I was raised, and remain, a traditionalist Roman Catholic. I have attended a Latin Mass parish for almost all of my life, and my early education was mostly in its parish school. I went to a more typical pair of Catholic high schools, where I found the religious education more watered down and less rigorous than I had become accustomed to, which did absolutely nothing to uphold the school’s authority in my eyes, which in turn, inclined me to pursue my own information about most subjects, rather than trusting what I was taught. As a result of my orientation, and my estrangement from institutional learning, I find that my perspective on historical events and figures, as well as my assumptions of what constitutes common or general knowledge to be a bit out of sync with the mainstream. For example, when watching the historical cable drama “The Tudors” it was a bit surprising to me to realize that they thought they were being unusual or different in their perspectives. “The Tudors” came right out with a voice-over in the beginning dismissively telling the audience that we only think we know the story, and to know the truth, we have to go back to the beginning…but it was more or less exactly my perspective on Henry VIII, John Fisher, Thomas More & especially, Queen Catherine. Her trial is almost exactly the way I would have scripted it, and I could not have asked for a more accurately sympathetic portrayal of her. The show was, as I would expect, more evenhanded in its Protestant-Catholic alignment than I might have told the story, but I kind of got the impression that was a lot more pro-Catholic than other people apparently hear, and that the producers were conscious of that.

When reading Isabella: The Warrior Queen, by Kirstin Downey, I ran into that same experience. My impression in the early going was that the book was a notch or two below my reading level, given what seemed to be over-explaining of the details and background of the situation in Europe when Isabel was born. The book also spent a lot of time making the case that Isabel was the real power in her marriage with Fernando of Aragon, and the true ruler of their unified countries, but she allowed most documentation to be in both their names. The perspective of traditional Catholics is pretty much exactly that, and I had a hard time tolerating the author’s reiteration of the obvious, which I found particularly obnoxious from a modern female writer, who should not have been treating a woman wielding power, or having strong opinions, as something alien or inexplicable that she needed to take such care with her readers.

It wasn’t until well into the book, that I realized how much of what I took for granted about Isabel’s life and worldview, was, in fact, alien to a modern, non-Christian author. Downey’s post-book acknowledgements include an expression of gratitude to the person(s) who explained Christianity to her. The surprise on my part, was largely because the book was remarkably positive toward Isabel, especially coming from a non-Christian with a typical contemporary perspective, and an abhorrence of the Spanish Inquisition. A good deal of the book was spent attempting to minimize the responsibility of Isabel for the Inquisition, which was another bemusing point, insomuch as most admirers of Isabel tend to view it as an accomplishment, rather than a peccadillo.

With a better grasp of what the author is trying to do, I kind of have to walk back my assessment of her writing style, and when looking at it as an attempt to bring to life for a modern American audience, which doesn’t know much more than Isabel’s role in funding Columbus, the thoroughness of the explanations and detail are much more forgivable. In fact, Downey’s admiration for Isabel is sort of amusing, insomuch as in hindsight, she is exactly the sort of historical figure who should receive a lot more attention and approval from contemporary audiences. For a traditional Roman Catholic, accustomed to honoring all sorts of female saints, against whom a mere Servant of God (three ranks below Saint) like Isabel, barely rates, her achievements as a woman are not much of a surprise. Her daughter and granddaughter’s roles in attempting to preserve the Faith in England, her daughter-in-law’s influence on Emperor Charles V, and numerous other women involved in Church and civil politics in the medieval & subsequent eras, from Marozia Theophylact, Empress Theodora, and Clotilde of France, though Hildegard, Matilda of Tuscanny, Isabel herself, Catherine de Medici and Catherine of Sienna, to Marie de Guise, Mary Stuart, Mary I Tudor and Maria Teresa (we are not a tremendously imaginative religion when it comes to names, okay? ), the influence and ability of women, for good or ill, has just been a historical fact we take for granted. That Isabel was a woman is of much less significance or importance to our point of view than that she probably should be a saint, and would have been if the popes of the 20th century had half her courage or cojones.

Downey’s other major published work is a biography of Frances Perkins, famous as the first woman to hold a Cabinet position in the US government, in whom it has always amused me that feminists would take pride. Perkins served as Secretary of Labor during the most extreme, prolonged and infamous period of unemployment in the nation’s history. That’s not unlike being a Secretary of War/Defense during the nation’s greatest military defeat, or Secretary of Education while reality TV shows proliferate, and something that people might want to be quiet about if they are making a case for women in politics. At best Perkins’ cabinet stint would seem to be an example of Jonson’s inestimable comparison to a dog walking on his hind legs: “not done well, but a surprise to see it done at all.” But for the sort of historian whose standards for female achievement are such that Frances Perkins stands out, I can see how the life and accomplishments of Isabel of Castile would blow her mind.

The book focuses a great deal on Isabel’s personal life, placing her accomplishments within that context, and in the geopolitical fortunes of Spain at the time. A great deal of attention is paid to the wars Spain fought, such as with Portugal, in Italy and the completion of the Reconquista, and in the relationship of the rulers to the pope, particularly the Aragonese Alexander VI.

The domestic focus of the book was primarily on the Inquisition and efforts to explain the historical context that motivated Isabel, at the expense of actually discussing the details of the Inquisition, such as the extent to which it has been exaggerated and the ways in which efforts were made to prevent abuses. The author takes the absolutist position that its raison d’etre was indefensible, without contemplating the point that religious dissent as a civil right was (and is) every bit as arbitrary a preference as religion itself. In spite of that blind spot, she takes care to describe the history of troubles between Spanish Christians, conversos, Muslims and Jews, and explain the view of the period on the importance of religious unity and homogeneity in a nation, though overlooking that in such a context, the Inquisition was a remarkable effort at regularizing the process under which such concepts were put into practice. Additionally, Downey tends to conflate the Inquisition itself with general anti-Semitism & xenophobia, and various other actions taken against the Jews, something akin to blaming the US Constitution for Jim Crow laws & slavery.

The Inquisition compares to the general practices of its time (and especially to its subsequent Protestant counterparts, most famously at work in Salem, MA) as a court of law compares to a lynch mob. Whatever one’s issues with the laws in place, it seems a bit unfair to single out the apparatus which attempted to enforce such laws justly and accurately. Absent the Inquisition, it is unlikely Jews would have been treated any better, only without a legal process, they would be instead victims of mob justice. The same Inquisition is largely responsible for the lack of any infamous Spanish persecutions of accused witches, investigating and dismissing hundreds of such claims instead the infamous “trials” whereby guilt was measured in buoyancy. As Isabel was responsible for substantial reforms in the legal process and law enforcement in secular Spain, as well as a bit ahead of her time in pushing for reforms in the administration and clerical conduct in the Church (which in many cases were not fully addressed in the Church as a whole until the Counter-Reformation), the ameliorating influence and attempts to regularize the process of investigating and prosecuting ecclesiastical offenses was a typical policy or agenda, and completely in character for her reign, rather than an aberration which Downey seems to be trying to explain away. Downey also points out how the efforts of Isabel in regard to purifying the Spanish Church of divisive and insincere elements, are probably responsible for Spain’s (and by extension, the New World’s) avoidance of the outright civil war experienced by so many European countries a generation later.

Downey is similarly even-handed and more objective in her depiction of Columbus, and the degree to which Isabel was responsible for his achievements, crediting the queen with the vision to both recognize his good qualities, and maximize the benefit of his accomplishments, while curtailing his authority when his administrative skills proved not a match for his talents at exploration. We can debate until the cows come home who deserves credit for finding the New World or whether crediting anyone for the discovery is offensive to the Stone Age level inhabitants, but the fact that everyone south of the Rio Grande speaks the tongue of Isabel or her Portuguese sons-in-law is due almost entirely to her rule and statesmanship (for that matter, everyone north of that river who matters politically speaks the tongue of her most famous son-in-law, Henry of England).

I would especially recommend Isabella: The Warrior Queen to any non-history buffs or others unfamiliar with the subject matter, due to the thorough explanations and light reading style.