Queen Isabella Of Spain

Queen Isabella of Castile was one of the most successful queens of the Early Modern European period. The role of women in society, especially as leaders was and has been seen as limited throughout history. However Isabella’s reign as a female leader was not limiting but rather successful as she was able to assert and have independent power thus breaking the gender norms of her society. Queen Isabella of Castile had to endure a civil war to secure her place on the throne, and though by marrying Ferdinand of Aragon, unifying the crowns, she alone helped Spain become a powerful kingdom through her grandiose political visions. As the only daughter of the King of Castile and León, Isabella’s early life was strongly influenced by her closeness
The Marquis of Villena , Diego Pacheco with his followers believed Joanna to be the rightful queen as she was Enrique’s daughter. With help from the Archbishop of Toledo Pacheco made plans to have Joanna marry her uncle King Alfonso V of Portugal, and invade Castile. In 1475 Joanna was married and the following year in 1476 the Battle of Toro occurred in which both the Spanish and Portuguese sides claimed victory. The war with Portugal helped Isabella assert her power as with the accounts of the Battle of Toro, she used her political perception to summon the courts where she had her daughter sworn in as the heiress of Castile,thus legitimizing her throne. During the war while King Ferdinand was away at battle, Segovia experienced a rebellion. Isabella’s advisors and council wanted her to stay away from the fray as she a woman could not deal with such things. However Isabella refused to listen and negotiated with the rebels which led to the swift end of the Segovia rebellion. Three years later Castile had won the war on land, and Portugal with a sea victory. The Treaty of Alcáçovas was signed, in which Portugal gave up the throne of Castile in favor of an exchange of lands, gold mines,and war compensation. Castile had to pardon those who rebelled against them, and ultimately they had to give up the Portuguese crown. This would set the Castilian crown back
Though they were in a joint monarchy and displayed a united front, Isabella was the ideal ruler. Castile was stronger then Aragon. During her reign, Isabella asserted her independence by enacting reforms on her own as she wanted to reinforce her own image. The tax system reform, the increased value of Castilian money and the flourishing of printing presses due to tax exemption were all attributed to Isabella alone. In contrast to those before her she worked with the justice system by having judges and courts instead of military and aristocracy. Most notably she established fixed royal courts in regional cities. She created a better legal system and at the same time she increased her power to govern. The consolidation and centralization of Castilian monarchical power increased both Isabel’s independent power and that of the state. Peggy Liss states in Isabel The Queen, that Isabella “left a legacy of personal, absolute monarchy…”. Isabella had strengthened Castile while the rest of Europe had been fragmented, she had created a nation state. Her power as Queen led to her strengthening chritisnaty throughout the