Abstract:
Isabel la Católica, Bloody Mary, Elizabeth the Virgin Queen, Juana la Loca, and Mary Queen of Scots were all queen regnants, or queens reigning in their own right, of early modern Iberia and the British Isles. Queenship is a transnational theme across these two territories in early modern Europe, and influenced the concept of rule for future monarchs. Isabel I of Castile (r. 1474-1504) and Mary I of England (r. 1553-1558) were two early modern monarchs who inherited the throne in their own right as queen regnants. Isabel was the grandmother of Mary I. Although Mary was the first queen regnant of England, she could look to her Castilian grandmother as a precedent. Yet the connection between these two monarchs curiously remains for the most part unacknowledged even though they shared many traits as queens. The process of royal succession and the marriage negotiations for each of these monarchs exemplify two uncanny similarities between the two queens that need to be examined not just in a comparison, but how one influenced the other.
