Juana of Castile: Not Her Mother's Daughter

Juana of Castile, queen of Castile and Léon, queen of Aragon (born 6 November 1479)

The third child--and second daughter--of the Spanish monarchs Isabella of Castile and Léon and Ferdinand of Aragon, Juana was born in Toledo and received an education that reflected the best of Renaissance humanist training.

Having herself had relatively little opportunities for education, Isabella made sure that, as Giles Tremlett writes, "the education of [her] daughters was taken with an unusual and remarkable degree of seriousness." (The education of the Spanish princesses was undertaken by the remarkable scholar Beatriz Galindo, "la Latina.")

Juana of Castile,
about 1495-96,
the time of her marriage

Juana proved to be an adept scholar, a good student of Latin and contemporary languages, of classical authors as well as of Christian writers, of typically "female" accomplishments like needlework as well as of aristocratic pastimes like hunting, and of music. She was also taught law and trained carefully for her political duties, as a woman: marriage. 

In 1495, the Catholic monarchs signed a treaty with Henry VII of England and with the Holy Roman emperor Maximilian aimed at limiting the power of France.*

Thus, Juana of Castile was married to Philip of Austria, and Catalina of Aragon to Prince Arthur of England. Catalina was transformed into Catherine, and her life was to be spent in England where, after Arthur's death, she married his brother, becoming the first of King Henry VIII's six wives. 

Juana's reputation in history is as notorious as her name--she is Juana la Loca, or "Juana the Mad." As it is generally told, the narrative of Juana's life is fairly simple, a kind of fairytale turned horror story. Married to a handsome prince who is as unfaithful as he is charming, the beautiful princess is tormented by her uncontrollable jealousy. Inheriting a strain of madness from her maternal grandmother (Isabella of Portugal), she descends into madness herself. 

As this fairytale/horror story continues, when Isabella of Castile and Léon dies, Juana becomes queen regnant of Castile and Léon, but she is unable even to care for herself, much less for her country and her people. Her husband, then her father, and finally her son undertake to act for her as regents. The madwoman is locked away, kept company by her youngest daughter (Catherine of Spain) and visited faithfully by her oldest son. In her death, she triumphs--her sons become emperors and her daughters all become queens.  

Juana may well have been mad, or she may have become mad, but her story is at once more complicated and more tragic. Certain elements of her tragedy are clear. Her marriage to Philip of Austria, duke of Burgundy, Philip "the Handsome," was arranged in 1496, and she left Spain in August of that year. When she finally met the waiting Philip on 18 October, he was so struck by her beauty that he demanded they be married that very day so they could consummate their union without delay. The birth of their first child, Eleanor, in 1498 was followed quickly by the birth of Charles, a son and heir, born in the city of Ghent on 25 February 1500.

Despite the initial attraction between the two, their relationship deteriorated quickly. In some accounts, Philip is depicted as a kind of sexual psychopath, a ruthless sadist who "held Juana in a vicious cycle of affection, abuse, and intimidation from which she was constitutionally unable to escape," while Juana is portrayed as a woman so "madly in love" that "she allowed herself to be psychologically abused," unable to free herself from her husband's "domination and sexual magnetism." 

In other versions of their relationship, Juana is a beautiful but fragile hysteric: "a mercurial temperament subject to soaring changes of disposition, scaling the heights of joy one moment and groveling in a bottomless well of self-pity the next." Modern historians thus differ in their views, but their contradictory assessments of the couple are no more incompatible than the views of Philip and Juana's contemporaries.

Those who actually met the pair recorded equally inconsistent views: In 1499, for example, a Spanish priest observed that Juana was "so frightened that she could not hold up her head," while in 1500 the Spanish ambassador judged that "in a person so young I do not think one has seen such prudence."

After the deaths, in rapid succession, of Juana's elder siblings, Prince Juan of Castile in 1497 and Isabel in 1498, and of Juan's infant son, Prince Miguel, in 1500, the crowns of Castile and Aragon fell to Juana as her parents' heir. Isabella and Ferdinand summoned their daughter and her husband to Spain. 

Philip ignored their urgent request and put off the journey at first, preferring to send a representative to Spain to act on his behalf, but Juana refused to sign the document appointing Philip's choice of an ambassador. By 1501 Juana was pregnant for a third time, delaying the trip still longer. The archduchess gave birth to another daughter in July, naming the baby Isabel after her Castilian grandmother. 

When Juana was finally able to travel, she and Philip began their trip to Spain, not by ship, as Ferdinand and Isabella planned, but through France, as Philip preferred. In France, Philip swore fealty as Louis XII's "good neighbor, humble servant, and obedient vassal," but Juana was determined to assert herself as the Infanta of Castile rather than as Philip's archduchess and a vassal of France. 

She refused to kneel to the French king, but she was maneuvered onto her knees forcibly in a gesture of submission by two formidable women: as Juana approached Anne of Brittany, queen of France, she was either shoved or tripped by Anne of France. 

Later, when she found herself in yet another "compromising position," Juana responded proudly by refusing to accept an offering of gold coins from the French queen. Her refusal earned the hostility of Anne of Brittany and the anger of her husband.

Juana of Castile in 1500,
portrait by Juan de Flandres

By the end of January 1502, Juana and Philip arrived in Castile. On 22 May the couple were formally designated Isabella's heirs in Castile, and in September they traveled to Aragon to be recognized as Ferdinand's.

The Aragonese Cortes recognized Juana as primogenita succesora, heir presumptive to the crown, declaring her the "true and lawful heir to the crown, to whom, in default of male heirs, the usage and law of the land require the oath of allegiance." 

Philip was recognized only as her king-consort. But, if Isabella were to predecease Ferdinand, the Aragonese parliament declared that any male child Ferdinand might have in a subsequent marriage would take precedence over Juana. On 27 October Juana became the first woman to whom the Aragonese Cortes swore an oath of fealty.

By 19 December Philip was gone, leaving Juana--pregnant again--behind with her parents. His departure was followed almost immediately by his betrayal of Juana and los Reyes Catolicos. On 5 April 1503 Philip concluded the treaty of Lyon with France; it provided for the marriage of his son and heir to Louis' daughter and agreed to Ferdinand's renunciation of the kingdom of Naples, which he had just conquered. In 1504 Philip joined his father Maximilian and the French king in yet another treaty against Aragonese interests.

Before Juana rejoined her husband, she gave birth to her fourth child, another son, named Ferdinand after her father, on 10 March 1503. When she finally left Spain in May of 1504, she left this child behind, to be raised by his grandparents. In the meantime, Juana's increasingly erratic behavior, Philip's perfidy, and Queen Isabella's failing health led to a reeevaluation of the Castilian succession. 

When she drew her will in October, Isabella named Juana as her successor: the crown of Castile would be inherited by her "dearly beloved daughter" as "universal heiress of all . . . said kingdoms and lands and lordships . . . , proprietress . . . conformable with what I owe and am obliged by law." Juana and Philip--"as her husband"--were to receive "obedience from her subjects." 

But to exclude Philip from power, Isabella stipulated that Juana appoint no foreigners to office and that she consult the Cortes on all decisions. She further ordered, in the event that Juana as queen "does not desire or is not able to engage in government," the regency of Castile fall not to Philip but to Ferdinand. If Juana were incapacitated by absence or illness, her father was to function as her regent until Juana's son and heir, Charles, "shall be at least twenty."

Isabella died on 26 November 1504, and Juana was immediately proclaimed her successor: "Castile, Castile for our sovereign lady, Queen Juana." But in Brussels, Philip had himself proclaimed "King of Castile, Léon, Granada, archduke of Austria, prince of Aragon and Sicily, duke of Burgundy, [and] count of Flanders." 

What followed was not a smooth succession but a succession crisis. In the new queen's absence, Ferdinand assumed the role of regent of Castile, but his position was vigorously opposed by Juana's husband. Ferdinand convened the Cortes in January 1505, and Juana was recognized as "legitimate and proprietary ruler" of Castile and Philip as her husband and consort. But Ferdinand claimed that, by the terms of Isabella's will, Juana had to return to Castile and prove herself capable of rule. 

In a letter he declared Juana had shown "illness and emotional upheaval" and "disorder" during her previous trip to Castile and that, out of "prudence" and because of "great sorrow," Isabella "did not wish to declare what the impediment was." "Because of the gravity of the situation," he wrote, "it is better that you comprehend the reasons that moved the queen, her mother, to word her will as she did." 

Since the matter "touches the royal person of Queen Juana, you must all swear a solemn oath to keep this matter secret." The Cortes ultimately decided to acknowledge Ferdinand as regent "owing to the incapacity" of Juana. A letter announcing the decision was sent to Philip in Flanders.

In pursuit of his wife's interests, Philip insisted that Juana was capable of ruling and that, as her husband, he had the right to the regency. He was supported by a significant number of the Castilian grandees, who were suspicious of the Aragonese king. 

For his part, Ferdinand solicited a letter from Juana approving of her father's assumption of the regency. But Juana was betrayed by one of her Castilian servants, who turned the document over to Philip. The new Castilian "queen" was forced to substitute a letter in support of Philip. Ferdinand received the letter, along with reports that indicated Juana's signature on it was either forged or coerced.

It may well be that, at this point, Ferdinand decided on another tack to maintain power in Castile; some reports indicate that he sent an emissary to Portugal to negotiate a marriage with his wife Isabella's old rival, Juana la Beltraneja. Through her he could oppose Philip and Juana and claim the crown of Castile for himself. If he did make such an overture, nothing came of it. 

He did, however, sign a treaty with France; instead of a marriage with Isabella's niece and rival for the throne of Castile, he married the French king's niece, Germaine of Foix. In response, Philip attempted to force Juana to sign a denunciation of her father, but once again she refused. Ferdinand's ambassadors at Philip's court objected to the conditions under which Juana was forced to live; they were finally allowed to see her but not to speak with her.

After Juana gave birth on 13 September 1505 to another daughter, named Mary, Philip decided to travel to Castile to claim the throne. Ferdinand, meanwhile, declared that Juana was sane but a prisoner, publishing a proposal to rescue her. He also prepared for a compromise with Philip that would exclude Juana but benefit both of them. 

Philip and Juana arrived in Castile on 26 April 1506; as they traveled toward a meeting with Ferdinand, Philip kept his wife in the background, Philip presenting himself as the king and Juana merely as his consort. Juana resented her husband's efforts, however, and refused to sign documents that Philip prepared for her. The Castilian grandees who supported Philip against Ferdinand were increasingly unhappy with Juana's husband and her position as well, noting her isolation and his disregard for their interests.

Philip and Ferdinand finally met in June. Philip was deeply suspicious of his wife and of his father-in-law; he refused to allow Ferdinand to meet with, or even to see, Juana. But on 27 June the two men finally agreed to a treaty of peace, a "hellish compact" that "sealed the fate" of Juana. The agreement stated that the queen "on no account wishes to have anything to do with any affair of government or other things." 

After this categorical statement, it continued: "and, even if she did wish it, it would cause the total loss and destruction of these realms, having regard to her infirmities and passions which are not described here for decency's sake." Juana, therefore, was excluded from governing, and if she should "of her own accord or at the instance of others . . . attempt to interfere in the government or disturbed the arrangement made between the two kings, they will join forces to prevent it." Ferdinand was willing to declare Juana's unfitness, even though it had been over two years since he had seen her. 

After signing the document, Ferdinand turned around immediately and denounced it, swearing that he had been coerced and that Juana was, after all, quite fit to rule. He swore to "liberate" Juana from her imprisonment and to return to her the government of Castile. Juana managed to assert herself again in July, when she and Philip were in Valladolid. She refused to enter the city following two banners, insisting that she alone was queen and that one of the banners should be removed. 

The Admiral of Castile finally forced Philip to grant him an interview with Juana, and after a two-day meeting with her he reported that "she never gave a random answer." He saw no sign of the insanity that both her father and her husband had, at various times, asserted. On 11 July, under the influence of the Admiral of Castile, the Cortes swore allegiance to her as queen of Castile and to Philip only as her consort. Juana appeared in person on 12 July to receive their oath of allegiance.

In the meantime Ferdinand was forced to withdraw from the struggle with Philip. Facing increased opposition in Castile and having his own interests in Naples to pursue, he retreated to Aragon. But Philip's ascendancy in Castile did not last long. By September he was dead. Although Juana declined any role in the government after her husband's death, Ferdinand, on his way to Naples, would not have her declared incompetent, instead issuing orders that she was to be recognized as obeyed as queen regnant.

Juana refused to assume her role as queen, indicating that her father should act in her stead. In this situation, reports about her mental state vary. According to Ferdinand's secretary, "there is no one, big or little, who any longer denies that she is out of her mind, except Juan Lopez, who says that she is as sane as her mother was."

Another account attributes her withdrawal from the world not as madness but as an almost stoic resignation; she is "a woman to suffer and behold all the things of this world . . . without change of heart or courage." Sane or insane, competent or incompetent, she was watched carefully by her father's supporters; Ferdinand was now as interested in having her confined as Philip had been.

On 17 January 1507, Queen Juana gave birth to her last child, another daughter, who was named Catalina. When Ferdinand finally arrived in Castile at the end of the year, he assumed the regency for Juana. Her father continued as regent of Castile until his death in 1516. He was followed as regent by Juana's son Charles.

It is impossible now to determine with certainty whether Juana was, indeed, mad, but there is no question that she was la Loca. Most scholars assume without question her incapacity and the necessity of husband, father, and son to rule Castile in her stead. 

But not all scholars assume Juana la Loca's madness. The historian S. B. Chrimes, for example, has considered the claims of Juana's discreditors carefully. He notes that in 1507, Henry VII, the widowed king of England, had entered into serious negotiations with Ferdinand for a marriage with Juana. A treaty for the match was signed in 1508, though the marriage never took place.

About the failure of the alliance, Chrimes writes, "the project faded away, not surprisingly because in fact [Juana] was being kept in close confinement, first by Ferdinand and then by [her son Charles], in harsh and sometimes brutal conditions." He continues, "the story of her 'madness' was never, until perhaps towards the end of her long life, more than very successful propaganda put out by her ruthless and unscrupulous father and son."

The royal convent of Santa Clara in Tordesillas

Chrimes indicates that Henry VII, who had met Juana as recently as 1506, "knew or suspected the truth, which oddly enough appears largely to have evaded the serious consideration of modern historians." That Juana was not mad, Chrimes notes, is clear from the "overwhelming weight" of contemporary evidence, which "compels such conclusions."

I will add that the fortress of Tordesillas, with its "royal convent," had been used before to imprison "inconvenient" queens, including Maria of Portugal, queen of Castile; Leonor Teles, queen of Portugal; and Blanche of Bourbon, queen of Castile.

Whether she was mad or not, Juana remained la Loca. For nearly fifty years, from 1507 until her death in 1555, Queen Juana of Castile was confined--as prisoner, as recluse, or as madwoman--in the fortress of Tordesillas.

On a happier note, Juana's daughters (unlike her son, they did not imprison her) included Eleanor of Austria, married first to King Manuel of Portugal and then, as part of the "Ladies' Peace," to the French king, Francis I; Isabel of Austria, queen and regent of Denmark; Mary of Austria, queen of Hungary and regent of the Netherlands; and Catherine of Spain, queen and regent of Portugal. 

If you are interested in reading a careful and thoughtful biography, I recommend Bethany Aram's Juana the Mad: Sovereignty & Dynasty in Renaissance Europe. You may also like a dual biography by Julia Fox, Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile.

On the education of the Spanish princesses, I have quoted from Giles Tremlett's Catherine of Aragon: The Spanish Queen of Henry VIII.

The British Library owns a beautiful Book of Hours created for and owned by Juana of Castile--you can view the entire manuscript, which has been digitized, by clicking here.**

There are quite a few historical novels about Juana--please skip them.

*Portions of this post have been adapted from The Monstrous Regiment of Women: Female Rulers in Early Modern Europe (Palgrave Macmillan).

**As a result of a cyberattack, much of the British Library online collection is unavailable, supposedly temporarily. I've kept this link here, just in case . . . 

Isabel of Portugal: Duchess of Burgundy, Queen of Italy, Naples, the Germans, and Spain, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire

Isabel of Portugal, regent of Spain (born 24 October 1503)

Isabel of Portugal was the daughter of Manuel I of Portugal and his second queen, Maria of Aragon, who was the daughter of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon. 

Isabel of Portugal in 1526,
at the time of her marriage

(Interestingly, Maria was the second of Isabella and Ferdinand's daughters to marry Manuel--Maria's elder sister, Isabel, had been married, first, to Afonso of Portugal, but after his untimely death just a year after their marriage, the young widow was married, much against her wishes, to Manuel, who was Afonso's uncle. And, by the way, after Maria of Aragon's death,  Manuel married his niece, Eleanor of Austria . . . So, yay for traditional marriage, I guess.)

Named after both her grandmother and her aunt, Isabel of Portugal was married to her cousin, the Holy Roman emperor Charles V, in 1526. (According to the terms of the marriage arrangement, Isabel's brother, John III of Portugal, married Charles's sister, Catherine of Spain, a woman whom we have met before.)

Through her marriage, Isabel gained a number of titles, some of them indicated in the heading of this post. She was the Holy Roman empress, the queen of the Germans, the queen of Italy, the queen of Spain, the queen of Naples and Sicily, and duchess of Burgundy. But she also gained another title: regent of Spain.

Charles recognized the importance of marrying a woman with the ability to govern. In a letter to his brother, he noted that marrying Isabel of Portugal was "the only sure way of securing stability in the Spanish kingdoms in his absence." 

When Charles was forced to leave Spain for the empire, he appointed his wife as his regent, a role she fulfilled admirably. The Cortes recognized her position on 27 July 1527; she served as regent from 1529 until 1532.  She was personally involved, as well, in the education of her two children, Philip, born in May 1527, and Mary, born in 1528. Charles returned to Spain in April 1533, and when he left again in April 1535, Isabel was regent once more. 

But after Isabel's early death in 1539, at the age of thirty-six (she died after giving birth to a child, her sixth, a stillbirth), Charles had difficulty in finding a suitable replacement for her. Historian Andrew Wheatcroft describes the emperor as "hamstrung" because he "could find no one to replace her effectively." He would not "countenance the appointment of any of his male kin whom he judged inadequate to the role," nor any female "unless she was married, widowed, or old enough to be widowed."

A portrait by Titan, from 1548,
after Isabel's death

Ultimately Isabel's eldest son, Philip II, was old enough to act his father's behalf; Charles appointed him to act as his representative in Spain in 1543. 

In the same year, Philip married his first cousin Maria Manuela of Portugal, the eldest daughter of John III of Portugal (Philip's maternal uncle) and Catherine of Spain (his paternal aunt). By 1545, Maria had given birth to a son and heir, Carlos, and had died. In 1554, when Philip left Spain for his second marriage, this one to Mary Tudor, queen of England, he turned to his sister Joanna of Castile to act as regent of Spain in his place.

There is no biography of Isabel of Portugal. You can find references to her in biographies of Charles V and of her son, Philip, but I like Andrew Wheatcroft's The Habsburgs: Embodying Empire, quoted here, because he focuses quite deliberately on the Habsburg strategy of using female family members as regents. 

Joanna of Castile, Regent of Spain

Joanna of Castile, queen of Portugal and regent of Spain (died 7 September 1573)

Born in Madrid on 24 June 1535, Joanna of Castile, archduchess of Austria, was the daughter of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and his wife, Isabel of Portugal. Joanna was named in honor of her paternal grandmother, Juana of Castile, a woman whom we have met before on numerous occasions, and about whom I will post later in the year. (In order to distinguish between the elder and younger women, I've referred to this Juana, the younger woman born in 1535, as "Joanna.")

Joanna of Castile,
painted by Sofonisba Anguissola

After the death of their mother, Isabel, in 1539, Joanna and her siblings were placed under the guardianship of one of their mother's principal attendants, the Portuguese noblewoman Leonor de Mascarenhas.

Although there were many tutors for their brother Philip, Joanna and her sister Maria were educated by Leonor, who made sure to teach them Portuguese, which would prove to be very important for Joanna. (Leonor was so capable she would later be entrusted by Philip with his own children's care and instruction.) 

On 11 June 1552, a seventeen-year-old Joanna was married to her fifteen-year-old first cousin, João Manuel, prince of Portugal (we have already encountered his mother, Catherine of Spain, who was the sister of Joanna's father, Charles, both children of Juana of Castile--got that?).

The marriage was short-lived, however, because João died on 2 January 1554. Joanna was pregnant at the time, and three weeks later, on 20 January she gave birth to João's son, Sebastian, who would one day before King Sebastian I of Portugal. 

But Joanna would not remain in Portugal. Soon after her son's birth, Joanna's brother Philip, then acting as regent of Spain for his father, the Emperor Charles V, needed Joanna in Spain--Philip had just married Mary Tudor, queen of England. He turned to his sister to act as regent of Spain in his place. And so the widowed Joanna, "discreet" and "religious," left behind her infant son to be raised by his grandmother Catherine, regent of Portugal. On her way home from Portugal, before assuming her role as regent, she visited her grandmother Juana of Castile--the actual queen of Spain--in Tordesillas.

As Joanna traveled to Spain and Philip prepared to leave, their father wrote to Philip about Joanna's role as regent. The emperor agreed with his son about his proposals for the government of Spain in his absence, calling them "very prudent": 

I also agree with your choice of the Princess [Joanna], my daughter, so I am sending you the powers signed and suppose you will already have sent for her to come from Portugal. Above all, let me urge you to see to it that the counsellors who are to surround her be dispassionate men of character and authority. Lay down rules for their guidance in case of conflicts, and try to limit the sphere of each one as far as it is possible without hindering them in the exercise of their offices.

As regent, the widowed Joanna would need "some woman of position and exemplary character to be near her," Charles advised, but he cautioned that his son should "specify the number of ladies she may have, so that they [presumably courtiers or advisers] may not always be importuning her to accept more." Charles thought that Joanna had lived lavishly in Portugal and he emphasized that that Philip should make sure her household was "of reasonable size," for the money needed to keep her in the state she enjoyed in Portugal would be "altogether too much."

Joanna of Castile, regent of Spain

As Philip's recent biographer, Henry Kamen, notes, Joanna of Castile "chose to spend the rest of her life in the service of the crown." Although there is no biography of Joanna, a few details of her regency can be gleaned from those of Queen Juana of Castile and of Philip II.

In 1555, for example, when Juana of Castile had become gravely ill, Joanna wrote of her "great sorrow" at hearing the news and wrote to ask Philip for permission to leave Madrid so that she could go to Tordesillas "to cure and to serve" her grandmother. 

After Juana of Castile's death, Joanna oversaw the dispersal of the queen's household, but she kept many of Juana's possessions for herself. Although her brother regarded them as "trinkets and things of little value," Joanna clearly regarded Juana's rosaries, devotional books, religious images, and portraits of Isabella of Castile (Juana's mother) and Catherine of Aragon (Juana's sister), as important items worth cherishing for their family connections. She also arranged for memorials to her grandmother, to be held throughout Spain.

In 1558, Joanna of Castile received advice from her father, Charles, shortly before his death. Although he had abdicated his title of Holy Roman Emperor in 1556 and retired to a monastery in Spain, his retirement did not keep him from writing to Joanna and warning her to "take a hard line against the Lutheran cells" in Castile. 

In 1559, "in letter after letter," her brother Philip pleaded with her for more money for his on-going wars: "The lack of money is so great that I don't know what to say," he wrote, continuing, "I am in worse straits tha[n] you could possibly imagine."

 "You need to find money from there," she replied to him at one point, "because here all is consumed and spent." Later in that year Joanna and her council "sanctioned an ill-fated military expedition into North Africa."

In the same year she was again faced with "alarming" news about Lutherans in Valladolid. Philip urged her to monitor the situation with "all care and diligence," while her father urged her to take measures against the "heretics."

Joanna issued a strict censorship order, had a new Index prepared, increased the activity of the Inquisition, and, at a series of autos da fé, several heretics were executed.

In December of 1559 Philip returned to Spain, preparing for his third marriage, this one to Elizabeth of Valois. Joanna was called upon to arrange for the new queen's reception. She was also entrusted with the guardianship of Don Juan, her father Charles V's illegitimate son, who had been born in 1547. After Philip's return to Spain, Juana's regency ended.

A plaque on the Convent of Our Lady of Consolation
noting its foundation by Joanna

Aside from her role as regent of Spain, Joanna was deeply involved in religion and with a number of religious foundations.

Like her guardian Leonor de Mascarenhas, Joanna founded a convent for the Franciscan order of Poor Clares in 1559, the Convent of Our Lady of Consolation (Nuestra Señora de la Consolación). 

And, again like Leonor de Mascarenhas, Joanna of Castile was a supporter of the newly established Jesuit order. Joanna repeatedly intervened on behalf of the Jesuits, and she was a friend of its founder, Ignatius of Loyola.

She conducted a correspondence with her confessor, Francisco de Borja and Ignatius using the pseudonym Mateo Sánchez, perhaps even requesting that she be admitted into the order under this name. 

The Convent of Our Lady of Consolation, Madrid
now known as the
as the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales

After her regency ended in 1559, Joanna retired to the convent she had founded. In 1569, Joanna and Leonor de Mascarenhas welcomed the mystic, writer, and theologian Teresa of Ávila when she visited Madrid.

Juana died in the Convent of Our Lady of Consolation, now known as the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales, on 7 September 1573; she was just thirty-eight years old. In 1582, when Joanna's sister, Maria, the Holy Roman Empress, returned to Spain (where she had also been a regent, from 1548 to 1551), she and her daughter, Margaret, would take up residence in this convent. 

About Joanna of Castile, Kamen concludes:

The princess [Joanna], always relegated to the background by historians because she abstained from any political role after her short regency in 1554-9, was the effective centre of Philip's family circle. When Philip returned to Spain in 1559 she bought a group of houses in the middle of Madrid . . . [which] became her home and retreat. All her energies were dedicated to helping her brother. Philip in his turn lavished affection on her. She was the inseparable companion of queens Elizabeth [of Valois] and Anne [of Austria, Philip's fourth wife]. In 1572 she fell seriously ill, and never recovered. Her early death, in September 1573 at the age of thirty-eight, was a severe blow to the king, who had leaned on her for advice and affection. Philip was at her bedside when she died.

There is, unfortunately, no biography of Joanna of Castile. Her story can be put together only in bits and pieces. I have used Andrew Wheatcroft's The Habsburgs,  Henry Kamen's Phillip of Spain, and Bethany Aram's Juana the Mad: Sovereignty & Dynasty in Renaissance Europe.

Update, 7 September 2025: I just discovered a 2021 publication focusing on our Joanna, a collection of essays edited by art historian Noelia García Pérez, The Making of Juana of Austria: Gender, Art, and Patronage in Early Modern Iberia (click here).

Isabel of Austria: A Promising Queen Who Did Not Live Long Enough to Fulfill Her Promise

Isabel of Austria, queen and regent of Denmark (died 19 January 1526)

The daughter of Juana of Castile and Philip of Burgundy, Isabel of Austria lived a life quite different from that of her youngest sister Catherine of Spain, who was confined with her powerless mother in the convent of Tordesillas, as we have seen.* By contrast, Isabel was one of the Habsburg children raised in the Netherlands by the formidable regent, Margaret of Austria. 

Margaret of Austria was to arrange the marriages of her many Habsburg nieces to advance the empire's political strategies, Isabel's among them. In July of 1514, just a few days before her thirteenth birthday, the young Isabel was married by proxy to Christian II, king of Denmark and Norway, twenty-two years her senior, who had a rather frightening reputation as the "Nero of the North." 

Because of her youth, Isabel remained in the Netherlands for another year, finally arriving in Copenhagen in August 1515 to begin her married life as queen of Denmark. Upon her arrival, however, she found that the Danish king's court was dominated by his long-time mistress, Dyveke Sigbritsdatter, and her mother, Siegebritte Willems, who was the king's closest advisor--one historian has called Willems "the real ruler of Scandinavia."

Isabel of Austria, c. 1515

Isabel's awkward and isolated situation was a source of conflict between the Habsburg emperor Maximilian and Christian. Isabel's situation improved after Sigbritsdatter's death in 1517; Willems remained at court, however, and Isabel's first child, a son born in 1518, was placed in her care.

But by 1520, while her husband was in Sweden (Christian II was briefly king of Sweden), Isabel was able to act as regent, governing Denmark and Norway on his behalf. In 1523, Christian's Danish subjects rebelled, and he was deposed. Isabel fled to Mechelen with her husband, taking refuge there with Margaret of Austria. She died in 1526, not yet twenty-five years old.

Margaret of Austria refused to let Christian leave Mechelen with his children, his son and heir John, and two daughters, Dorothea and Christina. She "bought" them by offering him a yearly payment and kept them with her, influencing yet another generation of Habsburg heirs.

Isabel's two daughters would both become claimants to the throne of Denmark. Dorothea of Denmark would marry Frederick II of the Palatinate in 1535. Christina of Denmark was married first and briefly to Francesco Sforza, duke of Milan; after his death, she married Francis, duke of Bar and Lorraine in 1541. When Francis died in 1545, she was regent of Lorraine until 1552, when Lorraine was invaded by France, and she was forced to flee for her safety.

There is no full-length biography of Isabel of Austria. The best information comes from Jane de Iongh's Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands, trans. M. D. Herter Norton (1953).

*This post has been adapted from The Monstrous Regiment of Women: Female Rulers in Early Modern Europe (Palgrave Macmillan).

Catherine of Spain: Daughter, Mother, Queen, Regent

Catherine of Spain, queen of Portugal (born 14 January 1507)

It would be hard to imagine a more inauspicious beginning--Catherine of Spain was the posthumous child of Philip of Burgundy and Juana of Castile. Although Juana had become queen regnant after the death of her mother, Isabella of Castile, in 1504, she was never able to exercise sovereignty--Juana the queen became Juana la loca, and she spent the last five decades of her life imprisoned in the convent of Tordesillas, near the city of Valladolid.

Catherine of Spain, queen of Portugal, in 1552

Born in Torquemada after her father's death in September 1506, Catherine would spend her early years confined in Tordesillas with her mother while Philip and Juana's other children were in the care of Philip's sister, a woman whom we have already met, Margaret of Austria.

Little is known about Catherine's life during this early period, though there is a record from 1514 indicating payment to a tutor, a Franciscan brother.

In 1516, after the death of Juana's father, Ferdinand of Aragon, the "queen's" eldest son, the Habsburg monarch Charles, dismissed Catherine's governess, replacing her with an appointment of his own; in 1517, when Charles paid a visit to his mother at Tordesillas, Catherine's presence is noted.

In 1518 and 1519, plague struck in Tordesillas, and Charles made plans to evacuate his mother and his sister if conditions required; in 1519 there is a record of a doctor attending to a minor illness Catherine experienced.

In 1520, resistance to Habsburg influence in Spain--and to Charles--resulted in a revolt, the Comuneros attempting to bolster their defiance by freeing Juana. For her part, Catherine expressed her resentment of household members Charles had installed to attend her and her mother, regarding them as spies and protesting their harsh treatment. One of Charles's correspondents, warning him of danger, claimed that Catherine was going to be driven to become a nun "or commit some other desperate act." These are the scant details of Catherine of Spain's early life.

In January 1525, the young princess, who had thus far spent her entire life confined with her mother, found herself on her way to Portugal, where she was to become the wife of King John III. It's hard to imagine that transition, but whatever the emotional or psychological difficulties may have been, Catherine performed her role as queen consort dutifully.

Married in February 1525, she gave birth to a son and heir a year later, in February 1526. Although this boy, Afonso, lived only a few short weeks, Catherine gave birth to eight more children in rapid succession. And despite the fact that only two would live to adulthood, the requisite son and heir, John Manuel, lived long enough to produce a son of his own, Sebastian, born in 1554. (Interestingly, like Catherine herself, Sebastian was a posthumous child, born two weeks after the death of his father.)

As queen consort, Catherine did more than produce a string of potential heirs, however; she played a significant role in Portugal and its government. Indeed, just before her son's soon-to-be bride arrived in Portugal for her marriage in 1553, the young woman received this assessment of the possibilities for a royal woman in the Iberian kingdom: "Although for kings I believe there are better realms than Portugal . . . I believe that for queens it is the best of all, because nowhere else do they enjoy so much authority in government or are so respected and obeyed." 

Catherine must also have found this to be the case. In her role as queen, she displayed intelligence, energy, and attention to detail. Ambassadors noted in their diplomatic reports that she was respected and well-informed about all matters. Indeed, the privy council met in her apartments and, as one observer noted, "nothing was done without her highness." 

When her husband, King John III of Portugal, died in 1557, Catherine of Spain became regent of Portugal for her grandson. During that period, she carried on as she had during her time as queen consort. After five and a half years, in December 1562, she announced her decision to retire. Although she continued to act as a guardian for her grandson, she seems to have been aggravated at the discontent and factions at court, threatening to return to Spain. She also dedicated her time and energy to the construction of a tomb for her husband. 

Whatever Catherine's experiences in the first eighteen years of her life--and whatever incapacities her mother may have suffered--Catherine of Spain emerged as a woman who could exert power and control when she was given the opportunity.

By the way, her daughter-in-law Joanna of Castile--the one who received that assessment of the role of queens in Portugal--was her brother Charles's daughter (and thus Catherine's niece). After the death of Prince John Manuel, Joanna left her son, Sebastian, and returned to Madrid. In Spain, she acted as regent for her brother, King Philip II of Spain. Although she wrote to her son and received portraits of him, she never saw him again.

A few details of Catherine of Spain's early life are scattered in Bethany Aram's Juana the Mad: Sovereignty & Dynasty in Renaissance Europe. The best, though still limited, account of her role as queen and regent is in William Monter's The Rise of Female Kings in Europe, 1300-1500.