Isabella of Castile: The First Renaissance Queen

Looks at Queen Isabella's life and marriage in a time of fierce political intrigue, the rise of the nation-state, the discovery of the new world, and the demise of the old order

Isabella (1441-1504) was a master strategist, seizing the crown of Castile and, with husband Ferdinand of Aragon, ruling both her kingdom and his and winning a virtually nonstop succession of wars to preserve their strongholds. Freelance journalist Rubin presents the queen also as loving wife and mother, promoter of the arts and sponsor of Columbus, views emphasized to soften the dominant persona: Isabella la Catolica. Her goal to make Spain exclusively and permanently Catholic drove the queen to supporting the tortures of the Inquisition, burning dissenters at the stake and evicting Jews from the country. Packed with information, the book holds the reader's interest, despite pedestrian prose and a clear bias in Isabella's favor. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this scholarly, limpidly written work, Rubin (The Mother Mirror, 1984; The New Suburban Woman, 1982) recounts the story of Spain's greatest queen and the impact of her reign on her country and the world. The marriage of Isabella of Castile and Prince Ferdinand of Aragon (1469), more than any other event, caused the creation of the Spanish state by merging Spain's two main Christian kingdoms. Rubin demonstrates that Isabella's unique personality left a pervasive mark on the nascent Spanish society. Isabella's devout Catholicism led her to embrace religious fanatics like her confessor Cisneros, and resulted in the completion of the reconquista (the conquest of Moorish Spain), the expulsion of the Jews and Moors from Spain, and the institution of the uniquely repressive and cruel Spanish Inquisition (Rubin speculates, without much evidence, that Isabella suffered from a troubled conscience about these excesses). The author also shows how Isabella's faith motivated her to support Columbus's voyages of discovery (she saw his explorations principally as an opportunity to win new souls to Christ, and Rubin relies on primary sources to illustrate Isabella's misgivings at Columbus's frank exploitation of the natives). Rubin also explains the relationship between Isabella's personal tragedies and European politics--the marriage of her daughters Catherine and Juana had important historic consequences but both ended in tragedy. While the author demonstrates the critical importance of Isabella's reign for the Spain that emerged from it, she does not succeed in making a case for Isabella as a ``Renaissance queen'': Isabella united and strengthened Spain but left it intellectually hobbled and dominated by the Church, and less culturally diverse and tolerant than before. Nonetheless, Rubin succeeds admirably in recounting the accomplishments of one of European history's greatest monarchs. A first-rate exposition. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The flow of books connected with the quincentenary of Columbus's voyage to the Americas continues. General readers interested in the remarkable woman who pressed the unification of the several kingdoms constituting medieval Spain; pacified a rebellious nobility; made Catholicism a national unifying force by using the Inquisition against Muslims and Jews; supported the new learning of the Renaissance; produced five children around whom the history of 16th-century Europe revolved; and, almost by accident, financed the Genoese sailor who "discovered" America believing it was India will find this an enjoyable study. Rubin, however, has a very sketchy knowledge of late medieval-early modern European history, nor is she familiar with the rich recent literature on Muslim Spain, the reconquista , and the direction of current scholarship. The book also suffers from clumsy organization, with 62 short chapters, too many romantic conjectures, contradictions, and a prolix style. The serious student and scholar must look to scholarly monographs. Previewed in "Rediscovering Columbus," LJ 8/91, p. 120-122.
- Bennett D. Hill, Georgetown Univ., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.