ISABELLA I., Sp. ISABEL, (1451 1504). Queen of Castile. known as the Catholic. She was born at Madri7al, Old Castile. the daugh ter of John II., King of Castile and Leon, by his second wife, the Infanta Isabella, of Portugal. In 1454 Isabglla's brother Henry ascended the throne of Castile, and in 1469 the Princess. after considerable opposition and in the face of great difficulties, married Ferdinand of Aragon. On the death of Henry IV., in 1474, she succeeded to the throne of Castile and Leon, to the ex clusion of her niece Joanna. She had won the support of a great part of the estates of the Kingdom during her brother's life, and the vic torious arms of her husband compelled the con sent of the rest. A war with Portugal, which was waged by King Alfonso in behalf of the Princess Joanna, was terminated in Isabella's favor in 1479. and the same year Ferdinand, who had been created honorary King of Castile, suc ceeded to the throne of Aragon as Ferdinand V. This union of the two chief Spanish kingdoms laid the foundation of Spain's future greatness. The first task the allied sovereigns set them selves to perform was the pacification and con solidation of the kingdoms of Castile and Ar agon. Then in 1482 they began the ten years' war against the Moors of Granada, which cul minated with the capture of the Moorish capital and the extinction of Moorish sovereignty in Spain at the beginning of 1492. It was toward the end of this struggle, the danger and hardships of which Isabella shared with her army, that the Queen of Castile earned her greatest title to fame in the eyes of posterity, by her acquiescence in the plans of Columbus, who was then a sup pliant at the Spanish Court. For their successes against the Moors and their stanch Catholicism the title of 'Catholic sovereigns' was conferred by the Pope on Ferdinand and Isabella. Queen
Isabella was possessed of no inconsiderable beauty and much winning grace, although proud. ambitious, and exceedingly punctilious. She was always present in meetings of the council, and insisted on the use of her name with that of Ferdinand in all public documents. The con solidation of the Spanish Kingdom through the organization of the Hermandad (q.v.) and the establishment of the royal supremacy over the great military orders were in a large measure her work. In the reign of Isabella the inquisi tion was organized in Castile by Torquemada, under whom its work was carried On with a bar barity bred of the most fanatical zeal. In 1492 the Jews were expelled from Castile and the rest of Spain, to the great detriment of the country. She died at Medina del Campo on Novem ber 26, 1504, and was buried in accord time with her OW II wishes ill Francisean monastery at Granada. Of her live children, the two eldest. Isabella. Queen of Portugal, and John, her only son, died in 1-198 and 1197 re spectively. It( her three remaining daughters, Joanna the Mad became t he wife of Philip of Aus tria and the mother of Charles V. of Germany; .Maria married Emmanuel of Portugal: and Catharine of Aragon was the unfortunate first Henry VIII. of England. and the mother of Mary Tula. Besides the works cited under CAs•iu:, and FERDINAND. consult: Pres cott, History of the of l'enlinand and Isa 1,( tht Catholic, ( London, 1889 ) , the best general work containing full biographical notes: Clemensin, "Elogio ,„ rots vi. of the .1/cmorios de la Academia de la Ilistoria, with biography and letters of Queen Isabella (Madrid. 1820) ; Nervo, Isabella la eatholique, refine d'Espagne, mr rie, scut temps, son refinc, j (Paris, 1884).