Early Modern Spain

Isabella I of Castille: (April 22, 1451, Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Castile - November 26, 1504, Medina del Campo, Spain)

Queen of Castile (1474-1504) and of Aragon (1479-1504), ruling the two kingdoms jointly from 1479 with her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon (Ferdinand V of Castile). Their rule effected the permanent union of Spain and the beginning of an overseas empire in the New World, led by Christopher Columbus under Isabella's sponsorship.

Catholic Monarchs: (also called Catholic Kings, or Catholic Majesties, Spanish Reyes Católicos)

Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage (1469) led to the unification of Spain, of which they were the first monarchs. Although employed earlier, the appellation Católicos was formally conferred on them in a bull published by Pope Alexander VI in 1494, in recognition of their Reconquest of Granada from the Moors (1481-92), their New World discoveries (1492), and their strengthening of the church by such agencies as the Spanish Inquisition and such measures as compelling Jews to convert to Christianity or face exile (1492). The title of Católicos was afterward transmitted to the successors of Isabella and Ferdinand.

Ferdinand II of Aragon: (March 10, 1452, Sos, Aragon - Jan. 23, 1516, Madrigalejo, Spain)

King of Aragon and King of Castile (as Ferdinand V) from 1479, joint sovereign with Queen Isabella I. As Spanish ruler of southern Italy, he was also known as Ferdinand III of Naples and Ferdinand II of Sicily. He united the Spanish kingdoms into the nation of Spain and began Spain's entry into the modern period of imperial expansion.

Converso: (Spanish: "converted")

a Spanish Jew who adopted the Christian religion after a severe persecution in the late 14th and early 15th centuries and the expulsion of religious Jews from Spain in the 1490s. In the minds of many Roman Catholic churchmen the conversos were still identified as Jews, partly because they remained within the Jewish communities in the cities and partly because their occupations (merchants, doctors, tailors) had been monopolized by the Spanish Jewish people. Such identification caused many Christians to regard conversos as a subversive force within the church.

Pope Alexander VI: (original Spanish name, Rodrigo de Borja y Doms (1431, Játiva, near Valencia - Aug. 18, 1503, Rome)

a corrupt, worldly, and ambitious Pope (1492-1503), whose neglect of the spiritual inheritance of the church contributed to the development of the Protestant Reformation

Reconquista (the "reconquest")

a name used to describe the period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula of about 780 years between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada to the expanding Christian kingdoms in 1492. The completed Reconquista was the context of the Spanish voyages of discovery and conquest (Columbus got royal support in Granada in 1492, months after its conquest), and the Americas—the "New World"—ushered in the era of the Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. Since the mid-19th century, the idea of a "reconquest" took hold in Spain associated with its rising nationalism and colonialism.

San Juan de los Reyes in Toledo

an Isabelline style monastery in Toledo, in Castile-La Mancha, Spain, built by the Catholic Monarchs.

Convivencia: (Spanish: "The Coexistence")

an academic hypothesis regarding the period of Spanish history from the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Hispania in the early 8th century until the expulsion of the Jews in 1492. It claims that in the different Moorish Iberian Kingdoms, the Muslims, Christians and Jews lived in relative peace. According to this interpretation of history, this period of religious diversity differs from later Spanish and Portuguese history when Catholicism became the sole religion in the Iberian Peninsula, as a result of expulsions and forced conversions.

Laws of Burgos: (Leyes de Burgos)

issued on Dec. 27, 1512, by Ferdinand II, the Catholic, regulated relations between Spaniards and the conquered Indians, particularly to ensure the spiritual and material welfare of the latter, who were often severely treated

Royal Palace in Granada

located between Granada Cathedral, the old Fish Market and the Church of Sagrario, the construction of the Royal Chapel of Granada was ordered by the Catholic Monarchs in 1504 as a place of burial for their bodies.

Christopher Columbus: (1451, Genoa, Italy - May 20, 1506, Valladolid, Spain)

navigator and admiral whose four transatlantic voyages (1492-93, 1493-96, 1498-1500, and 1502-04) opened the way for European exploration, exploitation, and colonization of the Americas. Columbus made his transatlantic voyages under the sponsorship of Isabella I and Ferdinand II, the Catholic Monarchs. He was at first full of hope and ambition, an ambition partly gratified by his title "Admiral of the Ocean Sea," awarded to him in April 1492, and by the grants enrolled in the Book of Privileges (a record of his titles and claims).

Morisco

one of the Spanish Muslims (or their descendants) who became baptized Christians.