Death of Isabella of Castile

November 26, 1504

The queen who had funded Columbus, expelled the Jews, and conquered Granada died at Medina del Campo after a long illness. Castile passed to her grieving, unstable daughter Juana. Ferdinand of Aragon, suddenly a widower-king, began scheming to hold the united crown. Her will instructed humane treatment of indigenous peoples, cited by reformers like Las Casas but honored almost entirely in the breach.