Isaurians and the Isaurian dynasty 385Press, 1985); George Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine
State,trans. Joan Hussey (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1956);
Warren Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State and
Society(Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1997).
Isaac of Stella (ca. 1100–ca. 1172)English Cistercian
preacher
Born in ENGLANDabout 1100, Isaac went to FRANCEin
about 1130 for the teaching of the great masters of
CHARTRESand PARIS, Peter ABÉLARD, William of Conches
(ca. 1101–54), and GILBERTof Poitiers. There he acquired
a taste for scholastic disputation and innovation. Enter-
ing the Cistercian Monastery of Pontigny in about 1143,
he moved to Stella in 1146 and then, to find even more
solitude and simplicity, founded Les Châteliers, where he
died about 1172. Though using well the best sources
from the FATHERS OF THE CHURCHand ancient PHILOSO-
PHY, his works had a limited contemporary influence in
the Middle Ages, except for his letters on the canon of
the MASSand MYSTICISM. Rediscovered in the 20th cen-
tury, he is now considered to be among the most pro-
found metaphysicians of the 12th century.
Further reading:Bernard McGinn, The Golden Chain:
A Study in the Theological Anthropology of Isaac of Stella
(Washington, D.C.: Cistercian Publications, 1972).
Isabel I(Isabella the Catholic)(1451–1504) queen of
Castile, founder of the modern Spanish state
Born in Madrigal on April 22, 1451, Isabel was the daugh-
ter of John II (r. 1406–54) of CASTILEby his second wife,
Isabel of PORTUGAL, and was the half sister of Henry IV (r.
1454–74), who succeeded to the Castilian throne in 1454.
Henry had recognized Isabel as his heir over the claims of
his own daughter, Juana. Her royal paternity was ques-
tioned unsuccessfully by the king’s opponents. However,
when Isabel married FERDINAND OF ARAGON in 1469,
Henry transferred succession back to Juana.
THE THRONE SECUREDWhen Henry died, Isabel immediately claimed the throne
on December 11, 1474. In the ensuing civil war, Juana was
supported by some of the great Castilian nobles and the
Portuguese king, Afonso V (r. 1438–81). Afonso’s army
was defeated at the Battle of Toro in 1476, and he made
peace in 1479. In that same year Ferdinand succeeded to
the throne of Aragon and associated Isabel with his rule
there in 1481. Juana was sequestered in a convent.
UNIFICATION INTO SPAINThe process of unification of the country was solidified
by the achievements of Isabel and Ferdinand, the most
significant of which was the completion of the reconquest
of the peninsula from the Muslims. Begun in 1481, the
war to conquer GRANADAlasted until 1492, ending in
a complete Christian victory. The generous peace
terms that allowed the inhabitants to retain their Islamic
religion and laws were soon violated. There followed a
failed Moorish revolt in 1502. Adult Muslims who
refused Christian baptism were then expelled from Spain.
Earlier, in 1492 the Catholic monarchs ordered the expul-
sion of all unbaptized Castilian JEWS, nearly 150,000 in
all. The INQUISITION became the Spanish Inquisition,
established at the monarchs’ initiative in 1478, and
sought to uncover and correct the backsliding of all the
“New Christians” or baptized Jews and Moors.ROYAL OFFSPRING
Isabel had five children. The marriage of her daughter,
Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536), to Henry VIII
(r. 1509–47) of England eventually resulted in a divorce
controversy that was part of the English Reformation or
break with Rome. The marriage of Joan or Juana the
Mad (d. 1555) to Philip I the Handsome (r. 1504–06) of
BURGUNDY, son of the German emperor Maximilian I (r.
1493–1519), produced the successor to the Spanish Crown
and the Holy Roman Empire, Charles I of Spain or Charles
V (r. 1519–58). Isabel who died on November 26, 1504 in
Medina del Campo, nearly undid the unifying work of her
reign by leaving the Castilian throne not to her husband
Ferdinand but to her perhaps demented daughter. Ferdi-
nand retained control of the succession nonetheless.
Further reading:Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Ferdi-
nand and Isabella (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson,
1975); Peggy K. Liss, Isabel the Queen: Life and Times
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); Townsend
Miller, The Castles and the Crown: Spain, 1451–1555(New
York: Coward-McCann, 1963); Nancy Rubin, Isabella of
Castile: The First Renaissance Queen(New York: St. Mar-
tin’s Press, 1991).Isaurians and the Isaurian dynasty The Isaurian peo-
ple were originally from rural Isauria, a mountainous
region in the southern interior of ANATOLIA. This name was
later given to an eighth-century Byzantine ruling dynasty.
Isauria was almost the only part of the Byzantine
Empire that could furnish large numbers of native, tough,
warlike soldiers in the fifth century. The emperor Leo I
the Thracian (r. 457–474) recruited them to counteract
Ostrogothic control of the army. In 466 Leo married his
daughter, Ariadne, to an Isaurian chieftain named Tarasi-
codissa, who took the name Zeno when he became
emperor (r. 474–491). During Zeno’s reign, the OSTRO-
GOTHSwere replaced by an Isaurian dominance in the
army. When Zeno died, the Isaurians were displaced by
the emperor Anastasios I (491–518). After an Isaurian
rebellion, with the last of the rebel leaders killed in 497,
large numbers of the survivors were transported to
Thrace, where they were settled in colonies.THE DYNASTY
Theophanes the Confessor reported that the first Isaurian
ruler, Leo III the Syrian (r. 717–741), was sometimes