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Ferdinand I (c. 1015 – 24 December 1065), called the Great (<i>el Magno</i>), was the Count of Castile from his uncle's death in 1029 and the King of León after defeating his brother-in-law in 1037.<br/><br/> According to tradition, he was the first to have himself crowned Emperor of Spain (1056), and his heirs carried on the tradition. While Ferdinand inaugurated the rule of the Navarrese Jiménez dynasty over western Spain, his rise to preeminence among the Christian rulers of the peninsula shifted the locus of power and culture westward after more than a century of Leonese decline.
Fernán González (died 970) was the first autonomous count of Castile, son of Gonzalo Fernández de Burgos, who had been named count of Arlanza and the Duero around the year 900.<br/><br/> Fernán González was a colourful character of legendary status in Iberia, and founder of the dynasty that would rule a semi-autonomous Castile, laying the foundations for its status as an independent kingdom.
Philip IV of Spain (8 April 1605 – 17 September 1665) was King of Spain (as Philip IV in Castile and Philip III in Aragon) and Portugal as Philip III (Filipe III). He ascended the thrones in 1621 and reigned in Spain until his death and in Portugal until 1640. Philip is remembered for his patronage of the arts, including such artists as Diego Velázquez, and his rule over Spain during the Thirty Years' War.<br/><br/> On the eve of his death in 1665, the Spanish Empire had reached approximately 12.2 million square kilometers (4.7 million square miles) in area but in other respects was in decline, a process to which Philip contributed with his inability to achieve successful domestic and military reform.
Philip IV of Spain (8 April 1605 – 17 September 1665) was King of Spain (as Philip IV in Castile and Philip III in Aragon) and Portugal as Philip III (Filipe III). He ascended the thrones in 1621 and reigned in Spain until his death and in Portugal until 1640. Philip is remembered for his patronage of the arts, including such artists as Diego Velázquez, and his rule over Spain during the Thirty Years' War.<br/><br/> On the eve of his death in 1665, the Spanish Empire had reached approximately 12.2 million square kilometers (4.7 million square miles) in area but in other respects was in decline, a process to which Philip contributed with his inability to achieve successful domestic and military reform.
Maximilian I (22 March 1459 – 12 January 1519), the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans (also known as King of the Germans) from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky.<br/><br/> He had ruled jointly with his father for the last ten years of his father's reign, from c. 1483. He expanded the influence of the House of Habsburg through war and his marriage in 1477 to Mary of Burgundy, the heiress to the Duchy of Burgundy, but he also lost the Austrian territories in today's Switzerland to the Swiss Confederacy.
Spain/Maghreb: 'The Capitulation of Granada'. Oil on canvas painting by Francisco Pradilla Ortiz (1848-1921), 1882.<br/><br/> Abu 'abd-Allah Muhammad XII (c. 1460- c. 1533), known as Boabdil, was the 22nd and last Nasrid ruler of Granada. In 1491, Muhammad XII was summoned by Ferdinand and Isabella to surrender the city of Granada, and on his refusal it was besieged by the Castilians. Eventually, on 2 January, 1492, Granada was surrendered. Boabdil handed the keys of Granada to Ferdinand along the banks of the Genil, marking the end of Arab rule in Spain.
Isabella I (Spanish: Isabel I, Ysabel, anglicised as Elizabeth) (22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504) was Queen of Castile and Leon. She and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon brought stability to both kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. Later the two laid the foundation for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Painting: Madonna of the Catholic Monarchs, by Fernando Gallego, c. 1490-95.
Born in Toledo, Spain, Alfonso was the eldest son of Ferdinand III of Castile and Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen, known in Spain as Beatriz de Suabia, through whom he was a cousin of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. In the period 1240–1250 he conquered several Muslim strongholds in Al-Andalus alongside his father, such as Murcia, Alicante and Cadiz. In the siege of Niebla (1262) he used cannon to defeat the Muslim defenders. This is the first recorded use of gunpowder for military purposes by Europeans - ironically a technqiue learned from his Muslim opponents.
The Catholic Monarchs (Spanish: los Reyes Católicos) is the collective title used in history for Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being both descended from John I of Castile; they were given a papal dispensation to deal with consanguinity by Sixtus IV. The title of ‘Catholic King and Queen’ was bestowed on them by the Pope Alexander VI in 1496. They married on October 19, 1469, in the city of Valladolid; Isabella was 18 years old and Ferdinand a year younger. Their marriage united both crowns under the same family.
Isabella I (Spanish: Isabel I, Ysabel, anglicised as Elizabeth) (22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504) was Queen of Castile and Leon. She and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon brought stability to both kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. Later the two laid the foundation for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
Al-Andalus (Arabic: الأندلس‎, trans. al-ʼAndalus, Spanish: Al-Ándalus, Portuguese: Al-Andalus) was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims (often given the generic name of Moors), at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries underwent constant changes due to wars with the Christian Kingdoms.<br/><br/> Following the Muslim conquest of Hispania, Al-Andalus was divided into five administrative areas roughly corresponding to Andalusia, Galicia and Portugal, Castile and León, Aragon and Catalonia, and Septimania. As a political domain or domains, it successively constituted a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, initiated by the Caliph Al-Walid I (711–750); the Emirate of Córdoba (c. 750–929); the Caliphate of Córdoba (929–1031); and the Caliphate of Córdoba's taifa (successor) kingdoms.<br/><br/> Rule under these kingdoms saw the rise in cultural exchange and cooperation between Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, al-Andalus was a beacon of learning, and the city of Córdoba became one of the leading cultural and economic centres in both the Mediterranean Basin and the Islamic world.