FERDINAND V. of Castile and 11. of Aragon, non of John IL 01 Aragon, marrleil in 1460 lobelia, daughter of John II. of Castile, and helm!. to that crown, by whom ho had several daughter's, one of whom mama' Emmanuel, king of Portugal ; another, Cethermo, was mar nett to Henry VIII. of England, and the other, Joanna, married Philip archduke of Austria, son of the Emperor Maximilian I. FerdinaiM enereeded to the crowns of Aragon and of Sicily by the death of lib father, and hi. wife Is %belle had already succeeded in her own right and with the sanction of the Cortes, to the throne of Castile by the death of her brother, Henry 1V., In 1472. Thus ware the two grew eirleiens of spin uttit"1, though the two kingdoms remained undo 'operate administrations. Castile was still governed In the name of he queen until the death of lobelia in 1504, followed by that of the Archduke Philip in 1506, when Ferdinand, owing to the insanity of lie daughter Joanna, assumed the government of Clodle, which he retained till his death, when his grandson, Charles V., succeeded to be whole inheritance.
Ferdinand took from the Moors the kingdom of Granada, their last possession in Spain, in 1492, after a war of several years; at the same time Columbus was discovering for him the New World, where the Spaniards soon after made immense conquests. Ferdioand's general, Donzalo of Cordova, conquered for him the kingdom of Naples, partly by force, and partly by treachery. By similar means Ferdinand con
leered Navarra, which lie added to his other dominions. Ile was the moat powerful monarch of his time, and was also the cleverest ; but his abilities were disgraced by a total want of faith, and a recklessness of priuciple of which he made no scruple of boasting. He was styled 'the Catholic title which the kines of Spain have continued to assume ever since, iu consequence of his having cleared the soil of Spain of the Mohammedans. He was also called ' the Prudent; and ' the Wise.' He was ably assisted by his minister, Ximenes[Cissomos], who emancipated the crown from the power of the feudal nobles by raising troops at the expense of the state, and by favouring the privi leges of the municipal towns. Ferdinand established the Inquisition iu Spain, which fearful tribunal continued till 1620, when it was finally abolished. Acting from the same intolerant principle, ho drove away the Jews from Spain; but ho also established a severe system of police throughout his dominions by means of the association called the Saute Herrnandad, which did summary justice upon all offenders without distinction of ranks. He also forbade any papal bull to be promul gated without the previous sanction of the royal council He may be considered as the restorer, if not the founder, of the Spanish monarchy. Ferdinand died in January 1516, at sixty-three years of age.