TOMB OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
SOME REMARKABLE WOMEN.
I.—ISABELLA I.
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
This remarkable woman, Isabella of Spain, lived four hundred years ago. Her name is always associated with that of her husband, Ferdinand, King of Castile and Aragon. Isabella was a woman of strong character and great resolution, as well as of remarkable talent. She married the one whom she wished to marry in spite of the opposition of her brother, and his threats of imprisonment. Upon the death of her brother, Henry the Fourth, Isabella was the heir to the throne. However, she met with opposition, and it was only after warring with the partisans of her rival that she gained her seat upon the throne. She reigned jointly with her husband, and their reign is spoken of as that of Ferdinand and Isabella. It was an eventful reign; many reforms were introduced, justice was firmly administered and crimes punished. The nobility were restrained from acts of oppression. Their reign is also conspicuous for the conquest of Granada; it is said that the honors of the Moorish war belonged by right to Isabella rather than her husband, for she personally directed the campaigns, and during the ten years the war lasted spent much of the time in camp. There are some dark spots which mar the brilliancy of this woman's record; one is the establishment of the Inquisition.
We find that when a certain cardinal of the Roman Church presented his plan of the "Spanish Inquisition" to the King and Queen, that while Ferdinand approved, Isabella hesitated for a time; it may be that her woman's heart made her hesitate to condemn all who did not agree with her in religious matters. Perhaps you do not know what is meant by the Inquisition.
