Catherine of Aragon is perhaps the most well-known of
Spanish monarchs. She was intelligent, elegant, devout in her religion, and
compassionate. She was once wed to Arthur, Prince of Wales but quickly after
their wedding he suddenly passed. Catherine subsequently wed Arthur’s younger
brother, the notorious Henry VIII. Their marriage ended in 1533 much to
Catherine’s chagrin, due entirely to Henry’s inability to think with his head.
But I digress. While Catherine had much of Europe’s attention, her sister, Juana
I of Castile, was struggling while trying to cope with the sudden deaths of her
mother, brother and then husband. All of this while suffering an apparent
mental illness.
Juana was by all accounts an extraordinary child. She
excelled at everything she attempted. She was a marvelous dancer, she was
fluent in several languages, and was considered quite attractive with her fair
features. Like most European princesses, she was arranged to be married. After
a proxy marriage in 1496 and soon sixteen-year-old Juana was headed for
Flanders (Northern Belgium) to be with her husband, Philip, Count of Flanders
and Duke of Burgundy. It wasn’t until after their marriage, Juana’s mental
state would come into question.
Juana loved Phillip immensely and she wanted to be with
him always. Phillip loved carnal extravagance. Before his marriage to Juana, he
had already at least one illegitimate child and his marriage was mostly one of
convenience as it was financially beneficial to all parties. Spain did not
appeal to Phillip. It was melancholy and drab. Juana’s parents, King Ferdinand
and Queen Isabella, devout in their religion, sat in unadorned thrones in dark
robes while Phillip dressed in the height of fashion. Phillip wanted to live a
lavish life—and he had his eye on the throne of Castile.
In 1501, Philip and Juana traveled to Spain in hopes of
addressing the Cortes of Aragon to petition for their inheritance of the throne
of Castile. After the deaths of Juana’s sister Isabella and Isabella’s young
child, Juana suddenly became an heiress of several countries but Philip did not
think she would be able to rule due to her mood instability. He claimed she was
prone to violent tantrums and mood swings and couldn’t possibly be able to
rule. Eventually the Cortes declared Juana the Princess of Castile and Philip
her consort. But Philip quickly grew tired of Spain and its religious fervor.
After a violent argument in 1502, Philip left Spain—and a pregnant Juana—and
headed home.
Upon learning of her husband’s sudden departure, Juana
became desolate. She had to be locked away for her own safety after multiple
attempts to flee after him. She suffered fainting spells and periods of inconsolable
sobbing at the thought of Philip back in Flanders, cavorting with young maidens
while she was heavily pregnant and alone in Madrid. Soon, their fourth child,
Ferdinand, was born she left Spain to be with her husband against the wishes of
her parents who had come to despise Philip, his selfish desires, and his adoration
for France.
In 1504 Queen Isabella I of Castile died suddenly and as
per her wishes, her daughter Juana became Queen regnant. She was to co-rule
with her father, Ferdinand II, and Philip was fervently against his
father-in-law ruling at all. Juana’s father reigned in her stead, as stated in
the will of Isabella, while Juana remained in Flanders with her husband. Ferdinand
tried everything to keep Philip from taking thrown, including appealing to the
Cortes and even re-marrying to his own French great-niece, Germaine de Foix
(also the niece of Louis XII) in hopes of producing a new heir as quickly as
possible. But he was unable to achieve this before Juana and Philip made their
way back to Spain in late 1505 to claim the throne. Again, Philip brought Juana’s
mental stability into question. Her tantrums and severe, uncontrollable mood
swings were becoming worse. Ferdinand reluctantly agreed to allow Philip to
rule in Juana’s stead and he immediately retired to Aragon.
Just a few months later tragedy struck. Philip died from
typhoid fever leaving a very pregnant (and increasingly unstable) Juana to rule
alone. It’s reported that she had the coffin of Philip opened five weeks after
his death after rumors his body had been stolen. Once the coffin was opened,
she thrust herself upon Philip’s corpse and began kissing his feet. She had to
be forcibly removed and taken back to her room.
Spain was quickly falling into disarray as
Queen Juana tried to take control of her country. After months of famine and
plague ravaging the country, Ferdinand returned to the throne and reigned,
although Juana kept the title of Queen. The heir-apparent was named as Charles
I, Juana and Philip’s French-raised son, who would later become Charles V, Holy
Roman Emperor.
After the death of Juana’s father, Charles I was made
co-ruler of Spain along with his mother. But her mental health was quickly declining.
Charles wanted supreme control of Spain and had his mother confined to a
convent Tordesillas for the remainder of her life where she suffered severe
paranoia atop her already abundant instability. She believed the nuns were plotting
against her life. Soon she could not feed or bathe herself and she suffered was
insomnia which most certainly added to her instability. She remained confined
within the convent until her passing on April 12, 1555 at the age of 75.
Juana I of Castile was a brilliant woman who suffered
immensely in her lifetime. But was she “mad” as she most often referred to?
Perhaps. It must be noted that Juana’s grandmother, Isabel of Portugal, had
similar instances of intense mood swings. It seems quite probably that Juana
did suffer some type of mental illness, but it also seems likely that this was
inhibited by her husband’s selfish ways and later the back-to-back-to-back
deaths of her sister, mother and then husband. Whatever the causes may be, Juana
(the mad) of Castile is a fascinating and immensely significant character, not only just
in the history of Spain, but of Europe as a whole.
