The Tudor Society
  • 19 October – An important European marriage

    On this day in history, 19th October 1469, an event took place in Spain that was not only important in Spanish history, but which had an impact on Europe and which has links with the Tudors.

    The event was the marriage of an eighteen-year-old woman called Isabella and a seventeen-year-old man called Ferdinand. They’d become the famous Reyes Catolicos, the Catholic monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, and would bring together two powerful kingdoms, which comprised most of what is modern-day Spain.

    In today’s talk, I tell you more about this powerful couple, their reigns and their legacy.

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  • 2 January 1492 – King Boabdil surrenders Granada to Ferdinand and Isabella

    On 2nd January 1492, King Boabdil (or Abu `Abdallah Muhammad XII), Sultan of Granada, surrendered Granada, Spain, to the forces of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile following months of siege.

    Granada had been the last outpost of Al-Andalus, the parts of the Iberian peninsula governed by the Moors, but now it had been conquered by the Catholic monarchs as the final act of the “Reconquista”, which had been a campaign running since the 1200s to kick the Moors out of Spain.

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