Isabel la católica(Isabella I of Castile)

Isabella I (Spanish: Isabel I, Old Spanish: Ysabel I; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also known as Isabella the Catholic, was queen of Castile and León (Crown of Castile). She and her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon, brought stability to the kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. Later the two laid the foundations for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. After a struggle to claim her right to the throne, she reorganized the governmental system, brought the crime rate to the lowest it had been in years, and pulled the kingdom out of the enormous debt her brother had left behind. Her reforms and those she made with her husband had an influence that extended well beyond the borders of their united kingdoms. Isabella and Ferdinand are known for completing the Reconquista, ordering conversion or exile of their Muslim and Jewish subjects and in supporting and financing Christopher Columbus'1492 voyage that led to the opening of the "New World". Isabella was granted the title Servant of God by the Catholic Church in 1974. 

Isabella was born in Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Ávila, to John II of Castile and Isabella of Portugal on 22 April 1451.^[1] At the time of her birth, her older half-brother Henry preceded her in the line of succession. Henry was 26 at that time and married, but childless. Her younger brother Alfonso was born two years later on 17 November 1453 and displaced her in the line of succession.^[2] When her father died in 1454, her half-brother ascended the throne as Henry IV. Isabella and Alfonso were left in Henry's care.^[3] Her brother Alfonso, mother, and she then moved to Arévalo.^[4]

These were times of turmoil for Isabella. She lived with her brother and her mother in a castle in Arevalo under poor conditions, where they suffered from a shortage of money. Although her father arranged in his will for his children to be financially well taken care of, her half-brother Henry did not comply with their father's wishes, either from a desire to keep his half-siblings restricted or from ineptitude.^[3] Even though the living conditions were lackluster, under the careful eye of her mother, Isabella was instructed in lessons of practical piety and in the deep reverence for religion.