FERDINAND V., called The Catholic, son of John II., King of Navarre and Aragon; born in Soz, Spain, March 10, 1452. He married, in 1469, the Princess Isabella of Castile, in whose right he succeeded on the death of her brother, Henry IV., to the throne of Castile. A rival claimant, Joanna, was supported by Alfonso, King of Portugal, who invaded Leon, and was defeated by Ferdinand at Toro, in 1476. Three years later Ferdinand succeeded his father in the kingdom of Aragon, thus reuniting the two crowns of Castile and Aragon. He applied himself to the reform of the great abuses in the administration, and in 1480, at the instigation of Torque mada, established the Inquisition at Se ville and, after courageous resistance on the part of the people, at Saragossa also. One of the greatest events of this reign was the conquest of Granada. The war with the Moors began in 1483; victory after victory attended the arms of Fer dinand, and in 1492 the capital city was taken after a siege of eight months. The "two kings," as they called Ferdinand and Isabella, made their entrance in January, 1493. The dominion of the Moors in Spain had lasted 800 years. By a cruel edict of the same year, 1493, the Jews in Spain were commanded to receive baptism, or quit the country in four months. Multitudes of them, counted at from 30,000 to 170,000, be came exiles, and the prisons were filled with those who remained. It was at this
period that Columbus, with vessels fur nished by Ferdinand and Isabella, made his memorable voyages and discovered America, which the Pope Alexander VI. assumed authority to give to those sov ereigns. The great Cardinal Ximenes was then confessor to Isabella, and in 1495 was made Archbishop of Toledo. In 1500, Gonsalvo was sent to make the conquest of Naples, which, partly by the sword and partly by the most unscru pulous perfidy, he effected. On the death of Isabella, in 1504, the Kingdom of Castile passed to Philip, son-in-law of Ferdinand; but on Philip's death, two years later, Ferdinand again assumed the government. In 1507 Ximenes became first minister, labored successfully for the conversion of the Moors, and achieved the conquest of Oran. The in famous League of Cambray was con cluded in 1508. Soon after Navarre was conquered and united to Castile and Aragon. Of Ferdinand's four daughters, one was married to the Archduke Philip, two in succession to Emanuel, King of Portugal, and the fourth, Catharine, first to Prince Arthur of England, and afterward to his brother, Henry VIII. Ferdinand died in Madrigalejo, Spain, Jan. 23, 1516, and was interred in the cathedral of Granada with Queen Isa bella.