Signed by Ferdinand and Isabella in the Very Year and Location Where They Signed the Articles Empowering Columbus to Sail West to Discover the New World

In the document, signed by both Monarchs, they order their council to do justice to the Church near Segovia

It was only by virtue of loans from Castile’s great benefactors that Ferdinand and Isabella waged the war to expel the Muslims from Spanish territory. In April of 1491, the Catholic Monarchs brought their forces into camp on the road to Granada, near Castro del Rio. From there they would proceed to Granada, and besiege the city. Castile’s bravest nobles formed the vanguard of the army of approximately 50,000 men. Ferdinand and Isabella traveled with the army, with Ferdinand in an advanced position. With victory at Granada, the Catholic Monarchs sought to extend their control and solidify their power, expel the Moors, and begin to repopulate the occupied lands. The army of the Catholic Monarchs arrived before Granada on April 26, 1491, commencing the siege. The action that began in mid-April 1491 would prove to be the end of the 8-centuries long Reconquista, the reconquest of Spain from the Moors. Boabdil, Sultan of Granada, surrendered the city on January 2, 1492.

With Spain united, the Monarchs were able to turn their attention to a new visitor and his request: While Ferdinand and Isabella were still at Santa Fe, their forward headquarters for the campaign to free Spain, they were visited by Christopher Columbus, also in January 1492. His initial request in Sante Fe was rejected in February and he left for France to plead his case there. This stirred pride in the minds of the Spanish and allies of Columbus made another appeal to Isabella. This was successful and in April of 1492 that a final agreement was signed between Columbus and the Spanish monarchs, naming him admiral and sending him West to find the “Indies.”

Document signed, Santa Fe, February 25, 1492, signed by Ferdinand and Isabella the very month that Columbus left that region for France. “President and Oyedores of our audience and chancellery, on the part of the priory and convent of the monestary of Santa Maria de Parrazes, we have heard that they have had and still have a certain legal dispute (debate et pleito) with the city of Segovia and its land regarding certain terms and inheritances of which they are deprived, which said suit says that we ordered the constable Don Pedro Fernandez de Velasco, now deceased, to commit it, and those of our council who resided with him, and as it was that the said constable began to understand but did not resolve this, and it was requested on his behalf that we might remand this case to you… therefore we send it to you that you might take the said case into the state so taken you might free it and determine it in due haste and without delay… in such a way that the said monestary might have no grievance by which it might have reason to complain.”

Segovia has been the stage for crucial events in Spain’s history, such as the Cortes of Castile, held there on multiple occasions; the signing of the Concord of Segovia, which laid the groundwork for the formation of the Spanish nation, took place there; Isabel the Catholic, one of the most significant and influential women in history, left the Alcazar to proclaim herself queen of Castile. It was also the site of the last meeting between Christopher Columbus and King Ferdinand the Catholic before the explorer’s death.

This is the first Ferdinand and Isabella document from 1492 that we have had in at least two decades.