[Gocamino] Books

[deb berman]

Do you know that Richard Wagner was a rabid anti-semite? That he considered himself more of a philosopher  than a composer? This makes me think twice about the power of his music.....Deborah

> To: GoCamino at oakapple.net; saintjames at yahoogroups.com
> Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 22:42:06 -0400
> From: blaroli at aol.com
> Subject: [Gocamino] Books
> 
> 
> Hi Cherie, Jackie, Chris et al.
> 
> There is a good biography called “Isabel, the Queen;   Life and Times” by Peggy K. Liss (ISBN 0-19-507356-8) which shows Isabel as a poor cousin in the court of Enrique IV of Castile (“The Impotent”) being used as a pawn in the power struggle between the King and the Grandees.  The book depicts how Isabel survived the many efforts to disinherit her and the many plots to kill her, and how she secured the crown and secretly married Fernando, Prince of Aragon, mostly to obtain the male protection that Fernando’s family and armies offered her. Nevertheless, the 18 year old Queen took the surprising step of assuming the crown alone, without her husband, in the coronation ceremony, thereby opening the way for her daughter Juana, and other female monarchs, to rule in their own right.  This act prognosticated the provisions of the Queen’s will whereby she excluded her husband from inheriting her kingdom, or any of her possessions in fa vor of her daughter, when she died in 1504 at the age of 53.
> 
> The book is chock-full of the political intrigues of the times, and the ability of the young queen, with her limited education, to overcome the machinations and ambitions of the experienced and powerful courtiers and grandees is awesome.
> 
> Another  very readable book, and somehow more personal and less political is “Isabella of Castile;  The First Renaissance Queen”, by Nancy Rubin (ISBN 0-312-08511-7) In this book=2
> 0one reads about the Queen being the first monarch ever to establish field hospitals and schools  (she accompanied her armies as they battled the Moors all over the peninsula) and to insist that every soldier be trained in first-aid measures , and carry first-aid kits and that the cooks receive schooling as nutritionists..  She was also imaginative in what today we would call “psychological warfare”, such as, in the long siege of Ronda, and later, Granada, by surrounding the towns under siege with immense crosses formed by torches  and having the monks (compelled to accompany the armies) chant religious hymns all night as loud as possible.  
> 
> Throughout her life the Queen was self-conscious of her limited education and endowed universities all over the place, most notably in Salamanca. (The famed university there has a huge carved medallion honoring the Queen above its main entrance)  When the University refused to have female teachers the Queen withheld her financial support until the university relented and females were allowed to teach there, albeit behind a curtain, and female students were admitted.
> 
> Close to the university in Salamanca there is a lovely house that the Queen gave to her female Latin teacher. The house today is a charming museum containing the many drawings and letters that the Queen continually sent her teacher.
> 
> One of the silliest would-be-insults hurled at the Queen is that she was “unimaginative” (A woman who sent Columbus on his voyage against every
> one’s advice!!!!) because she named her first daughter Juana and her only son Juan. Actually, this is somewhat connected with the Camino. The Queen was an intensely devout woman, and after failing to conceive for several years after her marriage, she frequented the San Juan de Ortega church (of garlic soup fame) and promised that if she were to conceive she would name her first child and her first son after the Saint. And that’s what she did.
> 
> The similarities in survivability and immense abilities between Queen Isabel and Elizabeth of England 50 years later are remarkable.  Both inherited the throne by default, defeated myriad efforts to dethrone and/or kill them, took over kingdoms in disarray in very tumultuous times and created great powers of them. But whereas Elizabeth was husbandless and childless, Isabel was a supportive wife and a devoted mother of five children.
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> I should hope that pilgrims that go through Burgos would take the couple of hours that it would take them to visit the Miraflores Cartuja (monastery). Therein lies an exquisite jewel without equal anywhere: the tomb that the Queen had built for her mother, Isabel of Portugal, who lost her mind and died in the prime of her life. If the Taj Mahal is a marble monument to love, the grave of Queen Isabel’s mother is no less.  I myself have understood, sensed, and felt the substance and power of love in two places: in the music of Richard Wagner (the end of the third act of Walkure) and contemplating=2
> 0the tomb that Queen Isabel had created for her mother.
> 
>  
> 
> There are other books that I could suggest, but for starters, I would recommend the two above. I bet you won't be able to put Nancy Rubin's book down.
> 
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> Hugs,
> 
>  
> 
> Rosina
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