Customer Reviews

Isabella of Spain: The Last Crusader (1451-1504)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a life-long student of History with a BA in Medieval History from UCLA, I was absolutely floored by the triumph of historiographical method this book represents. The "reviewer" (who didn't have the integrity to name himself) certainly has no understanding of the role of the historian - to document, NOT to judge. All the great modern medievalists have striven with the utmost of care to cast off the biases of the historians of the past (mostly English Protestants writing about a Catholic Europe) and examine the Middle Ages in a way that will lead to a deeper understanding of the mentality of those who lived in those times. It is completely IMPOSSIBLE for anyone who did not grow up in Isabella's age to come close to fully understanding her motives, her experiences, her thoughts, her beliefs, or her reasons for doing what she did. We live in such a faithless, godless, hyper-secularized world that we rush to judge harshly those who were steeped in faith and unwaivering in belief, as was Isabela La Catolica. If you want to understand medieval Spain and the glorious victories and achievements of this magnificently brilliant and faith-filled woman, read this masterpiece. If you have no interest, like the anonymous "reviewer" in understanding the world as it once was, stick to the politically correct, completely useless "history" that so often passes for scholarship these days.

This biography by William Thomas Walsh is one of the finest I've ever seen. It reads like a novel of high adventure. If all you know abut Queen Isabella is that she financed the voyages of Columbus then please pick up this book and settle in for a long and exciting read. Walsh vividly recreates the brutal world that baby Isabella was born into and actually mananges to create a feeling of suspense as the quiet little girl faces a world of dangers alone. Her father died when she was an infant, her mother was too depressed to function and her older brother was a spineless weakling who not only didn't look out for her but was an actual danger to her.

While still a pre-teen she found herself living in the most immoral court in Europe. Before she was 17 she survived terrible peril and worked her way into a successful marriage with Prince Ferdinand of Aragon. The marriage lasted 35 years and they only had two public disagreements. That's pretty impressive right there.

She fearlessly rescued her country from anarchy, attacks from Portugal and drove the Moors out after they'd occupied Spain for over 700 years. Walsh writes brilliantly of the huge battles and the desperate skirmishes. Isabella's triumphs, tragedies and rock solid faith come to life on the pages of this book.

Catherine of Aragon was a woman of extraordinary character and courage and after reading this book you will see where she got it from; her magnificent mother. I absolutely loved this highly entertaining biography.

William Thomas Walsh's "Isabella of Spain" is a masterpiece. Walsh herein relates a story more dramatic and remarkable than fiction and more crucially relevant than today's headlines. The story of Isabella, the great Catholic Queen, is a tale of faithful determination, ingenuity, and the power of Christian love. Walsh relates how Isabella completes the 700 year struggle for the reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from Moslem domination with all the drama and style of the greatest of novelists. Here is a story of intrigue and valor, brought to life by the personal revelations of one of history's truly greatest monarchs, male or female.

There are extraordinary parallels between late 15th century Spain and 21st century America. Walsh relates that, behind the scenes, the Spain ultimately ruled by Isabella was one where Jewry had greater power than in any other Western nation in history. It was known in some clandestine circles as the "New Jerusalem". Remarkbably, Michael Collins Piper recently sytled the United States in the same manner in a like titled volume. Isabella was confronted with a fifth column in her work of reconquering and reuniting Spain, that of the Conversos, or false Christians. How like the situation of modern America this is. Isabella was able to triumph over this subversive movement, ultimately through invocation of Pope Sixtus' bull of Inquisition, one of the least understood epics in history.

As sovereigns of the reunited Spain, Isabella and her spouse, Fernando, made Spain the world's leading power. This was accomplished through the insightful commissioning of the voyages of Christopher Columbus and the well chosen marriages of their children. Prince Juan and Princess Juana were doubly wedded to Hapsburg Austria. Although Isabella's first born, the aforementioned Prince Juan, died very soon after his marriage and before reaching his twenties, her youngest daughter, Catalina, whom the English knew as Catherine of Aragon, went on to make her significant mark on world history.

This is tremendous history, soulfully told and beautifully written. The world desperately needs another Isabella. And we certainly need more historians who can write with the skill and courage of William Thomas Walsh. This is a great book.

A well-researched and documented account of Isabel of Spain and her times. Despite the wild and ignorant condemnations by a very few biased and unhistorically-minded individuals, this book is very honest, well-argued (if one considers the use of logic and reason as the key to effective argument or propositioning) and historically sound. Walsh makes no statement which is not at least supportable using the historical documents available to us. Contrary to one statement I have heard, the book was in fact appreciated and recognized by the professional historical community, though it is true that some had criticisms of it on this point or that (the case for almost any good work of history.) One particular case of this is the La Guardia case, which Walsh's treatment of came under fire from Dr. Roth. Walsh, however, defended himself brilliantly in a published article afterwards and maintained the probability (or at the very least the possibility) of his own position regarding that much disputed case. Any serious and honest researcher of the period could, regardless of personal biases and viewpoints, vouch for the essential faith to and adherence to the available primary sources by Walsh. Once upon a time, during research for my B.A. in history, I had occasion to closely study many of the documents relating to this Queen and which Walsh made use of, and can safely say that I never found anything contradictory to a single one of Walsh's important propositions. The charge of anti-semitism, which those same few whom I have mentioned already above level against him, fails for two main reasons. 1) Walsh's already mentioned historical soundness and integrity (i.e.- straightforward use of the availabe information...thats what history is!!). This is to say, that Walsh does not twist or manipulate the documentary evidence in any way so as to present a false picture of the conversos or Jews or anyone else. His account does not mismatch with the facts that we know. 2) Walsh's own attitude towards the Jewish faith and it's adherents, has been well published and can be seen collectively as definitely not anti-semitic (see particularly his essay on Moses in 'Characters of the Inquisition' and others of his works.) One must understand that, yes, Walsh was a practicing Catholic and that entails a certain theologic viewpoint towards the Jewish faith (which, incidentally, includes a recognition of its unique and important character and mission in history) but to assert that a believing Catholic (that is, one who believes that what his Church teaches is true..such as regarding its teaching towards those who reject the divinity of Christ) cannot write accurate history is itself pure prejudice and indefensible bias. For the record, it is also important to note that Walsh detested Nazism, as a hateful, irreligious, and violent force. He and it had nothing in common.
I recommend this book as an excellent full-length study of Isabel whose only comparable rival is Dr. Carroll's much newer 'Isabel of Spain'. Good reading.

The author has done an excellent job of writing a highly readable history. This book is based on original source material, and where the author's conclusions or comments differ from those of other historians he explains the differences and why he has come to the conclusion he holds. I would strongly recommend this to anyone with an interest in Spanish or European history of this time period, as well as those interested in Queen Isabella.

William Thomas Walsh's, Isabella of Spain, was a well-written, informative and interesting novel. Even though it was not fiction, but a biography of a queen of Spain, it was nonetheless very involved with dramatic and suspensful aspects of history. The setting of the book is in Spain during the 15th and 16th centuries. Spain has been split by civil war for many years when this young girl ascends to the throne. Walsh's tone of the book is that, this country has been tearing itself apart for so long, that when this new ruler comes to power, he shows her as a savior to her disraught country. Walsh shows Queen Isabella as to be a very round and dynamic character. First of all, she is deeply religious with a strong sense of fait. With that she sees the Islamic Moors a significant threat to European Christianity. With that she carries out her campaigns against the Moors and even the Jews of her own country in her defense for the Faith. She uses brutal tactics to attempt to convert and also exterminate the other "threatening faiths". The ture irony of this story is that in all of her years of study, she knows that the true sense of Christianity is respect and love of thy neighbor, not war. Although this novel is set in Renaissance Spain, Walsh uses the Old English dialect to tell the story of a Spanish queen, and also indirectly impart the Enlish power on all of Europe. Finally, the theme of this biography is one of faith. Queen Isabella carries out all of her wars and crusades no matter what the cost is. She, in all honesty, believes that what she is doing is for the good of men and for the good of Christianity. She stands by her beliefs when the whole of Europe claims that she is immoral and unjust in her actions. This is how Queen Isabella became to be known as, "The Last Crusader".

Called by her people Isabella la Catolica, she was by any standard one of the greatest women of all history. A saint in her own right, she married Ferinand of Aragon, and they forged modern Spain, cast out the Moslems, discovered the New World by backing Columbus, and established a powerful central government in Spain. This story is so thrilling it reads like a novel. Makes history really come alive. Highly readable and truly great in every respect!

One of the most amazing books I have ever read. It is extremely accurate and very well sited. It is exciting and enjoyable read.

As any book written by Walsh this one on Queen Isabella it most excellent. This book not only offers a great chunk of Spanish history but the story of one of Spains greatest Queens.

I cannot recommend this book more. If I could give it more that five stars I would.
Norman Fulkerson
Author of An American Knight: The Life of Colonel John W. Ripley, USMC

I read this book in its first edition, in a dusty library. I assumed that it was long out of print. Fancy meeting it new and shining on Amazon! Walsh was devoutly Catholic at a time when educated America was overwhelmingly Protestant, and he devoted special attention to Isabella la Catolica, his favorite among the Spanish monarchs. At the time, he wrote primarily for a Catholic audience (Fordham, Notre Dame, et al), and sought to bolster its faith and pride in a country that often looked down on Spain (the Spanish-American War was part of living memory) and the Church.

His work is romantic and dramatic, showing his opinions on every page. He imbued his work with color and fire. He was not an objective, unbiased historian, and why should he be? In a Protestant country, the duty of the Catholic historian is to espouse the Catholic point of view. A duty he took very seriously.

It is a hopeless task to try to assign "stars" to such a book. A fun book to read?3-4 stars. An up to date account of the monarch's life? One star at best? A revealing glimpse into how educated Americans thought in the period between the wars? 4 stars. An infuriating distortion o fthe facts? 1 star. A reminder of how exciting history can be when it is written with passion and commitment? 5 stars (but give the same 5 stars to Trotsky and the Soviet historians; they had the same passion)

Walsh stresses Isabella's role as a Crusader, and a defender of the Church. He is at his best when he wrestles with what is a crucial problem for him- Isabella was devout, but few monarchs before Luther took such control over religion in their countries. Isabella was her own Pope, appointing bishops and abbots. His section on this question is still important today.

Other things are not. Eliminating the fragile Nasrid Kingdom of Granada was symbolically important but trivial for Spain's security. In her great-grandson's lifetime, the Ottoman Empire was a real threat, but that was still far off in the 1480s. Isabella pursued economic policies that weakened cities and farmers in favor of the rural nobility and the great sheep rearing concerns. None of this is in the book. The whole economic and social picture is weak.

And of course, he is wrong about the succession. He portrays Isabella as saving Castille from the unworthy hands of her bastard "niece". But more recent scholarship has shown that Juana was the rightful heir and that Isabella likely knew it when she usurped the crown. (DNA testing has confirmed Juana's legitimacy). More importantly, Isabella and her aristocratic backers were motivated by an economically based fear of cities, merchants, foreigners and Jews. They did their best to suppress or eliminate these threats. Isabella then had to assert her own independence from her supporters, who often wanted greater rewards than she could give and maintain her own power. In Walsh, all of this is attributed to religious fervor. Isabella's piety is beyond question. But it should be noted that God's will often coincided with her own interests, and that it would be a mistake to assume that everybody who disagreed with the Queen did so out of lack of faith. And that is a mistake that Walsh makes.

A final note: Walsh has been criticized for being anti-Semitic. He was. He thought the Talmud the most evil collection of lies in the history of the world. He was also a supporter of Franco and right wing dictatorships generally. But in his time, being anti-Semitic was as respectable as being anti-Communist or anti-homosexual or anti-Muslim. And of course, he spent his career countering what he considered anti-Catholic writing.