Isabella of Castile: life of the week
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Hello and welcome to Life of the Week from History Extra, where leading historians delve into the lives of history's most intriguing and significant figures. From the fall of Granada to the issuing of the Alhambra Decree, Isabella of Castile's reign was one that witnessed an extraordinary amount of history-altering events, and, as such, has earned her quite the complex legacy. Speaking to me, Emily Briffitt, for today's Life of the Week episode, Giles Tremlett introduces the woman who helped launch the Spanish Inquisition and finance Columbus's journey to the new worlds. Hi Giles, thank you so much for joining me on the History Extra podcast. Good morning, Emily.
It's a pleasure to be here again. Today you're going to be introducing us to Isabella of Castile. So just so our listeners have a sense of what's coming up in our conversation. Would you be able to give us a brief 60-second introduction biography to Isabella? Okay, so Isabella of Castile is Europe's first great queen regnant, the first woman who truly wields massive and long-lasting power in Europe.
She's late 15th century to early 16th century. People will know her especially because of some amazing events that happened during her reign. That runs from the Spanish Inquisition, infamous as it is, to the discovery, and I'm doing air quotes, of the Americas with Christopher Columbus, to the expulsion of Spain's Jews, the Sephardic diaspora, which is provoked by her and her husband Ferdinand of Aragon, and the final stage of the reconquest of Spain, which is this eight century long process. of fighting back against the Islamic invaders who arrived in 711. So plenty of events that we are going to be talking about here.
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