Queen Juana 'La Loca' of Castile and Duke Philip 'The Handsome' of Burgundy


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Juana I ‘The Mad’, Queen of Castile and Leon (Toledo, 6 November 1479 — Tordesillas, 12 April 1555), married in Lier on ? 1496 Duke Philips ‘The Handsome’ of Burgundy, Archduke of Austria, Titular King Felipe I of Castile (Bruges, 22 July 1478 – Burgos, 25 September 1506);

Reign: 1504 – 1555 (from 1516 – 1555 under the regency of her son Carlos I/ Charles V

Dynasty Juana: Trastámara

Dynasty Philip: Habsburg

Predecessor: Queen Isabel I of Castile & Leon

Successor: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (King Carlos I of Spain)

Children: Queen Leonor of Portugal, later Queen of France; Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (King Carlos I of Spain); Queen Elizabeth of Denmark; Ferdinand I , Holy Roman Emperor; Queen Maria of Hungary and Bohemia and Queen Catherine of Portugal

Parents Juana: King Fernando II of Aragon and Napels and Queen Isabel I of Castile and Leon

Parents Philip: Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Duchess Mary ‘The Rich’ of Burgundy

Siblings Juana:Queen Isabel of Portugal; Prince Juan of Castile & Aragon, Prince of Asturias; Queen Juana ‘The Mad’ of Castile, Duchess of Burgundy; Queen María of Portugal; Queen Catherine of England & Ireland and Prince Pedro de Embasaguas of Castile & Aragon

Siblings Philip: Crownprincess Marguerita of Castile, later Duchess of Savoy and Archduke Franz of Austria
 
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Joanna (Spanish: Juana de Castilla) (November 6, 1479April 12, 1555), called Joanna the Mad (Juana La Loca), was Queen regnant of Castile and mother of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. She was the second daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon, and Isabella of Castile, and was born at Toledo.
The Castilian version of her name was Juana. In Germanic countries, she is usually known by the Latin form of her name, Joanna. Other English equivalents of the name include Jane and Joan.

In 1496 at Lier, Joanna was married to the Archduke Philip the Handsome, son of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, and at Ghent in February 1500, she gave birth to future emperor Charles V.
The death of her only brother John, Prince of Asturias, her eldest sister Isabella of Asturias, queen of Portugal, and then of the latter's infant son Miguel, Prince of Asturias, made Joanna the heiress of the Spanish kingdoms. Her only living siblings were Maria of Aragon and Catherine of Aragon, three and six years younger than Joanna. In 1502 the Castilian Cortes of Toro recognized Joanna as proprietary heiress to the Castilian throne, Charles as her successor, and Philip as her legitimate consort. She was then named Princess of Asturias, the title traditionally given to the heir of Castile.
Joanna was said to pine day and night for her husband while he was overseas, and when she eventually joined Philip in Flanders, her passionate jealousy and constant suspicion of him made her notorious, if not necessarily beloved, in the local court.

Read the entire wikipedia article here.
 
Philip the Handsome (July 22, 1478 – September 25, 1506; Spanish: Felipe el Hermoso; German: Philipp der Schöne; French: Philippe le Beau; Dutch: Filips de Schone) was the son of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I.
Through his mother Mary of Burgundy he inherited the greater part of the Burgundian state the Burgundian Netherlands and through his wife Joanna the Mad he briefly succeeded to the kingdom of Castile. He was the first Habsburg ruler in Spain and his successors recognized him as Philip I of Spain.

Philip was born in Bruges, in the County of Flanders (today in Belgium) and was named after his great-grandfather, Philip the Good. In 1482, upon the death of his mother Mary of Burgundy, daughter of Charles the Bold, he succeeded to her Burgundian possessions under the guardianship of his father. A period of turmoil ensued which witnessed sporadic hostilities between, principally, the large towns of Flanders (especially Ghent and Bruges) and the supporters of Maximilian.
During this interregnum, the young Philip became caught up in events and was even briefly sequestered in Bruges as part of the larger Flemish campaign to support their claims of greater autonomy, which they had wrested from Mary of Burgundy in an agreement known as the Blijde Inkomst or Joyous Entry of 1477. By the early 1490s, the turmoil of the interregnum gave way to an uneasy stand-off, with neither French support for the cities of the Franc (Flanders), nor Imperial support from Maximilian's father Frederick III proving decisive. Both sides came to terms in the Peace of Senlis in 1493, which smoothed over the internal power struggle by agreeing to make the 15-year old Philip prince in the following year.

Read the entire wikipedia article here.
 
Juana

There is a very good spanish film on Juana, aged 5 or 6 years. According to this film, her sexual drive was high, but only wanted her husband, what finally annoyed him, with time and all the pregnancies. And when he died, very young, she went amok, taking with her his body in a crazy caravan through all Spain. When they finally caught her, she was confined in a castle for the rest of her life. Some women become crazy when pregnant, and this poor woman was always pregnant. Maybe this is the same case for Britney Spears.
 
There is a very good spanish film on Juana, aged 5 or 6 years. According to this film, her sexual drive was high, but only wanted her husband, what finally annoyed him, with time and all the pregnancies. And when he died, very young, she went amok, taking with her his body in a crazy caravan through all Spain. When they finally caught her, she was confined in a castle for the rest of her life. Some women become crazy when pregnant, and this poor woman was always pregnant. Maybe this is the same case for Britney Spears.

I watch Spanish Juana la Loca (2001) or Mad love by Vincente Aranda with Pilar Lopez de Ayala and Daniele Liotti


There are to
Joanna of Castile - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Children from this marriage:
Eleanor (1498 - 1558)
Charles V Holy Roman Emperor (1500 - 1558)
Isabella (1501 - 1526)
Ferdinand I Holy Roman Emperor (1503 - 1564)
Mary (1505 - 1558)
Catherine (1507 - 1578)
 
I first became acquainted of Juana through reading about her sister Catalina de Aragon who married Henry VIII of England.

Juana and Catalina appeared close. Juana and Phllip visited England when Catalina was widowed from her first husband at which time Henry VII of England was treating Catalina rather badly.

When both sisters were Queens, they together planned for their children (Charles V and Mary I) to be married but it didn't happen. Charles married a Portuguese princess and Mary later married Charles' son.
 
Poor Juana, in her portraits she looks perhaps a litte "strange" but quite good looking.
Perhaps she had permanent post partum depression as she was pregnant so many times. No therapists or psychiatrists in those days. Mad, lock them up out of the way seemed to be the thing to do. She did travel round with her husband´s dead body so I suppose something had to be done.
 
Yes, Juana was quite striking looking, wasn't she? This picture of Philip looks quite handsome but in other pictures, he looks downright ugly - Hapbsburg genes I guess.

I was interested to find out that Juana became the Spanish heiress upon the death of her sister, the Queen of Portugal.

If her sister, Isabella, had lived then Spain and Portugul would have been united into one kingdom.
 
...Titular King Felipe I of Castile...

It is strange that Philip is described as Duke of Bugrundy and titular King of Castile, because he was actually titular Duke of Burgundy (the Duchy of Burgundy was absorbed into the Kingdom of France in 1477) and de jure & de facto King of Castile and Leon. He was a de jure monarch of Castile as Joanna's "lord husband", just like his father-in-law was de jure monarch of Castile as "lord husband" of Isabella I.

I was interested to find out that Juana became the Spanish heiress upon the death of her sister, the Queen of Portugal.

If her sister, Isabella, had lived then Spain and Portugul would have been united into one kingdom.

Actually, the chance of uniting Spain and Portugal did not die with Isabella, Queen of Portugal and Princess of Asturias, but with her son Miguel, Prince of Portugal and Prince of Asturias. After his mother's death, he became the heir presumptive to the thrones of the kingdoms of the Crown of Castile and to the thrones of the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon. However, he died aged two :(
 
I believe on 15 july 1506 the Cortes officially named him king (consort?), with the addition of I to his name. He could only enjoy that priviledge for a few months as he died on 25 September of the same year. In those months he was king de facto.

The Burgundy title was de jure indeed,though it symbolised the entire Burgundian Netherlands and the state they tried to make there, it had very little to do with Burgundy, which had become periferial even before 1477. King Carlos III also still used the title btw. I am not sure what happened to it afterwards, if it was inherited by the Austrian Habsburgs, by the Spanish Bourbons or if they just became extinct.
 
Hmm... He had a monarchical ordinal, so I don't think he was a consort, as consorts (queens consort and kings consort) do not have monarchical ordinals.

Philip certainly used the title of Duke of Burgundy, but he never reigned over the Duchy of Burgundy, right? Today, the title of Duke of Burgundy is one of the titles of the Spanish crown, but it was also used by Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia (and presumably by other Sovereign Archdukes of Austria).
 
Anniversary of Maria of Hungary's Birth-September 15th,1505

Anniversary of Maria of Hungary's Birth-September 15th,1505

Daughter of Juana I of Castile and Philip the Handsome,her older brother was the Holy Roman Emperor,Charles V.Maria was married to Louis II of Hungary in 1515,after his death she acted as Regent of Hungary and later served as the Hapsburg Regent of the Low Countries.



HMaria2.jpg
 
25th of September 1506-Anniversary of the death of Philip the Handsome,husband of Joanna I of Castile .

Philipp_der_Sch%C3%B6ne.jpg
 
Maria of Hungary,Archduchess of Austria,Infanta of Castile and Aragon,Princess of Burgundy,Queen Dowager of Hungary and Bohemia and Imperial Regent died at Cigales in Spain on October 18th,1558.
 
Royal Anniversary - November 6th,1479 - Birth of Juana I .

Meister_der_Magdalenenlegende_002.jpg
 
Royal Anniversary-April 12, 1555 : Death of Joan/Juana I

Joint tomb of Joan and Felipe at the Capilla Real de Granada



Capilla_real_tombs.jpg
 
Hmm... He had a monarchical ordinal, so I don't think he was a consort, as consorts (queens consort and kings consort) do not have monarchical ordinals.

Philip certainly used the title of Duke of Burgundy, but he never reigned over the Duchy of Burgundy, right? Today, the title of Duke of Burgundy is one of the titles of the Spanish crown, but it was also used by Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia (and presumably by other Sovereign Archdukes of Austria).

If Philip was not a King Consort but an actual reigning King, would he have had the same rights as his wife to make royal decisions and appointments?
If Juana would have died before Philip, would Philip have sole rights as King? Or does Charles become monarch?
 


If Philip was not a King Consort but an actual reigning King, would he have had the same rights as his wife to make royal decisions and appointments?
If Juana would have died before Philip, would Philip have sole rights as King? Or does Charles become monarch?


It's important to realize the way female succession worked in Spain.

In Spain a Queen's husband was jure uxoris king during his wife's lifetime - they ruled by right of their wife. This was a substantial position, making the king the equal, or even superior, to the queen.

We can see this with Joanna's father, Ferdinand. He was only King of Castile jure uxoris during his wife's reign. When Isabella I died Ferdinand ceased to be King of Castile and Joanna became Queen, with her husband being King jure uxoris. When Philip died he ceased to be King and Ferdinand became regent, reasserting his power. However, had Joanna died during Philip's lifetime then her heir, Charles, would have become King (although Philip likely would have remained in power as regent).
 
In reading Sister Queens by Julia Fox, there is a lot of controversy about whether or not Juana was mad, or just in matters pertaining to her husband's infidelity. This book outlines the role her father played in getting thr “mad” verdict in order to reclaim Castillo after Philip died. And supposedly she took his body on a tour in order to try to bury him in Aragon to strengthen the claim of her son Charles, to ensure he got both Castillo and Aragon. But who knows..her grandmother had been thought mad and her own mother worded her will in a way that cast doubt on Juana’s inability to rule.

On another note, Catherine of Aragon comes across as far more political and manipulative during the years of beleaguered widowhood than I had imagined. She claimed that God deemed her to be Queen of England but certainly did not leave in it his hands, instead pursued the matter with every breath and movement of her pen, lol. She even tried to convince poor widowed Juana into marrying Henry VII despite her own knowledge of him, thinking it would ensure her own marriage to Henry VIII. By that time, she knew well that Henry VII was a skinflint, treated her badly, broke promises etc.

She also learned to exagerate her woes and use illness whenever convenient. So apparently husband Henry had not gotten to know her as well as he thought when he later expected her to retire to a convent later on. Also she quarreled constantly with most of her household, needing intervention by Henry VII or her father. If Henry had paid attention, he might not have been so surprised when she fought back. She seemed to be much like her mother Isabella in many ways, who made free with the truth regularly despite her almost neurotic piety (which she also inherited.) I am not convinced that her first marriage was never consummated, considering that both she and Arthur had it drilled into their heads almost from birth that heirs were their main purposes. And Arthur only fell ill a week or two before dying, leaving up to four months with his wife. And Henry VII waited until after he was sure Catherine was not pregnant before giving son Henry his new titles and no one objected, not Catherine or her patents or her ladies, that she could not be.

In any case...it is a good read. The other thing that strikes me is since Catherine was engaged to Arthur by around aged four, the fact she was not taught English, or even French as a child is inexplicable. She showed up knowing only Spanish and formal Latin.
 
Documentary about Queen Juana "La Loca" of Castile.

 
Juana I of Castile, better known as Juana 'la loca', could never reign. First her husband, Archduke Felipe of Austria, after her, hers, her father Ferdinand 'the Catholic' and later hers, her son Carlos I of her, they were in charge of keeping her away from power. But her figure, together with that of her mother Isabel 'the Catholic', are decisive in understanding the transit that occurs in the Iberian Peninsula between the Middle Ages and the modern era. The program is completed with a brief dramatization and a plot of the places where she developed her life, in the Netherlands and in Spain.

https://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/mujeres-en-la-historia/mujeres-historia-juana-loca/844397/
 
Many thanks for all of the educational historical posts you have shared lately. :flowers:

But her figure, together with that of her mother Isabel 'the Catholic', are decisive in understanding the transit that occurs in the Iberian Peninsula between the Middle Ages and the modern era.

https://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/mujeres-en-la-historia/mujeres-historia-juana-loca/844397/

It is a shame that the position and actions of women in Spanish royal history are so widely erased by Anglophone royal watchers.
 
She was so jaloes that she followed her Husband abroad. So Charles Quint (Charles V) is born in Ghent.
 
She was so jaloes that she followed her Husband abroad. So Charles Quint (Charles V) is born in Ghent.
I think that had more to with the fact that her husband had inherited the Duchy of Burgundf territories from his mother.
 
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Yes but we Belgians are very proud that this great Emperor and King was born in Ghent and not in Spain!
 
By now it is quite clear, that Juana was most probale in a deep depression after her husbands death - and her father used that to incarcerate her in quite bad circumstances - it was clearly that he could reign in her stead ... the son was just like the grandfather. As he grew up without much contact to her, he just presumed that he, as a man, had any right to treat her as bad, as her father had done. Could be that by now she really got 'mad' at beeing treated so badly by her closesed of kin.
 
Yes but we Belgians are very proud that this great Emperor and King was born in Ghent and not in Spain!

And not forgetting his beloved sisters

Eleanor of Austria, Queen of France born in Leuven.
Mary of Austria ,Queen of Hungary and Imperial Regent of the Low Countries born in Brussels.
Isabella of Austria,Queen of Denmark born in Brussels.
 
It's a sad story. It was probably depression brought on by grief. Obviously there wasn't much understanding of mental illness then, but, with some kindness rather than being locked away, maybe she'd have recovered. Neither Ferdinand nor Charles seemed to care about her.
 
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