•the queen of Castile whose marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469 marked the beginning of the modern state of Spain; they instituted the Spanish Inquisition in 1478 and sponsored the voyages of Christopher Columbus in 1492 (1451-1504)
Latinate and Italian form of Isabel. The grape cultivar is popularly thought to have been discovered by a Mrs Isabella Gibbs of South Carolina in 1816.