Signed the Alhambra Decree at Granada, ordering expulsion of non-converted Jews from Castile and Aragon.
On 31 March 1492, at the Alhambra in Granada, Isabella and Ferdinand signed the Alhambra Decree, ordering the expulsion of all Jews from their realms who refused to convert to Catholicism. The edict gave Jews a brief period to leave Castile and Aragon or accept baptism, under threat of severe penalties.
The decree was driven by concerns—shared by Isabella, Ferdinand, and their confessors—that the continued presence of practicing Jews allegedly endangered the faith of conversos and undermined religious unity. In practice, it resulted in the forced migration of tens of thousands of Jews, many of whom resettled in North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, and other parts of Europe.
Historically, the Alhambra Decree represents a stark milestone: a first major state-sanctioned mass expulsion of Jews from a unified Spanish monarchy. It reshaped Spain’s demography, weakened sectors of its economy, and contributed enduring trauma to Sephardic communities.
From the perspective of women’s history, Isabella’s role in endorsing and promulgating this decree reveals how a female ruler could exercise far-reaching, coercive religious authority, making decisions that profoundly affected minority populations and setting precedents for confessional statecraft in early modern Europe.