I want to know more about the political situation regarding the unification of Castille and Aragon.
Why did the two kingdoms unite?
When did "Spain" officially came to be known as such?
I know that Isabella was the queen of Castille and Ferdinand the king of Aragon. What I'm curious about is who really held power after the two monarchs married. As far as I know, in your typical European monarchy, one monarch(typically the king) held the power, while the other(the queen) was merely a consort and held no true power.
Did the two rule their respective kingdoms independently, or did they rule both as equals? Was one considered to have more power and the other to be the lesser party(i.e. the 'consort')?
Their dynamic was actually extremely interesting. They truly were Co-rulers. The kingdoms were not joined with their marriage so technically they each ruled their land separately. Since Castille was much larger than Aragon, Isabella could have overshadowed Ferdinand. But she consciously chose to always give him the 'proper' respect of a husband. That bolstered his power. But, she was also very protective of her own rights as a ruler. It was a constant balancing act. Ferdinand was the final military decision maker, but Isabella traveled with her armies - making sure she was very aware of their problems and involved in the triumphs.
She even engineered their marriage herself and ran away from her older half-brother in order to marry and claim her legal rights to Castille.