Isabella Crowned Queen of Castile

December 11, 1474

On the death of her half-brother Henry IV, the twenty-three-year-old princess had herself proclaimed queen in Segovia's main square before her rivals could organize. A civil war with her niece Juana followed. Isabella won through alliance, siege, and patient letter-writing. Spain's modern political geography begins on that December afternoon. A civil war with her niece Juana followed, settled as much by diplomacy as by arms. Spain's modern geography begins that December afternoon.