I S A 
neighbourhood by Michael’s generals, entirely defeated 
them, and proceeded to Conltantinople. Michael was 
obliged by the fenate and people to reiign his dignity, 
and retire to a monaftery ; and Ifaac was folemnly crowned 
on September i, 1057. His Ihort reign was undifturbed 
by foreign enemies; but his attempt to recruit the ex- 
liaufted treaiury with the wealth of the vnonafteries oc- 
cafioned an oppofition from the patriarch, which the em¬ 
peror quelled by banifliing that prelate. Not long after, 
he fell into a decline of health, whichadmoniftied him to 
retire from the world. His brother John refufing to ac¬ 
cept of the toil of empire, the purple was conferred upon 
Conftantine Ducas; and Ifaac, in 1059, ended his reign 
of two years and three months in a monaftery. He f'pent 
the remaining two years of his life in exercifes of piety, 
not dil'daining to perform the mod fervile offices of the 
convent, but frequently honoured by the refpeftful vifits 
of his fucceffor. 
I'SAAC II. furnamed Ancelus, emperor of the Eaft, 
elefeended on the female fide from Alexius Comnenus, 
was a principal perfon in tlie Conftantinopolitan court in 
the time of Andronicus Comnenus, who, becoming jea¬ 
lous of him, commanded him to be feized and put to 
death. Ifaac flew the executioner with his own hand, 
and took fanCtuary in a church. The people, wearied 
with the tyranny of Andronicus, aflembled, and faluted 
Ifaac emperor A. D. 1185; Andronicus was foon after 
apprehended, and put to a cruel death. The new em¬ 
peror foon fhowed himfelf unworthy of his ftation. After 
fome aids of juftice to thofe who had fuffered under the 
former tyranny, he abandoned himfelf to frivolous amufe- 
inents and luxurious indulgences, and opprefted his peo¬ 
ple by the lavifh expences of his houfehold. His generals 
were fuccefsful in expelling the Sicilian invaders, but he 
difgraced himfelf by the cruelty with which he treated 
the captives. He failed in an attempt to recover the 
ifland of Cyprus from an ufurper of the Comnenian fa¬ 
mily. A revolt of Branas, his principal general, reduced 
him to great danger. Conltantinople was belieged, and 
the weak emperor put all his truft in an image of the 
Virgin Mary, and the prayers of the monks. At length, 
roufed by Conrad, foil of the marquis of Montferrat, he 
aflembled troops, marched out, and obtained a victory, in 
which Branas was (lain. A revolt of the opprefled Bul¬ 
garians under Peter and Afan proved a lalting detriment 
to the empire, fince it became neceifary to fuffer them to 
elfablilh an independent kingdom. When the emperor 
Frederic Barbarofla led a powerful army to aflift the cru- 
faders, Ifaac, either gained over by Saladin, with whom 
he had a friendly intercourfe, or fulpeCting the intentions 
of the weftern princes, threw every obftacle in the way of 
their pafiage, and drew upon himl'elf various afts of hol- 
tility. Unable to refill the arms of Frederic, he was 
obliged to fubmit to a difgrac'eful accommodation, and to 
provide veflels for the conveyance of his troops into Alia. 
The perfidy of his own brother Alexius was, however, 
more fatal to him than foreign violence. In 1195 he 
feized upon the throne during the abfence of Ifaac on a 
hunting-party; and, obtaining pofl'eflion of his perfon, 
deprived him of fight, and fliut him up in a lonefome 
prifon. His fon Alexius, efcaping from the hands of his 
■uncle, engaged the weftern powers in his behalf, who, in 
1203, took Conltantinople, and replaced Ifaac upon the 
throne in conjunction with his fon. Another revolution 
in 1204, effected by Alexius Ducas, hurled them from 
their feat; and the death of the unfortunate Ifaac loon 
followed, or perhaps preceded, the murder of his lorn 
I'SAAC BEN ARU'MA, a learned rabbi in the fif¬ 
teenth century, was obliged to quit Spain by the perfe- 
cuting edift of Ferdinand and Ifabella againft the Jewilh 
nation, iflued in the year 1492. He was a great philo- 
fopher and cabal ill, and author of a large commentary on 
the Pentateuch, entitled Akedat Ifaac, of which there have 
been two editions in folio, one printed at Venice, and the 
other at Salonica. It is a work which is highly efteemed 
Vol. XI. No. 762. 
I S A S9.3 
by the Jews; though fome critics think it too difFufe, al~ 
legorical, and full of a moral altogether Jewilh. 
I'SAAC KA'RO, another learned rabbi, who was an 
exile from Spain under the fame perlecuting ediCt. He 
retired at firft into Portugal, and thence to Jerufalem; 
but loft his children and books on his pafiage. He led 
the life of a perfeCt reclule ; and, to conlole himfelf for 
the lofs of his children, compofed a book, entitled Toledot 
JiJkack, or the Generations of Ifaac, confilting of a com¬ 
ment, or ioluticn of fome doubtful queltions or> the Pen¬ 
tateuch, partly cabaliftical and partly literal, in which he 
lias examined the fentiments of other interpreters. It 
was firft printed at Conltantinople, in 1518, folio; after¬ 
wards at Mantua, in 1593; and again at the fame place, 
and at Amfterdam, in 1708. Buxtorf attributes to him 
a ritual, publiflied at Venice, and entitled Ebtn Haezcr, or 
the Rock of Support. 
I'SAAC ROCK', a rocky iflet among the Bahamas. 
There are four or five others near. Lat. 25. 48. N. 
Ion. 81. W. 
IS'ABAD, a town of Perfia, in the province of Irak : 
fifty miles fouth of Hamadan. 
IS'ABE, a town of Japan, in the ifland of Niphon ; 
fifty miles north-weft cl Jeddo. 
IS'ABEL, one of the Solomon Ifies, two hundred miles 
in circumference, in the Pacific Ocean, lat. 7. 30. S. about 
1G0 leagues welt of Lima, difeovered by Mendana, 15G7, 
whole inhabitants are cannibals, and worlhip lerpents, 
toads, and other animals. Their complexion is bronze, 
their hair woolly, and they wear no covering but round 
the waift. The people are divided into tribes, and are. 
conftantly at war with each other. Bats were feen here, 
which, from one extremity of their wings to. the other, 
meafured five feet. Dumpier, who has the reputation of 
exaCtnefs, fays that he law, in the fmall ifland of.Sabuda, 
on the weft coalt of Papua, bats as large as young rabbits, 
having wings four feet in extent from one tip to the other. 
ISABEL'LA, the name of a woman. 
ISABEL'LA, queen of Caftile, born in 1451, was the 
daughter of John II. She palled the early part of her life 
in oblcurity, without the leaft profpeCt of a crown ; but, 
the Caftilians having confpired againft her brother Henry 
IV. a weak and vicious prince, obliged him (after the 
death of the infant Alphonfo) to declare Ifabella heirefs 
to the kingdom, to the excluiion of Joanna, who palled 
for his daughter, but was not believed to be fuch. She 
was married in 1469 to Ferdinand fon of John II. king 0 f 
Arragon ; and, upon the death of Henry, in 1474, they 
were conjointly declared king and queen of Caftile. A 
party however exifted in favour of Joanna; and Alphonfo 
IV. king of Portugal, entering Caftile with an army, 
efpoufed her publicly, and ailumed the regal titles. His 
defeat at the battle of Toro, in 1475, was fatal to his pre- 
tenlions; and, by a peace concluded in 1479, the right of 
Ifabella and her hulband was fully acknowledged. I11 
that year the crown of Arragon fell to Ferdinand, and 
thenceforth the kingdoms of Caftile and Arragon were 
inleparably united, compriling the whole of Spain not 
pofiefled by the Moors. 
The events of the united reign will be related in the 
article Spain. Ifabella, who was high-fpirited, and jealous 
of her authority, governed Caftile as the real lovereign ; 
and her hulband had the policy to concur in her meafures.. 
Religious zeal was a leading feature in her character, to 
which was principally owing the introduction of the in- 
quilition into Spain, and the war undertaken for the ex- 
pulfion of the Moors. The defire of propagating the 
Chriftian faith in parts of the world where it was yet un¬ 
known, was likewife the chief motive of the encourage¬ 
ment file gave to the projects of Columbus, which was 
eventually the caule of fuch a magnificent addition to the. 
Spanilh monarchy. See the article America and Co¬ 
lumbus. In all thefe fchemes file entered with a warmth, 
and fpirit that contrafted with the coldnefs and caution 
of Ferdinand. Her merits towards the church were re- 
5 II warded 
