Tanto Monta: The Rise Of Ferdinand And Isabella

BACKGROUND: 1469-The Iberian Peninsula has been splintered into numerous caliphates and kingdoms over the last 700 years. Warfare-part of the desperate competition between Christian and Muslim faiths often referred to as the Reconquista-has been the one constant. Now age 18, Isabella of Castile has already been offered in marriage alliances to both Portugal and France. Against the wishes of her brother, King Henry IV, she refuses both deals and instead elopes to marry her original betrothed, Ferdinand II of Aragon. Within five years, her brother is dead, and Isabella is named Queen of Castile. But can this fragile alliance between Castile and Aragon hope to prosper facing threats from all sides?

Tanto Monta: The Rise of Ferdinand and Isabella covers the period from 1470 to 1516, the height of the Age of Discovery and the years leading immediately into the period covered by Here I Stand: Wars of the Reformation, 1517-1555. The game opens with Isabella's disputed ascension to the throne of Castile, a position contested by a Portuguese-backed faction supporting Joanna La Beltraneja. Ferdinand's possessions are similarly threatened by Aragon's ongoing civil war against forces from the Principality of Catalonia, a faction often supported by France. How can these young Catholic Monarchs possibly deal with both these crises while still pursuing their agendas to unite their two kingdoms into a single Spanish realm, subjugate the Canary Islands, and finish the reconquest of Granada?