View From The Glen

Friday, November 20, 2009

History Mystery: Queen of Castile


1451-1504

Married to the King of Aragon, but Queen in her own right, she and her husband unified Spain. She spent much of their reign purifying the Catholic Faith, and is renowned for her institution of the Spanish Inquisition in 1480,  and the slow expulsion of the Spanish Moors (Muslims).


She sponsored Christopher Columbus' voyages to the New World and was sympathetic to the North American Natives who were brought back as slaves.

Widely read and well educated herself, she insisted on the same for her sons and her daughter.

Although she died without an heir, she was grandmother to one of the great tragic Queens of England.

Who Is She?

Monday Answer: Queen Isabella I, also known as Isabella the Catholic, also known as the mother of Katherine of Aragon (1st wife to Henry VIII) and grandmother to Queen Mary I (later known as Bloody Mary).

Leanne, I thought you said you didn't know your history... nice guess then.

I picked this one in honour of my beautiful 3 month old niece, Isabella, who I went to visit in Toronto this weekend.

2 comments:

Mindful Merchant said...

I love your history mystery questions. I am terrible at history...but hopefully one day I will be able to put in a good educated guess. :)

Leanne Haines said...

Hmmmm.... not sure if I'm right, but I'll take a stab at it. Queen Isabella?