Isabella

Isabella was Queen of Spain for over 30 years, an absolute monarch who reigned with absolute power and ruthlessness. Feared by her subjects, admired by her successors, and courted by monarchs from all over Europe, Isabella was Spain s answer to Elizabeth I. This remarkable history shows how Spain s "iron lady" turned the isolated kingdom of Castile into the world s first super-power, and laid the foundations for a Spanish empire that was to stretch from Mexico through Africa and Europe to the Philippines. The tale of a ruthless ruler with an unexpected leaning towards compassion, "Isabella of Castile" is the story of a queen who dared to be differentthe woman who made an empire."