Spain: Isabella of Castille

Isaballa of Castille (1451-1504) means nothing to the average Brit till they realize she was the mother of Katharine of Aragon, the first wife of our Henry VIII.  I read about Isabella in my youth – it may have been an historical novel.  She struck me at that time, and has remained so in my mind, as a formidable woman.  She has gone down in history as a great beauty, but looking at her portrait, she is nothing of the sort.  I like to think of her as a beauty, and anyway European art of this era hadn't long crawled out of the dark ages and the associated loss of technique, so the portrait is undoubtedly unreliable.

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