Isabel I (22 April 1451 - 26 November 1504), Queen of Custer (1474-1504), Queen of Spain (1479-1504)

And for some reason or purpose, we sent the noble Cristobal Columbus, with three well-equipped sailboats and some presents, across the ocean to India -- a pass given to Columbus by Isabel and his wife.

In 1492 AD, Spain seemed to suddenly become the center of the world. This year, one miracle after another befell this vicissitudes country on the Iberian Peninsula. All of this is obviously due to the efforts of Queen Isabel I and her husband Ferdinand II.

In the Middle Ages, there were many small Islamic and Catholic states on the Iberian Peninsula. After several hundred years of annexation, by the mid-15th century, there were mainly three kingdoms of Portugal in the west, Custer in the center, and Aragon in the east, plus the small Muslim country of Grenada at the southernmost tip of the peninsula, the most powerful of which was the Custer Kingdom. Isabel was the daughter of King Juan II of Custer and the princess of Portugal. In 1454, Juan II died and Isabel's half-brother Enrique IV (nicknamed "The Incompetent") succeeded him.

Isabel's teenage years were not going well. After Enrique ascended the throne, she moved to a claustrophobic castle in Arevalo with her mother and brother Alfonso. His mother (named after her daughter, also named Isabel) suffers from mental illness and sometimes suffers from episodes. But this did not affect Isabel's good education from teachers from the University of Salamanca. In 1468, aristocrats dissatisfied with Enrique IV supported Alfonso as king, and a civil war between brothers began. Soon after Alfonso died suddenly, and the aristocrats opposed to Enrique IV raised Princess Isabel to continue to fight her. In the end, the two sides finally reached a peace agreement and stopped the civil war. All aristocrats had to swear allegiance to Enrique IV, and Princess Isabel became heir to the throne, but stipulated that her marriage must be approved by her brother.

The very scheming Princess Isabel sent her trusted servants to various countries to visit the young prince privately. The feedback came back and the conclusion was that Prince Ferdinand of Aragon was outstanding in appearance and was brave and good at fighting. Isabel corresponded with Ferdinand and finally settled for life privately. But Enrique IV wanted to marry her to Afonso V, the widowed king of Portugal, in an attempt to arrest Isabel. So, in 1469, Isabel quickly became engaged to Prince Ferdinand, and then relied on Aragon's army to resist her brother's interference. This seemingly dramatic affair ultimately completed the unity of Spain as a country.

Enrique IV disinherited Isabel on the grounds that she did not abide by the agreement and installed his own daughter Juana, but due to Enrique's impotence, most nobles believed that Juana's lineage was in doubt. In 1474, Enrique died, and both Isabel and Juana declared themselves successors. They were supported by some of the nobles in the country through the power of their husband's Aragonese and Portuguese families, respectively. After four years of war, the Portuguese army was defeated, and Isabel finally sat on the throne. In 1479, Ferdinand also inherited the Aragonese throne, and the two countries were united into the Kingdom of Spain (but the two countries still maintained their separate parliaments, laws, and taxation systems).

Isabel was born to a mentally ill queen, and her daughters were "madwoman" Juana, but she herself was quick-thinking and strong-willed. She was king with Ferdinand, and was a model of a strong alliance. Most of the opposition nobles in the country had been eliminated in the civil war, which allowed Isabel to successfully strengthen the centralization of power. She took over the appointment of mayors to the king, established the Holy Brotherhood to control municipal life, made the council useless, destroyed the noble's castles, confiscated the royal territories acquired by the nobles in the time of Enrique IV, and maintained a strong standing army on the grounds of using troops against Grenada. The royal power of Spain reached an unprecedented level.

Spain's history since the 11th century has been the history of Christian princes constantly seizing territory from small Islamic kingdoms. It is known as the "Re-Conquest Movement." By Isabel's time, Muslims had only the southernmost stronghold in Spain-the Kingdom of Grenada. History handed this honor to Isabel and his wife. In 1490, the two kings personally led an army to the border. Ferdinand II fought on the front line, while Isabel was in the middle, responsible for logistics supplies, and established a field hospital. In 1492, after eight months of siege, Grenada ran out of ammunition and food. The last King Baladur surrendered, and the peninsula was finally unified under the protection of Christ.

On this day, the bells ring in all Catholic churches in Europe.

But as a pious Catholic couple of kings, they persecuted the infidels in their territory, both Jews and Muslims, and established the Inquisition. As recently as 1492, 200,000 Jews with wealth and technology were expelled, and the Moors suffered the same fate a decade later. This was perhaps a shortcoming shared by all pious kings of the Middle Ages, who were widely respected in the Catholic world, but were comfortable committing crimes against the infidels. Their religious policies were continued by their successors, reaching their peak in the times of Carlos I and Philip II. Under the Inquisition system, Spain lost its aura and gradually became a dead corner (at the same time, the splendid Renaissance was spreading in other European countries).

But Isabel's greatest influence on history was not in these things, but in her funding of Columbus's feat. After 10 years of stumbling blocks, this down-and-out prodigal son finally gained an ideal rebirth in Isabel's court. Columbus's great ideas were appreciated by the Queen and generously funded. It is said that Isabel even took out her own secret money. Columbus was made commander of the Ocean Fleet and governor who would discover land. In 1492, the greatest year in Spanish history, Columbus's expedition finally reached the Bahamas Islands in North America after a 70-day voyage. The discovery of the New World has brought Spain broad future space. In the following century, Spain established world hegemony relying on its vast overseas territory and continuous imports of gold.

Isabel's own marriage influenced history, and the marriage she arranged for her children was also based on political considerations. Her daughter Juana, "Madwoman", was married to Philip, the son of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian and the monarch of the Netherlands, and their son Carlos I (also known as Holy Roman Emperor Charles V), inherited the vast empire including Spain, the Netherlands, and Austria.

Isabel worked hard all her life, and all five of her children were born during the journey. She may have a cleanliness freak and always wears white clothes. She is famous as the "Queen in White".

For each couple king in history, it is difficult to strictly divide their respective roles. She and Ferdinand II were a "strong combination", but traditionally her role was considered more prominent. In between, many of Ferdinand II's efforts may also have been attributed to Isabel's name.

The mere fact that she sponsored Columbus's voyage was enough to rank her among the most influential emperors in the world. There are several hypotheses that people from the Old World arrived in America before Columbus, but in any case, only Columbus's feat opened up new shipping lanes that united the Old and New continents. On the other hand, Spain, rather than any other country, took the lead in occupying America, which has left much of the culture of the Americas under the brand of Spain, which continues to this day.

In addition, Isabel laid the foundation for political unity for Spain and strived to unify Spain ideologically. Since Spain established hegemony over the next 100 years, her influence also went beyond the Iberian Peninsula, reaching as far as Latin America, the Netherlands and other places. Isabel ranks the highest among the female emperors in this book.

Comments: The fanaticism for Catholicism and the strong desire for Catholicism to dominate the world were the main guiding ideology and spiritual motivation for Isabel I's rule. This irrational governing idea became the driving force for unifying Spain, strengthening national cohesion, and establishing overseas undertakings in the Isabel era. However, a century later, this ruling idea clearly showed a negative side and became the root cause of Spain's decline. This shows that even if any wrong ruling idea can bring temporary results, it is not a long-term strategy after all.