Working Mother of 5 Funds Voyage to America
Jillayne Schlicke on 05 13, 2007
[photopress:IsabellaofCastile.jpg,thumb,alignright]Mother’s Day reminds me of Queen Isabella I of Spain who co-ruled right along with her husband. It was her decision to lend Christopher Columbus the money for his voyage to find a new route to India. She ruled with an iron fist in Portugal, Spain, and Castile, yet was also an advocate for fair treatment of Native Americans.
Isabella was also a patron of scholars and artists, established educational institutions and built a large collection of art. She learned Latin, was widely read, and educated not only her sons but her daughters. A working mother of 5 made the first loan for the voyage to America.
Happy Mother’s Day, Raincityguide readers!
About the Author: Jillayne Schlicke
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16 Responses to “Working Mother of 5 Funds Voyage to America”
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That most definitely had to be a hard-money loan. No way Columbus would have made it through underwriting!
If you try to compare Queen Isabella to being somewhat of a mother figure to Columbus, I would have not say that she would have been a very good mother. She may have lended him three of her ships but she treated Columbus like well… that smelly stuff.
Columbus on the other hand wasn’t much of a father figure himself so….. All this coming from a history major so…
Oh yeah, Wikipedia.org is not a very good source of citing historical information. I am on there quiet a bit. In fact, a good percentage of my own visitors to my site comes from there. The articles are not peer reviewed and well, it’s often factual (anyone can edit it you know).
And while it is true that Isabella was indeed somewhat of an advocate for Native Americans, if they did not have that one precious metal and that goldern leaf, she could have cared less about them.
I’ll shut up now. Happy Mother Day, even to the Queen.
Derek,
I’ve been meaning to play more in Wikipedia. How do people get to your site from there?
Ardell:
Well being a history major, I often put some of my essay papers on my site. I wrote an essay this past semester on the Mi Lai massacre. I posted it on my blog as a way of reading it off the screen so that I could go back and edit it later. I do not know why, but I just cannot edit a paper reading it off Microsoft Word, etc.
Anyways, Wikipedia updated a bunch of stuff and my site just happened to get thrown in the references. My professor caught on to it and I had to print out a copy of their original Mi Lai massage page using their catche. By the time I turned the paper in, my paper and Wikipedia’s was very similar but I had a copy of their original Mi Lai article so I was in good shape. My professor and I had quiet a few words about posting stuff like that on blogs as other students can use your work before you even turn your original in as well as making the university look bad since I was a student and the paper had not yet been proof-read or peer reviewed, etc.
But anyways, my suggestion is this, log in, create an account at Wikipedia and find something you can provide a reference to such as an article on say loan orignation procedures, and cite it on their site and include your site as the reference.
Example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_massacre
Hi Derek,
Thanks for stopping by RCG. Queen Isabella was a leader in her family and for her country. She was a powerful, strong woman leader considering the zeitgeist of that time in history. I consider her a “mother” of lending in America seeing as how she took a risk to finance Columbus’ quest when no one else would. So, speaking of references, do you have Internet references on Queen Isabella 1 that you recommend we read so we can learn more about your claims in comments 2 and 3?
Grab a copy of this book: Jacobs, William Jay. Search For Freedom: America and Its People. (Benziger, Inc, 1973). If you can find a copy, start on chapter 2.
In the meantime, I will try to find some Internet sites.
Jillayne: Still looking for links, but sent you an email with a few minor details.
Hi, DSB and thanks for the email. I just ordered a used copy from an amazon reseller for $7.99
Hi Derek,
Thanks for your input on this subject.
I’m an “arm chair historian”, and the History Channel recently did a piece on Queen Isabella & King Ferdinand. Paraphrasing & summarizing the show as I remember it, the show said the money used to finance Columbus’ voyage came from the confiscated personal affects of those people condemned in the Spanish Inquisition. “Ferdy & Izzy” combined their respective empires of Castille & Aragon into modern-day Spain, then in a “kill-2-birds-with-1-stone” move they advocated the Church’s Inquisition w/in Spain to help solidify their own power, and accumulate substantial wealth…Empire Building 101, if you want to call it that.
Is this correct?
Also, as I recall the show made it sound like the King & Queen had really “nothing to lose” in supporting Columbus; and really didn’t risk much in supporting him based on the way their investment into his cause was put together. Would you say this is also correct?
Hi Joe,
Well it looks like the world has not changed very much since Queen Isabella’s day.
Joe: #1 need more research. Spain was in a war with the Moors at the time and the coffers were nearly barren so it’s a likely possibility.
#2 From my personal insight, I would say it is true but history is what you make out of it so ask another historian and he will disagree.
Hi Derek,
Thanks for the input.
Don’t do any special research on my account. I was simply wondering if you thought the History Channel’s info was reasonably accurate or not; because I’ve always been curious how biased some of their programs are.
Hey J:
I think its time to bring this post back to the top and see if you still agree with Isabella being such a nice woman after reading the research paper I just sent you.
It took me a while, but I followed up on my research finally! Enjoy reading and let me know what you think of CC and Queen Izzy!
You got it. I just got back from being a chauffer to two kids (did I really make my parents do this much driving around?) and still have to get up tomorrow (sat) and teach a class all day, come home and work on my master’s thesis. Can I make time to read Derek’s research paper? Sure.
Hello Jillayne,
I couldn’t find your best post. I guess I am too feeble minded.
Sincerely,
c