Breve descripción de los principales hechos del reinado de los Reyes Católicos en España.

1. The
Catholic
Monarchs

2. FERDINAND AND
ISABELLA
• In the 15th century, the Iberian Peninsula was divided into
five large
territories: the Crown of Castile, the Crown of Aragon, the
Kingdom of Navarre, the Kingdom of Portugal and the Islamic
Kingdom of Granada.
• In 1469, Ferdinand, son of the king of Aragon, married
Isabella, sister of the king of Castile.

3. • The Catholic Monarchs is the collective title
used in history for Queen Isabella I of
Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon.
Their marriage united both crowns under
the same family.
• The Catholic Monarchs governed their
territories together, but each kingdom had
its own laws and institutions. It was the
beginnings of modern Spain.
• Isabella died in 1504. Ferdinand remarried
Germaine of Foix; he died in 1516. They are
buried in the Royal Chapel, in Granada.

4. ROYAL CHAPEL (GRANADA)

5. DOMESTI
C
POLICY
• The Catholic Monarchs
restored the royal authority
in Spain. They created the
Holy Brotherhood, a judicial
police force for Spain. They
reorganised the justice
system and created the Royal
Council, the highest judicial
body. They also created a
permanent and professional
army.

6. The Monarchs conquered
the Kingdom of Granada,
annexed the Kingdom of
Navarre, conquered
Melilla and Oran in
North Africa and
completed the conquest
of the Canary Islands in
the Atlantic Ocean.
They also expelled the Jews
(1492) and ordered the
conversion to
Christianity of the
Muslims of Granada
(1502).

7. • The Monarchs wanted to end the Christian
Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula and
conquer the Muslim kingdom of Granada.
After ten years of many battles, the
Granada War ended in 1492 when Emir
Boabdil surrendered the keys of the
Alhambra Palace in Granada to the
Castilian Monarchs.

9. RELIGIOUS
UNIFICATIO
N
The Catholic Monarchs wanted
religious unification for their
kingdoms so they founded the
Tribunal of the Inquisition to
prosecute heretics. The tribunal
was known for its severe sentences
and punishments. Ferdinand and
Isabella ordered that all Jews be
expelled from Spain or they were
forced to convert to Catholicism.

10. ATLANTIC
EXPLORATIONS
• They authorized the expedition of Christopher Columbus, who
wanted to reach the Indies sailing westward through the Atlantic
Ocean.
• All the territories conquered in America belonged to the Castilian
Crown and they were called Reinos de Indias or simply Las
Indias.
• October 12th 1492, Columbus landed in the island of Guanahaní
(renamed San Salvador, nowadays Bahamas). He explored
Caribbean Sea and sailed back to Spain after founding first
spanish settlement in America called “Fuerte Navidad”.

12. Isabella I Ferdinand II
Isabella Joanna John Maria Catherine
Alfonso of
Portugal
Philip the
Handsome
Margaret of
Austria
Manuel I of
Portugal
Arthur
of Wales
Important ties
with Portugal,
ensuring peace,
future alliance and
unification of all
iberian kingdoms.
Alliance with
the Holy Roman
Empire.
Ties with the
Habsburg
dynasty.
More strength
in the tie with
Portugal.
After the death
of Arthur of
Wales, she
married Henry
VIII, King of
England.

13. MOTTO AND
COAT OF ARMS
The Monarchs' joint motto was “Tanto monta, monta
tanto”. The motto was created by Antonio de
Nebrija and was an allusion to the explanation of the
equality of the monarchs: Tanto monta, monta tanto,
Isabel como Fernando ("It's one and the same, Isabella
the same as Ferdinand")
Their symbol was el yugo y las flechas, a yoke and a
fasces. A double yoke is worn by a team of oxen,
emphasizing the couple's cooperation. Isabella's
emblem of arrows showed the armed power of the
crown.
Y and F are the initials of Ysabel (archaic spelling) and
Fernando.

14. The first and fourth quarters of the coat of arms
are occupied by the castles and lions which
represent Castile and Leon for Isabella. In the
second and third quarters the arms of Aragon
and Sicily appear for Ferdinand. Finally,
the badge of Granada occupies the point of the
shield. Saint John’s eagle in gold because
Isabella I of Castile was crowned on the feast
of this saint.