just as much as the male rulers whose names we all know and the Queen's like Victoria and both Elizabeth's that followed her.
Recommended to my fellow History lovers!
So who was Queen Isabella: The Warrior Queen?
Isabella of Castile reigned for 30 years and is considered Europe's 1st Great Queen. She's referred to as "The Warrior Queen" because she wasn't afraid to go to war in order to spread Catholicism and expand the power of Spain. She established The Spanish Inquisition, in which Jewish people, Muslims and anyone who wasn't Catholic were forced to convert to Catholicism or die and even after they converted they were often murdered for not being catholic enough. The Spanish Inquisition was a genocide and/ ethnic cleansing. It was horrific....But it was extremely successful in unifing Spain. As I previously mentioned she sponsored Christopher Columbus' journey to "The New World". She was also the mother of Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife. Making her the grandmother of Mary I Queen of England.
Isabella was a powerful and extremely influential woman. She was a great leader. She was also a woman who spread alot of misery throughout the world. The Inquisition was horrible and unforgivable. Between that and the massacres of the Indigenous people of "The New World" Queen Isabella has the murders of thousands of people on her hands.
FUN FACT: We all know that the Europeans brought disease to "The New World" that killed untold amounts of Indigenous people but the European people recieved a special gift in return from "The New World"
SYPHILIS!
Kristin Downey did a fantastic job bringing Queen Isabella to life in these pages. She made what could have been boring medieval history actually fun to read. Queen Isabella for better or worse deserves to be talked about just as much as the male rulers whose names we all know and the Queen's like Victoria and both Elizabeth's that followed her.
Recommended to my fellow History lovers!
December 18, 2014
My acquaintance with Spanish history is incidental, mostly from Spain being mentioned in biographies and histories of other counties or Europe in general. Author Kirsten Downey helped me to put all the fragments for this short period that I've gleaned together. Now I understand Catherine of Aragon's long wait for her second marriage, how Jauna came to be considered "mad", the actual relationship of the Spanish monarchs to their Borgia pope and much more. You see the Inquisition and expulsion from the side of the monarchs and how Ferdinand was most likely the active partner with Isabella just not stepping in.
The book was best for me in the beginning where it is a chronological biography. In this part, you come to understand Isahella's family and how she engineered her own marriage and coronation. You come to understand that marriage, her piety and relations with the church and her reliance on childhood friends. You see the how the 700 year Reconquest was completed.
At time when Columbus enters the picture, the structure of the narrative changes and Columbus, the Inquisition, the later expulsion, the European wars and the marriage of daughters are presented in separate chapters. In these parts (with the exception of the marriage and family parts) the narratives bog down in detail.
Another weakness that there is a lot on "conversos". Those close to Isabella are noted and there are examples of the fate of many conversos and Jews in the Inquisition and expulsion. There is little attention to the Muslims and their fate in the Inquisition and expulsion; Moriscos are not mentioned at any point in the book. (For a good description of this: Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain).
The chapters about "after Isabella" both for the years immediately following her death and her influence to our present time is excellent. For the immediately after part, you learn of the power struggle of Ferdinand (and his too soon after brereavement marriage) and his son-in-law and the fate of the some players who played a role in Isabella's life such as the Bobadilla's, Columbus and his sons, Cesar Borgia and many more.
This book is clearly a labor of love. In the end the author tells how she came to be interested in Spanish history and Isabella in particular.
The book was best for me in the beginning where it is a chronological biography. In this part, you come to understand Isahella's family and how she engineered her own marriage and coronation. You come to understand that marriage, her piety and relations with the church and her reliance on childhood friends. You see the how the 700 year Reconquest was completed.
At time when Columbus enters the picture, the structure of the narrative changes and Columbus, the Inquisition, the later expulsion, the European wars and the marriage of daughters are presented in separate chapters. In these parts (with the exception of the marriage and family parts) the narratives bog down in detail.
Another weakness that there is a lot on "conversos". Those close to Isabella are noted and there are examples of the fate of many conversos and Jews in the Inquisition and expulsion. There is little attention to the Muslims and their fate in the Inquisition and expulsion; Moriscos are not mentioned at any point in the book. (For a good description of this: Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain).
The chapters about "after Isabella" both for the years immediately following her death and her influence to our present time is excellent. For the immediately after part, you learn of the power struggle of Ferdinand (and his too soon after brereavement marriage) and his son-in-law and the fate of the some players who played a role in Isabella's life such as the Bobadilla's, Columbus and his sons, Cesar Borgia and many more.
This book is clearly a labor of love. In the end the author tells how she came to be interested in Spanish history and Isabella in particular.
January 18, 2015
Truly enjoyable and highly educating at the very least. I suspect it to be a little bit biased by modern gender studies as this book is certainly a part of a very popular trend to empower women from the past. Personally I think it is much needed to overturn the concept of world ruled solely by men and restore full meaning of their female companions merits, it needs however careful treading so the balance doesn't tip over. I cannot tell for sure how much this account of Isabella's life differs from others though as this is my first(serious) encounter with this remarkable woman.
I loved the way the story is being told, the fact that we hear from so many first hand sources, the discussion around controversial issues that the author tries to present and defend her point of view.
There have been some accusations that the book is also biased in matters of religions, I don't think this a valid point however. A lot of times Jewish and Muslim point of views have been presented from original sources. Isabella is not bleached from her errors in dealing with people of all religions, including her own, simply shown as a strong leader who sometimes had to be and sometimes chose to be ruthless.
This is a fine example of popular history, I was able to retain a lot of names, places and events thanks to the method chosen - the same facts are sometimes talked about from different positions. We are also frequently reminded who are the people talked of at this particular moment by explanations like 'This is the same...who...' Great way of keeping a layman intrigued and clued in especially that well known figures (Columbus, Borgias, Torquemada,all the royalties) appear alongside multitude of others, of whom you may or may not have heard before (priests, teachers, servants, advisors etc). In short, loved it.
I loved the way the story is being told, the fact that we hear from so many first hand sources, the discussion around controversial issues that the author tries to present and defend her point of view.
There have been some accusations that the book is also biased in matters of religions, I don't think this a valid point however. A lot of times Jewish and Muslim point of views have been presented from original sources. Isabella is not bleached from her errors in dealing with people of all religions, including her own, simply shown as a strong leader who sometimes had to be and sometimes chose to be ruthless.
This is a fine example of popular history, I was able to retain a lot of names, places and events thanks to the method chosen - the same facts are sometimes talked about from different positions. We are also frequently reminded who are the people talked of at this particular moment by explanations like 'This is the same...who...' Great way of keeping a layman intrigued and clued in especially that well known figures (Columbus, Borgias, Torquemada,all the royalties) appear alongside multitude of others, of whom you may or may not have heard before (priests, teachers, servants, advisors etc). In short, loved it.
January 31, 2016
I went from simply not caring for this book to wanting to throw it across the room. If you'd like to learn about Queen Isabella, I strongly suggest you pick up a different book. Perhaps *any* other book.
There are so many problems here I'm not even sure where to start. It's Islamophobic, and in general lacks religious literacy. (In the acknowledgments, she thanks her husband for teaching her things about the history of Christianity, and I repeatedly wondered if that's where she got her background information.) Downey spends page after page railing against murderous, evil Muslim rulers, but will later spend page after page excusing Isabella (and Christians in general, but especially Isabella) from the same behavior. For example: Muslim rulers enslaving Christians? TERRIBLE GHASTLY OH THE HUMANITY! Isabella freeing Christian slaves--and enslaving Muslims? WASN'T IT BEAUTIFUL HOW SHE FREED THE CHRISTIANS? PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE ENSLAVED MUSLIMS, WE WON'T SPEAK OF IT EXCEPT THE ONCE IN PASSING.
It isn't until over halfway through the book that Downey gets to the Inquisition, and once again she bends over backwards to point out how it wasn't really Isabella's idea, well not TOTALLY, and did you know burning people at the stake was COMMON and SHE DIDN'T INVENT THAT, YOU KNOW, and MUSLIMS KILLED HERETICS TOO!!!!! LET'S TALK ABOUT THAT FOR A WHILE, and 20 pages later still nothing has happened because we have to talk about how Isabella is still a good person even though you know *handwaving*. The part where I was ready to throw the book across the room was when she insisted Isabella couldn't be anti-Semitic because she had Jewish friends and NO I AM NOT JOKING, DOWNEY SAYS THAT. (Actually she had one Jewish friend, and two converso friends. And the Jewish friend, a rabbi, "decided" to convert during the Inquisition. She was at his oh-so-totally-voluntary baptism, beaming with joy.) At this point I just couldn't continue. Anyone who says "well see she had Jewish friends!" is just ... no.
This is not scholarship. This is apologetics. It's almost hagiography. I wrote a paper like this once in 10th grade and I'm still embarrassed when I reflect upon it.
If you ever write a biography, don't fall in love with your subject. Also, have a good editor--the kind who's not afraid to sit you down, look you in the eye, and tell you to knock it off with your bullcrap.
There are so many problems here I'm not even sure where to start. It's Islamophobic, and in general lacks religious literacy. (In the acknowledgments, she thanks her husband for teaching her things about the history of Christianity, and I repeatedly wondered if that's where she got her background information.) Downey spends page after page railing against murderous, evil Muslim rulers, but will later spend page after page excusing Isabella (and Christians in general, but especially Isabella) from the same behavior. For example: Muslim rulers enslaving Christians? TERRIBLE GHASTLY OH THE HUMANITY! Isabella freeing Christian slaves--and enslaving Muslims? WASN'T IT BEAUTIFUL HOW SHE FREED THE CHRISTIANS? PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE ENSLAVED MUSLIMS, WE WON'T SPEAK OF IT EXCEPT THE ONCE IN PASSING.
It isn't until over halfway through the book that Downey gets to the Inquisition, and once again she bends over backwards to point out how it wasn't really Isabella's idea, well not TOTALLY, and did you know burning people at the stake was COMMON and SHE DIDN'T INVENT THAT, YOU KNOW, and MUSLIMS KILLED HERETICS TOO!!!!! LET'S TALK ABOUT THAT FOR A WHILE, and 20 pages later still nothing has happened because we have to talk about how Isabella is still a good person even though you know *handwaving*. The part where I was ready to throw the book across the room was when she insisted Isabella couldn't be anti-Semitic because she had Jewish friends and NO I AM NOT JOKING, DOWNEY SAYS THAT. (Actually she had one Jewish friend, and two converso friends. And the Jewish friend, a rabbi, "decided" to convert during the Inquisition. She was at his oh-so-totally-voluntary baptism, beaming with joy.) At this point I just couldn't continue. Anyone who says "well see she had Jewish friends!" is just ... no.
This is not scholarship. This is apologetics. It's almost hagiography. I wrote a paper like this once in 10th grade and I'm still embarrassed when I reflect upon it.
If you ever write a biography, don't fall in love with your subject. Also, have a good editor--the kind who's not afraid to sit you down, look you in the eye, and tell you to knock it off with your bullcrap.
September 19, 2014
Received from firstreads.
This was probably the most enjoyable biography/history book that I've read in quite a while. From the first page it was very even, no stretches of boring, where you wait to get back to something interesting. Suitable for someone with a particular interest in this area, also for the reader with a casual interest. I would have given it five stars, but I felt there was a tendency to gloss over and justify the Spanish Inquisition, even going so far as to kind of imply that some people were asking for it. That's how it came across to me.
This was probably the most enjoyable biography/history book that I've read in quite a while. From the first page it was very even, no stretches of boring, where you wait to get back to something interesting. Suitable for someone with a particular interest in this area, also for the reader with a casual interest. I would have given it five stars, but I felt there was a tendency to gloss over and justify the Spanish Inquisition, even going so far as to kind of imply that some people were asking for it. That's how it came across to me.
September 6, 2022
- minor editing done -
SPOILERS - this is a review of a book where I had the need to skip some chapters...keep reading and find out why.
Oh how do I dislike thee? let me count the ways.....
I am certain the author meant well when she set about on this project, and frankly the only reason I give it a 2 stars is because I am familiar with the syndrome of loving an historical figure so much you end up becoming totally partial when she/he comes up.
However, I don´t write books about my favs...K Downey did, and she really should have been more careful!
I cant even begin to name the ways in which her partial vision of the times, the people and the events annoy the crap out of me and made me worry for all those who have given this rave reviews..don´t people, really don´t!!
Oh lets see:
- Her name was Isabel, not Isabella, and although I know that Fernando has always been known in the English speaking world as Ferdinand, I can´t quite figure out why the author persists on maintaining Isabella through the whole book while the Queen´s own first daughter gets the honor of having her name (which btw is her mothers) correctly written - ISABEL!
Plus every single other freaking person gets their name written the manner suiting their nationality..so why Isabella? (sorry, rambling, but it really annoyed me!).
- Arabs are bad, Spaniards are good, the Reconquista was a blessing and good thing those bad bad people were kicked out of the Iberian peninsula...and in this way are explained away 800 years of rule that advanced that little corner of Europe to such great cultural, linguistic, medical and scientific progress that the rest of Europe would take "quite" some time to reach....
- Looking at it from a 21st century point of view, the attitudes towards women at the time were barbaric, demeaning, sexist and misogynist. However, the treatment of women by the Arab rule is portrayed as far worse than the Spanish one, when everyone who can be bothered to actually read proper research will know that history isn't black and white, and should never be seen as such.
- Comparing Isabel to Joan of Arc - in all likelihood Joan was indeed an influence in Isabel´s life, perfectly natural given that by then she was already transformed into a martyr, both by new records of her and accounts of what had actually happened in the days leading to her death.
But, to use Isabel´s "supposed" preference/admiration for Joan to turn her into the face of the opposition to the Ottoman Empire is ridiculous, and clearly shows no knowledge of proper European history - the Empire was anything but a threat to Isabel and her lands at this time, and the Battle of Lepanto (first attempt at some sort of christian unity to fight the Turks would only come to happen after Isabel´s death).
- Stating, based on 21st century medical studies/opinions that King Juan, King Enrique IV and Prince Alfonso where sexually abused when they were small boys, thus "explaining" their preference for the male courtiers around them, and some incidents of violence is dangerously irresponsible. Actions of people who lived 500 years ago should not and can not be transported to 21st century logic - they should studied, analysed and at most conjectured upon...not be judged. This is not History.
- The author also says that Isabel has been sidelined by history because Fernando´s name always appeared first in official documents and so everyone thinks that he´s the boss and she was clearly the obedient meek wife. But then look, when Isabel gets herself crowned Queen she makes sure Fernando only knows about one week after...not very wifely is it??
I wonder if the author has ever heard of a concept called appeasing the beast..Isabel was not stupid, far from it, she simply did what needed to be done to maintain her grasp in power and rule what would become Spain - she had a vision for the future of her lands and she would do anything to make it happen. If that meant given her husband the privilege of his name coming up first in official papers so be it...men are after all easily persuaded ;)
I really have no idea what is presently taught to kids about this period in history, but my teachers always taught me that she was the driving force behind Los Reyes Catolicos...
The fact that society at the time didn't quite "stomach" a woman being Queen in her own right, that would not prevent Isabel from taking what she believed was rightfully hers...everything/everyone else was peanuts like they say.
- The Spanish inquisition - Isabel didn´t want it, Fernando was to blame, she was a lovely woman of gently kind and tolerating disposition who never would have condoned such horrible deeds...yeah right! ...maybe when she was 5 years old...
Again, I know the author loves Isabel, but come on! show some more clarity of judgement! I find Henry VIII fascinating as an historical figure, but that doesn't stop me from seeing him as a man who started well, but ended up so obsessed with the issue of heirs that he turned into a murderer of friends, foes and family alike!
Isabel was devoutly catholic - probably given her rough start in life, religion become the one spot of calm and consolation for her. The author states that devout side of her all over the book but then you reach this point and suddenly she is an angel? no, she isn't, she was a woman of her time, determined to steer the catholic church in a very specific direction, away from all the corruption, heresy, crime and other such deeds of the period.
Isabel did what she believed was right, sadly with lasting consequences to Spain on many levels, including resources, because she and Fernando kicked out and condoned the imprisonment/torturing and killing of many highly qualified men whose talents would no doubt have greatly helped Spain.
- There are no saints in any period in time, there are humans driven by many different reasons who sometimes do good and sometimes do bad.
OK, now for the rest, and some degree of compliment should be given, the style of writing is easy enough to follow and understand even if the constant jumping back and forth in time can be confusing, and probably requires the presence of a notebook to help with keeping names and dates present in mind.
I believe the author had good intentions but clearly picked a bigger apple than she could chew, she should have stayed mainly with Isabel and Fernando, and not have tried also in the process to give a full History of Europe and European royalty all in one book.
This is a reasonably good starting point but should in no way be taken as gospel truth regarding Isabel, Fernando, Spain or European/World history of the time...no, this is wishful thinking about a revered (by the author) historical figure turned into a book.
- Side note/comic relief? - Leonardo Da Vinci was "flamboyantly gay" ...WTH?? pardon my simplicity but given that to this day we haven´t the faintest idea on who the Mona Lisa really is (along with many other things about his life) i found it simply %$#@ to make this kind of remark.
if you want "proper" historical research go elsewhere.
Happy Readings!
SPOILERS - this is a review of a book where I had the need to skip some chapters...keep reading and find out why.
Oh how do I dislike thee? let me count the ways.....
I am certain the author meant well when she set about on this project, and frankly the only reason I give it a 2 stars is because I am familiar with the syndrome of loving an historical figure so much you end up becoming totally partial when she/he comes up.
However, I don´t write books about my favs...K Downey did, and she really should have been more careful!
I cant even begin to name the ways in which her partial vision of the times, the people and the events annoy the crap out of me and made me worry for all those who have given this rave reviews..don´t people, really don´t!!
Oh lets see:
- Her name was Isabel, not Isabella, and although I know that Fernando has always been known in the English speaking world as Ferdinand, I can´t quite figure out why the author persists on maintaining Isabella through the whole book while the Queen´s own first daughter gets the honor of having her name (which btw is her mothers) correctly written - ISABEL!
Plus every single other freaking person gets their name written the manner suiting their nationality..so why Isabella? (sorry, rambling, but it really annoyed me!).
- Arabs are bad, Spaniards are good, the Reconquista was a blessing and good thing those bad bad people were kicked out of the Iberian peninsula...and in this way are explained away 800 years of rule that advanced that little corner of Europe to such great cultural, linguistic, medical and scientific progress that the rest of Europe would take "quite" some time to reach....
- Looking at it from a 21st century point of view, the attitudes towards women at the time were barbaric, demeaning, sexist and misogynist. However, the treatment of women by the Arab rule is portrayed as far worse than the Spanish one, when everyone who can be bothered to actually read proper research will know that history isn't black and white, and should never be seen as such.
- Comparing Isabel to Joan of Arc - in all likelihood Joan was indeed an influence in Isabel´s life, perfectly natural given that by then she was already transformed into a martyr, both by new records of her and accounts of what had actually happened in the days leading to her death.
But, to use Isabel´s "supposed" preference/admiration for Joan to turn her into the face of the opposition to the Ottoman Empire is ridiculous, and clearly shows no knowledge of proper European history - the Empire was anything but a threat to Isabel and her lands at this time, and the Battle of Lepanto (first attempt at some sort of christian unity to fight the Turks would only come to happen after Isabel´s death).
- Stating, based on 21st century medical studies/opinions that King Juan, King Enrique IV and Prince Alfonso where sexually abused when they were small boys, thus "explaining" their preference for the male courtiers around them, and some incidents of violence is dangerously irresponsible. Actions of people who lived 500 years ago should not and can not be transported to 21st century logic - they should studied, analysed and at most conjectured upon...not be judged. This is not History.
- The author also says that Isabel has been sidelined by history because Fernando´s name always appeared first in official documents and so everyone thinks that he´s the boss and she was clearly the obedient meek wife. But then look, when Isabel gets herself crowned Queen she makes sure Fernando only knows about one week after...not very wifely is it??
I wonder if the author has ever heard of a concept called appeasing the beast..Isabel was not stupid, far from it, she simply did what needed to be done to maintain her grasp in power and rule what would become Spain - she had a vision for the future of her lands and she would do anything to make it happen. If that meant given her husband the privilege of his name coming up first in official papers so be it...men are after all easily persuaded ;)
I really have no idea what is presently taught to kids about this period in history, but my teachers always taught me that she was the driving force behind Los Reyes Catolicos...
The fact that society at the time didn't quite "stomach" a woman being Queen in her own right, that would not prevent Isabel from taking what she believed was rightfully hers...everything/everyone else was peanuts like they say.
- The Spanish inquisition - Isabel didn´t want it, Fernando was to blame, she was a lovely woman of gently kind and tolerating disposition who never would have condoned such horrible deeds...yeah right! ...maybe when she was 5 years old...
Again, I know the author loves Isabel, but come on! show some more clarity of judgement! I find Henry VIII fascinating as an historical figure, but that doesn't stop me from seeing him as a man who started well, but ended up so obsessed with the issue of heirs that he turned into a murderer of friends, foes and family alike!
Isabel was devoutly catholic - probably given her rough start in life, religion become the one spot of calm and consolation for her. The author states that devout side of her all over the book but then you reach this point and suddenly she is an angel? no, she isn't, she was a woman of her time, determined to steer the catholic church in a very specific direction, away from all the corruption, heresy, crime and other such deeds of the period.
Isabel did what she believed was right, sadly with lasting consequences to Spain on many levels, including resources, because she and Fernando kicked out and condoned the imprisonment/torturing and killing of many highly qualified men whose talents would no doubt have greatly helped Spain.
- There are no saints in any period in time, there are humans driven by many different reasons who sometimes do good and sometimes do bad.
OK, now for the rest, and some degree of compliment should be given, the style of writing is easy enough to follow and understand even if the constant jumping back and forth in time can be confusing, and probably requires the presence of a notebook to help with keeping names and dates present in mind.
I believe the author had good intentions but clearly picked a bigger apple than she could chew, she should have stayed mainly with Isabel and Fernando, and not have tried also in the process to give a full History of Europe and European royalty all in one book.
This is a reasonably good starting point but should in no way be taken as gospel truth regarding Isabel, Fernando, Spain or European/World history of the time...no, this is wishful thinking about a revered (by the author) historical figure turned into a book.
- Side note/comic relief? - Leonardo Da Vinci was "flamboyantly gay" ...WTH?? pardon my simplicity but given that to this day we haven´t the faintest idea on who the Mona Lisa really is (along with many other things about his life) i found it simply %$#@ to make this kind of remark.
if you want "proper" historical research go elsewhere.
Happy Readings!
January 28, 2023
Excellent. Marvelous. Highest recommendation for history buffs. More than a biography of Queen Isabella, this is a majestic chronicle of her world and times. It's all here: the Turkish Ottoman Empire and their very realistic threat to take down Christianity and overrun western Europe, the corrupt and scheming Borgias, the launching of the Spanish Inquisition, Christopher Columbus and his exploits, and all the political intriques roiling through the various kingdoms of Spain, Italy, and the Papal states. It is astonishing to read of Isabella's birth in humble circumstances, her rise to power, and how she transformed the chaotic and backward kingdoms of Castile and León, completing the reconquista and laying the foundations for a unified Spain. Castile grew into a wealthy world power under her leadership. Ferdinand, her husband and partner in all this, is portrayed more or less as a shortsighted, self-centered, amoral knucklehead. The Isabella in these pages comes across as complex, devout but harsh, politically astute and strategic in nature. The author writes, "Whatever you might think of Spain during this period, its achievements and accomplishments cannot be denied." One can certainly say the same about Queen Isabella. This book was extremely well written and organized, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
October 14, 2014
It's already evident from the title that Kirstin Downey regards Ferdinand as the less interesting half of the power couple. You know them as Ferdinand and Isabella, but here Isabella takes the title role alone. Downey goes on, in 500 pages, to show why she regards Isabella as the consequential half of the pair. It's a well researched and clearly presented biography.
This was a new slice of history for me -- having read some English and other histories of the turn of the 16th century, I was only aware of what Spain was up to as a sort of off camera side show -- Catherine of Aragon showed up in England to marry Prince Arthur and then Henry VIII. A daughter called Crazy Juana. There were some ferocious fights with the English Armada and with the Ottoman Turks. That unfortunate matter of The Inquisition. Of course, Spain was no side show.
Not only was this an exciting history, well told, Downey explains how Isabella was both ahead of her time and behind it. She was a ruling queen, unusual for the time, but not only managed to hold onto power her whole life, but educated her daughters to the same standard royal princes were. She recognized the value of the discoveries in the New World before the rest of Europe did. She also was apparently genuinely religious and that caused her to crack down on heretics in an atmosphere in which Muslims had taken Christians as slaves and were a constant threat. While not excusing Isabella, Downey explains the actions in the context of the times.
As with so many rulers, Isabella's failures (The Inquisition) would outweigh her considerable victories.
This was a new slice of history for me -- having read some English and other histories of the turn of the 16th century, I was only aware of what Spain was up to as a sort of off camera side show -- Catherine of Aragon showed up in England to marry Prince Arthur and then Henry VIII. A daughter called Crazy Juana. There were some ferocious fights with the English Armada and with the Ottoman Turks. That unfortunate matter of The Inquisition. Of course, Spain was no side show.
Not only was this an exciting history, well told, Downey explains how Isabella was both ahead of her time and behind it. She was a ruling queen, unusual for the time, but not only managed to hold onto power her whole life, but educated her daughters to the same standard royal princes were. She recognized the value of the discoveries in the New World before the rest of Europe did. She also was apparently genuinely religious and that caused her to crack down on heretics in an atmosphere in which Muslims had taken Christians as slaves and were a constant threat. While not excusing Isabella, Downey explains the actions in the context of the times.
As with so many rulers, Isabella's failures (The Inquisition) would outweigh her considerable victories.
August 30, 2017
This book is a nonfiction biography of one of Europe's most influential queens. This felt well researched. I liked the way the author infused so much history into this book. Some of this was quite fascinating. I've read two other books about one of her daughter's and she was always lamenting the fact that her parents weren't keeping in touch. I think in some ways the daughter felt married off then abandoned, having served her purpose as a princess. But now after reading this book, I get that her parents were BUSY.....with so much going on in their little neck of the European woods.
I dreaded the start of this because it looked long, but not once did this ever feel long. I liked that this book was about so much more then just Queen Isabella. The author took her time to lay out the past, touching on many things that shaped her life and on the things that she had a hand in shaping. This was well done.
I dreaded the start of this because it looked long, but not once did this ever feel long. I liked that this book was about so much more then just Queen Isabella. The author took her time to lay out the past, touching on many things that shaped her life and on the things that she had a hand in shaping. This was well done.
September 19, 2014
This was an amazing and fascinating look at a greatly influential woman in history. Not only does Kirstin Downey dig into the life of the "warrior queen" of Spain, she also provides insight into her relationships with other important figures in history, such as Christopher Columbus and Rodrigo Borgia. Her reach and influence expanded continents and her legacy continues to this day. For anyone who is a fan of history, this book is a must-read!
December 10, 2017
Fascinating, well-paced life of an exceptional woman and ruler. I learned so much, and highly recommend this!
October 16, 2016
I think most Americans who aren't history majors, if they know who Isabella is at all, remember her as the queen who helped finance Christopher Columbus' trip to the New World. And that sentence itself shows how much we don't know. Columbus made 4 trips, all of which Isabella backed. But there's a lot more to her.
When she claimed the throne, she seized power for herself in an age when that was almost unheard of. Her husband, Ferdinand, ruled as much as she allowed, no more. That alone should place her in the history books on her own.
But Isabella came into the world when there was a decent chance that Christianity was actually going to be wiped out, as much as that might seem impossible in today's world. The Ottoman Empire kept expanding, taking more and more land, and enslaving or killing more and more Christians. Isabella was deeply religious. She not only united countries against the Turks, but also started the dreaded Spanish Inquisition in an attempt to save her Church.
Isabella remains a complicated figure. She could be a symbol for woman's power... but she helped get things rolling for countless American Indians to be enslaved, raped, and killed (although she did forbid that in her orders, but allowed for more or less forced conversion). She united separate kingdoms into what people now think of as Spain... but made those of other faiths convert or flee, often losing all their possessions and ancestral homes.
It was a very good read that taught me a lot. Clearly, the author did a great deal of research. My only quibble with the writing is that she is very fond of the phrase, "according to the (writer/historian) X." She could have varied that a bit. But that's a minor point in a very educational book.
Recommended to anyone interested in European history, religious history, women's history, or just plain learning more about a really fascinating historical figure.
When she claimed the throne, she seized power for herself in an age when that was almost unheard of. Her husband, Ferdinand, ruled as much as she allowed, no more. That alone should place her in the history books on her own.
But Isabella came into the world when there was a decent chance that Christianity was actually going to be wiped out, as much as that might seem impossible in today's world. The Ottoman Empire kept expanding, taking more and more land, and enslaving or killing more and more Christians. Isabella was deeply religious. She not only united countries against the Turks, but also started the dreaded Spanish Inquisition in an attempt to save her Church.
Isabella remains a complicated figure. She could be a symbol for woman's power... but she helped get things rolling for countless American Indians to be enslaved, raped, and killed (although she did forbid that in her orders, but allowed for more or less forced conversion). She united separate kingdoms into what people now think of as Spain... but made those of other faiths convert or flee, often losing all their possessions and ancestral homes.
It was a very good read that taught me a lot. Clearly, the author did a great deal of research. My only quibble with the writing is that she is very fond of the phrase, "according to the (writer/historian) X." She could have varied that a bit. But that's a minor point in a very educational book.
Recommended to anyone interested in European history, religious history, women's history, or just plain learning more about a really fascinating historical figure.
August 31, 2016
review for audiobook ~ 3 stars story ♫ 2 stars narration. I've always been fascinated with the past, and I love reading about history when it is "humanized." For me, reading about events, dates, clothes is all sort of fascinating, in it's own kind of way. But, I love, love, love reading about people and how they are shaped by what is happening around them. And, this book has that in spades! I've always been drawn to England and Scotland histories so this was new information to me. It was great to make the Spanish connection with the French and English courts. I NEVER knew Catherine (King Henry VIII first wife) was the daughter of Queen Isabella. This book told me so much about Isabella, Ferdinand, their children and grandchildren. It's just mind boggling how much was going on during her reign. I learned so much about world events at the time. Some of the people in this book I loved and my heart went out to them. Others made me hate, hate, hate them... Philip the Handsome, I'm talking to you! Other people I felt sorry for (poor Juana) and some (many) I wanted to protect. I felt like I really got to know this family, and It was wonderful.
At the beginning of this book, I struggled with wanting to continue. There were some things that I had a hard time believing were truth. It made me question how much of this book was valid.... It's nonfiction - Stick to the facts please! There were a few things that I took issue with. I ended up taking some deep breaths and pushed on through, and I'm glad I did.
• Leonardo DE Vinci being "vividly and flamboyantly gay".
• A statement that there isn't much information about Isabella's early life, but then going to on talk about how she was feeling and what she was thinking.
• Talking about molestation against King Juan, King Enrique IV and Alfanso when they were small boys. I don't see that as a fact... but based more on opinion.
• An ocelot owned by King Enrique IV... Is this really true? Or even possible?
• Queen Isabella's "feelings" about the Spanish Inquisition. The author paints her as not having much to do with it, and I don't believe that at all
• Jews-Christians-Muslims: To me, The Muslims and the Spanish were both doing some pretty horrible things. The Spanish had slaves, they conquered other countries and forced them to convert to their religion. They also tortured and killed those who didn't convert "completely." And yep, they kicked people out of their country for being Jewish or Muslim... but it felt like this book, to me, painted the Muslims as being worse. Almost as if was understandable for the Spanish to do it, but not the Muslims.
I also struggled with the way ALL the information was put together. And, let me say it's a lot! I kept a notebook so I could take notes and that helped immensely. But, it really felt like it was one step forward and five steps back. It was challenging for me to keep it all straight in my head.
First I learned about Isabella up to a certain age... Then it jumped back in time to Ferdinand, then again to discuss the Jews, then again the Muslims, and back in time again to learn about the Catholic church. And, it would cycle like this for the entire book. I'd be reading about Queen Isabella having kids and then next chapter it was back in history when she was just a toddler. The whole way through it was back and forth with dates. I get that there is a lot here, and putting it all together must have been a job in itself.... but, it gave my brain a work out for sure.
I did appreciate the ending when the author circled back to explain some of her reasoning behind Queen Isabella's lack of a role in the Spanish Inquisition. Honestly, I was hot the whole way through... questioning the book's validity in expressing that it wasn't really her wishes... and that she didn't really want it to be extreme as it was. I can see, with the author's explanation, how she could have come up with the idea that Isabella didn't have a big part in the Inquisition, but it comes off as not very accurate or justified. The author spends the whole book talking about her being the leader and such s strong woman, but then glosses over the whole Inquisition as if she had no part of it.
I'm also happy that the author came back to discuss the syphilis epidemic more. That it was just the opinion at the time that it came from the America's, but testing has proven that it was found in the remains of the Neapolitan royal family (Isabella of Aragon, born in 1470) earlier. But, it does seems true that is became rampant after the explores came back.
Update:
The author went on to explain in the Afterword why she came to certain conclusions. She wrote this book claiming her own opinions and conclusions as fact and I don't agree that she should have done that... Non-fiction is about stating all facts and ideas and letting the reader come up with their own conclusions. For some reason, this author didn't want to paint Isabella in any kind of bad light what-so-ever. Anything great that happened, the author gave her full credit for and vice-versa. The more I think of this book after writing it... the more my opinion is dropping.
At the beginning of this book, I struggled with wanting to continue. There were some things that I had a hard time believing were truth. It made me question how much of this book was valid.... It's nonfiction - Stick to the facts please! There were a few things that I took issue with. I ended up taking some deep breaths and pushed on through, and I'm glad I did.
• Leonardo DE Vinci being "vividly and flamboyantly gay".
• A statement that there isn't much information about Isabella's early life, but then going to on talk about how she was feeling and what she was thinking.
• Talking about molestation against King Juan, King Enrique IV and Alfanso when they were small boys. I don't see that as a fact... but based more on opinion.
• An ocelot owned by King Enrique IV... Is this really true? Or even possible?
• Queen Isabella's "feelings" about the Spanish Inquisition. The author paints her as not having much to do with it, and I don't believe that at all
• Jews-Christians-Muslims: To me, The Muslims and the Spanish were both doing some pretty horrible things. The Spanish had slaves, they conquered other countries and forced them to convert to their religion. They also tortured and killed those who didn't convert "completely." And yep, they kicked people out of their country for being Jewish or Muslim... but it felt like this book, to me, painted the Muslims as being worse. Almost as if was understandable for the Spanish to do it, but not the Muslims.
I also struggled with the way ALL the information was put together. And, let me say it's a lot! I kept a notebook so I could take notes and that helped immensely. But, it really felt like it was one step forward and five steps back. It was challenging for me to keep it all straight in my head.
First I learned about Isabella up to a certain age... Then it jumped back in time to Ferdinand, then again to discuss the Jews, then again the Muslims, and back in time again to learn about the Catholic church. And, it would cycle like this for the entire book. I'd be reading about Queen Isabella having kids and then next chapter it was back in history when she was just a toddler. The whole way through it was back and forth with dates. I get that there is a lot here, and putting it all together must have been a job in itself.... but, it gave my brain a work out for sure.
I did appreciate the ending when the author circled back to explain some of her reasoning behind Queen Isabella's lack of a role in the Spanish Inquisition. Honestly, I was hot the whole way through... questioning the book's validity in expressing that it wasn't really her wishes... and that she didn't really want it to be extreme as it was. I can see, with the author's explanation, how she could have come up with the idea that Isabella didn't have a big part in the Inquisition, but it comes off as not very accurate or justified. The author spends the whole book talking about her being the leader and such s strong woman, but then glosses over the whole Inquisition as if she had no part of it.
I'm also happy that the author came back to discuss the syphilis epidemic more. That it was just the opinion at the time that it came from the America's, but testing has proven that it was found in the remains of the Neapolitan royal family (Isabella of Aragon, born in 1470) earlier. But, it does seems true that is became rampant after the explores came back.
Update:
The author went on to explain in the Afterword why she came to certain conclusions. She wrote this book claiming her own opinions and conclusions as fact and I don't agree that she should have done that... Non-fiction is about stating all facts and ideas and letting the reader come up with their own conclusions. For some reason, this author didn't want to paint Isabella in any kind of bad light what-so-ever. Anything great that happened, the author gave her full credit for and vice-versa. The more I think of this book after writing it... the more my opinion is dropping.
August 12, 2020
Wow I am now a huge fan of Isabella of Castile.
I am very interested in studying women rulers and how they were able to overcome patriarchal culture. It’s not just any woman that can do this. There is very thin line on which a ruler has to walk in order to be respected by men.
This books is full of events, wars on many fronts, explorations, papacy, poisons, syphilis. You will learn about Grenada, Muslim rulers, fall of Constantinople, infamous Borgia family, Spanish Inquisition, New World explorations, and of course about rise of Castile into world superpower.
Definitely give it a try.
As any character in history, Isabella is not without blame. But by reading it you are not supporting her actions, you are just learning about the times and people who lived them.
I am very interested in studying women rulers and how they were able to overcome patriarchal culture. It’s not just any woman that can do this. There is very thin line on which a ruler has to walk in order to be respected by men.
This books is full of events, wars on many fronts, explorations, papacy, poisons, syphilis. You will learn about Grenada, Muslim rulers, fall of Constantinople, infamous Borgia family, Spanish Inquisition, New World explorations, and of course about rise of Castile into world superpower.
Definitely give it a try.
As any character in history, Isabella is not without blame. But by reading it you are not supporting her actions, you are just learning about the times and people who lived them.
January 8, 2018
Personal Note: According to my dad's DNA, we are of the 3 major social groups described in this book: European (in Spain), Middle Eastern (Ottoman Turks in Spain), Jewish (in Spain), and Native American (of the Columbian Exchange). I love all these ancestors with their spines and convictions.
Humans in the waning years of the Middle Ages lived in a brutal world and therefore were more brutal themselves.
I have waited to read a biography of Isabella of Castille until I found one I was comfortable with. The language was too complicated, the attitudes were to prevalent, things like that prevented me from bringing home a biography about Isabella. I found this copy at my local library and had to bring it home. As a amateur historian, I immediately noticed the readability of the text and the maps at the front of the book, so I took a risk. I am glad I did. I have read the one biography I plan to read in my lifetime. In the Afterword, Kirsten Downey says,
Queen Isabella's life is a Rorschach test for her biographers. Everyone brings a point of view, an internal bias, to the subject of her life. Catholics see her one way; Protestants, Muslims, and Jews see her very differently. . . . Consequently, Isabella is one of the world's most historically controversial rulers, both adored and demonized.
In reading this book, some bubbles were burst. Slavery was practiced by the Ottoman Turks and Christians-- don't know about the Jews. In fact, Isabella's children had several slaves in each of their encourages. The Ottoman Turks had slave markets that made the New Orleans slave market look take in their inhumanity. The marriage of Ferdinand of Arragon and Isabella of Castille was not a supportive relationship. He was to a large extent all about himself, and she blocked from any real power in Castille to prevent him from creating too many problems in her realm.
I had some ahhhhaaa moments. Talavera (ruling family) Family Character. The families of Portugal, Arragon, and Castille intermarry, attempting to create one Spain. They marry first cousins and grandnieces to keep the money in the family--maybe--more to work toward getting whole Iberian peninsula for themselves. Very likely--no autopsies--that Ferdinand poisoned all the other heirs to to the Arragon throne and went one to poison the only real contender to the Castille throne. He was not alone Mehemed of the Ottoman Turks made it law that all the each succeeding emir would kill all the other possible heirs. Isabella managed a kinder way to the crown-- coup. Slander the name of the other contender (also a woman), make deals and plans to be in the right place at the right time to have yourself declared queen along with people cheering to validate it. Different world.
Money-Grubbing Arragon. Isabella wanted riches and lands, of course, but she had religious reasons for doingnthings as well. For Ferdinand, the money and lanfpds came first and the religious concerns are important too, certainly. One way to gain lands was to kick the Ottoman Turks out of Granada. He showed up to support Isabella's most times battle commened--unless Arragon had a pressing issue. And the non-payment of the remainder of Catherine of Arragon's dowry to England was simply holding on to money at the expense of his daughter.
The Spanish Inquistion. Talavera, confessor to Isabella and her assistant in the Inquistion was a converso. Not himself. A couple of generations previous. By some accounts I have read, he encouraged the Kings of Spain. Yet after Isabella dies, Ferdinand increases the strength of the Inquisition and has Talavera killed in the auto-de-fe.
Relationship between Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Much of the Iberian Peninsula was held by Ottoman Turks about 700 years before Isabella's reign. She kicked them out of their last stronghold even as they were planning to re-conquer Spain from the the east and from the south. The threat was real as the Turks were holding land just further east on the Mediterranean and and south in Granada on the peninsula and just 7.7 nautical miles south of Granada in North Africa. But the Muslims were distracted by internal issues and could not focus on conquering Spain. Good thing for Isabella as she was not trained to be a ruler, 3rd in line and a girl child, so she had to learn how to conduct warfare as she went. For this endeavor, Ferdinand was supportive as possible. And more importantly, Isabella listened to her men-at-arms who told of new technology they were developing and of new ideas they would likemto try, such as surprise attacks. She was wise and humble in many of the right ways that allowed to her to listen and learn.
Improvements in Women's Education. Because she had had been given the education of a queen consort, never unintended to rule, she found her lack of Latin, statecraft, and warfare embarrassing. She called in tutors who taught her and her ladies and later her daughters Latin. She took wise advisors and a a wise confessor and learned on the job as quickly as possible, she was sharp. Henry VIII was able to confidently leave England in the care of Isabella's daughter Catherine of Arragon when he went off to war. And Catherine of Arragon's daughter Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary) was able to feel confident in her ability to rule England without her husband being present and away in Spain and other European places of enjoyment. Education for women, at least for the women in powerful families, became usual. We see it best perhaps in Elizabeth I.
Yet Isabella did drop the ball on the education of her daughter Juana. Juana was so inadept at ruling Castille at the time of Isabella's death that Juana's husband Phillip the Fair and her father Ferdinand of Arragon were able to sully her name so that the people called her Juana la Loca/Crazy Juana. Ferdinand would rule Castille until Juana's son reached majority. He just created problems for his grandson to address. Ferdinand could have told Juana to hire tutors and to help her select wise advisors, just like her mother did. Juana did a fine job educating her own daughter in a more traditional way, a way of privileged women of the aristocracy, not the nobility.
Relationship of Muslims and Jews. Jews were welcome to live and work in Ottoman-controlled area off they were willing to pay higher taxes and to accept being second-rate members of society. Many many converted to Islam because the religion is attractive. There are similarities between Judaism and Islam. There is the convenience of not paying same taxes as the Muslims and of having the same everyday respect of the Muslims. The relationship was much gentler between Muslims and Jews. There was no Ottoman Turk Inquistion. Convert and live comfortably. I can see how my Muslim and Jewish ancestors intermarriage and had had children who forgot all about any adversity so that that there is no memories of being Muslim or Jew. I say that. . . but. . . I have heard one little tiny remnant of Arabic (language of the Ottoman Turks) in my oldest aunt's language. Just the "ojala que" is left off of the subjective sentence that follows. It would have been dropped off when my dad's family wanted to re-jpin the mainstream Christian society. I grew up Catholic, and my family was far back as family memory goes. We are only this generation born mostly in the mid-20th century are changing that affiliation, each as he/she wishes.
These are the big topics for me who is looking for family experience and history. This is my last selection of my Hispanic Reading Challenge as I started this book in late December.
One final personal note. I had bought a copy of The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain. I map hoped to read it now after this emotionally challenging book. But I seem to have sent it out in some recycle stack. I will buy this book again soon in the hope of healing myself some.
Humans in the waning years of the Middle Ages lived in a brutal world and therefore were more brutal themselves.
I have waited to read a biography of Isabella of Castille until I found one I was comfortable with. The language was too complicated, the attitudes were to prevalent, things like that prevented me from bringing home a biography about Isabella. I found this copy at my local library and had to bring it home. As a amateur historian, I immediately noticed the readability of the text and the maps at the front of the book, so I took a risk. I am glad I did. I have read the one biography I plan to read in my lifetime. In the Afterword, Kirsten Downey says,
Queen Isabella's life is a Rorschach test for her biographers. Everyone brings a point of view, an internal bias, to the subject of her life. Catholics see her one way; Protestants, Muslims, and Jews see her very differently. . . . Consequently, Isabella is one of the world's most historically controversial rulers, both adored and demonized.
In reading this book, some bubbles were burst. Slavery was practiced by the Ottoman Turks and Christians-- don't know about the Jews. In fact, Isabella's children had several slaves in each of their encourages. The Ottoman Turks had slave markets that made the New Orleans slave market look take in their inhumanity. The marriage of Ferdinand of Arragon and Isabella of Castille was not a supportive relationship. He was to a large extent all about himself, and she blocked from any real power in Castille to prevent him from creating too many problems in her realm.
I had some ahhhhaaa moments. Talavera (ruling family) Family Character. The families of Portugal, Arragon, and Castille intermarry, attempting to create one Spain. They marry first cousins and grandnieces to keep the money in the family--maybe--more to work toward getting whole Iberian peninsula for themselves. Very likely--no autopsies--that Ferdinand poisoned all the other heirs to to the Arragon throne and went one to poison the only real contender to the Castille throne. He was not alone Mehemed of the Ottoman Turks made it law that all the each succeeding emir would kill all the other possible heirs. Isabella managed a kinder way to the crown-- coup. Slander the name of the other contender (also a woman), make deals and plans to be in the right place at the right time to have yourself declared queen along with people cheering to validate it. Different world.
Money-Grubbing Arragon. Isabella wanted riches and lands, of course, but she had religious reasons for doingnthings as well. For Ferdinand, the money and lanfpds came first and the religious concerns are important too, certainly. One way to gain lands was to kick the Ottoman Turks out of Granada. He showed up to support Isabella's most times battle commened--unless Arragon had a pressing issue. And the non-payment of the remainder of Catherine of Arragon's dowry to England was simply holding on to money at the expense of his daughter.
The Spanish Inquistion. Talavera, confessor to Isabella and her assistant in the Inquistion was a converso. Not himself. A couple of generations previous. By some accounts I have read, he encouraged the Kings of Spain. Yet after Isabella dies, Ferdinand increases the strength of the Inquisition and has Talavera killed in the auto-de-fe.
Relationship between Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Much of the Iberian Peninsula was held by Ottoman Turks about 700 years before Isabella's reign. She kicked them out of their last stronghold even as they were planning to re-conquer Spain from the the east and from the south. The threat was real as the Turks were holding land just further east on the Mediterranean and and south in Granada on the peninsula and just 7.7 nautical miles south of Granada in North Africa. But the Muslims were distracted by internal issues and could not focus on conquering Spain. Good thing for Isabella as she was not trained to be a ruler, 3rd in line and a girl child, so she had to learn how to conduct warfare as she went. For this endeavor, Ferdinand was supportive as possible. And more importantly, Isabella listened to her men-at-arms who told of new technology they were developing and of new ideas they would likemto try, such as surprise attacks. She was wise and humble in many of the right ways that allowed to her to listen and learn.
Improvements in Women's Education. Because she had had been given the education of a queen consort, never unintended to rule, she found her lack of Latin, statecraft, and warfare embarrassing. She called in tutors who taught her and her ladies and later her daughters Latin. She took wise advisors and a a wise confessor and learned on the job as quickly as possible, she was sharp. Henry VIII was able to confidently leave England in the care of Isabella's daughter Catherine of Arragon when he went off to war. And Catherine of Arragon's daughter Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary) was able to feel confident in her ability to rule England without her husband being present and away in Spain and other European places of enjoyment. Education for women, at least for the women in powerful families, became usual. We see it best perhaps in Elizabeth I.
Yet Isabella did drop the ball on the education of her daughter Juana. Juana was so inadept at ruling Castille at the time of Isabella's death that Juana's husband Phillip the Fair and her father Ferdinand of Arragon were able to sully her name so that the people called her Juana la Loca/Crazy Juana. Ferdinand would rule Castille until Juana's son reached majority. He just created problems for his grandson to address. Ferdinand could have told Juana to hire tutors and to help her select wise advisors, just like her mother did. Juana did a fine job educating her own daughter in a more traditional way, a way of privileged women of the aristocracy, not the nobility.
Relationship of Muslims and Jews. Jews were welcome to live and work in Ottoman-controlled area off they were willing to pay higher taxes and to accept being second-rate members of society. Many many converted to Islam because the religion is attractive. There are similarities between Judaism and Islam. There is the convenience of not paying same taxes as the Muslims and of having the same everyday respect of the Muslims. The relationship was much gentler between Muslims and Jews. There was no Ottoman Turk Inquistion. Convert and live comfortably. I can see how my Muslim and Jewish ancestors intermarriage and had had children who forgot all about any adversity so that that there is no memories of being Muslim or Jew. I say that. . . but. . . I have heard one little tiny remnant of Arabic (language of the Ottoman Turks) in my oldest aunt's language. Just the "ojala que" is left off of the subjective sentence that follows. It would have been dropped off when my dad's family wanted to re-jpin the mainstream Christian society. I grew up Catholic, and my family was far back as family memory goes. We are only this generation born mostly in the mid-20th century are changing that affiliation, each as he/she wishes.
These are the big topics for me who is looking for family experience and history. This is my last selection of my Hispanic Reading Challenge as I started this book in late December.
One final personal note. I had bought a copy of The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain. I map hoped to read it now after this emotionally challenging book. But I seem to have sent it out in some recycle stack. I will buy this book again soon in the hope of healing myself some.
October 13, 2020
Loved it. She is in my ancestry as well as the kings of england. William wallace and robert the bruce. so i read anything i can get my hands on. She was a remarkable woman with a great spirit. She loved hee children but they all had tragic lived. She loved and led her beloved country.
February 11, 2021
Where to start... this is more akin to a fictionalized historic novel than it is an historic account. She uses many good sources, but the opinion, judgement of motive and simple error of fact is overwhelming at times.
Throughout the book she jumps all over the timeline. It was easy for me to follow as I have been studying the life of the holy Servant of God, Isabel la Católica for some time now. As other reviews note, Downey goes off on tangents of history that give a background of the story she is telling. For me, that was one of the redeeming qualities of the book. Also, she goes through a rapid overview post-Isabel that I enjoyed.
Moving on:
She claims that Christianity was originally a polygamist religion during its early years. She confused Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas who, among his many writings, transcribed much of Columbus’ own writings, with his father who was a sailor on one of Columbus’ voyages and bore the same name as his son. She states it correctly later in the book.
With her account of history half of all men during this age were homosexual or bi-sexual.
Judas sold Jesus out to the Roman authority, Downey asserts, not the Jewish Sanhedrin.
She completely misunderstands what indulgences are. An indulgence is the remittance of punishment due to sin ALREADY FORGIVEN. Therefore, if one was given a long penance during the sacrament of confession, say begging on the Church steps for 90 days, but gained an indulgence of 30 days, then all that was required of the penance post indulgence was 60 days. Indulgence also never was a way for getting your damned relatives out of hell as Downey claims. Indulgences could be gained for relatives in Purgatory, helping them to be purged of their imperfections and lesser sins on their way to heaven. Those in Purgatory are saved. They are triumphant. They are not damned.
According to her, priestly celibacy was a late development of the Western Church, and she gives s myriad of reasons as she claims that nearly all of the Apostles of Jesus were married. We only know of Peter being married, and it is understood through tradition that after being called to ministry he and she lived celibate lived. The reality is that all Christianity had a celibate priesthood from the founding of the Church in the 1st century, and was lightly enforced until the eastern Council of Trullo in the year 692, when the eastern Church decided to change the discipline to where a married priesthood was acceptable so long ad the person married before the ordination to the diaconate. There is much more I can fill in here, but this is just a review.
So many errors are riddled through these pages. I haven’t even gotten to the shallow, unreasonable opinions that infect this work. She claims that Isabel’s virtue was an act in places, while defending it in others. She claims that Isabel and Fernando had to be full of enmity toward each other because she can think of no other reason lovers in love could choose to be apart for extended periods. Such absences where quite normal among the monarchy and nobility of the age, and Isabel and Fernando had each their own kingdoms to rule to boot.
Downey has an obvious disdain for King Fernando, and I do not know if what she writes about him, making him out to be a duplicitous ass, is accurate. Every other book and all the essays and small studies I have read indicate that he was a good man and that he truly loved Isabel. Downey paints a very different picture. She uses some primary sources for this, but most of her assertions in this regard are not citing any works.
When it comes to the Americas post Christopher Columbus it appears she relies solely on the writings of the brigand and grandfather of the African slave trade in America, Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas, who was a known liar and exaggerator filled with political wiles. He is in no way a trustworthy source. After all, this “champion” of human rights was friends with all the worst characters at play in the Americas, and enemies to the good ones.
Overall, though I am glad to have read this book, I do not recommend it at all. I learned a bit, but it took me a very long time to read due to pace and timeline jumping.
I look forward to the other sources I have on this, and the nearly $1000 I have spent on acquiring primary source materials on Isabel. Perhaps I can produce a worthy book for this great Queen, Isabel la Católica the Servant of God and hopefully soon to be elevated to the altar. I await the day I can proclaim, “St. Isabel la Católica, pray for us!”
Throughout the book she jumps all over the timeline. It was easy for me to follow as I have been studying the life of the holy Servant of God, Isabel la Católica for some time now. As other reviews note, Downey goes off on tangents of history that give a background of the story she is telling. For me, that was one of the redeeming qualities of the book. Also, she goes through a rapid overview post-Isabel that I enjoyed.
Moving on:
She claims that Christianity was originally a polygamist religion during its early years. She confused Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas who, among his many writings, transcribed much of Columbus’ own writings, with his father who was a sailor on one of Columbus’ voyages and bore the same name as his son. She states it correctly later in the book.
With her account of history half of all men during this age were homosexual or bi-sexual.
Judas sold Jesus out to the Roman authority, Downey asserts, not the Jewish Sanhedrin.
She completely misunderstands what indulgences are. An indulgence is the remittance of punishment due to sin ALREADY FORGIVEN. Therefore, if one was given a long penance during the sacrament of confession, say begging on the Church steps for 90 days, but gained an indulgence of 30 days, then all that was required of the penance post indulgence was 60 days. Indulgence also never was a way for getting your damned relatives out of hell as Downey claims. Indulgences could be gained for relatives in Purgatory, helping them to be purged of their imperfections and lesser sins on their way to heaven. Those in Purgatory are saved. They are triumphant. They are not damned.
According to her, priestly celibacy was a late development of the Western Church, and she gives s myriad of reasons as she claims that nearly all of the Apostles of Jesus were married. We only know of Peter being married, and it is understood through tradition that after being called to ministry he and she lived celibate lived. The reality is that all Christianity had a celibate priesthood from the founding of the Church in the 1st century, and was lightly enforced until the eastern Council of Trullo in the year 692, when the eastern Church decided to change the discipline to where a married priesthood was acceptable so long ad the person married before the ordination to the diaconate. There is much more I can fill in here, but this is just a review.
So many errors are riddled through these pages. I haven’t even gotten to the shallow, unreasonable opinions that infect this work. She claims that Isabel’s virtue was an act in places, while defending it in others. She claims that Isabel and Fernando had to be full of enmity toward each other because she can think of no other reason lovers in love could choose to be apart for extended periods. Such absences where quite normal among the monarchy and nobility of the age, and Isabel and Fernando had each their own kingdoms to rule to boot.
Downey has an obvious disdain for King Fernando, and I do not know if what she writes about him, making him out to be a duplicitous ass, is accurate. Every other book and all the essays and small studies I have read indicate that he was a good man and that he truly loved Isabel. Downey paints a very different picture. She uses some primary sources for this, but most of her assertions in this regard are not citing any works.
When it comes to the Americas post Christopher Columbus it appears she relies solely on the writings of the brigand and grandfather of the African slave trade in America, Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas, who was a known liar and exaggerator filled with political wiles. He is in no way a trustworthy source. After all, this “champion” of human rights was friends with all the worst characters at play in the Americas, and enemies to the good ones.
Overall, though I am glad to have read this book, I do not recommend it at all. I learned a bit, but it took me a very long time to read due to pace and timeline jumping.
I look forward to the other sources I have on this, and the nearly $1000 I have spent on acquiring primary source materials on Isabel. Perhaps I can produce a worthy book for this great Queen, Isabel la Católica the Servant of God and hopefully soon to be elevated to the altar. I await the day I can proclaim, “St. Isabel la Católica, pray for us!”
July 30, 2020
For the modern reader, Isabel the Catholic is a difficult figure. She stands out for being a truly powerful female monarch in a time when women had little agency or freedom; she also stands out for being the figurehead of some truly horrific actions—the religious persecution of the Inquisition and the all-out genocide of the Americas. I had hoped that Kirstin Downey would find some measure of fair representation in this biography, but, as is probably only to be expected, Isabella: The Warrior Queen comes out strongly pro-Isabel (as does almost any author who writes about her). It’s not a bad book, but several areas are certainly left open to criticize.
As is perhaps unsurprising, I can’t say I learned a great deal from this biography. I was previously familiar with the details of Isabel’s life, mostly through my fiction reading, though I’m by no means a scholar of Spanish history in any way. Anyway, I didn’t come away from this with any new insights, though I give Downey full credit for her thoroughness. I felt this was a fairly comprehensive overview of not only Isabel’s life, but the political situations in Spain and abroad that heavily influenced her reign.
That being said, it seemed at times that the author lost focus. This is a biography of one specific person, not an overview of history during a particular period of time. However, Isabella: The Warrior Queen becomes a discussion of important Spanish political events that directly affect Isabel and her reign, but fails to so much as mention her for pages at a time. During these times when Isabel was more or less completely out of the picture, I would grow bored and start to skim. Context is nice, but it’s also important to keep focus on the main theme, which Downey would often forget.
But, to come to my main complaint: heavy, heavy bias. Downey vastly underscores the genocide of millions of indigenous Americans that occurred in the New World, and tends to be wishy-washy about Isabel’s participation in the Inquisition, expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain, and aforementioned genocide. For instance, Isabel couldn’t possibly have been anti-semitic because she “had Jewish friends”! Okay. Sure. Meanwhile she’s sending penniless Jews out of her country with nowhere to go and torturing converts who are suspected of heresy. Oh, and also, anything that happened in the New World wasn’t her fault—Columbus was a very bad man and just didn’t follow Isabel’s wise and just orders. (No arguments on the first, but I’m iffy on the second). Plus, Downey managed to generalize about 800 years of Moorish rule as “not good” which is unfair and hardly takes into consideration centuries of governmental changes.
So, basically. This book is easy to read and a good introductory overview of a highly important and iconic historical woman. I’m disappointed by Kirstin Downey’s pro-Christian, rose-tinted view of her subject matter, but at the same time, it’s rare to find someone willing to write an entire biography about someone they hate. I liked Isabella: The Warrior Queen, with strong misgivings. I did, however, glean the interesting tidbit that the modern game of chess, with the most powerful piece being the queen, came about entirely because of Isabel. So there is that.
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As is perhaps unsurprising, I can’t say I learned a great deal from this biography. I was previously familiar with the details of Isabel’s life, mostly through my fiction reading, though I’m by no means a scholar of Spanish history in any way. Anyway, I didn’t come away from this with any new insights, though I give Downey full credit for her thoroughness. I felt this was a fairly comprehensive overview of not only Isabel’s life, but the political situations in Spain and abroad that heavily influenced her reign.
That being said, it seemed at times that the author lost focus. This is a biography of one specific person, not an overview of history during a particular period of time. However, Isabella: The Warrior Queen becomes a discussion of important Spanish political events that directly affect Isabel and her reign, but fails to so much as mention her for pages at a time. During these times when Isabel was more or less completely out of the picture, I would grow bored and start to skim. Context is nice, but it’s also important to keep focus on the main theme, which Downey would often forget.
But, to come to my main complaint: heavy, heavy bias. Downey vastly underscores the genocide of millions of indigenous Americans that occurred in the New World, and tends to be wishy-washy about Isabel’s participation in the Inquisition, expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain, and aforementioned genocide. For instance, Isabel couldn’t possibly have been anti-semitic because she “had Jewish friends”! Okay. Sure. Meanwhile she’s sending penniless Jews out of her country with nowhere to go and torturing converts who are suspected of heresy. Oh, and also, anything that happened in the New World wasn’t her fault—Columbus was a very bad man and just didn’t follow Isabel’s wise and just orders. (No arguments on the first, but I’m iffy on the second). Plus, Downey managed to generalize about 800 years of Moorish rule as “not good” which is unfair and hardly takes into consideration centuries of governmental changes.
So, basically. This book is easy to read and a good introductory overview of a highly important and iconic historical woman. I’m disappointed by Kirstin Downey’s pro-Christian, rose-tinted view of her subject matter, but at the same time, it’s rare to find someone willing to write an entire biography about someone they hate. I liked Isabella: The Warrior Queen, with strong misgivings. I did, however, glean the interesting tidbit that the modern game of chess, with the most powerful piece being the queen, came about entirely because of Isabel. So there is that.
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November 6, 2018
The biography of the highly polarizing Queen Isabella of Castille and Aragon...and Spain and the New World. The woman who was friends with Jews and conversos, yet initiated the Inquisition. The woman who united Spain and funded Columbus' expeditions...and heralded the murder of the indigenous peoples of the Americas (despite her orders to befriend them and turn them into Christian converts). The woman who brought a renaissance to Spain. And the woman who was married to Ferdinand, the asshat who stole many of her accomplishments after her death.
Isabella was a highly complicated woman, and while I took this biography with a grain of salt since the author is a huge fan (although she does admit her bias), overall it was enjoyable, highly informative and an in-depth look at life in the 15th century.
I definitely learned a lot about Spanish (and European) politics, customs and culture, the royal marriage exchanges between countries, and how topsy-turvy and dependent upon men the lives of royal women were.
Downey does a phenomenal job of placing Isabella within the context of her times—a very devout Spanish Catholic woman ruling a country in a world being overrun by the Ottoman Empire and Muslims, where women (Christian and Muslim) had little say or agency over their own lives—while also acknowledging the differences of today's world and the bias that we have towards these historical figures.
My absolute favorite part was the afterward, where Downey acknowledges her bias and her attempts to mitigate it while writing this account of Isabella's life by focusing on primary sources and the view of historical figures in the time that they were alive. She also mentions the various points of view—those that deify Isabella and those who vilify her—and notes that all of these opinions are correct depending on what side of history a person stands on. Jews, Indigenous Americans, conversos and Muslims probably abhor Isabella, and for good reason. She initiated many of the policies that destroyed their way of life in Spain (or the Americas).
Main takeaway: Juana was 99% probably a bastard, Ferdinand was a selfish prick, Columbus was an megalomaniac asshole, and Henry did not deserve Catherine.
Oh.
And if you're at a party and are served a special order of stuffed trout or broiled boar testicles and no one else is eating it, it's probably poisoned.
Isabella was a highly complicated woman, and while I took this biography with a grain of salt since the author is a huge fan (although she does admit her bias), overall it was enjoyable, highly informative and an in-depth look at life in the 15th century.
I definitely learned a lot about Spanish (and European) politics, customs and culture, the royal marriage exchanges between countries, and how topsy-turvy and dependent upon men the lives of royal women were.
Downey does a phenomenal job of placing Isabella within the context of her times—a very devout Spanish Catholic woman ruling a country in a world being overrun by the Ottoman Empire and Muslims, where women (Christian and Muslim) had little say or agency over their own lives—while also acknowledging the differences of today's world and the bias that we have towards these historical figures.
My absolute favorite part was the afterward, where Downey acknowledges her bias and her attempts to mitigate it while writing this account of Isabella's life by focusing on primary sources and the view of historical figures in the time that they were alive. She also mentions the various points of view—those that deify Isabella and those who vilify her—and notes that all of these opinions are correct depending on what side of history a person stands on. Jews, Indigenous Americans, conversos and Muslims probably abhor Isabella, and for good reason. She initiated many of the policies that destroyed their way of life in Spain (or the Americas).
Main takeaway: Juana was 99% probably a bastard, Ferdinand was a selfish prick, Columbus was an megalomaniac asshole, and Henry did not deserve Catherine.
Oh.
And if you're at a party and are served a special order of stuffed trout or broiled boar testicles and no one else is eating it, it's probably poisoned.
September 26, 2014
When you write a history book for the general public you should always try to make it accessible and interesting.
Reporter Kirstin Downey has gathered together as much information as she can about Isabella of Spain, the fashion one you probably learned a bit about if you live in either the USA or Spain today. She presents this information in a very complicated fashion, with side journeys into the lives of her family, enemies, allies, and general information about the world in which she lived. All great to include but it felt very overwhelming and I'm a trained historian!
A good deal of time is spent looking at scandals and conflicts but within the text are also philosophical discussions, some quotations, and explanations as to the nature of hierarchy that was the cracking foundation of the European world at that time. The book treats everyone fairly, showing the good, the bad, the mediocre so that the dear Queen is both merely a product of her time as well as a mover and shaker, a woman motivated by faith but also a deep desire to rule.
The copy I receive to review did not have illustrations of any type. If the released version does this can only improve what is a very dense tome for the casual reader to tackle. You're going to need a week or three to get through this one.
Reporter Kirstin Downey has gathered together as much information as she can about Isabella of Spain, the fashion one you probably learned a bit about if you live in either the USA or Spain today. She presents this information in a very complicated fashion, with side journeys into the lives of her family, enemies, allies, and general information about the world in which she lived. All great to include but it felt very overwhelming and I'm a trained historian!
A good deal of time is spent looking at scandals and conflicts but within the text are also philosophical discussions, some quotations, and explanations as to the nature of hierarchy that was the cracking foundation of the European world at that time. The book treats everyone fairly, showing the good, the bad, the mediocre so that the dear Queen is both merely a product of her time as well as a mover and shaker, a woman motivated by faith but also a deep desire to rule.
The copy I receive to review did not have illustrations of any type. If the released version does this can only improve what is a very dense tome for the casual reader to tackle. You're going to need a week or three to get through this one.
December 24, 2014
ARC received courtesy of Goodreads.com giveaway
Wow!! I learned so much from reading this book! Queen Isabella was an amazing leader of Spain and so much more. Ms. Downey made Isabella accessible to me. As I was reading, I kept thinking about Isabella's fortitude in ruling during such tumultuous times. She showed her strength in ruling by riding throughout the kingdom to settle disputes, by taking on the Muslims in Granada and winning back the land that had been in dispute for 700 years, and by seeking to strengthen her religion by being tolerant of others' beliefs (at first).
Like almost everyone else, I always assumed that Ferdinand was the ruler of the day, however; this book taught me that Isabella was THE ruler of her time.
Wow!! I learned so much from reading this book! Queen Isabella was an amazing leader of Spain and so much more. Ms. Downey made Isabella accessible to me. As I was reading, I kept thinking about Isabella's fortitude in ruling during such tumultuous times. She showed her strength in ruling by riding throughout the kingdom to settle disputes, by taking on the Muslims in Granada and winning back the land that had been in dispute for 700 years, and by seeking to strengthen her religion by being tolerant of others' beliefs (at first).
Like almost everyone else, I always assumed that Ferdinand was the ruler of the day, however; this book taught me that Isabella was THE ruler of her time.
February 2, 2015
A wonderful book about an incredible lady. She lived in very turbulent times. There was the expansion of the Turkish Muslim empire, expelling Jews and Muslims from Spain, the Inquisition, France invading Naples, the Borgias, exploring the New World and all the political intrigue. So lots happens in this book and there is a cast of hundreds, often made complicated by multiple people with the same name. I always learned it was Ferdinand and Isabella but after reading this it should be the other way around.
October 29, 2014
This was a wonderful piece of non- fiction. The author did a good job in digging out the facts. I really learned a lot. I wish to thank the author for this book. I won this On Goodreads. Thank you
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