The Catholic Monarchs' authoritarian monarchy

THE 15th
CENTURY
IN THE IBERIAN PENINSULA:
THE CATHOLIC
MONARCHS’ REIGN

Isabellala of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragón were members of the same family, the
Trastámara, ruling dynasty in Castile and Aragón since the beginning of the 15th
century.

CROWN OF ARAGON
John II of Aragon
and Navarre
Ferdinand of Aragón, future
Ferdinand the Catholic
Blanca II
Leonor I,
queens of Navarre

Joanna of Castile (La Beltraneja)
Enrique IV (The Impotent) Alphonse of Trastámara
Isabella of Castile
John II of Castile
CROWN OF CASTILE

CIVIL WAR IN CASTILE
When king Enrique IV died, the partisans of his sister Isabella started a war
against the partisans of his daughter Joanna.
Joanna was supported by
PORTUGAL, due to her
marriage to king Alphonse V
the African
Isabella was supported by
ARAGON, due to her marriage
to Ferdinand, heir of the Crown
Of Aragon

The war finished with the signature
of the TREATY OF ALCÁÇOVAS:
-Isabella would be the queen of
Castile.
-Portugal got the control of the
exploration of the African coasts
of the Atlantic Ocean and Castile’s
sovereignty over the Canary Islands
was recognized.
- Joanna the Beltraneja could choose
between marrying Prince John,
Isabella and Ferdinand’s son, one
year old, or entering a convent. She
chose the second option.

FERDINAND
OF ARAGON,
King of Aragón between
1479 and 1516
ISABELLA OF
CASTILE, queen
of Castile between
1479 and 1504
MOTTO: TANTO MONTA, MONTA TANTO, ISABELLA OR FERDINAND.
DYNASTIC UNION, NOT TERRITORIAL UNION.
But only Ferdinand used his power to rule in Castile. Isabella never showed interest
in Aragón’s affairs, because Castile was bigger and richer than Aragón and women
couldn’t rule there.

YOKE
(Ysabel)
FASCE OF
ARROWS
(Ferdinand)
CASTILE ARAGON
AND THE TWO
SICILIES
GRANADA
THE CATHOLIC MONARCHS’ COAT OF ARMS

REFORMS MADE BY THE CATHOLIC MONARCHS TO REINFORCE THEIR AUTHORITY
In Castile:
-They punished the nobles who hadn’t supported
Isabella in the civil war and confirmed the power
of the privileged who had supported them
-They didn´t call the Cortes to avoid receiving
petitions from the most important people of their
kingdoms.
-They created the Royal Treasury to make the tax
collection more efficient.
-They created the Holy Brotherhood (Santa
Hermandad), a rural militia or police, to fight
against bandits and keep public order in the
countryside.
-They created the Royal Courts of Justice (Reales
Audiencias), the highest courts to have the last
word in the most important affairs of the
kingdom.
-They created the post of corregidor, a
representative of the kings in every municipality
of the kingdom.
Member of the Holy Brotherhood in his
greensleeves uniform, which gave origin to
the Castilian expression “A buenas horas,
mangas verdes”

In Aragón, they had more
difficulties to impose their
authority, because the power of
the king was smaller. They
created the post of viceroy, a
representative of the king in the
different kingdoms of the Crown.
Later viceroys were also
appointed in the Indies. They
also established the election of
the municipal posts through a
lottery.
Alphonse of Aragón,
Ferdinand II’s bastard son,
appointed 1st
viceroy of
Aragón by his father
Sack and balls used to draw the
names of the candidates to public
posts.The papers with the names
were introduced on the holes of the
balls

In addition to the reforms in their kingdoms,
they created:
-several specialized councils to give them
advice in complicated affairs: Council of Castile
(the most important one), Council of Aragón,
Council of Navarre, Council of the Indies,
Council of the Inquisition and Council of the
Military Orders. The high nobility was moved
away from the councils and replaced by a
professional bureaucracy, formed by expert
lawyers and members of the low nobility.
-A permanent and professional army, so that
they didn´t have to depend on the nobles´
armies. T
-A diplomatic corps, with a network of
ambassadors in the most important European
courts, in order to defend their interests
abroad.
Consultative councils: Castile, Aragón, Indies, Military
Orders, Inquisition and Navarre (created after the
conquest of this kingdom)

In Castile stockbreeding
continued to be the main
economic activity. There were big
herds of Merino sheep owned by
nobles and the Mesta continued
to be a powerful organization that
defended their interests. The
wool was exported to Flanders
and England and the Catholic
Monarchs protected
stockbreeding to the detriment of
agriculture.
ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

The impact of the 14th
century crisis had been
stronger in Aragón. King Ferdinand made some
decisions in order to try to revitalize economy:
- Laws to favour trade, navigation and the
Catalan craftsmanship. High tariffs were
established to protect and stimulate local
production.
- End of the conflict of the pagesos de
remensa: the Catalan farmers had revolted
against the abuses of the owners of the
lands they worked. King Ferdinand ended
up this conflict with the Arbitral Sentence
of Guadalupe (Sentencia Arbitral de
Guadalupe): the bad customs (malos usos)
were abolished, the Catalan farmers were
declared free, but they had to pay an
economic compensation to the nobles and
the king for all the disturbances and
damages caused.
Despite these decisions, the Aragonese economy
didn´t recover medieval splendour.
Arbitral Sentence of Guadalupe

RELIGIOUS POLICY
Isabella and Ferdinand wanted all the
citizens of their kingdoms to be
Catholics. They followed a religious
uniformity policy:
- In 1492 they decreed the expulsion
of all the Jews of their kingdoms.
All Jews had to convert to
Christianity or leave. Around 80,000
Jews left the kingdoms (Sephardi
Jews).
- In 1499 they obliged all the
Muslims that still lived in their
kingdoms to get baptized. This is
the origin of the Moorish.
Forced baptisms in Granada

They also reinforced the
Supreme Court of the Holy
Inquisition to chase and punish
all those suspected of heresy.
The Dominican monk Tomás de
Torquemada was appointed as
Grand Inquisitor and repression
started. During the Catholic
Monarchs’ reign 2,000 people
were burnt at the stake and
around 14,000 were judged and
punished in public autos-da-fe.
This was a very dark period in
the story of religious
persecutions
Auto da fe, by Pedro Berruguete
Torquemada, Grand
Inquisitor

TERRITORIES CONQUERED BY THE CATHOLIC MONARCHS

CONQUEST OF GRANADA
After a 10-year military campaign they occupied the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada and they
ended up with more than eight centuries of Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula.
Granada became part of Castile.

They also financed the expedition of Christopher Columbus to the Indies. All
the territories “discovered” by Christopher Columbus were annexed to the
Crown of Castile.

In 1494, the Catholic Monarchs
and the king of Portugal signed
the Treaty of Tordesillas, under
the arbitration of the Pope
Alexander VI: the treaty divided
the world into two areas of
influence, drawing an imaginary
line 370 leagues to the West of
Cape Verde Islands: the territories
located to the East of this line
would belong to Portugal and the
territories located to the West of
this line would belong to Castile.
The Crown of Aragón was
excluded from the wealth and
businesses related to the Indies
(America).

FOREIGN POLICY
King Ferdinand was personally in charge of foreign policy:
- Following the model of the Aragonese consulates, they decided to create embassies in
the most important kingdoms in Europe to defend the interests of the Hispanic Monarchy.
- Their main goal was to isolate France, the traditional enemy of the Crown of Aragón. To
reach this goal, they used their five children to sign alliances with France’s most important
enemies

JOANNA CATHERINEISABELLA
JOHNMARY
ALLIANCE
WITH PORTUGAL
ALLIANCE
WITH AUSTRIA
ALLIANCE
WITH ENGLAND
MARRIAGE ALLIANCES
The Catholic Monarchs used their five children to sign alliances against France’s enemies. In
several cases, they married their children twice to keep the alliances:
-Isabella, the first born, was married to Alphonse, Portugal’s heir, but when he died, she
married Manuel the Fortunate, the king of Portugal. When Isabella died in 1498, her sister
Mary married King Manuel. This way they kept the alliance with Portugal.
-John married Margaret of Austria and Joanna married Philip of Burgundy. Margaret and
Philip were the children of Emperor Maximilian of Austria and Mary of Burgundy. This double
marriage assured the alliance with the Holy Roman Empire.
-Catherine, the youngest child, married Arthur of England, Prince of Wales. When he died, she
married Arthur’s brother, Henry, future Henry VIII. This way, the alliance with England was
kept.

The Catholic Monarchs' authoritarian monarchy

SUCCESSION
Queen Isabella the Catholic dictating her Will,
Eduardo Rosales, 1864
Philip the Handsome and Joanna the Mad
Joanna the Mad, by Francisco Pradilla, 1867
Her husband’s corpse transport from Burgos to Granada
lasted for eight months.
When Queen Isabella died in 1504, the heiress of
Castile was her daughter Joanna the Mad, married to
Philip the Handsome. As Joanna was unstable and
not able to rule (Joanna the Mad), her husband was
in charge of the government of Castile. Ferdinand
continued to be the king of Aragón.
When Philip the Handsome died in 1506, King
Ferdinand became regent of Castile, Joanna was
confined in Tordesillas.

King Ferdinand had married Germaine of
Foix in 1505 with the intention of having a
child who could inherit his reign, because
women couldn’t rule in Aragón. Germaine
of Foix gave birth to a child, but he died
hours later and Charles, Joanna and
Philip’s son, was the only heir. Ferdinand
II acted as regent of Castile until his death
in 1516.
Germaine de Foix married
Ferdinand II when she was 17,
while her husband was 53.
Their child John didn’t survive

When Ferdinand II died in January 1516,
Joanna was the legitimate heiress. Ferdinand
II’s testament also designated his grandson
Charles as general governor and the regents
until his arrival: Cardinal Cisneros in Castile and
archbishop Alphonse of Aragón.
In Castile, there were intrigues to replace
Charles for his brother Ferdinand, educated in
the Peninsula by his grandfather Ferdinand II,
but Charles proclaimed himself king in Brussels
one week after his grandfather’s death,
ignoring his mother’s right to the throne. The
different parts of the monarchy accepted this
fact (although in Aragón they conditioned
Charles’ acceptance to the oath of their fueros
in the Cortes). Cisneros was regent until his
death in Roa (Burgos) in November 1517,
when he was on his way to meet Charles.
Cardinal Cisneros,
regent of Castile
between 1516-1517
Infant Ferdinand,
Charles’ brother, and
future emperor of the
Holy Roman Empire
Charles I

BLUE: CASTILE (including
the Canary Islands antd
the Indies)
ORANGE: ARAGON
GREEN: HOUSE OF
AUSTRIA (HABSBURG
TERRITORIES)
PURPLE: BURGUNDY
CHARLES I´S HERITAGE

The Catholic Monarchs' authoritarian monarchy

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