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Although the Queen had several Converso counselors, the monarchs' catholic views led them to end the independence of Moors in the Iberian Peninsula with the conquest of Granada and to force the expulsion or conversion of thousands of Sephardic Jews. The Spanish Inquisition, inspired by earlier European Inquisitions, was created by their royal decree.

Their joint motto was Tanto monta, monta tanto ("It amounts so, so it amounts").

It was created by Antonio de Nebrija and was either:

• an allusion to the Gordian knot: Tanto monta, monta tanto, cortar como desatar ("..., cutting as untying")
• explaining the equal footing for both monarchs: Tanto monta, monta tanto, Isabel como Fernando ("..., Isabella as Ferdinand")

Their symbol was el yugo y las flechas, a yokeA yoke is a wooden crosspiece attached to a wagon and bound to the necks of a pair of horse or oxen. A yoke is also a control used in most airplanes, similar to a joystick or steering wheel. The aviator uses it to control the attitude of the plane, usuall and a fascesCincinnatus, returning the Roman fasces The fasces lictoriae ("bundles of the lictors") (in Italian, fascio littorio was, in ancient Rome, a symbol of power and authority imperium . It was carried before a magistrate, in a number corresponding to his rank of arrows. The yoke is another allusion to the Gordian knot. Y and F are the initials of Ysabel (archaic spelling) and Fernando. This symbol was later used by the Spanish fascist party the FalangeFalange was a totalitarian right-wing political organization founded by Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera during the Spanish II Republic. It constituted the core of the official single party in Spain, which was created after the Decreto de Unificacion (Unifica, which claimed the glory and the ideals of the Reyes Católicos.