Isabella I of Castile

Isabella of Castile, written Isabel in the Nasrid article of the Encyclopaedia of Islam and Isabella in its article on al-Andalus, was queen of Castile and the wife of Ferdinand of Aragon. Together they are called the Catholic Kings or the Catholic Monarchs. ^{4 1} The articles read here mention her only as one of the pair, in connection with the end of Nasrid rule in Granada, and they say nothing of her early life, her death or her personal views. This record therefore follows what they report about the couple's joint policy and keeps those gaps open.

The article on the Nasrids says that Isabel's throne was contested from her accession late in 1474. It rested on more secure foundations with the Treaty of Alcacobas of 4 September 1479, which ended the civil war in Castile, confirmed its peace with Portugal and pacified Extremadura. ¹ In the same year the crown of Aragon passed to her husband. ¹ The author's conclusion is that the Catholic Monarchs could now turn to Granada and the Reconquest. ¹

According to the article on al-Andalus, once the Catholic Kings came to power the Christian offensive against Granada became co-ordinated and was conducted on a wider scale, with Loja falling in 1486, Malaga and Almeria the next year and Baza in 1489. ⁴ The article on Granada says that the city, which had never undergone a formal siege before, was besieged in the last campaign of the Catholic Monarchs in 896-897 AH, 1491-1492. ² The keep was surrendered on 1 Rabi I 897, 2 January 1492, and Ferdinand and Isabella entered the Alhambra on 6 January. ² The article on al-Andalus gives 2 Rabi I 897, 3 January 1492, for the surrender, a day later. ⁴ For the course of the war and the Nasrid side of it see the record of Ferdinand, Boabdil and the surrender of Granada.

The Nasrid article credits the monarchs with an ability to tackle internal dissension and unite most of their subjects in a common cause, which it says the Nasrids could not match. ⁵ This is the author's assessment.

The article on Granada says the palaces they took were strengthened and restored by the Catholic Monarchs, and that their Habsburg successors continued the work of preservation. ⁶ The article on the Mudejars records that the Catholic Kings decreed compulsory conversion in 1502 for the Castilian domains, which ended Mudejarism in the strict sense and led to the converts known as Moriscos. ³

The articles read give neither her dates of birth and death nor details of her rule beyond the Granada war. Nothing is added here from outside them.