The Year of Isabella I of Castile – Joanna, the unexpected heiress (Part one)

On 6 November 1479, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon welcomed a new child to their growing family, a little girl named Joanna. Joanna was healthy and beautiful, with strawberry-blonde hair and blue eyes. As the third child, Joanna was not the heir to either of her parents’ thrones and would instead be educated and raised to enter an important dynastic marriage.

The infanta was born in an exciting new era for her country: her parents’ marriage had united “Spain” for the first time, Muslim rule had ended and Spain was expanding through global exploration. Joanna and her four siblings were all destined to rule over or marry into the great houses of Europe and were of great importance.

Royal children were often raised in separate households from their parents, but as a child, Joanna and her siblings travelled around with the court, spending time between various castles, palaces and even military camps. Her parents always kept their children with them and provided them with a fantastic education. Joanna received tuition in history, law, maths, languages, reading, grammar, dancing, poetry, music, sewing, needlepoint and art. Exposure to Spain’s differing regions and peoples also gave Joanna a wide knowledge of her parents’ realms.

In 1496, a double marriage was arranged: Joanna and her brother John were to be married to two Habsburg children as part of a wider alliance between the powerful dynasties. Sixteen-year-old Joanna was set to marry Philip of Austria, the eighteen-year-old son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. John was set to marry Philip’s sister Margaret.

At the age of sixteen, Joanna left her homeland and her family behind and sailed to the Low Countries. The young princess travelled in an incredible fleet of 41 boats packed with clothing, jewellery, perfumes, food, gold plate and household staff.¹  Spain had to make a great impression on the fashionable Burgundian Court. An elaborate marriage ceremony had been planned for Philip and Joanna, but when the pair met for the first time, a month after Joanna’s arrival in Flanders, Philip brought the wedding forward so that the couple could consummate their union sooner. It seemed the young couple were instantly attracted to each other, and that love was blossoming.²

Joanna was said to be “lost in love” with Philip, but it seemed his passion for her had faded rather quickly.³. The honeymoon period did not last long, and Philip soon began isolating Joanna by removing her Spanish friends and staff and keeping tight control over her finances. When many of Joanna’s Spanish attendants died because of cold weather or plague, she was further isolated, while Philip was attending parties with mistresses or spending months at a time away from court.⁴.

As Joanna became cut off from other people and Philip spent more and more time away from court, rumours began that she was mentally ill; these rumours would spiral out of control and shape the rest of Joanna’s life as well as her legacy. Joanna loved her husband passionately and could not tolerate his affairs, often becoming angry and violent over his flings. Many have remembered Joanna as “La Loca” or “the mad”, and even today, historians debate her mental state.

Joanna was set to continue on this path as Archduchess of Austria, living a quiet life out of the public eye and bearing Habsburg children for her husband. However, a shocking series of events changed Joanna’s destiny. On 4 October 1497, Joanna’s brother John passed away after a period of illness; John was survived by his new wife Margaret, who was pregnant with his heir, a child that would instead inherit Ferdinand and Isabella’s realms. Sadly, this was not to be, as Margaret gave birth to a stillborn daughter six months later. Isabella, Joanna’s older sister, became heir to Castile’s crown and was known by the title Princess of Asturias. Isabella was not declared heir to Aragon as they did not support female rule, though if she had a son, he would be heir to Aragon. Isabella was not heir for long; however, as, like her brother before her, she died young, following the birth of her son in August 1498. Isabella’s son and the heir to his grandparent’s kingdoms would never live to rule, as he died before his second birthday in 1500.⁵.

This tragic and unexpected series of deaths was devastating to Joanna, but it also meant that she was now heir and in a position she never expected. Her mother, Isabella, wrote constantly, urging Joanna and Philip to visit Spain to be sworn in as the heirs to both Castile and Aragon (having Philip as a co-monarch in Aragon softened the reluctance towards a female ruler). Joanna was unable to travel for a number of years as she had given birth to three children in quick succession: a daughter named Eleanor, a son named Charles and another daughter named Isabella for her grandmother.

In January 1502, Philip and Joanna finally entered Castile to be recognised formally as heirs. Here, Joanna was proclaimed Princess of Asturias and heiress. Philip was declared as a mere consort, a fact which enraged him and led him to leave for the Low Countries without Joanna, who was at this point pregnant for a fourth time.⁶

Part two coming soon.

Sources
J. Fox., Sister Queens: Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile
G. Tremlett., Isabella of Castile- Europe’s First Great Queen
B. Aram, Queen Juana: Legend and History in M Gomez, S Juan-Navarro, P. Zatlin., Juana of Castile- History and Myth of the Mad Queen
E. Gascon Vera., Juana I of Castile, Catherine of Aragon and the Failure of Feminine Power and in the Construction of Empire in M Gomez, S Juan-Navarro, P. Zatlin., Juana of Castile- History and Myth of the Mad Queen

1. Isabella of Castile by Giles Tremlett p.388
2. Sister Queens: Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile by J. Fox p.42
3. Queen Juana: Legend and History in M Gomez, S Juan-Navarro, P. Zatlin., Juana of Castile- History and Myth of the Mad Queen p.35
4. Isabella of Castile by Giles Tremlett p.393
5. Sister Queens: Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile by J. Fox p.30
6. Isabella of Castile by Giles Tremlett p.454-455