... had an interest in Navarre, which he intended to deny. Both Isabella and Ferdinand, however, had one aim in common: to crush the advancing tide of Islam. Their southern and eastern coasts were prone to raids from the Barbary Corsairs; their Mediterranean possessions were open to attack from the Ottoman Turks; and their newly conquered province of Granada was always likely to receive help from the Muslims in north Africa. Ferdinand's vehemence towards the Muslims seems at first glance to be Mudjar policy in his own kingdoms and his own kingdoms and raises the questions as to the sincerity of his religious pronouncements. It should be noted, however, that Ferdinand saw nothing paradoxical about pursuing a pro-Muslim domestic policy and an anti-Muslim foreign policy. What mattered to him was the welfare of his country. We should not be surprised therefore by Ferdinand's contrasting domestic and foreign policies. But was he really ...

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