Although Philip’s passion soon dissipated, and he found other love interests, Joanna remained dedicated to her husband throughout her life. They were also all women with a larger amount of power than usual for the era, who were seen as threats and/or pawns by the ambitious men who surrounded them. Thanks for the article. Charles forbade Juana any visitors. She was also not known to be as extremely pious as her mother, or her older sister Isabella. the events of her life are such that her behavior is often quite reasonable considering the bonkers things that kept happening to her. Surely her mental state was aggravated by the stressful environment she endured, particularly from Philip’s behaviour, his death, and her forceful confinement. Poor woman! Juana’s courage and diplomacy in the handling of the Communero rebellion shows she was very capable of rising to the occasion when necessary. Mad or not it is impressive that the propaganda spread about by her husband, father and son continues to be related to this day. Her father, Ferdinand, returned to take over the regency, and from 1509 she lived under guard at Tordesillas. Both Philip the Handsome and Charles V had a lot to gain from Juana being declared unfit to rule. That she might have been mentally abused by her husband and father is likely, and Ferdinand’s shenanigans in the political sphere do not portray him in a favourable light. I agree with Conor. Updates? Just to orient us all as to the time and place we’re looking at by way of other women written about on this site: Juana of Castile was the granddaughter of Isabel of Portugal, the daughter of Isabella I, older sister to Katherine of Aragon, and the aunt of Mary I. Isn’t it interesting that each of these women is, to varying extents, remembered for being both very passionate and stubborn, as well as for being allegedly insane. Isabella clarified that if Juana could not or did not want to reign, it would be her father who would reign for her. Espi Forcen, M.D., Fernando. Ferdinand saw the writing on the wall, but also had a new scheme up his sleeve, and invited Philip for a secret meeting. My mother suffered thru life upto her death in 1986,they didn’t know how to treat her as with many unfortunate souls even at that time,it was a practice then and upto the 1990s to shut them away no visitors or family,there is medicine available, but not to everyone unfortunately,,so was her family right in shutting her away , probably not, but thehats how they treated mental illness at that time. Joanna was still, in name, Queen and ruler of Castile, and as such the Cortes declared allegience to the monarchs jointly. Oh, just by abandoning her whenever she got upset. The Medieval Titanic: The Tragedy of the White Ship Disaster. Charles responded by writing to her caretakers that it would be best for no one to speak to Joanna. OK, at this point, her actions are maybe getting a little beyond “she’s kind of stressed out at the moment” but at the same time, Philip quite clearly had been gaslighting and toying with her to the point that this sort of thing feels unavoidable. Juana's son, Charles, who became the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, eventually took over from Juana as regent, and then, monarch. Previous in Royal People: Jacqueline of Hainault, pawn or political player? A power struggle then emerged between Ferdinand and Philip, with both men minting coins in the name of themself and Joanna. So then in 1517, Charles — now seventeen years old — arrived in Asturias to take on his role as King. From the beginning, their relationship was notoriously passionate. Her father, Ferdinand, late in the game revealing himself to be The Worst. Charles was not a popular King due to his Habsburg roots and his connection to mainland Europe. In 1502, she became Princess of Asturias, making her heir to the Castilian throne; in 1504, she became Queen of Castile and Leon after her mother's death, with Philip serving as the jure uxoris king. Guess who else wasn’t a fan? From the union of these two crowns modern Spain evolved. Ouch! This is just the history of a masculine society not willing to accept women. And when she got back to Flanders, what did she find? Juana was said to have opened her husband's casket to embrace him and kiss him. She had been Queen of Castile for more than 50 years. Philip was known as Philip The Handsome, but if you look at his pictures, I find that name… debatable. Surely Carlos should have sought a better environment for his mother, but his reasons for keeping her under control are understandable. Whatever the cause, the newly-widowed and yes, still pregnant Juana was recorded as having displayed another example of “madness”. In early 1505, Ferdinand persuaded the Cortes of Castile that Joanna was suffering from illness that prevented her from governing, and they appointed Ferdinand as Joanna’s guardian, and therefore Castile’s governor. Alexandre Patrício. Pictures: Juana of Castile by the Master of the Legend of the Magdalen, Juana and Philip the Handsome with their subjects. Read the reviews on Amazon here. Perhaps one of Juana’s most notorious, lurid displays of mental instability occurred when her husband died in September of 1506. By 1505, Juana had given birth to five children. Ferdinand and Philip signed a treaty that claimed that Joanna’s mental instablity made her incapable of ruling, and excluded her from government, passing control to Philip. I see what you mean regarding Juana’s resources, but she was also intelligent and well educated, and her parents sent her to Flanders with a large entourage and stock in almost a hundred ships. I have years of deep study in the root cause of this particular spectrum of schizophrenia, because two of my siblings experienced this in their late 20’s/early 30’s, upon acute emotional trauma, due to spousal infidelity. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here. Everyone secretly agreed he’d probably been poisoned by Ferdinand and WE WILL NEVER KNOW THE TRUTH (I bet it was poison, though). The shock of Philip’s sudden death (Sept. 25, 1506) intensified her melancholia, and she refused to be parted from his embalmed body. Actually, I believe she was one of the smartest. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Omissions? Also her mother, Isabella , had tortured her as a girl, by suspending her with weights on her feet as punishment for questioning the Catholic religion, and for not wanting to go along with the Catholic practices of the time. Lenora's Culture Center and Foray into History, Reactions to Suicide in Medieval Europe – just history posts, Royal People: Jadwiga of Poland – just history posts, 42 Debauched Facts About Historical Royal Scandals. Anyone who stops eating and sleeping will likely wind up behaving in some unusual/erratic ways but then add to that the way Philip left without saying goodbye (because he was tired of Spain’s throttling Catholicism and how he wasn’t able to party and have sex with random women as much as he wanted). On April 12, 1555, Joanna of Castile (1479-1555), the last surviving child of Catholic monarchs Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, died at the age of 75, well past the life expectancy of the time. #spoiler. She inherited the Kingdom of Aragon from her father upon his death in 1517. Her husband, Philip, whose role was now just as her consort. Coincidence? Between 1497 and 1500, Juana’s older brother Juan died, and then his widow suffered a stillbirth, and then her older sister Isabella died in childbirth, and then Isabella’s toddler-aged son died. When she was prevented from leaving for Flanders, twenty-four-year-old Juana flew into a rage. This succession of deaths quickly catapulted Juana to her new position of Princess of Asturias, the title given to the heir to the throne of Castile. In fact, the pair were so physically attracted to one another upon their first meeting that Philip insisted they get married. Joanna’s mental and physical health declined towards the end of her life. To me, it’s actually a corrupt and inconsiderate way to get what you want, but people are selfish and only care about themselves. Thank you for your time, I look forward for your reply Juana, their third child, was never expected to inherit anything. Ferdinand couldn’t fully depose Joanna, so again she remained ruler in name, with all documents being issued in her name, but all were signed by Ferdinand. Juana was close to her five older kids only during their very early life; but with the youngest, Catherine, she remained until her middle adolescence. But Ferdinand was far more powerful than she, and she became again a Queen in name only.