Consent in Love and Marriage in Songs Associated with Princess Isabel of Castile

In Christian canon law, marriage is considered invalid if consent has not been obtained from both partners. Isabel of Castile understood this: rejecting the suitors selected by Enrique IV, she insisted on her right to marry a husband of her choice. Similarly, in the courtly love tradition to which ladies then subscribed, voluntary commitment was regarded as an essential feature of love, but there was a tacit understanding that marriage should not be mentioned as a solution. By assigning the song ‘Ni me plaze, ni consiento’ to Prince Alfonso, Isabel’s brother, in the poem that he wrote about the prince’s departure from Arévalo c. 1466-1468, Nicolás de Guevara was drawing attention to the need to respect this principle, and also alluding to an understanding between Alfonso and his sister that each would insist upon it. It is within this context that we may interpret a short cycle of poems in the British Library Cancionero (LB1) associated with the courtship of Isabel by King Afonso V of Portugal in the years 1465-1468.

Manuel I of Portugal and the End of the Toleration of Islam in Castile: Marriage Diplomacy, Propaganda, and Portuguese Imperialism in Renaissance Europe, 1495-1505

In 1505, King Manuel I of Portugal (1495-1521) ordered the public printing of a letter officially addressed to Pope Julius II. In the letter, the Portuguese King defended his role as a champion of Christendom and scourge of Islam in the Indian Ocean. The most remarkable claim made by Manuel in this letter was that he was directly involved in persuading the Catholic monarchs of Spain Isabel of Castile and Fernando of Aragón to put an end to the toleration of Islam in Castile in 1501. This article focuses on this claim and whether or not it can merely be dismissed as the rhetoric of bombastic propaganda. It analyzes Luso-Spanish relations between 1495 and 1505 and highlights documentary evidence proving that Manuel did indeed put pressure on his Spanish neighbors to abolish the toleration of Islam during the tortuous negotiations surrounding his marriage to the Spanish princess Maria in 1501. Beyond assessing the historical significance of the letter, this article highlights the intricate connections between Portuguese imperial geopolitics and Iberian dynastic politics during this crucial period in the history of both the Spanish and Portuguese monarchies.

Ruling Sexuality: The Political Legitimacy of Isabel of Castile*

This article examines the gendered construction of power during the reign of Isabel of Castile (1474-1504). The construction of her political legitimacy was based on her manipulation of her gender and sexuality intended to contrast with the perceived shortcomings of her brother, Enrique IV. Enrique's critics had impugned his sexuality and attacked his inability to deliver Spain into a golden age. By aligning Isabel with sexually chaste models and emphasizing her ability to redeem Spain both because of and despite her gender, Isabel's partisans crafted an image that allowed her to transcend the misogynist tropes that attacked female rule.

Spanish American Law: a Product of Conflicting Interests?

In the Summer of 1492 Christopher Columbus, a Genovese navigator, looks at the contracts he has just concluded with the queen of Castile. On first reading, these documents seem to be ordinary commercial contracts. The navigator agrees to explore, in the service of his contracting partners, new trade routes on the vast and uncharted waters of the Atlantic. His contracting partners will finance the venture. In return for his services the navigator will get a fair share of the future profits and extensive privileges over the unknown lands that he might discover on his voyage. Similar contracts are known, yet none would have such far reaching consequences as the contracts between the navigator Christopher Columbus and his contracting partners, the Catholic Kings Isabel of Castile and Leon and Fernando of Aragon.

Origin of the Franciscan Order in Colombia

The Renowned Tertiary of St. Francis, Christopher Columbus, aided by another tertiary, Queen Isabel of Castile, and the Franciscans of La Rábida, discovered the New World on October 12, 1492. It is not established whether or not on his first journey he was accompanied by a priest, although there are several statements to this effect; but it is now historically certain, with the investigations of Father Angel Ortega, O.F.M., that on his second voyage (1493) the Admiral was accompanied by the Franciscans, Fray Rodrigo Pérez, Fray Juan Bermejo and Fray Juan Tisín, and, quite probably, Fray Juan Pérez also (the Guardian of La Rábida, who was the first to recognize and patronize his genius), as well as Fray Antonio de Marchena, cosmographer, Provincial and his counsellor at the Court. Of the latter the Admiral later wrote to the Catholic Kings: “To him Your Majesties owe the possession of the Indies.” These were the auspicious beginnings of the Seraphic Order in the New World.