OCR A-Level History A H505
Y101: Alfred and the Making of England 871–1016Unit group 1
Y102: Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest 1035–1107Unit group 1
Y103: England 1199–1272Unit group 1
Y104: England 1377–1455Unit group 1
Y105: England 1445–1509: Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VIIUnit group 1
Y106: England 1485–1558: The Early TudorsUnit group 1
Y107: England 1547–1603: The Later TudorsUnit group 1
Y108: The Early Stuarts and the Origins of the Civil War 1603–1660Unit group 1
Y109: The Making of Georgian Britain 1678–c.1760Unit group 1
Y110: From Pitt to Peel 1783–1853Unit group 1
Y111: Liberals, Conservatives and the Rise of Labour 1846–1918Unit group 1
Y112: Britain 1900–1951Unit group 1
Y113: Britain 1930–1997Unit group 1
Y201: The Rise of Islam c.550–750Unit group 2
Y202: Charlemagne 768–814Unit group 2
Y203: The Crusades and the Crusader States 1095–1192Unit group 2
Y204: Genghis Khan and the Explosion From the Steppes c.1167–1405Unit group 2
Y205: Exploration, Encounters and Empire 1445–1570Unit group 2
Y206: Spain 1469–1556Unit group 2
Y207: The German Reformation and the Rule of Charles v 1500–1559Unit group 2
Y208: Philip II 1556–1598Unit group 2
Y209: African Kingdoms c.1400–c.1800: Four Case StudiesUnit group 2
Y210: Russia 1645–1741Unit group 2
Y211: The Rise and Decline of the Mughal Empire in India 1526–1739Unit group 2
Y212: The American Revolution 1740–1796Unit group 2
Y213: The French Revolution and the Rule of Napoleon 1774–1815Unit group 2
Y214: France 1814–1870Unit group 2
Y215: Italy and Unification 1789–1896Unit group 2
Y216: The USA in the 19th Century: Westward Expansion and Civil War 1803–c.1890Unit group 2
Y217: Japan 1853–1937Unit group 2
Y218: International Relations 1890–1941Unit group 2
Y219: Russia 1894–1941Unit group 2
Y220: Italy 1896–1943Unit group 2
Y221: Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919–1963Unit group 2
Y222: The Cold War in Asia 1945–1993Unit group 2
Y223: The Cold War in Europe 1941–1995Unit group 2
Y224: Apartheid and Reconciliation: South African Politics 1948–1999Unit group 2
Y301: The Early Anglo-Saxons c.400–800Unit group 3
Y302: The Viking Age c.790–1066Unit group 3
Y303: English Government and the Church 1066–1216Unit group 3
Y304: The Church and Medieval Heresy c.1100–1437Unit group 3
Y305: The Renaissance c.1400–c.1600Unit group 3
Y306: Rebellion and Disorder Under the Tudors 1485–1603Unit group 3
Y307: Tudor Foreign Policy 1485–1603Unit group 3
Y308: The Catholic Reformation 1492–1610Unit group 3
Y309: The Ascendancy of the Ottoman Empire 1453–1606Unit group 3
Y310: The Development of the Nation State: France 1498–1610Unit group 3
Y311: The Origins and Growth of the British Empire 1558–1783Unit group 3
Y312: Popular Culture and the Witchcraze of the 16th and 17th CenturiesUnit group 3
Y313: The Ascendancy of France 1610–1715Unit group 3
Y314: The Challenge of German Nationalism 1789–1919Unit group 3
Y315: The Changing Nature of Warfare 1792–1945Unit group 3
Y316: Britain and Ireland 1791–1921Unit group 3
Y317: China and Its Rulers 1839–1989Unit group 3
Y318: Russia and Its Rulers 1855–1964Unit group 3
Y319: Civil Rights in the USA 1865–1992Unit group 3
Y320: From Colonialism to Independence: The British Empire 1857–1965Unit group 3
Y321: The Middle East 1908–2011: Ottomans to Arab SpringUnit group 3
Y206: Spain 1469–1556
- 8 subtopics
- 18 things to know
- Unit group 2
- Non-British period study, one unit of twenty-four
What Y206: Spain 1469–1556 covers
Spain 1469–1556 is unit Y206 of OCR History A, one of the twenty-four options in unit group 2, the non-British period study; a student sits one of them. Its four key topics are Isabella and Ferdinand: government, Isabella and Ferdinand: religion, Charles I: government and religion, overseas policies and the economy. 289 recall questions across 8 subtopics.
Where it is assessed
Unit group 2
Non-British period study, one unit of twenty-four.
Check the OCR specification ↗The 8 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Isabella and Ferdinand: government — situation in Spain in 1469, control of the nobility and townsRecall questions on the situation in Spain in 1469, campaign to secure the throne by 1479, administrative methods, control of the nobility and towns.Open →
- Isabella and Ferdinand: government — law and order, finance, the union of the crowns and Spain in 1516Recall questions on justice, royal revenue and the economy, the differences between Castile and Aragon, the extent of union, the New Monarchy debate, Ferdinand after 1504 and Spain at his death in 1516.Open →
- Isabella and Ferdinand: religion — religious aims and the conquest of GranadaRecall questions on the monarchs’ religious aims, royal control of church appointments, the title Catholic Kings, la convivencia, and the causes, cost, terms and significance of the war for Granada.Open →
- Isabella and Ferdinand: religion — treatment of the Moriscos and Conversos, Inquisition and its impactRecall questions on treatment of the Moriscos and Conversos, the Inquisition and its impact.Open →
- Charles I: government and religion — succession, relations with the Spanish nobility and townsRecall questions on the succession, administrative methods, inheritance and priorities by 1519, reliance on foreigners, relations with the Spanish nobility and towns.Open →
- Charles I: government and religion — religious developments and Charles’s abdicationRecall questions on religious developments, Charles I’s tolerance to Morisco traditions, relations with Rome, the Polyglot Bible, Illuminism and Erasmianism, Philip as Regent, Charles’s abdication.Open →
- Overseas policies and the economy: Columbus and the discovery and explorationsRecall questions on Columbus and the discovery and explorations of the Indies, the Caribbean, Hispaniola, Cortes and the Conquest of Mexico, Pizarro and the Conquest of Peru.Open →
- Overseas policies and the economy: economic impact of the New World and foreign policyRecall questions on the economic impact of the New World on Spanish trade and the economy, domestic trade, industry and agriculture, foreign policy: aims and threats.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Give three ways in which the rule of Castile and Aragon differed.
Describe the situation Spain was in when Ferdinand died in 1516.
Why did the war for Granada begin in 1482?
Why did the Morisco question remain unsolved?
Describe how the Inquisition proceeded against a suspect.
What was the impact of the Inquisition by 1516?
Give two examples of Charles's reliance on foreigners that angered Castilians.
Why did Isabella agree to back Columbus in 1492?
Why was the conquest of Peru not complete in 1533?
What was the state of Spanish industry and internal trade?
How did the Italian Wars develop under Charles?
How did Charles's position as Holy Roman Emperor affect Spain?
Describe the Santa Hermandad and its purpose.
List the territories Charles had inherited by 1519.
What did the alumbrados believe, and why were they condemned?
How was Charles's inheritance divided on his abdication?
Describe the Germanías.
Take Y206: Spain 1469–1556 further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Conversos vs Moriscos
Conversos: the baptised Jews and their descendants, suspected of secretly keeping their old faith. Moriscos: the Muslims of Spain who were compelled to accept baptism after 1500.
Santa Hermandad vs Inquisition
Santa Hermandad: the league of towns given police powers to suppress banditry and disorder. Inquisition: the tribunal established in 1478 to detect and punish false converts.
Cortes of Castile vs Cortes of Aragon
Cortes of Castile: the assembly of the Castilian towns, which voted taxation but had little power to refuse. Cortes of Aragon: the assemblies bound by fueros that could withhold consent and bargain over grievances.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Describe the condition of Castile in 1469.
Model answer
Royal authority under Henry IV had collapsed into faction: great nobles ran private armies and held usurped crown lands and revenues, the succession was disputed, the coinage had been debased and banditry was widespread.
- 2
What was the state of the Crown of Aragon in 1469?
Model answer
It was a federation of Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia, each with its own laws and Cortes, exhausted by the Catalan civil war of the 1460s, with a much smaller population than Castile but interests in Italy and the Mediterranean.
- 3
Why was the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand in 1469 controversial?
Model answer
They were cousins and married without a genuine papal dispensation, and Henry IV of Castile had not consented, so Isabella married in secret and in defiance of the king she hoped to succeed.
- 4
Who challenged Isabella's claim to Castile, and with whose support?
Model answer
Juana, Henry IV's daughter, whose legitimacy was widely doubted; she was backed by a section of the Castilian nobility and by Afonso V of Portugal, who married her and invaded.
- 5
How was the Castilian succession finally settled?
Model answer
Isabella's forces held their own at Toro in 1476 and turned it into a propaganda victory, and by the Treaty of Alcáçovas in 1479 Portugal recognised her as queen in return for Castile abandoning its claims to the African coast, keeping only the Canaries.
- 6
What did the Cortes of Toledo in 1480 do for royal government?
Model answer
It reorganised the Royal Council so that decisions rested with university-trained lawyers while nobles could attend but not vote, and it resumed crown revenues granted away since 1464, greatly increasing the king's income and control.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Y206: Spain 1469–1556 revision questions
- What does Y206: Spain 1469–1556 cover in OCR A-Level History A?
- 8 subtopics: isabella and ferdinand: government — situation in spain in 1469, control of the nobility and towns, isabella and ferdinand: government — law and order, finance, the union of the crowns and spain in 1516, isabella and ferdinand: religion — religious aims and the conquest of granada, isabella and ferdinand: religion — treatment of the moriscos and conversos, inquisition and its impact, charles i: government and religion — succession, relations with the spanish nobility and towns, charles i: government and religion — religious developments and charles’s abdication, overseas policies and the economy: columbus and the discovery and explorations and overseas policies and the economy: economic impact of the new world and foreign policy. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Y206: Spain 1469–1556 organised?
- By the OCR H505 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Y206: Spain 1469–1556, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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