Queen Isabella I of Spain
Posted on 11/02/2014 12:15:39 AM PDT by matthewrobertolson
[This is part of Catholic Analysis' special series on Pope Alexander VI. This part, the seventh, touches on his closeness with his native country. Read the sixth part.]
Br. J.B. Darcy points out some necessary background information: "For centuries, Spain had been almost completely overridden by the Moors. The Spaniards had been trying to take back their country from the Moors for almost 800 years. By the middle of the 15th century, this reconquest was almost complete, but Spain was still a hodgepodge of competing principalities and, because of its constant state of warfare, still a very backward country." [1]
As mentioned earlier, Alexander enjoyed good relations with the reigning Spanish monarchs, even as a cardinal. King Ferdinand, while wily and of the arrogant, anti-Roman Aragonese, would often have no choice but to assent to the devout Queen Isabella's wishes, for "love held their wills in unison". [2] Alexander understood this and worked around it.
While papal legate to the country (1472-1473), he exhorted to the clergy, "..I beg of you not only to be of one mind in guarding and defending [the Church] as the most precious thing, but also to spare yourselves neither pain nor peril for its preservation." [3] He was also able to convince the people to rise up against the Muslims (which they definitely did, in Granada) and support a Crusade. [4]
Alexander was, very obviously, a lover of Spanish culture. While legate, he "seems to have had a pleasurable time in his native land, for he stayed there more than a year and many letters from the Cardinal of Pavia were needed to entice him back to Rome." [5] Cesare had a great fondness for the culture, as well, including bullfighting. [6]
One thing that the government would not tolerate from Alexander was his shielding of our rabbinical brethren, the Hebrews, at this time. To their great consternation, the pope made living arrangements for them in Rome, after their expulsion. This, it seemed to them, only undermined the Spanish position. Alexander allowed Spain to tax churches in its territory in response to Spain's complaints about expenses incurred from its incentivized conversions of infidels. However, he refused to back down when it came to treating people of other faiths with Christian charity. [7] He tolerated the Spanish Inquisition, but, like Sixtus IV, he tried to rein it in: he personally curbed Torquemada's power and hired four "assistants" to supervise him. [8]
The Spanish also were not happy about Alexander's close relations with the French. But in 1503, "a change [occurred] in the Borgia politics, an inclination to draw nearer to Spain and retire from France consequent on the latter s humiliation". [9] It is too bad that death prevented him from capitalizing on this.
There were plenty of healthy developments.
In May 1493, two months after explorers returned from the New World they had just discovered, Alexander published a papal bull marking the boundaries of the territories of Spain and Portugal, entrusting the Americas (minus Brazil) to the former. He wrote, "In these unknown lands where Christopher Columbus has stepped, lives a people, naked, vegetarian, who believe in one God and ask but to be taught to believe in Jesus Christ." [10]
The impact of all of this is profound: nearly 50% of Catholics today live in the Americas. In recognition of this, renditions of Native Americans were painted in the Borgia Apartments. "In addition, he installed the golden ceiling of Santa Maria Maggiore, using the precious metal brought back by Columbus and donated to the [P]apacy by Ferdinand and Isabel[la]." [11]
Alexander also helped reform parishes and convents in Spanish territories, commanded the Spanish bishops to crack down on the abuse and forgery of indulgences, [12] assisted with evangelizing Granada, and extended the indulgence for those still fighting the Moors. [13] And the monarchs helped him in the "Holy League", granting him use of their Gran Capitan, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, and more.
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References:
1. Br. J.B. Darcy, CFC, What you don’t know about the Borgia Pope: Alexander VI (1492-1503) (Catholic Insight)
2. Warren H. Carroll, Isabel of Spain, The Catholic Queen
3. Michael de la Bedoyere, The Meddlesome Friar and the Wayward Pope, p. 66
4. Ivan Cloulas (translated by Gilda Roberts), The Borgias, p. 45
5. Arnold H. Mathew, D.D., The Life and Times of Rodrigo Borgia, p. 50
6. Johann Burchard (edited by Dr. F. L. Glaser), Pope Alexander VI and His Court, p. 131
7. Ivan Cloulas (translated by Gilda Roberts), The Borgias, p. 79-80
8. Rafael Sabatini, Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition, p. 383-384
9. Ludwig von Pastor, The History of the Popes, from the Close of the Middle Ages, Vol. 6, p. 129
10. Ivan Cloulas (translated by Gilda Roberts), The Borgias, p. 78-79
11. Charles A. Coulombe, Vicars of Christ, p. 330
12. Rafael Sabatini, The Life of Cesare Borgia, Book 2, Chapter 5
13. Rafael Sabatini, The Life of Cesare Borgia, Book 2, Chapter 2
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Queen Isabella I of Spain
In person life was as debauched as Caligulia, had numerous
mistress and children,
Guilty of simony, more or less bought the papacy by bribing
some of the cardinals
Implicated in several murders carried out by son Ceasare
After death one cardinal refused to say mass for him “it is
Blaspheny to pray for the dammed...”
I know, but I was talking about the Americas, and this post is about the Spanish. :)
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