Biography of Fernando II the Catholic King | King of Castile.

(Ferdinand II of Aragon, called the Catholic; SOS, Zaragoza, 1452 - Madrigalejo, Cáceres, 1516) King of Castile (1474-1504) together with his wife Isabel I, of Aragon (1479-1516), Sicily (1468-1516) and Naples (1504-1516). He was the son of Juan II of Aragon and his second wife Juana Enríquez, daughter of Admiral of Castile. On the death of his half-brother, Carlos de Viana (1461), became the heir of the Aragonese Crown. In 1462 he was appointed lieutenant general of Catalonia and, in 1468, King of Sicily. During the Catalan civil war (1462-1472), in which took part to active, became familiar with the business of the State at the behest of his father.

Fernando el Católico

Die Prince Alfonso of Castile (1468) and be recognized the infanta Isabel, sister of Enrique IV, as heiress of Castile, Juan II placed all the ability to get the marriage of Fernando with the Spanish Princess, which occurred in October 1469. When Enrique IV of Castile (1474) died, Elizabeth was proclaimed Queen by his followers, despising the possible rights of the infanta Juana la Beltraneja, which was supported by Portugal. Fernando, after arduous discussions with suspicious Castilian nobility, succeeded King be awarded the same rights as Isabella I of Castile, which also would be called Catholic.

The Spanish civil war was priority in the intentions of Fernando, which contributed in a definitive way, above all with the victory of Paleagonzalo (1476), to the success of the Elizabethan cause. Juan II, died in 1479, and Fernando inherited the throne of Aragon. Thus was the dynastic union of Castile and Aragon, base of the Hispanic unit. The marriage was purely personal: Castile and Aragon would have about themselves sovereigns and the same foreign policy, but would retain its laws and institutions. However, even assuming the personality and the jurisdictional framework of the kingdoms that composed it historically, triggered a political trend that, by way of absolutism, would eventually lead to the administrative unit imposed by the Bourbon from 1700.

In the following years, Isabella and Ferdinand were devoted to consolidate his authority over their kingdoms: thus in Castilla was institutionalized the figure of the corregidor (1480), created the Inquisition (1481), was enacted to the rebellious nobles and reorganized the Royal hacienda. Fernando ended in their States to the problem of the remences Catalan by the abolition of the misuses and the consolidation of contracts of emphyteusis (arbitral award of Guadalupe, 1486).

Attained inner peace, devoted their efforts to complete the reconquest, with an eye toward the political unification of all kingdoms under the leadership of Castilla. In this endeavor he undertook a long war against the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada (1481-1492), which ended with its integration to the Castilian Crown. He managed the religious unity of the realm with the expulsion of the Jews (1492) and the forced conversion of the Moors (1503). It opened unexpected doors with the discovery of America (1492). He fought the French Roussillon and took part in the wars of Italy, which resulted in the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples (1503).

Married remarried with Germaine de Foix (1505) and Regent of Castile (1507), he took part in the League of Cambrai against Venice (1511). To his death Carlos appointed heir to the Kingdom of Aragon to his daughter Juana, and Governor to his grandson. Generally, historians agree in placing Fernando II of Aragon between the older statesmen of his time; Domino springs of diplomacy, he knew to be imposed on those groups or institutions which, in one way or another, could undermine the authority of the monarchy and, before the Church and religious minorities, took a strong and realistic approach.

Extracted from the website: Biografías y Vidas