History Series / Isabel

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: While the writers do strive for accuracy they are clear that this is a drama and not a documentary. Some events are simplified, moved in the timeline, given to different characters or affected by RuleOfDrama. The [[http://www.rtve.es/television/isabel-la-catolica/ TVE website]] features interviews with the show's historical consultants telling what is real and what fictional in each episode.
** The Granadans' style of dressing is closer to Ottoman, if not full-fledged ArabianNightsDays, than properly Nasrid. Granadan soldiers are also almost all armed with scimitars, when they used [[http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espada_jineta straight swords]] in real life. Finally, in a phenomenon that would need its own trope for how often it happens, the Berber Gomeres from Northern Morocco are [[RaceLift portrayed by black actors]] instead of, well, Berbers.
** Although he was not the heir of his family, meaning his position in the court was relatively low, the real UsefulNotes/GonzaloFernandezDeCordoba still came from an aristocratic family and was in fact a relative to Fernando himself. Nothing of this is mentioned in the series, possibly to make his ShipTease with Isabel feel more like the impossible love between a high queen and a lowly soldier. Also, Fernando's beef with Gonzalo after Isabel's death is either cut or happens offscreen.
** UsefulNotes/TomasDeTorquemada is characteristically portrayed as more of a bloodthirsty loon than he was by all accounts.
** UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus' characterization, which makes him arrogant, uncultured, a con man and a liar, also reflects more classical pop culture preconceptions about him than what we know for sure about his personality. It's also notable that in the series, Columbus is helped in the intellectual tasks of his projects by Moor sages rather than Franciscan monks (consultants like Juan Pérez and Antonio de Marchena are fully excised, and it's not even mentioned that the Franciscans were who put him in contact with the crown in the first place), making it look like the merit of his enterprise was more due to Muslim brainpower than their own devices. This caused a bout of controversy in real life, with Andalusian politician Elena Tobar criticizing the series for the deviation.
** In the sequel ''Carlos, Rey Emperador'', UsefulNotes/HernanCortez finds Gerónimo de Aguilar entirely by chance outside of his camp. In real life, Cortés was already informed about him and sent people to his village in order to recruit him. This version of Aguilar is still dressed as a churchman and looks a bit shell-shocked from his years there, while the real deal had adapted rather happily and was wearing native garments to the point he looked like one of them. The same scene also introduces UsefulNotes/LaMalinche in spectacular fashion by pulling a knife on Cortés, which would have been utterly out of character for what we now about her personality and intelligence, and also reveals that Malinche is her indigenous name (presumably Malintzin), which in real life is DatedHistory, it being believed to be rather the indigenous form of her Christian name, Marina.
** As it could not be otherwise in pop culture, Cortés and his men wear the ubiquitous ''morrión'' helm, which in real life wasn't used until half a century later, and leather kneeboots, instead of the ''alpargates'' more proper for hot climates. Marina and the indigenous women also wear fantastic FurBikini-like attires that have nothing to do with the long ''hupil'' robes they would have worn in real life, and Moctezuma and his circule are dressed solely in loincloths more in the style of Mayans than Aztecs. Speaking of Moctezuma, in this series he speaks fluent Spanish, while in real life he needed Marina to translate.
** Although we don't get to see much of the Mexica Empire, it's notable that every Amerindian appeared onscreen is a honorable NobleSavage displeased by the ways of Cortés and company, while all of the nastiest aspects of their cultures, like cannibalism, imperialism and HumanSacrifice, either happen offscreen or aren't mentioned at all. Moctezuma actually berates Cortés because the Alvarado Massacre ended with many butchered Mexicas, an especially funny claim considering that the Aztec religion involved constant sacrifice of imperial subjects (the very festival the massacre interrupted included sacrifices, in fact).
** It's already notable that the Alvarado Massacre happens without UsefulNotes/PedroDeAlvarado, who in this series is AdaptedOut and seemingly replaced by Juan Velázquez, but even more than all of the massacre seems to happen in mere seconds while Cortés and Malinche are getting love-dovey in a hammock. In real life, it happened while (and ''because'') Cortés was away warring against a rival conquistador, Pánfilo de Narváez, who had been sent to capture him due to political enmities. The massacre of the series, which receives no justification (in real life, Alvarado apparently believed the festival was actually a trap to kill ''them''), also has the Spaniards randomly going to sack the royal treasure, after which Moctezuma is murdered by his courtiers in his throne room, nothing of which happened in real life.
** Also, as it is usual in portrayals of the Conquest of America, Cortés and his men are here alone in their war against the natives, instead of being at the head of a massive army of Tlaxcaltecs and other native states that allied with them against the Mexica (there is a throwaway line by Malinche that Cortés will need the help of the Mexica's enemies, but this doesn't happen onscreen). Only in the scenes mentioned above, Cortés' men should have been accompanied by a Tlaxcaltec guard almost twice their own number, who in real life would be instrumental for Cortés and company to get out of the city alive.
** In the series, Cortés screams to his wife Catalina that [[AGodAmI he is the god in the New World]] (no, not [[Manga/DeathNote that way]], but almost). The real Cortés was extremely Catholic even by his time's standards and would have likely never been so casually blasphemous. Also, Catalina's threat of destroying his career by denouncing his infidelity is treated as SeriousBusiness, with Cortés strangling her to death to impede it, but this would have not been the case. While it's true that Cortés had an exceptionally bitter marriage with her and all the evidence implies he did murder her, male infidelity was hardly a rarity in the setting and would not have given him much trouble in the court (in fact, the real Cortés ''was'' a known womanizer yet this was never much of a political impediment for him).
** Contrary to what ''Carlos'' shows, Cortés and UsefulNotes/FranciscoPizarro were not cousins, but nephew and uncle respectively, and they were distant enough that it's believed they didn't know each other personally, rather than being close comrades as in the series (also, Pizarro never returned to Spain after the conquest of the Inca). The incident happened right after their encounter, where Cortés unsheaths his sword for King Carlos to kill him with it, seems to be inspired by a similar scene where another conquistador, Miguel Díaz, did it on Cortés. The rest of the meeting, even if more faithful to history, is just as histrionic, as in real life Cortés was never arrested and there's no evidence that the king was so disdainful on him right on his face.
** In real life, Cortés executed Cuauhtemoc while they were both in an expedition to the Mayan lands, where hunger and perils eventually drove the Mexica auxiliars to consider revolting. In the series, Cortés executes him much later, back in the Mexica Empire and for an unspecified act of treason, and it's strongly implied that this was an excuse for Cortés to eliminate an untrustworthy chieftain before starting his sea exploration travels. The point about Cuauhtemoc accusing Cortés of having many deaths on his conscience, coming from the huey tlatoani of the bloodthirsty and iron-handed Mexica Empire, is definitely ironic.
** ''Carlos'' adapts out Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy and puts [[UsefulNotes/TheDukeOfAlba Fernando Álvarez de Toledo]] in his place during the Battle of St. Quentin. In real life, Álvarez was busy guarding Italy from a French invasion, the latter of which is mentioned in the series as a menace immediately after the battle.

** Although he was not the heir of his family, meaning his position in the court was relatively low, the real UsefulNotes/GonzaloFernandezDeCordoba still came from an aristocratic family and was in fact a relative to Fernando himself. Nothing of this is mentioned in the series, possibly to make his ShipTease with Isabel feel more like the impossible love between a high queen and a lowly soldier.

** It's already notable that the Alvarado Massacre happens without Pedro de Alvarado, who in this series is AdaptedOut and seemingly replaced by Juan Velázquez, but even more than all of the massacre seems to happen in mere seconds while Cortés and Malinche are getting love-dovey in a hammock. In real life, it happened while (and ''because'') Cortés was away warring against a rival conquistador, Pánfilo de Narváez, who had been sent to capture him due to political enmities. The massacre of the series, which receives no justification (in real life, Alvarado apparently believed the festival was actually a trap to kill ''them''), also has the Spaniards randomly going to sack the royal treasure, after which Moctezuma is murdered by his courtiers in his throne room, nothing of which happened in real life.

** In the series, Cortés screams to his wife Catalina that [[AGodAmI he is the god in the New World]] (no, not [[Manga/DeathNote that way]], but almost). The real Cortés was extremely Catholic even by his time's standards and would have likely never been si casually blasphemous. Also, Catalina's threat of destroying his career by denouncing his infidelity is treated as SeriousBusiness, with Cortés strangling her to death to impede it, but this would have not been the case. While it's true that Cortés had an exceptionally bitter marriage with her and all the evidence implies he did murder her, male infidelity was hardly a rarity in the setting and would not have given him much trouble in the court (in fact, the real Cortés ''was'' a known womanizer yet this was never much of a political impediment for him).
** Contrary to what ''Carlos'' shows, Cortés and UsefulNotes/FranciscoPizarro were not cousins, but nephew and uncle respectively. The incident happened right after their encounter, where Cortés unsheaths his sword for King Carlos to kill him with it, seems to be inspired by a similar scene where another conquistador, Miguel Díaz, did it on Cortés. The rest of the meeting, even if more faithful to history, is just as histrionic, as in real life Cortés was never arrested and there's no evidence that the king was so disdainful on him right on his face.

** ''Carlos'' adapts out Emmanuel Philibert of Saboy and puts [[UsefulNotes/TheDukeOfAlba Fernando Álvarez de Toledo]] in his place during the Battle of St. Quentin. In real life, Álvarez was busy guarding Italy from a French invasion, the latter of which is mentioned in the series as a menace immediately after the battle.

** In the series, Cortés screams to his wife Catalina that [[AGodIAm he is the god in the New World]] (no, not [[Manga/DeathNote that way]], but almost). The real Cortés was extremely Catholic even by his time's standards and would have likely never been si casually blasphemous. Also, Catalina's threat of destroying his career by denouncing his infidelity is treated as SeriousBusiness, with Cortés strangling her to death to impede it, but this would have not been the case. While it's true that Cortés had an exceptionally bitter marriage with her and all the evidence implies he did murder her, male infidelity was hardly a rarity in the setting and would not have given him much trouble in the court (in fact, the real Cortés ''was'' a known womanizer yet this was never much of a political impediment for him).

** ''Carlos'' adapts out Emmanuel Philibert of Saboy and puts UsefulNotes/FernandoAlvarezDeToledoYPimentel in his place during the Battle of St. Quentin. In real life, Álvarez was busy guarding Italy from a French invasion, the latter of which is mentioned in the series as a menace immediately after the battle.

** Juana de Avis to Anne of Brittany. Both are queens that were forced to marry kings well bellow them in term of looks and intelligence, condemning them to loveless marriages with no children (one because her husband is [[UsefulNotes/{{Asexuality}} asexual]], the other because of multiple miscarriages).

[[CulturalTranslation Conceived]] as [[FollowTheLeader a Spanish answer]] to ''Series/TheTudors'', the three-season series [[ShownTheirWork follows]] [[FreakierThanFiction closely]] the various shenanigans that marked the life and reign of [[UsefulNotes/TheCatholicMonarchs Queen Isabella I of Castile "The Catholic" (1451-1504)]], beginning in the time when a teenage Isabel and her brother Alfonso were brought from reclusion in the Castle of Arévalo to the DecadentCourt of her half-brother, King Enrique IV, in Segovia. While surviving ridiculous levels of court intrigue, wars and [[TreacherousAdvisor treacherous advisors]], what was once a little girl so far in the line of succession that nobody though she had a hope to rule, puts to good use her strenght and ambition to become the historical figure that we remember today as the Queen that united the crowns of Castile and Aragon through her [[MarryForLove unauthorized marriage]] to King Ferdinand II, conquered Granada, sponsored UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus, founded UsefulNotes/TheSpanishInquisition, and expelled the Jews from Spain. A film depicting the aftermath of Isabel's death, ''The Broken Crown'', was produced by the same cast and crew and was originally intended to be followed by the sequel series ''Carlos, Rey Emperador'' (about Isabel's grandson, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V), but ended being released after ''CRE'' finished its run.

* AllPropheciesAreTrue: An astrologist predicts that Muley-Hacén's youngest son Nasr will "win a thousand battles" and that his eldest, Boabdil, will surrender the city to the Christians. Muley-Hacén replies that that doesn't make sense, but Boabdil does indeed become emir against his wishes and surrenders the city. He's also right about Nasr, but not the way it sounds like.[[note]] In RealLife he converted to Christianity, married into Castilian nobility and led troops to victory... ''against'' Muslim uprisings in Granada, and later also against the Comuneros rebels in Castile during the reign of Charles I/V.[[/note]]

** The Granadans' style of dressing is closer to Ottoman, if not full-fledged ArabianNightsDays, than properly Nasrid. Granadan soldiers are also almost all armed with scimitars, when they used [[http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espada_jineta straight swords]] in real life. Finally, in a phenomenon that would need its own trope for how often it happens, the Berber Gomeres from Northern Morocco are [[RaceLift portrayed by]] black actors instead of, well, Berbers.

** UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus' characterization, which makes him arrogant, uncultured, a con man and a liar, also reflects more the classical pop culture preconceptions about him than what we know for sure about his personality. It's also notable that in the series, Columbus is helped in the intellectual tasks of his projects by Moor sages rather than Franciscan monks (consultants like Juan Pérez and Antonio de Marchena are fully excised, and it's not even mentioned that Franciscans were who put him in contact with the crown in the first place), making it look like the merit of his enterprise was more due to Muslim brainpower than their own devices. This caused a bout of controversy in real life, with Andalusian politician Elena Tobar criticizing the series for the deviation.

** As it could not be otherwise in pop culture, Cortés and his men wear the ubiquitous ''morrión'' helm, which in real life wasn't used until half a century later, and leather kneeboots, instead of the ''alpargates'' more proper for hot climates. Marina and the indigenous women also wear fantastic FurBikini-like attires that have nothing to do with the long ''hupil'' robes they would have worn in real life, and Moctezuma and his circule are dressed solely in loincloths more in the style of Mayans than Aztecs. Speaking of Moctezuma, in this series he speaks fluent Spanish, while in real life Cortés and him needed Marina to translate.
** Although we don't get to see much of the Mexica Empire, it's notable that every Amerindian appeared onscreen is a honorable NobleSavage displeased by Cortés and company, while all of the nastiest aspects of their cultures, like cannibalism, imperialism and HumanSacrifice, either happen offscreen or aren't being mentioned at all. Moctezuma actually berates Cortés because the Alvarado Massacre ended with many butchered Mexicas, an especially funny claim considering that the Aztec religion involved constant sacrifice of imperial subjects (the very festival which the massacre interrupted included it, in fact).
** It's already notable that the Alvarado Massacre happens without Pedro de Alvarado, who in this series is AdaptedOut and replaced by Juan Velázquez, but even more than all of the massacre seems to happen in mere seconds while Cortés and Malinche are getting love dovey in a hammock. In real life, it happened while (and ''because'') Cortés was away warring against a rival conquistador, Pánfilo de Narváez, who had been sent to capture him due to political enmities. The massacre of the series, which receives no justification (in real life, Alvarado apparently believed the festival was actually a trap to kill ''them''), also has the Spaniards going to sack the royal treasure, after which Moctezuma is murdered by his courtiers in his throne room, nothing of which happened in real life.

** In the series, Cortés screams to his wife Catalina that [[AGodIAm he is the god in the New World]] (no, not [[Manga/DeathNote that way]], but almost). The real Cortés was extremely Catholic even by his time's standards and would have never ever said that. Also, Catalina's threat to destroy his career by denouncing his infidelity is treated as SeriousBusiness, with Cortés strangling her to death to impede it, but this would have not been the case. While it's true that Cortés had an exceptionally bitter marriage with her and all the evidence implies he did murder her, male infidelity was hardly a rarity in the setting and would not have given him much trouble in the court (in fact, the real Cortés ''was'' a known womanizer yet this was never much of a political impediment for him).
** Contrary to what ''Carlos'' shows, Cortés and UsefulNotes/FranciscoPizarro were not cousins, but nephew and uncle respectively. After that, the incident where Cortés unsheaths his sword for King Carlos to kill him with it seems to be inspired by a similar scene where another conquistador, Miguel Díaz, did it on Cortés. The rest of the meeting, even if more faithful to history, is just as histrionic, as in real life Cortés was never arrested and there's no evidence that the king was so disdainful on him right on his face.
** In real life, Cortés executed Cuauhtemoc while they were both in an expedition to the Mayan lands, where hunger and perils eventually drove the Mexica auxiliars to consider revolting. In the series, Cortés executes him much later, back in the Mexica Empire and for an unspecified act of treason, and it's strongly implied that this was an excuse for Cortés to remove dangerous elements in land before starting his sea exploration travels. The point about Cuahtemoc accusing Cortés of having many deaths on his conscience, coming from the huey tlatoani of the Mexica Empire, is definitely ironic.

** The Granadans' style of dressing is closer to Ottoman, if not full-fledged ArabianNightsDays, than properly Nasrid. Granadan soldiers are also almost all armed with scimitars, when they used [[http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espada_jineta straight swords]] in real life. Finally, in a phenomenom that would need its own trope for how often it happens, the Berber Gomeres from Northern Morocco are [[RaceLift portrayed by]] black actors instead of, well, Berbers.

** In the first season, the nobles rebel against Enrique IV accusing him of being homosexual, a willing cuckold, a pacifist and a ruler too nice to religious minorities.

** The Granadans' style of dressing is closer to Ottoman, if not full-fledged ArabianNightsDays, than properly Nasrid. Granadan soldiers are also almost all armed with scimitars, when they used [[http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espada_jineta straight swords]] in real life. Finally, in a phenom that would almost need its own trope for how often it happens, the Berber Gomeres from Northern Morocco are [[RaceLift portrayed by]] black actors instead of, well, Berbers.
** Although he was not the heir of his family, meaning his position in the court was relatively low, the real UsefulNotes/GonzaloFernandezDeCordoba still came from an aristocratic family and was in fact a relative to Fernando himself. Nothing of this is mentioned in the series, possibly to make his ShipTease with Isabel feel more as an impossible love between a high queen and a lowly soldier.

** Boabdil is depicted as being barely able to hold a sword. In real life he was a great swordsman, but completely sucked as a general.

* HistoricalBadassUpgrade:
** UsefulNotes/GonzaloFernandezDeCordoba joins Alfonso's entourage as a trained and seasoned warrior, rather than as [[AgeLift the 13 year-old page]] he was by that point in real life.
** Inverted with Diego Pacheco, who surrenders after Fernando's victory in Zamora and breaks down crying when he is threatened with execution. In real life he had to be subdued ''again'' when the Portuguese invaded Extremadura, and afterwards served the CCMM in Granada, where he lost an arm in combat. None of this is shown in the series.
** Also inverted with Boabdil, who is depicted as a wimp who can barely hold a sword. In real life he was a great swordsman; he only sucked completely as a general.

* HollywoodHistory: The Granada plotline has been criticized as being a bit too simplified, and the writers also admit to including dubious stories from the time if they make good television: Juana de Avis' artificial fertilization, Aldonza travelling [[SweetPollyOliver in drag]] with Fernando, Beatriz Osorio having an affair with him, Aixa telling Boabdil to "cry like a woman what you couldn't defend like a man"...

** Beatriz Osorio, actually a historical figure, is blamed in show for both Prince Juan's historical sickliness and Isabel's difficult twin pregnancy that ended with one of the babies dead at childbirth. This are presented as a result of her poisoning or making sure in some other way that they get sick, hoping that this gets Fernando for herself. There is of course no evidence of anything of this other than that Osorio was at Isabel's service at the time, and the first historical mention that Isabel sent her away because she was "making eyes" with Fernando appears 40 years after the event. Osorio ''did'' build a very bad reputation as a cruel schemer once she arrived in the Canaries, however, where she was nicknamed "The Bloodthirsty".

** In the series, Cortés screams to his wife Cataline that [[AGodIAm he is the god in the New World]] (no, not [[Manga/DeathNote that way]], but almost). The real Cortés was extremely Catholic even by his time's standards and would have never ever said that. Also, Catalina's threat to destroy his career by denouncing his infidelity is treated as SeriousBusiness, with Cortés strangling her to death to impede it, but this would have not been the case. While it's true that Cortés had an exceptionally bitter marriage with her and all the evidence implies he did murder her, male infidelity was hardly a rarity in the setting and would not have given him much trouble in the court (in fact, the real Cortés ''was'' a known womanizer yet this was never much of a political impediment for him).

* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: It actually takes Fernando a while to get used to it.

** Also, as it is usual in portrayals of the Conquest of America, Cortés and his men are here alone in their war against the natives, instead of being at the head of a massive army of Tlaxcaltecs and other native states that allied with them against the Mexica (there is a throwaway line by Malinche that Cortés will need the help of the Mexica's enemies, but this doesn't happen onscreen). Only in the scenes mentioned above, Cortés' men should have been accompanied by a Tlaxcaltec guard almost twice their own number (who in real life would be instrumental for Cortés and company to get out of the city alive).
** The incident where Cortés unsheaths his sword for King Carlos to kill him with it seems to be inspired by a similar scene where another conquistador, Miguel Díaz, did it on Cortés. The rest of the meeting, even if more faithful to history, is just as histrionic, as in real life Cortés was never arrested and there's no evidence that the king was so disdainful on him right on his face.