Isabella I of Castile

Isabella was the daughter of King John II of Castile, the largest kingdom in Spain. Against her half-brother's wishes, she married Ferdinand, heir to the kingdom of Aragon, in 1469, and after a civil war she secured the throne of Castile. Ruling together as the Catholic Monarchs, she and Ferdinand brought most of Spain under one rule. They strengthened royal power over the nobles and set up the Spanish Inquisition in 1478 to investigate the sincerity of converts from Judaism. In January 1492 they captured Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Spain, ending a struggle of nearly eight centuries. That same year they ordered all Jews who would not become Christians to leave Spain, and many thousands went into exile. Also in 1492 Isabella agreed to back Christopher Columbus's voyage west. She supported learning and Spanish grammar, and her children married into the royal families of Portugal, England and the Habsburgs; her daughter Catherine of Aragon became the first wife of Henry VIII. She died in 1504.

Faith: One of the 'Catholic sovereigns' of Spain, who sought religious unity and acted against the Jews of their kingdoms. Source: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)