Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- Glossary
- Map: Distribution of royal jurisdictions (1474–1504)
- 1 The omnicompetent servant
- 2 Establishing authority
- 3 The naked sword (1474–85)
- 4 Faithful servants (1485–94)
- 5 Careers open to talent: judicature, remuneration, residencia
- 6 Lords and prelates: a matter of privilege
- 7 The end of convivencia: Jews, Christians, and Muslims
- 8 Difficult governance (1495–1504)
- 9 The queen in heaven: troubled aftermath
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index
3 - The naked sword (1474–85)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- Glossary
- Map: Distribution of royal jurisdictions (1474–1504)
- 1 The omnicompetent servant
- 2 Establishing authority
- 3 The naked sword (1474–85)
- 4 Faithful servants (1485–94)
- 5 Careers open to talent: judicature, remuneration, residencia
- 6 Lords and prelates: a matter of privilege
- 7 The end of convivencia: Jews, Christians, and Muslims
- 8 Difficult governance (1495–1504)
- 9 The queen in heaven: troubled aftermath
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index
Summary
On the afternoon of 13 December 1474, Isabella rode in stately procession to Segovia's church of S. Martín, moments after she had heard herself proclaimed queen of Castile. Directly preceding her on horseback was a prominent Segovian, Gutierre de Cárdenas, who held aloft a naked sword, grasped by the point. The glittering foil was so much the archetypal symbol of justice and sovereignty that its use for a woman attracted unfavorable comment. Ferdinand's secretary, Luis González, asked if there was “in all antiquity a precedent for a queen to be preceded by this symbol … Everyone knows that these are conceded to kings; never was known a queen who usurped this masculine attribute.”
The chronicler who recorded this, and other complaints from onlookers about Isabella's insolence in “going against the laws of nature,” agreed that it was indeed a novelty. Later hagiographers throw so golden a glow on Isabella's life that it requires imagination to recall that she was then a disputed contender for the succession, and not necessarily the one with the better claim. A sword certainly would be required to conquer the realms.
There were those who always believed that her niece Doña Juana had first right to the throne. That young woman's claim was based solidly upon her birth in the Alcázar palace at Madrid as the only surviving issue of a legitimate marriage between Enrique IV and his second wife, Juana of Portugal.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Keepers of the CityThe Corregidores of Isabella I of Castile (1474-1504), pp. 24 - 51Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1987