Isabella (I) the Catholic (1451–1504)

Queen of Castile from 1474, after the death of her brother Henry IV. By her marriage with Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469, the crowns of two of the Christian states in the Spanish peninsula cemented their dynastic link. Her youngest daughter was Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII of England. Under Isabella and her husband (the Catholic king), the reconquista was finally fulfilled with the taking of the Moorish city Granada in 1492.

She introduced the Inquisition into Castile, expelled the Jews, and gave financial encouragement to Columbus.