Isabella of Castile

Europe's First Great Queen

By: Giles Tremlett

Narrated by: Karen Cass

Length: 19 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1474, a 23-year-old woman ascended the throne of Castile, the largest and strongest kingdom in Spain. 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. 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. Her pivotal reign was long and transformative, uniting Spain and setting the stage for its golden era of global dominance. For by the time of her death in 1504, Isabella had laid the foundations not just of modern Spain but of one of the world's greatest empires.

Acclaimed historian Giles Tremlett chronicles the life of Isabella of Castile as she led her country out of the murky middle ages and harnessed the newest ideas and tools of the early Renaissance to turn her ill-disciplined, quarrelsome nation into a sharper, modern state with a powerful, clear-minded, and ambitious monarch at its centre. With authority, insight and flair, he 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.

©2017 Giles Tremlett (P)2017 Audible, Ltd

Compelling Read

I learned a lot about this controversial queen. The book gives an unbiased look at Isabella, and leaves final judgement to the reader/listener.
The narration was okay except for the narrator's constant imitations in the quotations of men throughout the book.
I highly recommend this book.

Amazing Queen and Fascinating History

Loved the detail of this book.
Highly recommend
Will probably listen to it again
Beautiful History of Spain, Europe and America

Astounding and enlightening

So enjoyed this book as it connected many dots in my understanding of history.

A different Isabela

This portrait of the queen is very different from the history
of the catholic queen that we are used to hearing, for example how she rose to the throne of Castile; the Beltranera is seldom mentioned and the civil war that presided her reign is not mentioned in the history books.
The time spent listening is time well spent.

Informative and not dull

Many historical elements explained in detail without being boring. From the crusades and persecution of Muslims and Jews alike to the expansion of the New World.

Enlightening

In 1474 the twenty-three-year-old Isabella of Castle (1451-1504) ascended to the throne of Castle, the largest and strongest kingdom in Spain. She was a young female ruler in a male-dominated world, and she held her own. She set about reforming a corrupt, crime ridden kingdom but one with violent political fractions to caused her problems. She also set about converting the Jews and Moors to Christianity and was responsible for the Inquisition. Her marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon united the two kingdoms. Ferdinand was weak, so Isabella was the dominance force of the partnership. She united Spain and set the stage for its golden dominance. She died in 1504 after creating one of the world’s greatest Empires. The book is full of famous people from her priest, Cardinal Valentia (Rodrigo Borgia) who became Pope Alexander VI, to Christopher Columbus. Her children were married for political alliances. The oldest daughter married Manuel I and became the Queen of Portugal. Juana married Philip I of the Habsburgs and Juan married Margaret of Austria. The most famous of her daughters was Catherine of Aragon, wife of Henry VIII of England.

The book is well written and meticulously researched. Giles Tremlett, well known historian, chronicles Isabella’s life. Tremlett describes how she led her country out of the middle ages harnessing the newest ideas and tools of the renaissance. She led her quarrelsome nation into a powerful kingdom. Tremlett provides insights into the story of a contradictory and controversial Queen. The author brings to life this extraordinary monarch and the turbulent 15th century Spain. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

The book is about 20 hours long. Karen Cass does an excellent job narrating the book. Cass is a British actress trained in the theatre and is also an audiobook narrator.

The influence of Queens Izabella of Castile

The efforts made to keep Queen Izabella’s achievements from world of power and prosperity.
True it was the greatest challenge between catholicity, Judaism and moslem faiths- at the end her legacy is the unification of Spain
The Americas colonization and how Portugal kings had divide the globe between Spain and Portugal.
Coming from Salvador, Ba, Brazil I can attest of the catholic influences still today are very present and Queen Izabella is present via history there.

Great book, disappointing narration.

Brilliantly written and masterfully informative, it is left wanting by a narrator whom despite her spotless diction in the English language tends to occasionally go "over the top" with entonation and whose pronunciation of many word in Spanish is below standard to a Spanish-speaking listener, despite her good effort.

As in the book "Brief History of Spain" by the same author, this book would have better served being read by someone fully fluent on the Spanish language.