Hi to the followers of the development of my game Tanto Monta. There are several of you who have asked me why the game is called “Tanto Monta” and not “Tanto monta, monta tanto”; so I have decided to explain everything around this and I hope I know how to answer the question.

Both expressions have their depth and justification in the history of the period that the game relates and that has come down to our time. The title of the game has its origin in the expression that Ferdinand first, then Isabella, adopted for their joint monarchy and this is recorded in many writings and remains of the time. Ferdinand, as king of the Crown of Aragon, adopted this personal motto as his own, alluding to the Gordian knot that Alexander the Great cut instead of untying: “it’s as easy to cut as it is to untie”. In other words, no matter how it is done, the important thing is that it is achieved.  And indeed this motto was presented on the arrows, with a loose string (cut) around it.

However, the monarchy of the couple Ferdinand and Isabella is articulated as a monarchical union where both monarchs are of the 2 kingdoms, Castile and Aragon and consequently act on them; although the character of involvement of Ferdinand in the affairs of Castile is more marked than Isabella in those of Aragon. In the end this was translated in an impression of the citizenship that both she and he were in charge, and that together with the motto of Fernando ended up becoming dual, inverting the order indicating that both had decision in the reign and from there the well-known popular motto “tanto monta, monta tanto Isabel como Fernando” (both Isabel and Ferdinand are so much alike) being reduced to “Tanto monta, monta tanto monta”.

In the game I used the popular motto to name the third natal card of the Spanish player because it is a powerful card that can be used indistinctly with both Aragonese and Castilian units, thus departing from the norm of the rest of the natal cards but at the same time allowing me to represent this dual character of the monarchs over the subjects of both kingdoms.

Author: Carlos Diaz Narvaez