Meet the family that will stop at nothing to gain power – even driving one of their own to the brink
Words JESSICA LEGGETT
Joanna of Castile
b.1479-d.1555 Reigned Castile 1504-55 Aragon 1516-55
Born to Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, Joanna was an unexpected heir to the thrones of Spain. Manipulated and imprisoned, her rumoured madness has led to the legend of ‘Joanna the Mad’.
The castle felt dark and icy cold, even though the spring birds chirped outside. The queen was lying inside, weak and deathly ill, staring at the door, hoping that her family would come to kiss her goodbye. She had spent the majority of her life trusting that the men in her life had loved her, that they had sought to protect her. But nobody was coming. Joanna could wait no longer and drew her last rattling breath, alone in death as she had been for most of her life. After 46 years of imprisonment, the queen of Castile was dead.
As queen regnant, Joanna had ruled Castile for 51 years and Aragon for 39, both inherited from her parents, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. She had had six children, including Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, whose vast inheritance from his ancestors led to the personal unification of Spain as well as the Netherlands and the Holy Roman Empire.
Joanna should be a significant figure in history as a queen and the mother of a man who changed the power balance in Europe, yet, despite this, she is a largely forgotten figure of the past. Isolated and maligned from her family, she experienced a series of injustices that have forever tarnished her reputation, leaving her with the moniker ‘Joanna the Mad’. She is not remembered for being a female ruler in a world run by men but as a woman who was used and broken by her love for her family and the eventual descent into her supposed madness.
The future queen was born in Toledo, Castile, in 1479. A bright and intelligent girl, she received an impressive education at her mother’s insistence and was particularly gifted in languages. She was also educated in the more traditional ‘feminine’ pursuits, such as needlework and dancing. Besides Joanna, Isabella and Ferdinand also had four other children – three girls and a boy.
The son, John, Prince of Asturias, was heir to his parents’ titles. Through him, Isabella and Ferdinand hoped to achieve their goal of the personal unification of their thrones to create the Kingdom of Spain. Their eldest daughter, Isabella, would replace the young prince should anything happen to him. Both siblings were given the opportunities to experience how to govern the realm as the next two in line for the throne, something which the three youngest girls did not receive. With an heir and a spare, it was clear that Isabella and Ferdinand’s remaining daughters were destined to make advantageous marriages, becoming p
