Catholic Monarchs
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Madonna of the Catholic Monarchs, painted ca 1490–95; Ferdinand and the infante Juan are at the Madonna's right hand (with the Inquisitor), Isabella at the left |
The
Catholic Monarchs (
Spanish:
los Reyes Católicos) is the collective title used in history for
Queen Isabella I of
Castile and
King Ferdinand II of
Aragon. They married in 1469, uniting both crowns and eventually through their descendants creating the
Kingdom of Spain. The title of "
Catholic King and Queen" was bestowed on them by the
Pope Alexander VI.
Ferdinand and Isabella were noted for being the monarchs of the newly-united Spain at the dawn of the modern era. They oversaw the final stages of the
Reconquista of
Iberian territory from the
Moors with the conquest of
Granada, expelled the
Jews from Spain under the
Alhambra decree, and authorized the expedition of
Christopher Columbus, who discovered the
New World and led to an influx of wealth into Spain, funding the coffers of the new state that would prove to be the hegemon of Europe for the next two centuries.
Their joint motto was
Tanto monta, monta tanto ("It amounts so much, so much it amounts"). The motto was created by
Antonio de Nebrija and was either an allusion to the
Gordian Knot:
Tanto monta, monta tanto, cortar como desatar ("...cutting as untying"), or an explanation of the equality of the monarchs:
Tanto monta, monta tanto, Isabel como Fernando ("..., Isabella as Ferdinand")
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The yoke and arrows as a symbol of the Falange predecessor, JONS. |
Their symbol was
el yugo y las flechas, a
yoke and a
fasces of arrows. The yoke is another allusion to the Gordian knot.
Y and
F are the initials of Ysabel (archaic spelling) and Fernando. This symbol was later used by the
fascist Spanish political party
Falange, which claimed to represent the inherited glory and the ideals of the
Reyes Católicos.
