Companion book cover.Eng The thrilling fight of a woman to become queen.

Isabel is a 2011 Spanish Historical Fiction series produced by Diagonal TV and aired by national broadcaster Televisión Española and its international station, the Canal Internacional.

Originally conceived as a Spanish answer to The Tudors, the series followsclosely the various shenanigans that marked the life and later reign of Queen Isabella I of Castile, the Catholic (1451-1504), beginning in the time when a teenage Isabel and her brother Alfonso are brought from reclusion in the Castle of Arévalo to the Deadly Decadent Court of her half-brother, King Enrique IV, in Segovia. While surviving ridiculous levels of court intrigue, wars and treacherous advisors, what was once a little girl so far in the line of succession that nobody though she had a hope to rule makes use of her own self-strenght and ambition to become the historical figure that we remember today as the Queen that united the crowns of Castile and Aragon through her unauthorized marriage to King Ferdinand II, conquered Granada, sponsored Christopher Columbus, founded The Spanish Inquisition and expelled the Jews from Spain.

As of September 2014, the show is in its third season. The first one covers the period between 1461 and 1474, from the end of Isabel's childhood to her coronation in Valladolid; the second, from 1474 to the surrender of Granada and the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, and the third ends with Isabel's own death in 1504. It is debated if the series will continue without Isabel, or be replaced by a Spiritual Sequel centered around a different monarch.

Even before airing, the series acquired fame in its home country for its very Troubled Production that nearly got it cancelled before its debut. Isabel was expected (and advertised) to begin airing in the fall of 2011, but TVE pushed the premiere back a whole year after the first season was already completed as part of a Loophole Abuse to conform with its government-approved budget, since TVE's yearly cost is based on the cost of programs that have aired during said year. The series budget has not been disclosed but is believed to be high by Spanish TV standards, with former showrunner Javier Olivares merely stating that it is not superior to that of Aguila Roja, also airing at the same time in TVE and reputed to be the most expensive Spanish TV series ever. In the meantime the filming of the second season was put on hold and even the sets were dismantled. Diagonal TV went to the lenghts of organizing a premiere of the first episode on a Madrid theatre in May 28, 2012 to pressure TVE into airing their product. Luckily, when Isabel finally began airing in the fall of 2012 the series was immediately met with success, becoming one of TVE's most popular programs (averaging 20% share) and was praised by viewers and critics alike for its acting, historical accuracy, fabulous wardrobe design and set design.

The series is available in DramaFever with English subtitles and has been acquired by stations in a number of countries in Europe and the Americas.

Since the vast majority of the series content is History, there will be no covered spoilers bellow. Read at your own risk.

Age Lift: As you might have noted by the introduction above, Isabel was 10 when she was taken to the Court, but in the series she's still played by then 25 years old Michelle Jenner who looks 14 in the first scene at the very least. 20 years-old Víctor Elías plays the Infante Alfonso, who would be 8 at the beginning of the series, more as a cocky, unfitted teenager than the clueless kid he would have been at the time of the Farce of Avila, and Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (played by 36years old Sergio Peris-Mencehta) joins Alfonso's entourage as a late teenager at the very least, already trained and seasoned in combat, rather than at 13 as in Real Life. These characters' ages are never mentioned on screen, so Vague Age is also at work. On the other hand, 36 year-old Rodolfo Sancho's Fernando of Aragon very much stands out, being 11 years older than Jenner, even though the fact that the two have the same age is an important plot point.

All Prophecies Are True: An astrologist predicts that Muley-Hacén's youngest son Nasr will "win a thousand battles" and that his eldest, Boabdil, will surrender the city to the Christians. Muley-Hacén replies that that doesn't make sense, but Boabdil does indeed become emir against his wishes and surrenders the city.note As for Nasr, in Real Life he converted to Christianity, married into Castilian nobility and led troops to victory... against Muslim uprisings in Granada, and later also against the Comuneros rebels in Castile during the reign of Charles I/V.

Young Isabel's annoyance because the Queen piece in chess can only move one square at a time is not an oversight either, that was indeed the case in Medieval Chess. The change that made this piece so powerful was introduced in Spain during the 1490s, in apparent homage to Isabel herself.

The scene where Juana de Avis gets artificially pregnant is based on a 15th century chronicle. The method was used by Jewish cattle breeders at the time.

Juan Pacheco's villainy in the first season was toned down. Yep, he did try to kidnap Enrique IV and got away scott-free. The difference is that he did it twice. He also kidnapped Enrique's predecessor's once.

Arranged Marriage: All over the place, successful and otherwise. Most of the plot in Season 1 is directly related to the different attempts by Enrique IV to marry his sister and daughter to different guys.

Artistic License – History: While the writers do strive for accuracy they are clear that this is a drama and not a documentary. Some events are simplified, moved in the timeline, given to different characters or affected by Rule of Drama. The TVE website features interviews with the show's historical consultants telling what is real and what fictional in each episode.

Asexuality: Enrique IV is uninterested in sex. When he finally brings himself to have sex with his gorgeous wife for the sake of producing a heir, he still can't achieve penetration.

An anonymous soldier poisons Pedro Girón in vengeance for the death of his sister, changing the history of Castile and the world without even realizing it.

An unnamed Granadan scholar convinces Columbus that his data is wrong, leading him to think that he needs better ships than those used at the time, and tells him that he needs to sail from the Canaries to use the westward winds. In reality Columbus did not visit Granada or meet Boabdil before the surrender, though he was at the front at the time.

Beatriz Osorio, actually a historical figure, is blamed in show for both Prince Juan's historical sickliness and Isabel's difficult twin pregnancy that ended with one of the babies dead at childbirth. This are presented as a result of her poisoning or making sure in some other way that they get sick, hoping that this gets Fernando for herself. There is of course no evidence of anything of this other than that Osorio was at Isabel's service at the time, and the first historical mention that Isabel sent her away because she was "making eyes" with Fernando appears 40 years after the event. Osorio did build a very bad reputation as a cruel schemer once she arrived in the Canaries, however, where she was nicknamed "The Bloodthirsty".

Beware the Nice Ones: As a matter of course, Isabel and Fernando will be generous and negotiate. Once.

Composite Character: "Zúñiga" plays the part of Álvaro de Zúñiga, who rebelled against Enrique IV and joined Alfonso (Afonso) V in Extremadura, and his son Íñigo, who was besieged at Burgos.

Consummate Liar: Juan Pacheco boasts that he can make the kingdom believe anything, and the king can do nothing about it.

Corrupt Church: The Vatican was at its worst in this time and is depicted as such. Excluding Veneris, the top bishops in Spain are just members of the local nobility who use their position to gather more power for themselves and their families, fight in wars and father bastards.

Despite being one of these very same nobles, Mendoza has a change of heart in his deathbed and advices Isabel to name a non-noble as the next Archbishop of Toledo (head of the Church in Spain). The chosen one is Cisneros, already in a campaign to fight corruption within the Church. Historians credit Cisneros as the reason Spain avoided the Reformation altogether.

Fernando flat out refuses to promise Isabel fidelity. The show makes no secret of the fact that men sleeping around (even priests) is far better looked at than women doing so.

Isabel finds slavery shocking and horrible... if the slave is Christian. She's also okay with corporal punishment and the death penalty if the offender is guilty of blood crimes.

Isabel doesn't like the idea of a new civil war in Castile... because she wants all the nobles to march together against Granada, who has done nothing in recent memory but existing and being Muslim.

Juan II of Aragon, a Cool Old GuyReasonable Authority Figure with no prejudices against Jews (unlike his son), is adamant that no woman will inherit his kingdom, and sees nothing wrong in raiding French territory in peace time. Looking at Juan's actual biography, these might as well be implications that he is a semi-Retired Monster.

"Judaizing" (i.e. Jews that pretend to be Christians in public, or are Christians but follow some Jewish practices from their ancestors out of custom, sometimes without being aware of their origin) is seen as one of the worst crimes possible.

Muslims and Christians call each other infidels, even in the presence of the other.

Witnesses are present for the consummation of a royal marriage and the birth of their children. At best, the new couple can hope they agree to be behind the door and just listening, but they will demand to see the bloodied sheets to certify that the bride was a virgin. Enrique IV actually gets flack because he refused to do this, and eventually abolished the practice, fueling the rumors that he is impotent, homosexual or both.

Chacón, who has been the Voice Of Reason up to that point, supports the expulsion of the Jews arguing that they are residents, not subjects, and that Castile and Aragon won't be different from other countries who have done it already.

Demoted to Extra: Not to an extreme degree, but Torquemada is introduced later than he joined Isabella's court in real life and the fact that he was one of her confessors is glossed over. In the show, his nomination as Grand Inquisitor of Castile seems to be an imposition of the Vatican, possibly to avoid making Isabel too unsympathetic.

Given how closely related most monarchs are, this trope is in full force. When Isabel tells the King of Portugal that she'd rather be at peace with a relative, he mockingly replies that disputes are more common with relatives than with strangers.

Fernando is his father's heir because his older half-brother rebelled against him years ago and lost. His half-sister is queen in Navarre and she believes that he is trying to usurp her kingdom.

Juan of Portugal tries to usurp his father while he is negotiating an alliance in France. When he inherits the throne legally, he immediately has his aunt's family (the Braganças) arrested and dispossesed of lands, and his cousin executed, to secure his absolute rule.

Aixa and Boabdil try to overthrow their husband/father after he takes another wife and names her child heir.

End Of An Era: Isabel and Fernando's reign is considered the end of the Middle Ages in Spain.

Ignoring that short scene in the first episode (which was originally going to be in the season finale, same as above), Fernando first appears in bed with his mistress while his father negotiates his marriage.

Isabel sets herself as an opposite to her brothers once she gains the throne. Where they weakened the Crown by giving away lands and titles to backstabbing aristocrats, she seizes whatever she thinks is needed and demands true fealty - or else.

Tomás de Torquemada to Hernando de Talavera. Both are austere friars that want to serve the Church, rather than using it to accumulate wealth and power for themselves. However, while one is The Fundamentalist who sees only more reasons to kill infidels and heretics (and seize their stuff to pay wars or build churches), the other is a learned Good Shepherd who believes in peaceful preaching and hates the Inquisition's methods. Historically, both were also descendants of Jews.

Juan II of Portugal to Fernando II of Aragon. Both are perfect Renaissance princes: young, energetic, ambitious, educated, cunning and manipulative (both are regarded, in fact, as possible inspirations of Machiavelli's The Prince) and they stop at nothing to strengthen their respective crowns and kingdoms when they become kings. Both are the sole surviving sons of their aging, but still powerful and ambitious fathers, and both are drawn by them into fighting the War of Castilian Succession against each other, each on behalf of a Castilian princess, Juana and Isabel, where both excel at the battlefield. Their respective princess also falls in Love at First Sight with them. However, while Fernando is free to marry Isabel and lead the Aragonese army in Castile while his father remains in Aragon, Juan is already married when the war begins and Juana has to marry his widower father, who takes command of the Portuguese army. The more cautious father is outperformed by Fernando, losing the land campaign as part of his indecision in the key moments. Had Juan been free to marry Juana, her side could have prevailed and this show been made about them. To top the cake, both have one adknowledged bastard and one legitimate son that predeceases them, making their crown go to an Unexpected Successor upon their death. The resemblance is so uncanny that the only reason the Portuguese comes as a villain in the show is that we rarely see his family life, while Fernando gets plenty of Pet the Dog moments from his.

Juana de Avis to Anne of Brittany. Both are queens that were forced to marry kings well bellow them in term of looks and intelligence, condemning them to loveless marriages with no children (one because her husband is asexual, the other because of multiple miscarriages).

Genghis Gambit: Going to war with Granada helps unify the infighting Castilian nobles (less so the Aragonese), puts Castilians and Aragonese under one command, and secures the peace with Portugal and France because no Christian nation will risk the PR disaster that comes from attacking Christians fighting a war with Muslims that, to top it, has been given treatment of Crusade by the Pope.

In the second season, a miller complains about the new mayor's "sisas". "Sisar" survives in modern Spanish as slang for stealing, but it originally meant taxing.

Only Moors say "ojalá", and they do it very serious and solemnly. This is because it stands in dialogue for its root, sha'a Allah, or "God willing" in Arabic, which later passed into colloquial Spanish as slang for "I hope".

Inverted with Diego Pacheco, who surrenders after Fernando's victory in Zamora and breaks down crying when he is threatened with execution. In real life he had to be subdued again when the Portuguese invaded Extremadura, and afterwards served the CCMM in Granada, where he lost an arm in combat. None of this is shown in the series.

Also inverted with Boabdil, who is depicted as a wimp who can barely hold a sword. In real life he was a great swordsman, but sucked completely as a general.

Isabel and Fernando were considered handsome, but she was still more on the portly side than Jenner (and even more after the pregnancies). Fernando definitely didn't look much like Sancho◊ - Word of God is that Sancho was chosen because he conveyed best Fernando's charisma and volcanic persona, as well as being suited for the Chick Magnet part.

Enrique IV is often described as having gigantism and a broken nose among other things. Pablo Derqui has neither. On the other hand, it's been suggested that this is the result of confusion with his father Juan II, or outright fabrication by Isabel's propagandists.

Hollywood History: The Granada plotline has been criticized as being a bit too simplified, and its wardrobe closer to Ottoman if not Arabian Nights-like than properly Nasrid. Granadan soldiers are also almost all armed with scimitars, when they used straight swords in real life. Finally, the Berber Gomeres from Northern Morocco are portrayed by Black African actors.

The writers also admit to including dubious stories from the time if they make good television: Juana de Avis' artificial fertilization, Aldonza travelling in drag with Fernando, Beatriz Osorio having an affair with him, Aixa telling Boabdil to "cry like a woman what you couldn't defend like a man"...

How We Got Here: Each season begins with a scene from the finale. After that, the action jumps to a scene set "a few years earlier" and proceeds to show how the last scene came to be.

Hyper Awareness: The first time they meet, Cisneros fishes Isabel among her handmaidens when she wants to test him.

Hypocrite: Cesare Borgia scoffs at the legitimacy of the Trastamara branch of Naples because it is descended from bastards.

I Just Want to Be Normal: The Infante Alfonso says that he'd rather be a peasant, earning him an Armor-Piercing Slap from his sister. Cisneros would rather be an enclosed monk but keeps getting promotions to his dismay. When he is named Archbishop of Toledo and is forced to reside in his predecessors' palace, he sleeps in a wooden table next to his rich bed.

Insane Troll Logic: Torquemada's opinion of suspects is that they are all guilty because God wouldn't let an innocent suffer torture and murder. Nevermind that he follows a religion that worships hundreds of martyrs for being tortured and murdered, and in one episode his case is the (claimed) torture and murder of an innocent child.

Princess Juana's fate after losing the succession war and having her marriage declared void by the Pope. The alternative would be to remain unmarried until 35, when, according to the treaty, Isabel and Fernando's son would come of age and decide if he wanted to marry her or free her of the vow.

Princess Isabel, Isabel and Fernando's first child, wants to do this after her first husband dies but they won't allow it.

What Talavera and Cisneros would rather do than being at the Royal Court. Talavera copes a lot better than the second.

Make It Look Like an Accident: The writers have fun portraying some sudden deaths, many of which were at least argued by someone to be foul play back in the day for different reasons. Some are portrayed as genuine natural deaths (but some characters believe them not), others as successfully covered up murders. Poison is often featured.

After being bethrothed to Pedro Girón, Isabel prays for a whole night and is later informed that he has died of the plague, which she takes as a miracle (he was poisoned instead). Before that, Girón sees a bunch of storks behaving in a strange manner that his men take as an omen, though he thinks nothing of it.

Isabel also prays all night for her ill son, at some point asking God to take other child in his place. Her son recovers, and her son-in-law (and daughter's dream match) dies in an... accident. Cue My God, What Have I Done?.

The kid Enrique IV sees in the first season finale is either his imagination, an angel or a doppelgänger.

Diego Pacheco's visions of his father while in prison are very likely happening inside his head, if only for the veryun-Pacheco way he behaves.

The Iberian courts that take most of the screen time were not as lavish as the ones in other countries that spring to mind when we hear the word "Renaissance". This is reflected by the brief apparitions of the French court, or when CardinalBorja mentions that he finds Castile dull compared to Rome. The opulence of Seville's nobility in the second season makes the Royal Court in Segovia seem poor and backwards in comparison, and Muslim Granada is just fabulous. It's no wonder that Isabel's wardrobe takes a step upward after visiting Andalusia.

My God, What Have I Done?: Isabel asks herself this when she is told that her son-in-law died, as she had asked God to take other child in her ill son's place and he ended recovering. Interestingly, this happens after she is also told that the Inquisition likely murdered eight innocents for a crime they didn't commit (or even existed), but she thinks nothing of it.

One of Alfonso's first acts as "king" is giving his sister Isabel a town.

Juan II of Aragon makes his 7 year-old grandson Archbishop of Zaragoza. The highest Church office in Aragon.

Andrés Cabrera substitutes an antisemite mayor with his own father-in-law, Pedro de Bobadilla. The guy immediately reveals himself to not be very fit.

Nice Guy: Surprisingly many, despite the great number of cutthroat and backstabbing characters: Gonzalo Chacón, Andrés Cabrera, his wife Beatriz, etc. Every problem of Enrique IV stems from the fact that he is too nice to be king.

Álvaro de Luna's execution, years before the timeframe of the series. We know that Pacheco "conspired" to make it happen and that Isabel's mother blames herself for it and the guilt may have driven her insane.

Enrique mentioning that he rebelled against his own father, apparently under Pacheco's influence.

Some of Fernando's life before his introduction in the first episode, such as the fact that he lead armies and won his first battle at 12, or that he was under siege with his mother before Verntallat rescued them.

Nun Too Holy: Rampant: Alexander VI is Pope in the third season, after all. When Cisneros decides to correct it, he realizes that the problem is even worse than he imagined.

Every now and then, some town complains that events that happened there in Real Life are depicted in the show as happening in a bigger town like Segovia, Valladolid or Seville. This is obviously tied to the tourism to these places generated by the series.

The establishment of the Inquisition and the "Susón conspiracy" are simplified and combined into a single event. Historically the Susón was a rich Jewish merchant family (not Convert as in the show) whose head Diego Susón was accused of planning, along with others, to stage a coup against the Christian knightly class in Seville in collaboration with the Kingdom of Granada. According to the story (how much real and how much legend is debated), Diego's daughter Susana heard of the plot and warned her boyfriend, a Christian knight, leading to the authors being hanged (rather than burned by the Inquisition, as this was a civil offense). Susana (Ben) Susón wasn't Isabel's handmaiden.

The Granada plotline is very streamlined. Isabel de Solís was captured and became Muley-Hacén's wife 20 years before shown in the show, and her eldest child was already an adult by the beginning of the Granada War, which makes Muley-Hacén's in show decision to name him heir ahead of 22 year-old Boabdil because "Granada needs a warrior" far more reasonable (this was never as clear stated either, but Aixa certainly feared it and plotted for her son to take the throne as a result). Granada's decision to not continue paying tribute to Castile was thus not spinned from a reclamation to release De Solís, but an opportunist move while Isabel and Juana were distracted fighting each other. Al-Sarray and Abén Hud are fictional characters used to give a face to the Abencerraje (Ibn Sarray) tribe, who were enemies of Mulay-Hacén and his brother. The siege of Malaga is followed in the next episode by the siege of Granada itself, omiting the Almeria campaign that happened in the years in between.

As explained in the accompanying web video, inquisitors actually didn't interrogate the suspects during the torture sessions, many times were not even present during them, and a confession extracted during torture was in fact not admitted (one under threat of torture or between sessions was fair game, however). These are all disregarded to occupy less time, but at least the show has no inquisitors pulling the torture machines or lighting the pyres themselves and it is civil servants doing it instead. The tortures are also the simple ones that were really used like the rack or waterboarding, not the imaginative ones that were made up by fiction writers from the 17th century on.

Nobody ever says the word "Spain". It was actually common in the Middle Ages, though only as a geographic name of the Iberian Peninsula since there was no state with that name (and the Portuguese considered themselves as "Spanish" as their neighbors). This omision is obviously intended to avoid misunderstandings among the viewers.

Sweet Polly Oliver: Aldonza disguises herself as a boy to follow Fernando to Valladolid. She fools no one.

Tangled Family Tree: Enrique wants to marry Isabel to the King of Portugal, his wife's brother, which would make them siblings by blood and on law at the same time. His daughter is at different points promised or proposed to marry two of her uncles and a cousin, and develops romantic feelings for another cousin.

Timeshifted Actor: Generally avoided. When it happens it's usually characters born during the series, like Princess Juana and Isabel's children.

Too Dumb to Live: Pushed by Enrique until it becomes literal: He dies of indigestion.

Town with a Dark Secret: Seville is the largest and richest city in Castile, has trade with the most exotic locales far away, and the oppulence of its nobles make the Royal Court dull and backwards in comparison. It's also a place with high crime and corruption, rivalry between noble families, fundamentalist preachers and the highest slave population in the kingdom.

Juana de Avis acts the way she acts because 1) she loves her daughter and 2) her husband won't stand for her or even touch her.

Translation Convention: Every character speaks modern Spanish (only somewhat old-fashioned) in Standard (Northern) Castilian accent, regardless of origin. The only time this doesn't happen is during prayer, which Christian characters do in Latin, Muslims in Arabic and Jews in Hebrew, and in a rare instance in the first season when a guard introduces the Duke of Guyenne in French. Handwritten letters are in the original Arabic or 15th Century Spanish, however.

Undying Loyalty to the Crown is a famous trait to the Mendozas, although Enrique's constant blunders ends alienating even them.

Beltrán de la Cueva is also loyal to the Crown, and Enrique also manages to drive him mad. In the second season he becomes a loyal and reliable subject of Isabel, even during the war against his claimed bastard daughter.

Isabel, obviously, debuts as a young girl that no one expects to inherit the throne.

The future Pope Alexander VI as a Papal envoy to Castile.

Beatriz Osorio appears in the second season as a young servant of Isabel, years before she gained fame as an ambitious, ruthless schemer worthy of the Borgia family during her stay in the Canary Islands.

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