The Holy Land appears as the farthest horizon of Catalina’s political and religious ambition. It is not visited in the narrative: instead, it gives scale to her vision of England as a power that should carry the Church’s influence beyond Europe, while the failure of the planned crusade leaves that vision unrealized.

A destination in Catalina’s vision

When Catalina rejects the idea that England should remain apart from Europe’s wars, she describes a different national purpose: England should help establish the Church across Europe and onward to the Holy Land, Africa, and the territories she associates with Muslim powers. The Holy Land is thus part of an expansive mission, not a setting for an episode that occurs on the page. Her language places it at the edge of a world-wide undertaking and makes it a measure of how far she believes England’s religious role should extend.

The crusading program

Catalina’s ambitions also shape her support for military action in defense of the Pope and Venice. She regards the defense of Venice as a duty entrusted to her by God and her mother, and fears that its loss could create an opening for the Moors in the heart of Christendom. In this reasoning, the Holy Land belongs to a wider imagined struggle over Christian power and security. The campaign’s immediate stated purpose is not a journey to the Holy Land, however: it is framed around serving the Pope and protecting Venice.

The journey that never happens

The promised crusade does not set sail for the Holy Land. The English knights reach Cádiz, but the expedition never proceeds to its intended distant confrontation. The contrast between Catalina’s sweeping vision and the campaign’s curtailed course gives the Holy Land its narrative significance: it remains a projected destination, a symbol of the scale of her religious purpose, rather than a place reached by the characters.