Ferdinand II of Aragon

Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile

At the same young age of 17, Ferdinand II married Isabella I of Castile, and the two agreed to share their united power equally. When Ferdinand II of Aragon inherited his kingdom in 1479 following the death of his father, the combined rule of Ferdinand and Isabella created the most unified Spain to date.

Fig. 1- Portrait of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.

Ferdinand II's Reconquista

Between 1482 and 1492, Ferdinand II of Aragon sought to complete the task that his ancestors had set upon in the Reconquista: expelling the Islamic Moors from the Iberian Peninsula. Military campaigns set upon the Emirate of Granada, the last Moorish bastion in modern-day southern Spain. After a decade of fighting, Granada was successfully sieged and the Moors defeated.

Wishing to establish a strong and unified Catholic nation, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile issued the Alhambra Decree, an order that required all non-Catholics (initially Jews then extended to Muslims) to either leave Spain or convert to Catholicism. Naturally, this led to some suspicion of whether the new converts were truly Catholic or not. Suspicion led to the Spanish Inquisition.

Ferdinand II and the Spanish Inquisition

In 1478, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile established the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, an organization that employed inquisitors from the Catholic Church to hunt and interrogate dissenters of the faith. Often, this took the form of brutal torture. Those Moors and Jews who had chosen to convert and stay in Spain instead of leaving had their converted faith put to the test.

Fig. 2- The Spanish Inquisition torturing a man.

Enemies of the state and false converters were tortured and often burned at the stake. The reigning Catholic Pope of the time, Pope Sixtus IV, wrote a letter to Ferdinand II of Aragon requesting that the standard judicial procedures be enforced to assure justice in his kingdom. Ferdinand II of Aragon ignored the Pope, continuing the brutally effective trials of the inquisition.

Ferdinand II and Christopher Columbus

In 1492, Italian navigator Christopher Columbus appealed to Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, the rulers of Spain, for sponsorship for his mission across the Atlantic. Columbus believed that he could discover a new trade route to India by sailing west, and promised the resulting wealth of discovery to those who funded his expedition. Empowered by the success of Reconquista and the Spanish Inquisition, Ferdinand II of Aragon accepted Columbus's proposal.

Fig. 3- Ferdinand and Isabella receiving Christopher Columbus in court.

Christopher Columbus did not discover a new trade route to India. Instead, he discovered the Americas for Spain. Upon his return to Spain, Columbus was hailed as a hero by the Spanish people. Through Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand II of Aragon had been given a head start in the coming centuries of European colonialism in the Americas. Without Ferdinand II, Christopher Columbus may have never discovered the Americas for Europe.

Ferdinand II of Aragon Cause of Death

Ferdinand II of Aragon died in 1516, twelve years after the death of his wife, Isabella of Castile. While traveling through Granada, Ferdinand's health became progressively worse and it became progressively clear that the 64-year-old monarch was going to die of illness induced by his old age. Upon his deathbed, Ferdinand II of Aragon signed his parting will and named his successor, his grandson Charles, who would later become Charles V as a Holy Roman Emperor).

Ferdinand II of Aragon Accomplishments

Fig. 4- Ferdinand II of Aragon at the head of his army.

Ferdinand II of Aragon established much of Spain as a unified country with centralized rule capable of conquering new lands across the Atlantic Ocean. He unified Spain under Catholicism, at the expense of the Moors and Jews through Reconquista and the Alhambra Decree. Successful conquests and leadership yielded great wealth, allowing Ferdinand II of Aragon to finance Christopher Columbus's initial voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Empowering and stabilizing his nation, Ferdinand II's reign as a New Monarch was full of accomplishments.