Henry's father, Henry VII, supported Philip's control of Castile over Ferdinand, and his power may in part have influenced Ferdinand's agreement to cede Castile in favor of military and monetary support. There Juana was briefly reunited with her sister, Catherine, who by then had been widowed by Prince Arthur, though not yet married to Henry VIII. It was en route to take a stand against his claims in 1506 that Juana and Philip would find themselves in England courtesy of storms. It was not until November 26, 1504, when Isabella I died that Juana would take the title of Queen of Castile, but the transition was far from smooth.īoth Philip and Juana's father, Ferdinand II wanted to control Castile, but Isabella, in her fear that the people of Castile would not accept a foreign king, had complicated matters for them by stipulating that Philip could only act as consort to Juana, unless she proved unfit to rule, in which case Ferdinand was to take up governance as a regent until Juana's son Charles came of age.įerdinand quickly took up a campaign declaring his daughter mentally incompetent and styling himself as the rule of Castile. Trapped Between Her Husband and Her Father In retaliation, Juana would often employ a method that she had utilized throughout her life, refusing to eat or sleep as a form of passive protest. The couple fought openly and Philip had Juana confined to her rooms for a time. With the rise in status, Juana became increasingly politically useful and Philip began attempting to assert increasing control over his independent-minded wife. Her son, Prince Miguel survived to the age of two before passing, leaving Juana as the heir to Castile and Aragon. From there, the position of heir briefly went to Juana's older sister, Isabella of Asturias, but she died in childbirth less than a year later. Her brother and heir to both of their parents' thrones, Juan, died of an illness in the fall of 1497, and though his wife, Margaret of Austria, was pregnant at the time, the child was stillborn. Given that she was third in line for the throne with two married siblings, it came as a surprise to all when it was Juana who ascended as Queen of Castile. Photo credit: Gareth Gatrell An Unexpected Throne Together the two would go on to have six children, including Charles V, who would become King of Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand, who succeeded his brother as Holy Roman Emperor, and four daughters, all of who would go on to become queens in their own right-Eleanor (who was a various points Queen of Portugal and Queen of France) Elizabeth, Queen of Denmark Maria, Queen of Hungary and Catherine, who married the successor of her sister Eleanor's husband to also become Queen of Portugal.ĭespite their apparent passion, Juana's husband Philip was frequently unfaithful to her, his indiscreet affairs causing Juana to fly into rages and periods of depression that provoked the first rumors about Juana's mental state. Their wedding was already planned for the following day, but evidently the first meeting between the two young royals was a dramatic success-rather than waiting, they ordered a priest to marry them on the spot. Storms at sea delayed her arrival however, she was finally able to meet her intended on October 19 of that year.
That political marriage came in the form of a two-part deal with Maximilian I, the Austrian emperor, who agreed to marry his eldest son and heir, Philip the Fair, to Juana and his daughter, Margaret, to Juan.Īfter months of planning, the 16-year-old Juana sailed to Flanders with a fleet of over 100 ships in August of 1496. Photo credit: Nick Briggs An Impromptu Wedding
Juana, however, never showed the same level of religious devotion and, according to some sources, was brutally punished by her mother for her more moderate faith.
Juana's mother, Isabella I, was an ardent Catholic (she was granted the right to style herself as Isabella the Catholic by Pope Alexander VI) and the Spanish Inquisition began during her reign. Though the marriage between Isabella and Ferdinand united the two crowns, establishing the kingdom of Spain, Castile and Aragon continued to maintain their own separate political and governmental structures and functioned essentially as separate countries despite ruling over Spain together with his wife, Ferdinand had no legal claim on the Castilian throne, nor did Isabella on the crown of Aragon-a fact that would become tragically pivotal in Juana's life. Prior to Isabella and Ferdinand's marriage, Castile, which made up a large portion of the northern and central Iberian peninsula, and Aragon, which encompassed the northeastern region, were separate kingdoms.
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