The Rule of Aragon in Medieval Iberia: A View from Moldavia
As someone who studied the world history from Soviet textbooks, the first thing I remember about King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Spain is that they gave Christopher Columbus travelers cheques to sail across the ocean to try and find a sea route to Asia from the East. Google also reminded me that they were the ones who drove the Moors (Muslims) and Jews away from Spain unless they converted to Catholicism.
Did you know that King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Spain were cousins? Ferdinand’s marriage in 1469 to his cousin Isabella of Castile was dictated by the desire to unite his own claims to the crown, as the head of the younger branch of the same family, with hers. When the king died in 1474, Ferdinand made an ungenerous attempt to procure his own proclamation as king without recognition of the rights of his wife. Isabella asserted her claims firmly, and at all times insisted on a voice in the government of Castile. Though Ferdinand had sought a selfish political advantage at his wife's expense, he was well aware of her ability and high character.
In turn, when Isabella of Castile chose her husband, she had three candidates: Charles of Valois, the son of Charles VII of France, Alfonso V of Portugal, and Ferdinand, son and heir of John II of Aragon. Although marrying the French or Portuguese candidates seemed to be more beneficial to Castile in terms of diplomacy, and her half-brother King Henry IV hoped her to marry Alfonso, Isabella proposed to Ferdinand of Aragon and married him. It is said that she sent Catholic missionaries to all three countries and gained information about the tree candidates for her husband; while Charles was weak and incompetent and Alfonso was over forty years old, Ferdinand was a young and talented man.
Their marriage was not just a love affair. Their married life was dignified and harmonious; because Ferdinand had no common vices, and their views in government were identical.
King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Spain reigned from the mid 1400’s to early 1500’s. For a Moldovan, this period is of particular historic interest, as it is considered to be one of the greatest ages of old Moldavia. During this same period the Moldavian greatest king – Stephan the Great (Stefan cel Mare) – fought 36 wars and battles (scoring a record of 34 wins), most of which were also against the opponents of Christianity.
One of the curiosities was that despite being baptized by the Catholic Pope as an “athlete of the Christian Faith” for his numerous victories against the Ottomans and Tatars, Stephan the Great was also cousin of Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), another notorious King of Wallachia (Romania) during 1456-1462, the one who inspired the Bram Stocker's fictional character of Count Dracula.
The remarkable parallel reigns of the Southeast-European cousins duet formed of Stephan the Great (Moldavia) and Vlad Tepes (Wallachia) and Iberian cousins duet formed of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in Spain is extremely telling about the importance and symbolism of their age – the period of great kings on both edges of the old Europe.
A historian blogger naming himself ‘The Mad Monarchist’ calls the Queen Isabella as his “favorite king of Spain”, depicting her as “one the most giant, iconic figures in Spanish history, whose marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon brought a new unity to Christian Spain”. She is said to be the mother of the notorious Spanish Inquisition, which is appreciated to be ultimately to the benefit of Spain as it is said to have spared Spain from the horrific, catastrophic wars of religion that so divided and devastated Britain, France and Germany during this same period.
King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Spain together aimed to reunite Spain under the banner of Christianity. As a result of their relentless efforts they managed to reform Spain into becoming one of Europe’s best administered countries.
Despite lacking all of the attractive personal qualities of his wife, king Ferdinand was known for being one of the most skillful diplomats in an era which bred some great diplomats. Ferdinand managed to organize the Iberian states in a manner that served their purpose most effectively. Castile, Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia were maintained as independent political constitutions. Under their rule Spain managed to put an end to the Muslim domination of Granada, the victory which is known as the Reconquest. It is this effort that earned them the admiration of the Pope and the title of Catholic kings.
There still remained a considerable amount of non-Christian minorities in Spain, namely the thousands of Muslims living in Granada which posed a constant threat. It was at this time that the King’s men led ruthless crusades against the Muslims and Jews. The Muslims were given the choice to either convert to Christianity or leave. As a result many did convert whereas the majority left and some were forcefully driven out. A considerable amount of Jews embraced the Christian faith which even got them important positions in the government and other ecclesiastical positions in Aragon and Castile. The small number of Muslims that managed to stay back in the re-conquered territory lived a low profile life as skilled craftsmen and peasant farmers.
The drive to make Spain a purely Christian state was declared fulfilled in the year 1525 when it was announced that all the residents of Spain professed the Christian faith. But in order to keep on the safe side, all government and religious positions where reserved for the Coptic Christians. There were other groups of converts that were suspected for being hypocrites who would secretly practice their own faith and thus served as a constant threat to the Catholic government. As a result they were investigated and prosecuted where and when the need be. There was a hint of rebellion from the Muslims who at one point stood up for their Faith, but were expelled from the country forcefully.
Despite the adoption of several Aragonese institutions in Castile, the economic systems of the two crowns were still separated. The customs system was untouched, thus transportation of goods from Castile to Aragon, or vice versa, still caused heavy additional costs. As a natural consequence, Castile and Aragon developed quite disconnected economic systems according to their geographical locations; Castile's Atlantic system and Aragon’s Mediterranean system. This segregation of two economic systems later resulted in contrary phases of economic development between Castile and Aragon; while Castile's economy encountered its heyday, Aragon's was in continuous downfall.
Ferdinand is remembered as a very cunning and deceitful politician. Each time he made a new pact, treaty or agreement with someone, such document would always contain language that would implicitly benefit Ferdinand above the negotiated intentions of the parties. Legends say that he has deceived Louis XII of France a dozen times in this way. The worst of his character was prominently shown after the death of Isabella in 1504. He endeavored to lay hands on the regency of Castile in the name of his insane daughter Joanna, and without regard to the claims of her husband Philip of Habsburg. The hostility of the Castilian nobles, by whom he was disliked, baffled him for a time, but on Philip's early death he reasserted his authority.
A few acts of illegal violence are recorded of Ferdinand – as when he invited a notorious demagogue of Saragossa to visit him in the palace, and caused the man to be executed without any trial. He was too intent on building up a great state to complicate his difficulties by internal troubles. His arrangement of the convention of Guadalupe, which ended the fierce Agrarian conflicts of Catalonia, was wise and profitable to the country, though it was probably dictated mainly by a wish to weaken the landowners by taking away their feudal rights.
Ferdinand died at Madrigalejo in Estremadura in February 1516.
From the dynastic union in 1469 to the end of the 16th Century, the economy of Spain could be characterized by the word 'bipolarization'. Although Aragon had more developed economic system than Castile at the beginning, Castilian economic power much overwhelmed Aragon’s in the following centuries. This can be explained by several factors.
First, as the New World was discovered by Columbus and Europeans started to trade with the New World, the economic center of Europe naturally moved from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. Thus, Aragon's Mediterranean economic system was destined to decline. Moreover, due to its geographical advantage over trans-Atlantic trade, cities of Castile such as Sevilla obtained monopolistic rights over trade with the New World, thus, enormous wealth as well. In contrast, Aragonese cities were isolated in the new source of wealth, and did not have means to compensate the loss of Mediterranean trade. Castile had better demographical and territorial conditions for economic development. Castile had about three times larger territory and five to six times greater population than Aragon. Also, as Castile obtained a substantial amount of land through Reconquista, it could obtain the infrastructures, such as the irrigation system, established by the Muslim population in the land. Therefore, Castile's economy could develop much faster than Aragon’s thanks to its superiority in resources and labor.
Last but not least, most economic policies that the court enacted were toward Castile more than Aragon. A prominent example is the prerogatives given to Castilian pastors. As the court found Castile's burgeoning wool industry profitable, it granted numerous privileges such as the priority in passage and land use over farmers. Thus, Castile enjoyed better support from the court for economic development than Aragon.
Thanks to abovementioned factors, Castile could develop its economy much faster than its neighbor Aragon. As a result of almost 200 years of economic bipolarization, Aragon, with the economic system much backward to Castile's, was ultimately 'absorbed' by Castile.