(© Francisco Pradilla Ortiz – Wikipedia)
Juana, better known to English speakers as Joanna, was one of the most important monarchs in Spain, due to the fact that she united the Kingdoms of Aragon, Navarre and Castile under only one crown, although that, as we’re about to see, wasn’t going to guarantee her story a happy ending.
Indeed Juana’s life had never been an easy one.
She was born on 6th of November 1479, the exact same year that her father, Fernando V (or Ferdinand II), the Catholic King, ascended the throne of Aragon. She was the third of the royal offspring, arriving after Isabel (1470) and Juan (1478), who was destined to be heir and solidify the union of Aragon and Castile. After Juana’s birth, Catholic Queen Isabel of Castile gave birth to two more children: María and Catalina (known in England as Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII).
Juana was set to receive an education fitting her role of princess and her future marriage with some royal from abroad. Isabel chose the humanist route for Juana’s upbringing and surrounded her with big intellectuals such as Lucio Marineo Sículo and the Geraldini brothers. She lived through the annexation of Granada that put an end to the Islamic rule in Spain and witnessed Columbus’ arrival to Barcelona with the news of a whole new world to discover. She also saw Isabel’s jealousy caused by Fernando’s flings, that might very well have something to do with her own reactions later in life.
As her parents’ marriage had united the Kingdoms that formed Spain, they gained influence and power, which only increased by the wrongly called discovery of America. All of this made a perfect scenery for somewhat of a rivalry with France and pushed Isabel and Fernando to look to the occidental European countries when in search of potential matches for their kids. That’s how Princesses Isabel and María ended up as Queens of Portugal (I know, I know, but that’s a story for another day) and Princess Juana found herself traveling north to the Low Countries at 17 years old to marry Philip of Flanders, famously known as Philip the Handsome.
Juana, who was said to be a precious blonde (yeah, you read that right, blonde!) princess with knowledge of Latin, poetry and music, surely caught the attention of the 18 year-old Duke. It’s said that they were so enraptured with one another that they chose to skip over the protocol and get married hastily by Diego Ramírez de Villaescusa so that they could immediately consummate. And even though Juana had never been as docile as her other sisters, her character didn’t turn as sour as everyone knows her for until she met Philip that fateful day.
After that, they then settled their Court in Brussels, where the birth of their first children soon followed: Eleanor (1498), Charles (1500) and Isabel (1501). And even when Juana’s love for Philip was as ferocious as the very first day, his affections diminished and spread all over other women, which made her furious and sad in a way that resembled her own parents’ relationship. Even worse as time passed and she felt alone, far from her city and her family. María José Rubio says that this kind of obsession Queen Isabel and Juana had with their spouses was one of the defining traits of the women within the family. But I argue that it may have been simply a matter of what she learnt at home during her formative years. Juana grew up witnessing her mom’s tantrums and depressed seasons each time her dad cheated, and how mortified Isabel would feel when facing the court knowing everyone knew about Fernando’s affairs. Juana might have felt frustrated to see how he could do as he pleased and her mom wasn’t allowed to take any repercussions against him, forced to keep her head up and be silent. Surely this wouldn’t help her adult paranoia.
Juana and Philip entered a toxic cycle of fighting, reconciling and fighting again, similar to Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII but more intense, that usually ended up with Juana going into a depressive state. It reached a point where Spanish ambassador Gutierre Gómez de Fuensalida reported physical and violent fights between the pair, and Philip’s doctors said that Juana wasn’t really being conscious of her own acts. It was at this moment that he started to lock Juana up every time she got angry at him, creating what would prove to be a dangerous precedent for years to come.
But this was all about to rapidly change by 1501, when the couple was called from the Spanish Court because Juana had unexpectedly become heir to the throne. What had happened? Well, her only brother Juan had died in 1497 without having had any children. What about Isabel? Poor Isabel had passed away a year shy of her brother’s death though luckily she had left one baby boy behind, named Miguel, who was about to become king to both Portugal and Spain. Then why was Juana the heir when Miguel existed? Once again the family was struck by tragedy and little Miguel died before turning two years old, which led to Juana and Philip journeying through France (where they were kindly and richly received by the French King Louis XII) and arriving in Spain on 26th of January 1502.
The Spanish Cortes proclaimed them both as Princess and Prince of Asturias a few months later and a bright future seemed to be opening to Juana. But, alas, Prince Philip left Spain earlier than expected, leaving poor Juana desperate and alone that Christmas, due to her new pregnancy being already so far along that she couldn’t face the long journey back to Brussels just yet.
Here’s when it’s said that the first signs of mental instability appeared but, if you ask me, having your husband leave you just before Christmas while you’re about to give birth to his child is reason enough to be mad, angry, depressed and all in between. Nonetheless, comments on her being insane started to swirl.
As soon as baby Fernando was born, Isabel had to let her daughter go back to her husband after fighting with her for days. Sadly, they would never meet again. Queen Isabel died shortly after, forcing Juana back to Spain to take the crown. On her way to Spain her ships found terribly bad weather which made them stop for a minute in England and provided the opportunity of reuniting with her little sister Catherine for one last time. Juana, who’d had one more baby girl named María since the birth of Fernando, must’ve been a good omen for Catherine, who didn’t know yet about the fertility issues that she sadly and infamously was about to face in front of the whole world. It’s worth noting that no one in England made any comment about her supposed mental instability, though, which is telling, because the only ones that talked about that were coming from Fernando’s and Philip’s circle or themselves, and they had a lot to gain from her being ill.
Either way, when finally arriving in A Coruña, a few tussles between the aforementioned Philip and Fernando began as a consequence of the latter reigning over Castile as governor after Isabel’s death, as was established on her will, and the first not wanting to share the power. Philip got the nobles on his side and forced Fernando out of Castile, sending him back to Aragon. Thus, Philip’s rule in Spain began confining Juana in a castle and declaring her unfit to reign due to her mental issues. To both her father and her husband, it was way more profitable to keep her locked away and say she was too insane to exercise her birth rights.
Whether it was luck or an unfortunate event, the fact is that Philip got ill and perished in only five days, which saddened his wife and shocked everyone else.
Juana was pregnant with their sixth child (Philip thought her unfit for the throne but fit enough to have intercourse with her, it seems) and in mourning, and Fernando was called back to take the throne in her place. She wanted to rule under her father’s guidance but, once again, things took a turn for the worse.
In December of 1506, three months after Philip’s demise, Juana was in Torquemada attempting to rule on her own when a full on crisis blew up while the presumed six year-old heir was in Flanders and Fernando did nothing to help her. A regency council without Juana’s permission was set up but it did not help at all as the population found themselves also struggling with famine and the plague. Ferdinand seized the power coincidently during a plague remission, which led people to believe that he himself had brought it to an end. At this time it’s possible that Juana suffered from postnatal depression, but back in the day there was no treatment nor interest in attending to that disorder, so it surely got transformed into pure madness by popular belief.
Thereafter Juana remained Queen, but possessed no real power or influence. It was just a mere title with no true weight on it. She was yet again locked up at the Royal Palace in Tordesillas, after taking her husband’s corpse with her on a tour through Spain that gained her the nickname of Juana the Mad. She had ventured into an eight month long procession with her husband’s coffin heading the creepy march while people watching it got spooked out and freaked out. Obviously, at first glance it may look as if the Queen was wrecked by the pain of losing him but what she was doing is attempting to fulfil Philip’s wishes. He had manifested his will of being buried in Granada and so she tried to do so, even if she had to leave her political duties on hold, which she definitely did. This gave her enemies apparent proof of her unfitness to her role. Some believe that her own father, Fernando, used her moment of vulnerability to usurp the crown. These may or may not be the same people that push for the storyline of him being also the culprit of Philip’s death, which some say was caused by poison.
Ten years later her father died and her seventeen year-old son, now referred to as Charles I, occupied the throne. Eleanor and Charles visited her and he asked to be co-King along with his mother, to which she accepted. And even though no one else but Juana received the treatment of majesty, everyone was aware that she wasn’t truly the queen.
Moreover, little more than two years later her son would become Holy Roman Emperor, making him Charles V.
In 1520 a rebellion against the Habsburgs and Charles V sprouted out and Juana was persuaded to sign a document denouncing said rebels (the Comuneros), even though in reality she sympathized with them.
After all, Charles kept his crown and kept his mother closed up too. Juana, who by this point had been locked up for more than a decade, was starting to become paranoid. Charles advised the nuns that took care of his mother to not let her speak with anyone and it became increasingly difficult to get her to eat, bathe or sleep. She no longer had the company of her youngest daughter Catalina (the one conceived right before Philip’s passing) and mobility became harder for her as time progressed after a bad fall, complicating even more hygiene processes. She started having visions and even was said to be bewitched.
She finally passed away on a Good Friday, 468 years today, on April 12, 1555, at the age of seventy and having been confined for almost fifty years. Francisco de Borja, who was with her on her final breaths, testified that her last words were: Crucified Jesuchrist, help me. Let’s hope she did find peace on the other side.
In this it seems to me she existed too early ‘cause were she alive nowadays, her mental health would have been properly taken care of, and she could have made a full recovery that let her occupy the throne without being used and manhandled to achieve power. It’s now believed by some experts that she could have suffered from bipolar disorder or OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), due to the registered ups and downs in her mood and her fiery reactions when angry or frustrated. There’s also the big possibility of her acting up as a result of untreated trauma. Let’s not forget she married young and got sent off across the continent, fell deeply in love only to be repeatedly cheated on, lost two siblings and a little baby nephew, saw how her little sister was married off to her older sister’s widower, heard about Catherine’s downfall, lost her husband and was virtually imprisoned for most of her life in hands of said husband as well as her own father and son. That would mess with our mental health too.
So, as Anne Boleyn said when she was about to be beheaded: if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. We should totally do that when revisiting Queen Juana’s life and not be so quick at throwing around her nickname, the “mad”.
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