Isabella I of Castile (1451–1504)

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Isabella I of Castile (1451–1504)

Isabella I of Castile (b. 22 April 1451; d. 26 November 1504), called "la Católica," Spanish queen of Castile and León (1474–1504). The daughter of John II of Castile, and his second wife, Isabella of Portugal, Isabella faced a rival claimant to the throne, Juana La Beltraneja, the daughter of her half-brother, Henry IV of Castile. Although Juana's paternity was in doubt, Henry IV and the powerful Mendoza family supported her claim. In 1468 Henry IV acknowledged Isabella's claim on the condition that she marry Alfonso V, king of Portugal. Isabella chose to ignore this arrangement and secured the approval of her noble supporters, led by the archbishop of Toledo, to marry Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1469. Her assertion of independence prompted Henry IV to disown her, and his death in 1474 initiated a civil war of succession between Isabella and Juana's noble supporters and Isabella's husband, Ferdinand, and Juana's suitor, Alfonso of Portugal. Isabella and Ferdinand's titles were secured by a peace treaty (1479) and Juana retired to a convent, although she asserted her claims until her death in 1530.

The primary task of Ferdinand and Isabella was to bring peace and order to their realms through the exercise of direct personal authority. Isabella traveled throughout Castile, covering as much as 1,200 miles in a single year. She also revived the medieval brotherhoods (hermandades) to restore law and order in the towns. Isabella governed with a Royal Council (Consejo Real) staffed by university-trained legists (Letrados) and dispensed justice (after 1489) through audiencias established in major cities.

Isabella was determined to assert royal authority over the powerful Castilian nobility and recover territories and rights alienated by her ancestors. During her reign, the crown reclaimed the most recently alienated parcels and took three strategic cities—Cádiz, Gibraltar, and Cartagena—from their respective lords. She also brought the wealthy and powerful military orders under royal control when Ferdinand became their grand master.

Un-Christian and heretical influences in Spain disturbed the devoutly Catholic queen and in 1480 she commissioned a newly established Inquisition to root out heresy. In 1492 Isabella expelled the Jews who, because they were not baptized Christians, could not be classified as heretics. The monarchs also launched a crusade against the Moorish kingdom of Granada in 1482 and triumphantly claimed the capital city in 1492. Initial religious tolerance ended with the advent of the archbishop of Toledo and queen's confessor, Francisco Jimé-nez de Cisneros who, with Isabella's support, forced conversion through mass baptism (1499). Similarly, Isabella offered the choice of conversion or exile to the Moors elsewhere in Castile (1502) and thus limited Islamic and Jewish influence in her realm. Isabella's concern with Christian conversion extended to the native populations in the New World.

In addition to eliminating religious plurality in Spain, Isabella increased crown control over the Catholic Church. During her reign, Pope Alexander VI granted the crown patronage over all ecclesiastical appointments in Granada, the Canaries, and the New World. The monarchs also acquired greater control over the nomination of bishops in Castile.

When Christopher Columbus was rebuffed by the king of Portugal, he sought backing from the Castilian monarch; after much bargaining, he received Isabella's support in 1492. However, she opposed his enslavement of Indians and encouraged the formation of encomiendas and payment for wage labor. Her propitious decision to finance the first voyage was soon followed by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), which legitimated present and future Spanish claims in the New World.