The myth of Isabella of Castile as an element of political legitimacy inside the Francoism

Abstract

The problem of legitimacy of Francoism, a regime emerged from the guns and not ballots, is on the basis of their partisan manipulation of the person and the reign of Isabella the Catholic. Examined the relationship between power and femininity, there is every reason to understand why uses precisely this historical character, how and where it manipulates. This last aspect is studied through a threefold viewpoint: the official discourse, historiography and school indoctrination. From all this follows, in my view, the interpretative distortion of the reign and the rough manipulation of Isabella I, unilaterally assigned to the winning side. This is a misappropriation issued of double motivation: an exemplary effort in order to inoculate certain values among the public and, more specifically, in the female group; and a purpose of political legitimacy, forgetting the military uprising and displaying the mythified Catholic Queen as the link between that glorious Spain and Franco’s New State.