ISABELLA
178
ISABELLA
still bear. Isabella displayed her prudence and gen- was the case at the siege of Malaga and at that of
tleness — qualities which she possessed in a degree Baza, where the stern usages of war did not hinder
seldom equalled — in the agreement she made with the Moorish leader, Cid Hiaya, from displaying his
Ferdinand as to the government of their dominions
they were to hold equal authority, a principle ex
pressed in the device or motto, " Tanto monta, monla
tanto — Isabel como Fernando (As much as the one is
worth so much is the other — Isabella as Fernando)
chivalry towards the queen. She was in danger of
being assassinated by a Mohammedan fanatic before
the walls of Malaga, and of perishing in the confla-
gration of the besieging camp at Granada. In conse-
quence of this conflagration the city of Santa Fe was
The harmonious imion of the peoples and the built, to put an end to the vain hopes of the people of
crowns being thus realized, it was necessary to reduce Granada, that the Catholic sovereigns would abandon
the power of the nobles, who had acquired a position their enterprise. Granada surrendered 2 January,
almost independent of the crown and rendered good 1492, and the territorial unity of the Spanish mon-
government difficult. Towards this object the Catho- archy was established. To protect its normal unity,
lie sovereigns directed their efforts; among the means an edict was issued three months later (31 March) ex-
which they took should be mentioned chiefly: (1) pelling from Spain the Jews (170,000 to 180,000 souls),
the establishment of the Santa Hermandad (Holy whose cities had admitted the Mussulman invaders in
Brotherhood), a kind of per-
manent military force, very
completely organized, sup-
ported by the municipal
councils, and intended for
the protection of persons
and property against the
violence of the nobles; (2)
an improved and properly
ordered administration of
justice, with a wiser organi-
zation of the tribunals, the
establishment of the Chan-
cery at Valladolid, and the
promulgation of the royal
edicts generally called
"Edicts of Montalvo" after
the jurisconsult who drew
them up; (3) the abolition
of the right of coining
money, which certain indi-
viduals held, and the regu-
lation of the currency laws
so as to facilitate commerce:
(4) the revocation of ex-
travagant grants made to
certain nobles during the
reigns of the late monarchy,
the demolition of their
castles, which constituted a
menace to public peace, and
the vesting in the crown of
the masterships of military
orders. To preserve the
purity of the Faith and re
the eighth century, and
who constituted a perpetual
danger to the independence
and security of the nation.
While they were carrj'ing on the war against Granada Christopher Columbus pre- sented himself to the Cath- olic sovereigns, and to Queen Isaliclla fell the honour of appreciating the genius who had not been imderstood at Genoa, at Venice, or in Por- tugal. Protected first of all by the Spanish friars, he was presented to the queen by her confessor. Padre Hernando Talavera, and Cardinal Mendoza (el Car- denal de Espafia); and with the means which the kmg and queen procured for him he fitted out the three famous caravels which placed Amer- ica in communication with the Old World (see ConiM- Eus). Sailing, 3 August, 1492, from the port of Palos, he discovered on 12 Octo- l>er — the day on which the feast of Our Lady of the Pillar is observed in Spain — the first of the Bahama Islands. Not only did Isa- bella the Catholic always
ligious unity, against the intrigues of the Jews, who show herself the protectress of Columbus, but she was
were employing the influence of their wealth and also the protectress of the American aborigines against
their usurious dealings to pervert Christians, the Cath- the ill-usage of the colonists and adventurers. In
olic sovereigns solicited of Pope Sixtus IV the e-stab- 1503, she organized the Secretariate of Indian Affairs,
Hshment of the Inquisition (q. v.). which was the origin of the Supreme Council of the
Their government thus strengthened at home, the Indies. Isabella was no less the patroness of the great
sovereigns proceeded to bring to a completion, by the Cisneros in the reformation of the monasteries of
conquest of Granada, the great work of reconquest Spain, a work which he accomplished under the
which had been virtually at a standstill since the time
of Alfonso XI. The taking of Zahara, of which the
Moors possessed themselves by surprise, afforded an
occasion for the war, which opened happily with the
authority of Alexander VI given by the Brief of
March, 1493, and which anticipated the reform after-
wards executed throughout the whole Church. The
good government of the Catholic sovereigns brought
conquest of Alhama (March, 1482). The Christians the prosperity of Spain to its apogee, and inaugurated
were favoured by the internal troubles of Granada
which were due to the party of the Emir Muley Has-
san and his son Boabdil, and, after the death of the
former, to the supporters of his uncle .\lidallah el
Zagal. The sovereigns kept up the war in spite of the
serious defeats sustained by them at .\jan)uia and
Loja, and possessed themselves successively of CJoin,
Ouadix, .Mmeria, Loja, W('\ez, Malaga, and Baza
that country's Golden Age. The manufacture of
cloths and silks developed at Segovia, Medina, Gra-
nada, Valencia, and Toledo, as also that of glass and of
steel weapons, of leather and silverware. Agriculture
prospered, while navigation and commerce rose to an
unprecedented height in consequence of the great
tliscoverics of that epoch.
Queen Isabella by her example led the way in fos-
Isabella took a prominent part in this war; not only tering the love of stu<ly, and in many respects her
did she attend to the government of tlie kiugdcim, Court reeiills that of Charlemagne. When she was al-
and provide for the support of the army while Fenii- rciidy a grown woman she devoted herself to the study
nand did battle at its head, but she repeateilly visiled of Latin, and became ati e.'iger collector of books, of
the camp t<} animate the troops by her presence. This which she possessed a great immber. Her Castilian
