![]() With authority and flair, acclaimed historian Giles Tremlett Tremlett relates the story of this legendary, if controversial, first initiate in a small club of great European queens that includes Elizabeth I of England, Russia's Catherine the Great, and Britain's Queen Victoria. Her pivotal reign was long and transformative, uniting Spain and laying the foundations not just of modern Spain, but of the one of the world's greatest empires. ![]() Her marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon was crucial to her success, bringing together as it did two kingdoms, but it was a royal partnership in which Isabella more than held her own. ![]() Ahead of her lay the considerable challenge not only of being a young, female ruler in an overwhelmingly male-dominated world, but also of reforming a major European kingdom that was riddled with crime, corruption, and violent political factionism. In 1474, a twenty-three year old woman ascended the throne of Castile, the largest and strongest kingdom in Spain. Over just a few centuries, the world also saw Eleanor of Aquitaine, Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, and Maria Theresa, among others. WINNER OF THE 2018 ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE Isabella, founder of the nation of Spain and the Spanish Empire as well as the patron of Christopher Columbus, was one in a line of the greatest era of powerful women who ever lived. ![]() Click here to purchase from Rakuten Kobo 'Packed with vivid character sketches and lyrical description, Tremlett has told a gripping story, full of beauty and darkness' The Times ![]()
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