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A NEW HISTORY
OF IOWA
A NEW HISTORY
OF IOWA

JEFF BREMER

University Press of Kansas

© 2023 by the University Press of Kansas

All rights reserved

Published by the University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas 66045), which was

organized by the Kansas Board of Regents and is operated and funded by Emporia State

University, Fort Hays State University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University,

the University of Kansas, and Wichita State University.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bremer, Jeff, author.

Title: A new history of Iowa / Jeff Bremer.

Description: Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2023] |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identif iers: LCCN 2022061351 (print) | LCCN 2022061352 (ebook)

ISBN 9780700635559 (cloth)

ISBN 9780700635566 (paperback)

ISBN 9780700635573 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Iowa—History.

Classif ication: LCC F621 .B76 2023 (print) | LCC F621 (ebook) | DDC

977.7—dc23/eng/20221221

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022061351.

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022061352.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data is available.

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The paper used in the print publication is acid free and meets the minimum requirements of

the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials
Z39.48–1992.
For Yana
beloved
wife

and

Greg
Olson
Scoutmast
er
 Contents

Introduction

Part I—Iowa to the Civil War

1. Native Iowa: Iowa to 1833

2. Iowa Territory, 1833–1846

3. Frontier Iowa, 1833–1870

4. Slavery, Politics, and Transportation before the Civil War

5. Iowa and the Civil War, 1861–1870

Part II—Iowa from the Civil War to 1929

6. Immigrants, Railroads, and Farm Protest

7. Religion, Education, and Rural Life

8. Cities, Industry, and Technology, 1833–1920

9. Suffrage, Prohibition, and Politics, 1870–1920

10. Iowa in World War I and the 1920s

Part III—Iowa since 1929

11. The Great Depression and Iowa

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12. Iowa in World War II

13. Postwar Iowa, 1945–1975

14. Iowa and the Farm Crisis, 1975–2000

15. Iowa in the Twenty-First Century

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliographic Essay

Index
 Introduction

Iowa has always been known for farming, growing corn, soybeans, and

other crops on some of the richest soil in the world. The state is more

agricultural, less urban, and less diverse than the rest of the United States.

These characteristics make it a very midwestern place. When Americans

think of Iowa, they think about farms and small towns. It is still a rural

state. Thirty-six percent of residents live outside urban areas of twenty-f ive

hundred people or more—double that of the nation overall. But it is no

longer a state of farmers. Less than 5 percent of its population is considered

“farm producers” and most residents live in towns and cities. In terms of

racial diversity, at the start of the twenty-f irst century almost 94 percent of

its population was white. As late as 2020 Iowa was the whitest state in the

Midwest—a huge region stretching from Michigan and Ohio to Kansas and

North Dakota—and one of the whitest states in the nation. At the same time,

it has been a place of great religious diversity, with communities of

Quakers, Jews, and Muslims living among Catholics and Protestants and

near communal groups like the Amish. Until the 1940s, Iowa’s economy

was dominated by agriculture, when manufacturing displaced farming as

the largest sector, more than sixty years after this occurred in Illinois.

(Together, these two sectors accounted for 38 percent of the state’s gross
1
domestic product in 2018.)

The historian Jon Gjerde called Iowa “the most Midwestern state.” The

Midwest is the nation’s agricultural heartland, as well as the region with the

highest percentage of white Americans. In 2020, it grew more than 80

percent of the nation’s corn and soybeans and almost half of the wheat; it

also produced most of the hogs. Just as farming made the Midwest, so too it

made Iowa: in the 1970s, for example, 98 percent of the state was under

cultivation. The land helped make the region different from New England,

the South, or the West. Vast tracts of fertile soil provided opportunities for

families who pursued diversif ied commercial farming. A mix of migrants

from the Northeast, the Great Lakes, the Upper South, and Europe settled in

the area. They created a mostly egalitarian society, though racial or religious

prejudice limited opportunities for many. Immigrants built towns, schools,

and churches, with some places like Iowa creating a f irst-class public

education system. “Geography, culture, and economic and political history

have combined to create a distinctive Midwestern people,” argued historian

2
R. Douglas Hurt.

Iowa is largely unappreciated and often misunderstood. It has a small

population and sits in the middle of a huge country. Such places can be

scorned by those from areas considered more important. In 1903 historian

Frank I. Herriott asked, “Is Iowa’s History Worth While?” It didn’t have

large cities, rugged mountainous regions, or the “rough and boisterous”

history of western mining camps. If you needed “seismic convulsions,” you

had to study someplace else. But Herriott argued that all residents “declare

with vehemence that Iowa is a magnif icent State,” criticizing a writer from

the Atlantic who had described its “dullness and mediocrity.” More than a

century later, in 2010, the New York Times had only one reporter assigned

to cover all of Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and the Dakotas, who

wrote about violent weather and other eccentric stories, providing local
3
color for distant, mostly urban audiences.

This book tells a new Iowa story, a vibrant, diverse one that refutes the

idea that the state is dull or mediocre or that anyone should question its

importance. Iowa was never a homogenous place. It has always been more

complex than typically perceived, its story an untidy and messy one, full of

immigrants and refugees pursuing their dreams. Nonwhite and minority

populations have rarely been treated as equals, though. Its agricultural

economy has often tested the fortitude of farmers. Few women enjoyed

equal opportunities until the late twentieth century. This narrative chronicles

how people, both ordinary and well-known, have built the state. While this

is often a history of Iowa’s white majority, it is also a history of Native

people, African Americans, Latinas and Latinos, Asian Americans, the

LGBTQ community, and Iowa’s other ethnic and religious groups.

Iowa:
The f irst comprehensive history of the state, Dorothy Schwieder’s

The Middle Land, was published in 1996. An earlier overview, A History of

Iowa, by Leland L. Sage was published in 1974 and focused mostly on
politics and white men. In contrast, Schwieder’s story included those who

had been left out of previous histories, from African Americans to women.

Schwieder argued that Iowa was a state of moderate sensibilities, without

great wealth or great poverty. It was a place of small towns and small-town

values, where people valued families, communities, and education. Iowans

were not known for “showiness, glitz, or hype,” she noted. Her observations

remain generally true long into the twenty-f irst century. Iowa has one of the

highest high school graduation rates in the country and one of the lowest for

dropouts. Economic mobility was also higher in Iowa in the late twentieth

and early twenty-f irst centuries than most states. It has one of the highest

rates of marriage and one of the lowest of divorce. The state has one of the

highest labor participation rates, as well as high voter participation rates in

comparison to other states. At the same time, there are stark disparities in

Iowa, which reflect structural inequalities present throughout the nation.

The high school dropout rate for African Americans is higher than white

students and many more Black families live in poverty than white families,

as median income for Black families continues to be about half that of

4
white households.

Throughout the nineteenth century, Iowa, like most of the agrarian

Midwest, was more egalitarian than the rest of the country. Economic

opportunity, republican government, one-room schools, and religious

pluralism fostered the creation of a dense civic society. A high literacy rate

encouraged and supported libraries, Chautauqua, newspapers, and reform

organizations. Colleges and academies spread across Iowa. Agrarian

societies, clubs, and fairs were ubiquitous in midwestern farm country.

Voluntary associations and institutions were crucial to Iowa communities,

promoting welfare and helping society to function. They reinforced moral

values and customs. While sometimes intolerant, this was more often a

democratic culture of community participation and self-improvement. This

culture helps def ine Iowa, even if this old order has been eroded in the past

century by urbanization, mass culture, and outmigration. Towns still

celebrate their schools and basketball teams, even as the modern world

reduces the time available for participation in church and community

5
groups.
 This present volume features well-known individuals in its narrative,

such as the Sauk leader Black Hawk, suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt, and

President Herbert Hoover. But it also includes the stories of previously

unknown farmwomen, laborers, immigrants, and refugees. This narrative

adds new voices, such as those of runaway enslaved men who joined Iowa’s

Sixtieth Colored Regiment in the Civil War, young female pearl button

factory workers, Mexican railroad workers who migrated to the state in the

early twentieth century, and gay and lesbian soldiers, farmers,

businesswomen, and teachers. This story also details segregation in Iowa

and the struggles for equal justice by minority groups. It emphasizes the

story of Iowa’s women, from farm wives and suffragists to World War II

army off icers. It does not glorify the state, as that would distort reality and

ignore those who have been left out of Iowa’s story. Intolerance and

injustice, as well as courage and humanity, are part of this history. There is

much to celebrate in the history of Iowa, but our failures are as important to
6
understand as our successes.

Issues such as economic inequality, immigration, racial justice, and the

environment have gained importance since Schwieder’s book was written in

the optimistic post–Cold War 1990s. This book addresses these topics while

providing a broad survey of Iowa’s history. It reviews familiar subjects and

adds new ones to the state’s story. For example, Schwieder admitted that

“little scholarly work has been done on topics in Iowa history since the

1930s” and that her chapters on the period after the Great Depression were

less developed than the others. A New History of Iowa f ills in such gaps and
provides an updated story for Iowa’s changing population. In 2021 the state

was f ive times as diverse as 1980, with 15 percent of its population

nonwhite. Indeed, by the early 2020s, more than 130 languages were spoken

in Iowa’s public schools and more than one-quarter of Iowa K-12 students
7
were nonwhite.

This story is divided into three parts, each consisting of f ive chapters.

The f irst section reviews Iowa history from initial settlement, about thirteen

thousand years ago, until the Civil War. Part two covers the state’s history

from the Civil War to the 1920s, with topical chapters on subjects such as

urban life and industry, as well as religion and education. The last section of

the book summarizes Iowa’s history from the Great Depression until the end
of 2020. Each chapter can be read independently, but readers will be best

served by reading them in order. This is a survey of Iowa history, not a

comprehensive history. Many topics are not covered in detail. Most chapters

could easily be turned into a book and some paragraphs are summaries of

entire books. See the footnotes and the bibliographic essay for further

information.

Our history is always with us, though its story may be indistinct and its

lessons uneasy. “The past is an inheritance, a gift, and a burden,” wrote

historian Jill Lepore. To understand it is to honor the living and the dead;
8
learning from it venerates future generations.

Map of Iowa cities and rivers.

 PART ONE
IOWA TO THE CIVIL WAR
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 1
Native Iowa: Iowa to 1833

Native people lived in Iowa for thousands of years before Europeans f irst

set foot in the territory. The state is named for the Ioway tribe, who had

lived in the area since the 1600s. Later, the French forced the Sauk and

Meskwaki out of the Great Lakes region in the mid-1700s—they migrated

into Iowa and Illinois to escape destruction and became an important

military power on the Upper Mississippi River. In June 1673, a French

party, with Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette, entered southeast Iowa.

They were the f irst Europeans known to have reached the state. More than

one hundred years later, Julien Dubuque began mining lead near the town

that would be named for him. In 1803, the United States bought the

Louisiana Territory from France; the next year the American government

forced the Sauk and Meskwaki to cede lands east of the Mississippi River.

The Lewis and Clark expedition traveled along Iowa’s western border in

1804. Fort Madison was the f irst American military structure in Iowa and

construction began in 1808. In the 1820s, American settlers pushed across

Illinois to the Mississippi River and the United States government decided

f inally to remove the Sauk and Meskwaki. Black Hawk, a Sauk leader,

fought a short and bloody war that led to his defeat and the end of almost all

Native resistance in Iowa.

Millions of years of glaciation had shaped the landscape of Iowa, long

before the Black Hawk War. Giant ice sheets developed as the climate grew

colder and wetter 2.5 million years ago. More snow accumulated on land
than melted each year, creating vast f ields of ice. Enormous glaciers

thousands of feet thick expanded south from Canada in repeated waves.

During the last glacial maximum, about 21,000 to 16,500 years ago, Iowa’s

climate was arctic, like Alaska’s today. The last of these great glacial

advances—a great tongue of ice stretching across the center of Iowa from

the Minnesota border to the current location of Des Moines—began to melt

about twelve thousand years ago. “Each advance of massive ice sheets

scraped the land’s surface, levelling hills and f illing valleys,” wrote

ecologist Cornelia F. Mutel. Iowa benef ited from glaciation, which blessed

it with immense amounts of soil and gravel that were pushed south. Water

and wind spread pulverized rock across the state, becoming the basis for
1
Iowa’s fertile soils.

Iowa’s prairies, forests, and wetlands have developed since the last

glaciers. The state’s north-central region, which was most recently covered

by ice, is generally flat, with poor drainage. Before European and American

settlement, it was full of lakes and wetlands, which made up one-quarter of

the total state, almost nine million acres. Here there were meadows,

marshes, and forested floodplains, with many lakes. It was a haven for

waterfowl. The southern half of Iowa, last impacted by glaciers f ive hundred

thousand years ago, has had time for erosion to create drainage networks.

This region has hills and valleys. The northwest and northeast sections of

the state, which escaped the most recent glaciation, have a gently rolling

landscape. Iowa’s northeast corner and the Loess Hills in western Iowa have

the most topographic variation. The “Little Switzerland” region of northeast

Iowa has rock outcroppings and deeply incised streams. The Loess Hills are

made up of powdery soil left over by glaciers and deposited by wind. By the

nineteenth century, 80 percent of Iowa was tall-grass prairie. Forests were

most common in the eastern third and the south-central part of the state,

especially along waterways. Northwest Iowa was the driest part of the state,

receiving about twenty-f ive inches of rain a year, while eastern Iowa

averaged thirty-three to thirty-six inches of rain a year. Southeast Iowa had

a growing season as much as a month longer than northwest Iowa. Western

Iowa overall was drier than the eastern half, its waters draining toward the

Missouri River. Most precipitation fell in the spring and summer. Rainfall in

these seasons was often the result of warmer air from the tropics colliding
with air masses moving east from the Pacif ic and south from the Arctic.
2
Thunderstorms were often the result.

The prairies that make up most of Iowa are part of a vast grassland that

extends from southern Texas to Canada. Historically, the most fertile soils in

the world developed in grasslands. North American prairies, as well as those

in Russia, Ukraine, and Argentina are now the most important grain-

producing areas on the planet. Prairies in Canada and the United States had

grasses, perennial wildflowers, and a small number of shrubs. Iowa’s

prairies had at least 250 species of plants; wildflowers included prairie

violets, prairie phlox, purple coneflower, and sunflowers. “A carpet of

grasses spread out across the plains,” wrote naturalist Candace Savage, once

the last glaciers retreated and the climate became warmer and drier. Grasses

conserve water and are adapted to the more arid regions in the center of

North America. Most of their mass is below ground, with deep roots to suck

up water. They cope with drought well. Over the years, the decomposition

of prairie grasses and roots enriched the topsoil, leaving dark and nutrient

rich material that is some of the most productive agricultural land in the

world. Even the soil in forest areas was excellent, improved by leaf litter,

moss, and other plant debris. Iowa and Illinois lead the country in the

amount of prime farmland, both places “blessed with such fertile soils and

an agreeable climate for growing crops,” wrote geologist Kathleen Woida.

Iowa is part of the tall-grass-prairie region, known for the Indian grass and

big bluestem that once dominated the state. Big bluestem was the most

abundant tall grass and could grow ten to twelve feet high, so tall that a
3
human could get lost in it.

Iowa had an abundance of wildlife. One Indian agent, Joseph Street,

described the northeastern part of Iowa as a “country so full of game” in

1833. Buffalo lived throughout Iowa as late as the mid-nineteenth century,

with the largest numbers in the northwest. A herd of f ive thousand was

reported in 1820. The territory had large numbers of elk, deer, bear, otter,

and wolves. Vast flocks of passenger pigeons sometimes visited the state,

which lay at the western edge of their range. One huge flock of an estimated

six hundred million birds passed Dubuque about 1870. “Rich soil, abundant

water, and a favorable climate produced extensive tall grass prairies, rich

wetlands, and lush forests that once covered Iowa—habitats which in turn
supported a surprising variety of plants and animals,” wrote ecologist James

J. Dinsmore. For thousands of years a relatively low human population

allowed a proliferation of creatures—from waterfowl attracted to vast

wetlands to black bears that preferred the forests of the eastern part of the
4
state.

Over the past two hundred years, Iowa’s landscape has been transformed,

as agriculture replaced the vast prairies, wetlands were drained for farming,

and forests were chopped down. By the end of the nineteenth century,

human settlement had eliminated animal habitats and exterminated many

species in the state. These included buffalo, elk, wild turkey, white-tailed

deer, beaver, wolves, passenger pigeons, and black bears. Some of these

species have been reintroduced to the state, such as bison, turkey, and the

white-tailed deer. Beaver came back into Iowa from the northwest. Still, it is

very unlikely that bear and wolves will permanently reside in the state

again, due to the lack of any large habitats for them. A small herd of bison

and elk live at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, but they will

probably never again roam freely in the state. On the other hand, while

passenger pigeons were exterminated as a species in 1914, few would have

predicted that white-tailed deer, wild turkey, and the Canada goose
5
recovered so well that they are now sometimes considered to be a nuisance.

When the f irst people reached Iowa about thirteen thousand years ago,

they found a cold world that was recovering from an ice age. These

scattered bands of migratory hunters pursued now-extinct animals such as

mammoths and ground sloths. It is possible that one thousand to two

thousand humans lived in Iowa about the time of f irst settlement. As the

environment warmed in the following millennia, by 1200 bce the climate

and vegetation were like that which would be found later in the nineteenth

century: “a sea of tall-grass prairie with ribbons of timbered stream valleys,

slopes, and uplands,” wrote Lynn M. Alex. Groups of people hunted large

and small mammals, including bison. They also ate waterfowl, caught f ish,

consumed freshwater mollusks, and gathered wild plants and nuts. Over

time, this population became less mobile, occupying semipermanent base

camps. Eventually they established some small villages in eastern Iowa

where there were reliable and abundant resources. They also began to grow
6
their own food.
 A new cultural tradition arose in the eastern United States after about

1000 bce , identif ied as the Woodland Tradition. The name refers to the

forested environments of eastern North America, as well as adjacent prairies

and plains. They were best known for burial mounds found in Iowa and

other states. Individuals were often interred with offerings such as shell

beads, carved stone pipes, tools, or food in ceramic pots. Burial mounds, as

well as pottery, link Woodland communities from Iowa with those elsewhere

on the continent. Native people in Iowa were part of an exchange network

among settlements in eastern North America. Trade reached from the Rocky

Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes. Mounds in Iowa

sometimes contained obsidian from the Rocky Mountains or shells from the

Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The famous eff igy mounds in northeast Iowa were
7
a custom of people who lived between 400 and 1200 ce.

By 1000 ce the cultivation of corn was widespread in Iowa and many

settlements had increased in size and became more permanent. Corn is

native to Mexico and Central America, where it had been cultivated for

more than f ive thousand years. Over thousands of years Native farmers

developed new strains. They selected seeds from plants that performed best

farther north, developing new strains that tolerated shorter growing seasons

or drier conditions. They also created hybrid strains by crossing existing

types. In the eastern woodlands of the United States this botanical work

would have been completed by women. The Northern Flint was one of these

types of corn. This variety, along with the Southern Dent, are the foundation

for modern varieties of hybrid corn. “Euro-American farmers did not make

similar progress in plant breeding until they developed agricultural

experiment stations in the late nineteenth century,” wrote historian Colin G.

Calloway. Squash was one of the f irst domesticated plants in Mexico and

South America, its cultivation moving north along with corn. Though not as

nutritious as corn, it could be dried and stored. Beans, another widely

grown crop, had lots of protein. They also returned nitrogen to the soil,

which corn depleted. Together these three staples, often called the “three

sisters” of Native American agriculture, provided a healthy diet and did not
8
exhaust the soil.

Agriculture became more important and widespread, even as hunting

and foraging continued in their importance. Archaeological studies found

that people grew squash, beans, and pumpkins and used storage pits for

food. They utilized more tools, such as rakes and hoes for gardening and

knives and scrapers made of stone that were used to process animal meat.

Human burials after 1000 ce were usually in flat cemeteries as opposed to

large burial mounds. A later cultural tradition in Iowa, the Oneota, was

named after a geological formation along the Upper Iowa River. A distinct

culture, it existed from about 900 ce to 1500 ce and was found in nearby

states such as Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Nebraska. The present-

day Ioway, Omaha, Ho-chunk, and Missouri are connected linguistically,

9
culturally, and by tribal tradition to the Oneota culture.

The arrival of Europeans brought immense changes to Native peoples in

North America. Even before white settlement forced them west, European

diseases devastated Indian populations. Those who lived near European

settlements or in more densely settled areas were most at risk. Warfare with

the English or French also hurt many tribes. Some battled each other for

hunting territory so they could take part in the lucrative fur trade. This

provided them with weapons, as well as manufactured goods such as

blankets or pots. But Indian peoples then became more reliant on trade than

on their own goods. Some groups disintegrated, their survivors adopted by

neighbors. Tribes in the Northeast moved toward the Great Lakes, pushed

westward by the growing European population. The impact of European

colonization and expansion forced the Sauk and Meskwaki into Iowa.
10
Meanwhile, disease, especially smallpox, weakened the Ioway.

The f irst recorded contact between Europeans and Native people in Iowa

occurred on June 25, 1673. A French exploration party, led by Louis Joliet

and accompanied by Father Jacques Marquette and f ive others, traveled by

canoe from Michilimacinac, at the very northern tip of Michigan’s lower

peninsula, to Green Bay, Wisconsin. The party ventured west, visiting a

Miami and Kickapoo village on the way to the headwaters of the Wisconsin

River, which took them to the Mississippi River. They then descended the

Mississippi, looking on the forested bluffs of Iowa on June 17. They saw

deer, elk, and herds of buffalo as they floated south, but no humans. On

June 25 they landed on the western shore—somewhere between the Des

Moines and Iowa Rivers—and found human footprints. Marquette and

Joliet followed a path inland to a village of about three hundred lodges,

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through the library window to increase the bonfire in the courtyard
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Very different was the Celestina, first printed in Burgos in 1499,
and now generally believed to be the work of a lawyer, Fernando de
Rojas. Here are no shadowy Knights condemned to struggle through
endless pages with imaginary beasts; but men and women at war
with sin and moved by passions that are as eternal as human life
itself. The author describes it as a “Tragicomedia,” since it begins in
comedy and ends in tragedy. It is the tale of a certain youth, Calisto,
who, rejected by the heroine, Melibea, bribes an old woman,
Celestina, to act as go-between; until at length through her evil
persuasions virtue yields to his advances. The rest of the book works
out the Nemesis; Calisto being surprised and slain at a secret
meeting with his mistress, Celestina murdered for her ill-gotten
money by her associates, while Melibea herself commits suicide. The
whole is related in dialogue, often witty and even brilliant; but
marred for the taste of a later age by gross and indecent passages.
The Celestina has been classed both as novel and play, and might
indeed be claimed as the forerunner of both these more modern
Spanish developments. It is cast in the form of acts; but their number
(twenty-one) and the extreme length of many of the speeches make it
improbable that it was ever acted. Nevertheless its popularity,
besides raising a host of imitations more or less worthless, insured it
a lasting influence on Castilian literature; and the seventeenth
century witnessed its adaptation to the stage.
Other dialogues, with less plot but considerable dramatic spirit,
are the Coplas de Mingo Revulgo, and the Dialogue between Love
and an Old Man by Rodrigo Cota. The former of these represents a
conversation between two shepherds, satirizing the reign of Henry
IV.; the latter the disillusionment of an old man who, having allowed
himself to be tricked by Love whom he believed he had cast out of his
life for ever, finds that Love is mocking him and that he has lost the
power to charm.
Whether these pieces were acted or no is not certain; but they bear
enough resemblance to the Representaciones of Juan del Enzina,
which certainly were produced, to make it probable that they were.
Juan de Enzina was born about the year 1468, and under the
patronage of the Duke of Alva appeared at Ferdinand and Isabel’s
Court, where he became famous as poet and musician. Amongst his
works are twelve “Églogas,” or pastoral poems, six secular in their
tone and six religious, the latter being intended to celebrate the great
church festivals.
The secular Representaciones deal with simple incidents and show
no real sense of dramatic composition; but with the other six they
may be looked on as a connecting link between the old religious
“Mysteries” and “Miracle Plays” of the early Middle Ages and the
coming Spanish drama. Their author indeed stands out as “Father”
of his art in Spain, for a learned authority of the reign of Philip IV.
has placed it on record that “in 1492, companies began to represent
publicly in Castile plays by Juan del Enzina.”
If the literature of Spain during the fifteenth and early sixteenth
centuries may be described by the general term “transitional,”
marking its development from crudity of ideas and false technique
towards a slow unfolding of its true genius, painting at the same date
was still in its infancy; while architecture and the lesser arts of
sculpture, metal-work, and pottery had already reached their period
of greatest glory.
Schools of painting existed, it is true, at Toledo and in Andalusia;
but the three chief artists of the Court of Isabel came from Flanders;
and most of the pictures of the time exhibit a strong Flemish
influence, which can be recognized in their rich and elaborate
colouring, clearly defined outlines, and the tall gaunt figures so dear
to northern taste. Of Spanish painters, the names of Fernando
Gallegos “the Galician,” of Juan Sanchez de Castro a disciple of the
“Escuela Flamenca,” and of Antonio Rincon and his son Fernando,
stand out with some prominence; but it is doubtful if several of the
pictures formerly attributed to Antonio, including a Madonna with
Ferdinand and Isabel kneeling in the foreground, are really his work.
In architecture at this time the evidence of foreign influence is also
strong. On the one hand are Gothic Churches like San Juan de Los
Reyes at Toledo or amongst secular buildings, the massive castle of
Medina del Campo; on the other, in contrast to these northern
designs, Renaissance works with their classic-Italian stamp, such as
the Hospital of Santa Cruz at Toledo or the College of the same name
at Valladolid. Yet a third element is the Moresque, founded on
Mahometan models, such as the horseshoe arch of the Puerta del
Perdón of the old Mosque at Seville overlaid with the emblems of
Christian worship. The characteristics of North, South, and East, are
distinct; yet moulded, as during the previous centuries, by the race
that borrowed them to express ideals peculiarly its own.
“Let us build such a vast and splendid temple,” said the founders
of Seville Cathedral in 1401, “that succeeding generations of men will
say that we were mad.”
It is the arrogant self-assertion of a people absolutely convinced,
from king to peasant, of their divine mission to astonish and subdue
the world in the name of the Catholic Faith and Holy Church. The
triumphant close of their long crusade intensified this spiritual pride;
and Spanish architecture and sculpture ran riot in a wealth of
ornament and detail, that cannot but arrest though it often wearies
the eye.
Such was the “plateresque” or “silversmith” method of elaborate
decoration, seen at its best at Avila in the beautiful Renaissance tomb
of Prince John, which though ornate is yet refined and pure, at its
most florid in the façade of the Convent of San Pablo at Valladolid.
Under its blighting spell the strong simplicity of an earlier age
withered; and Gothic and Renaissance styles alike were to perish
through the false standard of merit applied to them by a decadent
school.
 FAÇADE OF SAN PABLO AT
VALLADOLID

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY LACOSTE,

MADRID

The first impression emerging from a survey of Queen Isabel’s

reign is the thought of the transformation those thirty years had
wrought in the character of her land. It is not too much to say that in
this time Spain had passed from mediævalism to take her place in a
modern world. She had conquered not only her foes abroad but
anarchy at home. She had evolved a working-system of government
and discovered a New World. She had trampled out heresy; and thus
provided a solution of the religious problem at a time when most of
the other nations of Europe were only beginning to recognise its
difficulties.
Not all these changes were for the best. On the heavy price paid in
blood and terror for the realization of the ideal “One people, one
Faith” we have already remarked. We can see it with clear eyes now;
but at the time the sense of orthodoxy above their fellows, that arose
from persecuting zeal, gave to the Spanish nation a special power;
and Isabel “the Catholic” was the heroine of her own age above all for
the bigotry that permitted the fires and tortures of the Inquisition.

A woman ... [says Martin Hume] whose saintly devotion to her Faith blinded her
eyes to human things, and whose anxiety to please the God of Mercy made her
merciless to those she thought His enemies.

With this verdict, a condemnation yet a plea for understanding,

Isabel, “the persecutor” must pass before the modern judgment-bar.
In her personal relations, both as wife and mother, and in her
capacity as Queen on the other hand she deserves our unstinted
admiration.

The reign of Ferdinand and Isabel [says Mariéjol] may be summarized in a few
words. They had enjoyed great power and they had employed it to the utmost
advantage both for themselves and the Spanish nation. Royal authority had been in
their hands an instrument of prosperity. Influence abroad,—peace at home,—these
were the first fruits of the absolute monarchy.

If criticism maintains that this benevolent government

degenerated into despotism during the sixteenth century, while
Spain became the tool and purse of imperial ambitions, it should be
remembered that neither Castilian Queen nor Aragonese King could
have fought the evils they found successfully with any other weapon
than their own supremacy, nor is it fair to hold them responsible for
the tyranny of their successors. Ferdinand indeed may be blamed for
yielding to the lure of an Italian kingdom; but even his astuteness
could not have foreseen the successive deaths that finally secured the
Spanish Crown for a Hapsburg and an Emperor.
These were the tricks of Fortune, who according to Machiavelli is
“the mistress of one-half our actions.” The other half is in human
reckoning; and Isabel in her sincerity and strength shaped the
destiny of Castile as far as in her lay with the instinct of a true ruler.
“It appeared the hand of God was with her,” says the historian,
Florez, “because she was very fortunate in those things that she
undertook.”
 APPENDIX I
HOUSE OF TRASTAMARA IN CASTILE AND
ARAGON
 APPENDIX II
PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES FOR THE LIFE
AND TIMES OF ISABEL OF CASTILE

A. Contemporary.
Bernaldez (Andrés) (Curate of Los Palacios), Historia de Los
Reyes.
Carvajal (Galindez), Anales Breves.
Castillo (Enriquez del), Crónica del Rey Enrique IV.
Martyr (Peter), Opus Epistolarum.
Pulgar (Hernando de), Crónica de Los Reyes Católicos.
—— Claros Varones.
Siculo (Lucio Marineo), Sumario de la ... Vida ... de Los
Católicos Reyes.
Zurita, Anales de Aragon, vols. v. and vi.
B. Later Authorities.
Altamira, Historia de España, vol. ii.
Bergenroth, Calendar of State Papers, vol. i.
Butler Clarke, “The Catholic Kings,” (Cambridge Modern
History, vol. i.).
—— Spanish Literature.
Clemencin, Elogio de La Reina Isabel.
Flores, Reinas Católicas.
Hume (Martin), Queens of Old Spain.
Irving (Washington), Conquest of Granada.
—— Life of Christopher Columbus.
Lafuente, Historia de España, vols. vi. and vii.
Lea, History of the Inquisition in Spain. 4 v.
Mariéjol, L’Espagne sous Ferdinand et Isabelle.
Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.
Sabatini (Rafael), Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition.
Thacher (John Boyd), Christopher Columbus. 3 v.
Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature, v. i.
Young (Filson), Life of Christopher Columbus. 2 v.
Some Additional Authorities Consulted.
Volumes xiv., xxxix., lxxxviii., and others of the Documentos
Inéditos.
Volume lxii. and others of the Boletin de La Real Academia.
Amador de los Rios, Historia de Madrid.
Armstrong (E.), Introduction to Spain, Her Greatness and
Decay, by Martin Hume.
Berwick and Alba, Correspondencia de Fuensalida.
Colmenares, Historia de Segovia.
Diary of Roger Machado.
Fitzmaurice-Kelly, History of Spanish Literature.
Mariéjol, Pierre Martyr d’Anghera: Sa vie et ses œuvres.
Memoirs of Philip de Commines.
 INDEX

A
Abraham “El Gerbi,” 211, 213
Aguilar, Alonso de, 177, 180, 182, 281–3
Ajarquia, 176, 181
Alcabala, 384, 394, 395
Alcalá de Henares, University of, 402
Alexander VI. (Rodrigo Borgia), 85, 236, 239, 248, 261, 306, 353,
354, 360, 363
Alfonso V. of Aragon, 24, 25, 35, 115–119, 350
Alfonso of Castile, brother of Isabel, 22, 35, 46, 52, 56, 60, 64, 65
Alfonso II. of Naples, 350, 353, 354, 356
Alfonso V. of Portugal, 52, 70, 96, et seq.; 107, et seq.
Alfonso, son of John II. of Portugal, 223, 337
Alfonso, Archbishop of Saragossa, 244, 330
Alhama, 165, 170
Aliator, 176, 181, 182
Aljubarrota, Battle of, 30
Almeria, 161, 204, 216, 220, 280
Alpujarras, The, 278, 280
Alvaro, Don, of Portugal, 212
Amadis de Gaula, 414
Anne of Beaujeu, 340
Anne of Brittany, 340
Aranda, Council of, 239
Aranda, Pedro de, 261
Architecture, Castilian, 419–420
Arras, Cardinal of, 73, 81
Arthur, Prince of Wales, 373, 374
Atella, capitulation of, 362
“Audiences” in Seville, 136
Auto-de-Fe, 256
Ayora, Gonsalvo de, 192
Azaator, Zegri, 274
B
Baeza, 216, 217, 219, 220, 223, 280
Bahamas, discovery of, 304
Barbosa, Arias, 406
Barcelona, 38, 39, 40, 50, 75, 305, 328, 352
Bernaldez, Andres, Curate of Los Palacios, 168, 263, 412
Berri, Charles, Duke of (later of Guienne), 72, 81, 83
Biscay, Province of, 100, 101, 112, 117
Blanche of Navarre, 26
Blanche, dau. of John II. of Aragon, 27, 28, 43, 44
Boabdil, 172, 181, et seq.; 198, 203, et seq.; 208, 221–223, 227, et seq.
Bobadilla, Beatriz de (Marchioness of Moya), 62, 74, 84, 85, 212, 213,
298
Bobadilla, Francisco de, 314
Borgia, Cæsar, 364. (See also Alexander VI.)
Burgos, 54, 55, 60, 103, 106;
Bishop of, 72, 74
C
Cabrera, Andres de (later Marquis of Moya), 83, 86, 112, 114, 298
Cadiz, Marquis of, 136, 139, 140, 165 et seq.; 175, 177, 180, 183, 200,
201, 209, 212, 216
Cancionero General, 410
Carcel de Amor, 415
Cardenas, Alonso de, 153, 176;
Gutierre de, 88, 217, 229
Carrillo, Archbishop, 58, 59, 60, 63, 64, 68, 76, 78, 79, 80, 85, 89,
90, 94, 96, 100, 105, 108, 109, 111, 232, 239, 240
Castillo, Enriquez del, 87, 411
Catherine of Aragon, 334, 372, 374
Celestina, 416
Charles of Austria, son of Archduke Philip, 378, 384, 390, 396, 408
Charles, The Bold, 116, 117
Charles VIII. of France, 186, 340, 347, 348, 351, et seq.; 363
Charles of Viana, 26, 36, et seq.
Church, Castilian, 13, et seq.; 104, 231, et seq.; 249, 250
Cid Haya, 216, 220, 223
Cifuentes, Count of, 177, 180
Cisneros, Ximenes de, 242, et seq.; 273, et seq.; 402, 403
Claude, dau. of Louis XII., 378
Columbus, Bartholomew, 289, 315
Columbus, Christopher, early life, 286;
nautical theories, 291;
appears at Spanish Court, 295;
character, 294, 298, 300, 302, 314;
appearance, 295;
 prepares to leave Spain, 299;
first voyage, 303, 305;
reception at Barcelona, 305;
second voyage, 307;
views on slavery, 310;
third voyage, 314;
arrest, 315;
fourth voyage, 316;
devotion to Queen Isabel, 298, 313, 317;
death, 317
Columbus, Diego, 294, 299, 317
Commines, Philip de, 48
Conversos, The, 251, 252, 253
Coplas de Manrique, 408
Coplas de Mingo Revulgo, 417
Cordova, Gonsalvo de, 189, 206, 280, 361, 367, 371
Cortes, the Castilian, 18
Cota, Rodrigo, 417
Cueva, Beltran de La (Count of Ledesma, Duke of Alburquerque), 32,
33, 45, 48, 51, 52, 54, 57, 62, 64, 89, 151
D
D’Aubigny, Stuart, 361
Davila, Juan Arias, 261
De Puebla, 374
Diaz, Bartholomew, 289
E
Edict of Grace, 255
Egypt, Sultan of, 219, 278
Eleanor, dau. of John II. of Aragon, 43, 44, 359
Emmanuel of Portugal, 273, 338, 343, 372
Enriquez, Fadrique, Admiral of Castile, 36, 58, 59, 60, 74
Enzina, Juan del, 417, 418
Escalas, Conde de, 205, 206, 207
Española, 305, 309, 313, 314, 316
Estella, 49, 51
Estepar, El Feri Ben, 281, 282
F
Fadrique (the younger), 155
Federigo of Naples, 355, 364, 370
Ferdinand of Aragon (The Catholic) character, 2, 69, 174, 210, 324,
325, 330, 332, 370, 371, 387, 391;
appearance, 89;
diplomacy, 346, 352, 358, 359, 364, 372, 375;
birth, 26;
becomes heir to throne of Aragon, 40;
alliance with Isabel, 35, 69, 77, et seq.;
meeting with Isabel, 208;
reconciliation with Henry IV., 86;
becomes King of Aragon, 118;
attempted assassination of, 328;
military measures, 102, 103, 166, et seq.; 112, 168, 175, 191, 196,
201, 216, 219, 280, 379;
attitude to Jews, 264, 265, 271;
to Mudejares, 283;
to the Inquisition, 249, 255, 258;
to Roman See, 235, 239, 254;
to his children, 335;
to Columbus, 296, 297, 313;
foreign policy of, 335;
receives submission of Boabdil, 229;
second marriage, 388;
regent of Castile, 390;
estimate of his work, 422
Ferdinand, son of Archduke Philip, 379
Ferrante I. of Naples, 36, 349, 350, 353, 356
Ferrante II., 354, 356, 361, 364, 369
Fez, King of, 221, 229
Florence, 349, 350, 353
Foix, Catherine de, 339
Foix, Gaston de, 43, 75
Foix, Gaston de (the younger), 43
Foix, Germaine de, 388, 390
Fonseca, Alonso de, 30, 240
Fornovo, battle of, 361
Francis Phœbus of Navarre, 111, 339
Fuenterrabia, meeting of, 48
G
Galicia, settlement of, 133
Galindo, Beatriz de, 332, 407
Genoa, 25
Geraldino, Alessandro, 299, 333
Giron, Pedro, Master of Calatrava, 36, 60, 62, 63
Granada, City of, 215, 224, 227, et seq.;
Kingdom of, 160, 188;
partition Treaty of, 365, 366
Guadix, 173, 206, 216, 220, 221, 223, 224, 280
Guejar, 280
Guiomar, Doña, 31, 233
Guipuzcoa, 100, 106, 112, 117
Guzman, Ramir Nuñez de, 155, 156
H
Hamet, “El Zegri,” 199, 200, 201, 202, 206, 210, 211, 213, 214
Haro, Count of, 101, 129
Henry IV. of Castile (Prince of Asturias), 23, 27, 28;
(King), 24, 36, 39, 44, 54, 55, 56, 70, 71, 80, et seq.; 158, 160, 253
Henry VII. of England, 373
Henry, “The Navigator,” of Portugal, 289
I
Inquisition in Castile, 249, 253–261
Isabel of Castile, character, 1, 4, 5, 131, 233, 319, 324, 327, 328, 336;
love of her Faith, 325;
attitude to her confessors, 241, 242, 243, 326, 327, 329;
love of learning, 332, 333, 400 et seq.;
devotion to Ferdinand, 329;
her magnificence, 321, 323, 399;
her justice, 130, 135, 136, et seq.; 155;
birth, 22;
childhood, 34, 46, 52, 67;
suggested alliances, 35, 39, 53, 62, 68, 70, 72, 73;
marriage with Ferdinand, 69, 74, 76, 77, et seq.;
joins her brother Alfonso, 65;
reconciliation with Henry IV., 84, 85, 86;
accession, 88, 91, 92;
appeals to Archbishop Carrillo, 100;
celebrates battle of Toro, 109;
quells riot in Segovia, 112, et seq.;
visits Seville, 115, 136;
disputes with Ferdinand, 186;
legislation and reforms of, 147, 150, 153, 392, et seq.;
military measures of, 106, 168, 187, et seq.; 192, 194, et seq.; 218;
visits camps, 207, 211, 226;
entry into Granada, 230;
attitude to the Castilian Church, 234, 235, 236, 247, 248;
to the Inquisition, 249, 254, 255, 258;
to the Jews, 264, 265, 271;
to the Mudejares, 273, 279, 280, 284;
to the Roman See, 235–239, 254;
to Columbus, 285, 295, 297, 298, 303, 315;
to slavery, 312–313;
to her children, 331, 334, 377, 380, 381;
 her will, 383;
her death, 384;
survey of her reign, 421.
Isabel, mother of Isabel of Castile, 33, 34
Isabel, dau. of Isabel of Castile, 82, 207, 223, 337, 338, 343, 344, 345
Isabella, the city, 313
Ismail, Sultan, 162
J
James IV. of Scotland, 374, 375
Jews, 6, 250, 252, 263, et seq.
Joanna, “La Beltraneja,” 45, 46, 81–83, 93, 94, 99, 119, 120, 336
Joanna of Portugal, wife of Henry IV., 30, 31, 32, 33, 44, 45, 52
Joanna of Aragon, dau. of Isabel of Castile, 334, 341, 342, 375, et
seq.; 390
Joanna (Queen of Aragon), 26, 27, 40, 41, 42, 75
John II. of Aragon, 24, 25, 26, 28, 36, 40, 101, 364
John II. of Castile, 22, 23, 27
John II. of Portugal, 107, 108, 118, 289, 292, 307, 338
John, son of Ferdinand and Isabel, 115, 216, 223, 331, 332, 339, 344
L
Lebrija, Antonio de, 406
Lerin, Count of, 280
Lisbon, Treaty of, 118, 336
Literature, Castilian, 407, et seq.
Loja, 175, 176, 201, 205
Lopera, battle of, 200
Louis XI. of France, 42, 43, 47, et seq.; 81, 100, 106, 110, 115, 116, 117,
118, 186, 339, 346, 347
Louis XII. of France (Duke of Orleans), 355, 357;
 (King), 363, 365, 388, 389
Lucena, 181
Ludovico, “Il Moro,” 348, et seq.; 364
M
Machado, Roger, 321, 323, 373
Madeleine, sister of Louis XI., 43, 339
Madrigal, Cortes of, 124
Malaga, 173, 204, 208, 209, et seq.
Margaret of Austria, 340–344
Maria, dau. of Ferdinand and Isabel, 338, 372
Marineo, Lucio, 405
Marriage-settlement of Ferdinand and Isabel, 79
Martyr, Peter, 195, 219, 385, 404–405
Mary of Burgundy, 83, 117
Maximilian, King of the Romans, 340, 358
Medina-Celi, Duke of, 295
Medina del Campo, Concord of, 56, 253;
Junta of, 57
Medina-Sidonia, Duke of, 136, 140, 168, 189, 190
Mendoza, family of, 52, 76, 82, 84, 89;
Diego Hurtado de, 246;
Pedro Gonsalez de (Bishop of Calahorra), 62;
(Bishop of Siguenza), 67;
(Cardinal of Spain), 84, 89, 90, 108, 150, 154, 187, 229, 232, 233,
234, 240, 243, 244, 255, 299, 404
Merlo, Diego de, 165, 169
Miguel, grandson of Ferdinand, 345
Military Orders, 10, et seq., 152, 154
Moclin, 207