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Spanish queens regnant

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princess garnet
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Post by princess garnet » Wed January 1st, 2014, 6:56 pm

Not to take away from the discussion, has anyone been in touch with our fellow forum member CW Gortner lately? (His blog hasn't been updated since August) His novel on Juana was well-written, and I enjoyed it.
Last edited by princess garnet on Wed January 1st, 2014, 7:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Susan
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Post by Susan » Wed January 1st, 2014, 7:46 pm

[quote=""princess garnet""]Not to take away from the discussion, has anyone been in touch with our fellow forum member CW Gortner lately? (His blog hasn't been updated since August) His novel on Juana was well-written, and I enjoyed it.[/quote]

He's been posting on Facebook. I agree with you about his Juana novel. That (and some research) is where I got my sympathy for her.
~Susan~
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Helen_Davis

Post by Helen_Davis » Mon January 27th, 2014, 4:16 am

[quote=""MLE (Emily Cotton)""]Aragon and Castile were quite different in their customs. Castile was far more willing to become the Empire's cash cow, the cortes rubber-stamping taxes and their commerce being bled dry to stave off the Ottoman Empire. The separate cortes of the Crown of Aragon (consisting of the Kingdoms of Valencia, the Kingdom of Aragon, perts of the Kingdom of Navarre and the Duchy of Catalonia) repeatedly refused to ratify the extra taxes, and none of the kings of the 16th century were ever secure enough to force them to do so. They weren't so much influenced by France as by the Eastern Mediterranean states. Barcelona was a seafaring city even in Roman times, and they produced the first book of Maritime law, which was later adopted by everyone else. In fact, they were called the Levantine states, due to their relationship to the Levant -- Jerusalem, etc. For long after the Ottoman Empire held the Holy City, the titles of the King of Aragon included 'King of Jerusalem and Duke of Athens'.
They spoke a separate language from Castile/Leon, (our Spanish today is Castilian), Catalan, which is now the official language of the Barcelona area. You'll be snubbed and served last if you order in Spanish. Catalan reads and sounds like 'SpanFrench' but is actually a modern form of Langue d'Oc.
Really a very different culture from Castile, as different as Moorish Granada or Portugal.[/quote]

Thanks MLE! Very helpful.

I've heard that Isabella of Castile disliked the French. Any idea as to why?

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