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{{Short description|Queen of Castile (1504–1555) and Aragon (1516–1555)}}
{{redirect2|Juana la Loca|Joanna of Aragon|the film|Juana la Loca (2001 film){{!}}''Juana la Loca'' (2001 film)|other uses|Joanna of Aragon (disambiguation)|and|Joanna of Castile (disambiguation)}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Joanna of Castile
| image        = File:Johanna I van Castilië.JPG
| caption      = Portrait by the [[Master of Affligem]], {{circa|1500}}
| succession   = [[Queen of Castile]] and [[List of Leonese monarchs|León]]
| reign        = 26 November 1504 – <br/> 12 April 1555
| predecessor  = [[Isabella I of Castile|Isabella I]] and [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|Ferdinand V]]
| pre-type     = Predecessors
| successor    = [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles I]]
| regent       = [[Philip I of Castile|Philip I]] (1506)<br/>Charles I (1516–1555)
| reg-type     = Co-monarchs
| reg-type1    = Regents
| regent1      = {{Collapsible list|title=''See''|1=[[Ferdinand II of Aragon]] {{nowrap|(1504–1506; 1507–1516)}} <br>[[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros]] {{nowrap|(1506; 1516–1517)}}}}
| succession2  = [[Queen of Aragon|Queen of Aragon, Navarre, Sicily, Naples, Sardinia]] and [[Countess of Barcelona]]
| reign2       = 23 January 1516 – <br/> 12 April 1555
| predecessor2 = [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|Ferdinand II]]
| successor2   = [[Charles I of Spain|Charles I]]
| reg-type2    = Co-monarch
| regent2      = Charles I
| birth_date   = 6 November 1479
| birth_place  = [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], Castile
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|1555|4|12|1479|11|6|df=yes}}
| death_place  = [[Tordesillas]], Castile
| burial_date  = 
| burial_place = [[Royal Chapel of Granada]], Granada, Castile
| spouse       = {{marriage|[[Philip the Handsome]]|1496|1506|end=d}}
| issue        = {{plainlist|
*[[Eleanor, Queen of Portugal and France]]
*[[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]]
*[[Isabella of Austria|Isabella, Queen of Denmark]]
*[[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor]]
*[[Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)|Mary, Queen of Hungary]]
*[[Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal|Catherine, Queen of Portugal]]}}
| house        = [[House of Trastámara|Trastámara]]
| father       = [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]]
| mother       = [[Isabella I of Castile]]
| religion     = [[Catholic Church]]
| signature    = Joanna of Castile's signature.svg
}}
'''Joanna of Castile''' (6 November 1479 – 12 April 1555), historically known as '''Joanna the Mad''' ({{langx|es|link=no|Juana la loca}}), was the nominal [[queen of Castile]] from 1504 and [[queen of Aragon]] from 1516 to her death in 1555. She was the daughter of Queen [[Isabella I of Castile]] and King [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]]. Joanna was married by arrangement to the Austrian archduke [[Philip the Handsome]] on 20 October 1496.<ref name="Aram37">Bethany Aram, ''Juana the Mad:  Sovereignty and Dynasty in Renaissance Europe'' (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins UP, 2005), p. 37</ref> Following the deaths of her elder brother [[John, Prince of Asturias|John]], elder sister [[Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal|Isabella]], and nephew [[Miguel da Paz, Prince of Portugal|Miguel]] between 1497 and 1500, Joanna became the [[heir presumptive]] to the crowns of [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] and [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]]. When her mother died in 1504, she became queen of Castile. Her father proclaimed himself governor and administrator of Castile.<ref name="Bergenroth_1868">Bergenroth, G A, Introduction. Letters, Despatches, and State Papers to the Negotiations between England and Spain.  Suppl. to vols 1 and 2. London: Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyerm 1868. https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9q8MAQAAIAAJ</ref>

In 1506, Joanna's husband Philip became king of Castile ''[[jure uxoris]]'' as Philip I, initiating the rule of the [[Spanish Habsburg|Habsburgs]] in the Spanish kingdoms. Philip died that same year. Despite being the ruling queen of Castile, Joanna had little effect on national policy during her reign as she was declared insane and confined in the [[Royal Palace of Tordesillas|Royal Palace]] in [[Tordesillas]] under the orders of her father, who ruled as regent until his death in 1516, when she inherited his kingdom as well. Her son [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles I]] became king, and during his reign Joanna was nominally co-monarch but remained confined until her death. Joanna died aged 75 in 1555, at which point her son Charles, the [[Holy Roman Emperor]], became the sole ruler of Castile and Aragon.

==Early life==

[[File:Los Reyes Católicos y la infanta doña Juana.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Joanna with her parents, Isabella and Ferdinand; "''Rimado de la conquista de Granada''", by Pedro Marcuello, {{circa}} 1482]]
Joanna was born on 6 November 1479 in the city of [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] in the [[Kingdom of Castile]]. She was the fourth but third surviving child and the second daughter of [[Isabella I of Castile]] and [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]], both members of the [[House of Trastámara]].

She had a fair complexion and brown eyes, and her hair colour was between strawberry-blonde and auburn, like her mother and her sister [[Catherine of Aragon|Catherine]]. Her siblings were Isabella, Queen of Portugal; John, Prince of Asturias; [[Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugal|Maria, Queen of Portugal]]; and Catherine, Queen of England.<ref>Catherine was the first wife of [[Henry VIII]] and the mother of [[Mary I of England]].</ref>

===Education===
Joanna was educated and formally trained for a significant marriage that, as a royal family alliance, would extend the kingdom's power and security as well as its influence and peaceful relations with other ruling powers. As an ''[[Infanta]]'' (princess), she was not expected to be heiress to the throne of either Castile or Aragon, although through deaths she later inherited both thrones.<ref name="Gelardi">{{cite book |last=Gelardi |first=Julia P. |title=In Triumph's Wake: Royal Mothers, Tragic Daughters, and the Price They Paid for Glory |date=2009 |publisher=St. Martin's Griffin}}</ref>

Joanna's academic education consisted of canon and civil law, genealogy and heraldry, grammar, history, languages, mathematics, philosophy, reading, spelling and writing.{{r|Gelardi|page=61}} Among the authors of classical literature she read were the Christian poets [[Juvencus]] and [[Prudentius]], Church fathers Saint [[Ambrose]], Saint [[Augustine]], Saint [[Pope Gregory I|Gregory]], and Saint [[Jerome]], and the Roman statesman [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]].{{r|Gelardi|page=61}}

In the Castilian court Joanna's main tutors were the [[Dominican Order|Dominican priest]] Andrés de Miranda; educator [[Beatriz Galindo]], who was a member of the queen's court; and her mother, the queen. Joanna's royal education included court etiquette, dancing, drawing, [[Equestrianism|equestrian]] skills, music, and the needle arts of embroidery, needlepoint, and sewing.{{r|Gelardi|page=61}} She studied the [[Iberian Romance languages]] of [[Spanish language|Castilian]], [[Leonese language|Leonese]], [[Galician-Portuguese]] and [[Catalan language|Catalan]], and became fluent in French and Latin. She learned outdoor pursuits such as hawking and hunting. She was skilled at dancing and music; she played the [[clavichord]], the guitar, and the [[monochord]].

===Marriage===
[[File:Huwelijkscontract.Filips de Schone en Johanna van Castilië.JPG|thumb|left|The marriage contract of Joanna and Philip (1496).]]
In 1496, 16-year-old Joanna was betrothed to 18-year-old Philip of [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]], in the [[Low Countries]]. Philip's parents were [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor]], and his first wife, Duchess [[Mary of Burgundy]]. The marriage was one of a set of family alliances between the Habsburgs and the Trastámaras designed to strengthen both against growing French power.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pavić |first=Milorad |url=https://www.croris.hr/crosbi/publikacija/prilog-knjiga/59702 |title=Marriage Politics of the European Royal Dinasties in the Early Modern Period |last2=Marin |first2=Ina |date=2017 |publisher=Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej |isbn=978-83-7784-990-3 |language=}}</ref>

Joanna entered a [[proxy marriage]] at the [[Royal Audiencia and Chancillería of Valladolid|Palacio de los Vivero]] in the city of [[Valladolid]], Castile, where her parents had secretly married in 1469. In August 1496 Joanna left from the port of [[Laredo, Cantabria|Laredo]] in northern Castile on the Atlantic's [[Bay of Biscay]]. Except for 1506, when she saw her younger sister Catherine, the then-Dowager Princess of Wales, she would never see her siblings again.

[[File:Philip the Fair and Joanna of Castile.jpg|thumb|left|300px| Joanna of Castile and Philip the Fair, stained glass, Basilica of the Holy Blood in Bruges.]]

Joanna began her journey to [[Habsburg Netherlands|Brabant]] in the Low Countries, which consisted of parts of the present day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany, on 22 August 1496. The formal marriage took place on 20 October 1496 in [[Lier, Belgium|Lier]],<ref name="Aram37"/> north of present-day Brussels. Between 1498 and 1507, she gave birth to six children, two boys and four girls, all of whom grew up to be either emperors or queens.<ref>[[Eleanor of Austria|Eleanor of Austria, Queen of France and Portugal]], [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]], [[Isabella of Austria|Isabella of Austria, Queen of Denmark]], 
[[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor]], [[Mary, Queen of Hungary]], and [[Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal]].</ref>

===Princess of Asturias===
The death of Joanna's brother John, the stillbirth of John's daughter, and the deaths of Joanna's older sister Isabella and Isabella's son Miguel made Joanna heiress to the Spanish kingdoms. Her remaining siblings were Maria (1482–1517) and Catherine (1485–1536), younger than Joanna by three and six years respectively.

In 1502, the Castilian ''Cortes'' of Toro<ref name="Colmeiro">{{cite book|last=Colmeiro|first=Manuel|title=Cortes de los antiguos reinos de León y de Castilla|year=1883|publisher=Rivadeneyra| location=Madrid|url=https://archive.org/details/cortesdelosantigu02colm}}</ref>{{rp|36–69}}<ref name="moneda Juana">Francisco Olmos, ''Estudio documental de la moneda castellana de Juana la Loca fabricada''</ref>{{rp|303}} recognised Joanna as heiress to the Castilian throne and Philip as her consort. She was named [[Prince of Asturias|Princess of Asturias]], the title traditionally given to the heir of Castile.<ref name="Aram">Aram, Bethany. (1998) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2544520 "Juana 'the Mad's' Signature: The Problem of Invoking Royal Authority, 1505–1507"] ''Sixteenth Century Journal,'' 29(2), 331–358. {{doi|10.2307/2544520}}</ref> Also in 1502, the [[Cortes of Aragon|Aragonese ''Cortes'']] gathered in [[Zaragoza]] to swear an oath to Joanna as heiress; however, the [[Archbishop of Zaragoza]], [[Alonso de Aragón]] expressed firmly that this oath could only establish [[jurisprudence]] by way of a formal agreement on the succession between the ''Cortes'' and the king.<ref name="moneda Carlos">Francisco Olmos,
''Estudio documental de la moneda castellana de Carlos I''</ref>{{rp|137}}<ref name="moneda Juana"/>{{rp|299}}

In 1502, Philip, Joanna and a large part of their court traveled to Toledo for Joanna to receive fealty from the Cortes of Castile as Princess of Asturias, heiress to the Castilian throne, a journey chronicled in great detail by [[Antoon I van Lalaing]] ({{langx|fr|link=no|Antoine de Lalaing}}). Philip and the majority of the court returned to the Low Countries in the following year, leaving a pregnant Joanna in [[Madrid]], where she gave birth to her fourth child, Ferdinand, later a central European monarch and [[Holy Roman Emperor]] as [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand I]].

==Reign==
===Queen of Castile===

====Succession====
Upon the death of her mother in November 1504, Joanna became queen regnant of Castile and her husband ''[[jure uxoris]]'' its king in 1506. Joanna's father, Ferdinand II, lost his monarchical status in Castile although his wife's will permitted him to govern in Joanna's absence or, if Joanna was unwilling to rule herself, until Joanna's heir reached the age of 20.<ref name="Prawdin">Prawdin, Michael, ''The Mad Queen of Spain'', p. 83.</ref>

Ferdinand refused to accept this; he minted Castilian coins in the name of "Ferdinand and Joanna, King and Queen of Castile, León and Aragon", and, in early 1505, persuaded the ''Cortes'' that Joanna's "illness is such that the said Queen Doña Joanna our Lady cannot govern". The ''Cortes'' then appointed Ferdinand as Joanna's guardian and the kingdom's administrator and governor.

Joanna's husband, Philip, was unwilling to accept any threat to his chances of ruling Castile and also minted coins in the name of "Philip and Joanna, King and Queen of Castile, Léon and Archdukes of Austria, etc."<ref name="moneda Juana"/>{{rp|315}} In response, Ferdinand embarked upon a pro-French policy, marrying [[Germaine de Foix]], niece of [[Louis XII]] of France (and his own great-niece), in the hope that she would produce a son to inherit Aragon and perhaps Castile.<ref name="Elliott">Elliott, J. H., ''Imperial Spain''</ref>{{rp|138}}<ref name="Aram"/>

In the Low Countries, Joanna was kept in confinement, but when her father-in-law Maximilian (in semi-secrecy) visited them on 24 August 1505 she was released to welcome him. Maximilian tried to comfort Joanna with festivities and she spent weeks accompanying him in public events, during which she acted like a wise, prudent queen, as noted by the Venetian ambassador.{{efn| [...] the most serene king of the Romans was keeping company with the queen his daughter-in-law, dressed in black velvet and with a fairly good complexion given the illness she has had. And it seemed to me, although it was night, that she was very beautiful, and she had the air of a wise and prudent lady. I made my reverence to her majesty in the name of your sublimity and spoke a few good words well adapted and appropriate to the time and place where we were and these were amiably reciprocated by her majesty."{{sfn|Fleming|2018|p=90}}}} To entertain Joanna, Philip and Maximilian (who was dressed incognito) [[jousting|jousted]] against each other at night, under torchlight. Maximilian told Philip that he could only succeed as a monarch if husband and wife were "una cosa medesima" (one and the same). After this, the couple reconciled somewhat. When Philip tried to gain support from Castilian nobles and prelates against Ferdinand though, Joanna firmly refused to act against her father.<ref>{{cite book |last=Parker |first=Geoffrey|author-link=Geoffrey Parker (historian) |title=Emperor: A New Life of Charles V |date=25 June 2019 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-19652-8 |page=53 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0eaaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53 |access-date=24 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Fleming |first=Gillian B. |title=Juana I: Legitimacy and Conflict in Sixteenth-Century Castile |date=3 April 2018 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-74347-9 |page=90 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4E9UDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA90 |access-date=24 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Leslie |title=Notorious Royal Marriages: A Juicy Journey Through Nine Centuries of Dynasty, Destiny, and Desire |date=5 January 2010 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-101-15977-4 |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TcXWrhvBc8YC&pg=PT61 |access-date=24 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

Ferdinand's remarriage merely strengthened support for Philip and Joanna in Castile, and in late 1505 the pair decided to travel to Castile. Before they boarded the ship, Joanna forbade a ship with female attendants to join the trip, fearing that Philip would have illicit relationships with them. This action played right into Philip's and Ferdinand's propaganda against her. Leaving Flanders on 10 January 1506, their ships were wrecked on the English coast and the couple were guests of [[Henry VIII|Henry, Prince of Wales]] (later Henry VIII), and Joanna's sister Catherine of Aragon at [[Windsor Castle]]. They weren't able to leave until 21 April, by which time civil war was looming in Castile.

Philip apparently considered landing in [[Andalusia]] and summoning the nobles to take up arms against Ferdinand in Aragon. Instead, he and Joanna landed at [[A Coruña]] on 26 April, whereupon the Castilian nobility abandoned Ferdinand en masse. Ferdinand met Philip at [[Villafáfila]] on 27 June 1506 for a private interview in the village church. To the general surprise, Ferdinand had unexpectedly handed over the government of Castile to his "most beloved children", promising to retire to Aragon. Philip and Ferdinand then signed the [[Treaty of Villafáfila]] secretly, agreeing that Joanna's "infirmities and sufferings" made her incapable of ruling and promising to exclude her from government and deprive the Queen of crown and freedom.

Ferdinand promptly repudiated the second agreement the same afternoon, declaring that Joanna should never be deprived of her rights as Queen Proprietress of Castile. A fortnight later, having come to no fresh agreement with Philip, and thus effectively retaining his right to interfere if he considered his daughter's rights to have been infringed upon, he abandoned Castile for Aragon, leaving Philip to govern in Joanna's stead.<ref name="Elliott"/>{{rp|139}}
[[File:Juana_la_Loca_de_Pradilla.jpg|thumb|Joanna the Mad Holding Vigil over the Coffin of Her Late Husband, Philip the Handsome. Juana la Loca de Pradilla by [[Francisco Pradilla Ortiz]], 1877.]]

====Philip's death====
By virtue of the agreement of Villafáfila, the [[Procurador en Cortes (Spain)|procurators of the ''Cortes'']] met in [[Valladolid]], Castile on 9 July 1506. On 12 July,<ref name="Colmeiro"/>{{rp|69–91}} they swore allegiance to Philip I and Joanna together as King and Queen of Castile and León and to their son Charles as their heir-apparent.<ref name="moneda Carlos"/>{{rp|135}} This arrangement only lasted for a few months.

On 25 September 1506, Philip died after a five-day illness in the city of [[Burgos]] in Castile. The probable cause of death was [[typhoid fever]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Philip I, the Handsome |encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance |year=2003 |last=Campbell |first=Gordon |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-860175-3 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780198601753.001.0001/acref-9780198601753-e-2810 }}</ref> but there were rumors that his father-in-law, Ferdinand II, had poisoned him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Liss |first=Peggy K. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/25048514 |title=Isabel the Queen: Life and Times |date=1992 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-507356-8 |location=New York |page=354|oclc=25048514 }}</ref> Joanna was pregnant with their sixth child, a daughter named [[Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal|Catherine]] (1507–1578), who later became Queen of Portugal.  As Joanna had no midwife at the time, she was assisted during childbirth by her lady-in-waiting, [[María de Ulloa]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fernández Guisasola |first=Luis Fernando |year=2024 |title=Doña María de Ulloa, camarera mayor de la reina doña Juana I de Castilla. Familia y contexto político |journal=Cuadernos de Estudios Gallegos |volume=71 |issue=137 |pages=e05 |doi=10.3989/ceg.2024.137.05 |url=https://doi.org/10.3989/ceg.2024.137.05|doi-access=free }}</ref> 

By 20 December 1506, Joanna was in the village of Torquemada in Castile, attempting to exercise her rights to rule alone in her own name as Queen of Castile. The country fell into disorder. Her son and heir-apparent Charles, later Charles I, was a six-year-old child being raised in his aunt's care in northern European [[Flanders]]; her father, Ferdinand II, remained in Aragon, allowing the crisis to grow.

A regency council under [[Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros|Archbishop Cisneros]] was set up, against the queen's orders, but it was unable to manage the growing public disorder; plague and famine devastated the kingdom with supposedly half the population perishing of one or the other. The queen was unable to secure the funds required to assist her to protect her power. In the face of this, Ferdinand II returned to Castile in July 1507. His arrival coincided with a remission of the plague and famine, a development which quieted the instability and left an impression that his return had restored the health of the kingdom.<ref name="Elliott"/>{{rp|139}}<ref name="Aram"/>

====Father's regency====
[[File:Don Felipe y Doña Juana.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Joanna and her husband with their Spanish subjects]]
Ferdinand II and Joanna met at [[Hornillos de Cerrato|Hornillos, Castile]], on 30 July 1507. Ferdinand then constrained her to yield her power over the Kingdom of Castile and León to himself. On 17 August 1507, three members of the royal council were summoned – supposedly in her name – and ordered to inform the grandees of her father Ferdinand II's return to power: "That they should go to receive his highness and serve him as they would her person and more." However, she made it evident that this was against her will, by refusing to sign the instructions and issuing a statement that as queen regnant she did not endorse the surrender of her own royal powers.

Nonetheless, she was thereafter queen in name only, and all documents, though issued in her name, were signed with Ferdinand's signature, "I the King". He was named administrator of the kingdom by the ''Cortes'' of Castile in 1510, and entrusted the government mainly to Archbishop Cisneros. He had Joanna confined in the Royal Palace in Tordesillas, near Valladolid in Castile, in February 1509 after having dismissed all of her faithful servants and having appointed a small retinue accountable to him alone.<ref name="Aram"/> At this time, some accounts claim that she was insane or "mad", and that she took her husband's corpse with her to Tordesillas to keep it close to her.<ref name="Elliott"/>{{rp|139}}

====Son as co-monarch====
As a result of the death of her father, Ferdinand II, on 23 January 1516, Joanna became Queen of Aragon. Cisneros and the regency council hid the news of her father's death from her, pretending he still lived and ruled. Her then-17-year-old son Charles arrived in Asturias at the Bay of Biscay in October 1517. Until his arrival, the Crown of Aragon was governed by Archbishop [[Alonso de Aragón]] (an illegitimate son of Ferdinand) and her Crown of Castile was governed by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros. On 4 November, Charles and his sister [[Eleanor of Austria|Eleanor]] met their mother Joanna at Tordesillas – there they secured from her the necessary authorisation to allow Charles to rule as her co-King of Castile and León and of Aragon. Despite her acquiescence to his wishes, her confinement would continue and Charles expanded the deceptions surrounding her, later hiding the 1519 death of Emperor [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian]] from her.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Parker |first=Geoffrey |title=Emperor: A New Life of Charles V |date=2019 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-19652-8 |location=London |pages=79–80}}</ref> The Castilian ''Cortes'', meeting in Valladolid, spited Charles by addressing him only as ''Su Alteza'' ("Your Highness") and reserving ''Majestad'' ("Majesty") for Joanna.<ref name="moneda Carlos"/>{{rp|144}} However, no one seriously considered rule by Joanna a realistic proposition.<ref name="Elliott"/>{{rp|143–146}}

In 1519, Charles I ruled the Crown of Aragon and its territories and the Crown of Castile and its territories, in personal union. In addition, that same year Charles was elected [[Holy Roman Emperor]]. The kingdoms of Castile and Aragon (and Navarre) remained in personal union until their jurisdictional unification in the early 18th century by the [[Nueva Planta decrees]], while Charles eventually abdicated as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in favour of his brother Ferdinand, and as King of Spain in favour of his son [[Philip II of Spain|Philip]] – an act that represented the "transition from a universal empire to defence of the interests of the 'Austrian family' (austriacismo), in other words, to a close alliance between two parts of the dynasty, aimed at guaranteeing the [[hegemony]] of Catholicism and of the dynasty within Europe".<ref>{{cite book |last=Kagarlitsky |first=Boris |title=From Empires to Imperialism: The State and the Rise of Bourgeois Civilisation |date=27 June 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-66870-1 |page=137 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANfpAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT137 |access-date=26 July 2023 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Curtis |first=Benjamin |title=The Habsburgs: The History of a Dynasty |date=12 September 2013 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-4411-5002-8 |page=99 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=svNLAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 |access-date=26 July 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

====Revolt of the Comuneros====
In 1520, the [[Revolt of the Comuneros]] broke out in response to the perceived foreign Habsburg influence over Castile through Charles V. The rebel leaders demanded that Castile be governed in accordance with the supposed practices of the Catholic Monarchs. In an attempt to legitimise their rebellion, the Comuneros turned to Joanna. As the sovereign monarch, had she given written approval to the rebellion, it would have been legalised and would have triumphed.

In an attempt to prevent this, Don [[Antonio de Rojas Manrique]], [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Mallorca|Bishop of Mallorca]], led a delegation of royal councillors to Tordesillas, asking Joanna to sign a document denouncing the Comuneros. She demurred, requesting that he present her specific provisions. Before this could be done, the Comuneros in turn stormed the virtually undefended city and requested her support.

The request prompted [[Pope Adrian VI|Adrian of Utrecht]], the regent appointed by Charles V, to declare that Charles would lose Castile if she granted her support. Although she was sympathetic to the Comuneros, she was persuaded by Ochoa de Landa and her confessor Fray [[John of Ávila]] that supporting the revolt would irreparably damage the country and her son's kingship, and she therefore refused to sign a document granting her support.<ref>{{Citation |author-link=Henry Latimer Seaver |last=Seaver |first=Henry Latimer |title=The Great Revolt in Castile: A Study of the Comunero Movement of 1520–1521 |orig-year=1928 |year=1966 |publisher=Octagon Books |location=New York |page=359 |ref=Sea28 }}</ref> The [[Battle of Villalar]] confirmed that Charles would prevail over the revolt.

====Forced confinement====
Charles ensured his domination and throne by having his mother confined for the rest of her life in the now-demolished Royal Palace in Tordesillas, Castile.<ref>{{cite web |title=Palacio Real |url=http://www.tordesillas.net/-que-ver-/guia-de-monumentos/palacio-real |website=Turismo de Tordesillas |publisher=Oficina de Turismo de Tordesillas |access-date=30 October 2018 |language=es |archive-date=17 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200117081136/http://www.tordesillas.net/-que-ver-/guia-de-monumentos/palacio-real |url-status=dead }}</ref> Joanna's condition degenerated further. She apparently became convinced that some of the nuns that took care of her wanted to kill her. Reportedly it was difficult for her to eat, sleep, bathe, or change her clothes. Charles wrote to her caretakers: "It seems to me that the best and most suitable thing for you to do is to make sure that no person speaks with Her Majesty, for no good could come from it".<ref>{{cite book|last=Waldherr|first=Kris|title=Doomed Queens: Royal Women Who Met Bad Ends, From Cleopatra to Princess Di|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rl3WFJ3p1W4C&pg=PA113|year= 2008|publisher=Crown Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-7679-3103-8|page=113}}</ref>

Her late mother's lady-in-waiting, [[Catalina de Medrano y Bravo de Lagunas#Lady-in-waiting for Queen Isabella I of Castile|Catalina de Medrano y Bravo de Lagunas]], along with her husband, Hernando de Sandoval y Rojas, took part in the custody and care of Joanna in Tordesillas.<ref>Tomás Gismera Velasco, Guadalajara in Memory, New Alcarria Newspaper, Guadalajara, August 7, 2020</ref> Joanna also had her youngest daughter, Catherine of Austria, with her during Ferdinand II's time as regent, 1507–1516. Her older daughter, Eleanor of Austria, had created a semblance of a household within the palace rooms. In her final years, Joanna's physical state began to decline rapidly, with mobility ever more difficult.

== Death ==

[[File:Granada capilla real2.jpg|thumb|upright|The Capilla Real in Granada, where Joanna is entombed]]
Joanna died on [[Good Friday]], 12 April 1555, at the age of 75 in the Royal Palace at Tordesillas.<ref name="Aram"/> She is entombed in the [[Royal Chapel of Granada]] in Spain, alongside her parents, Isabella I and Ferdinand II, her husband Philip I and her nephew Miguel da Paz, Prince of Asturias.

==Disputed mental health claims==
As a young woman, Joanna was known to be highly intelligent. Claims regarding her as "mad" are widely disputed.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Poeta |first=Salvatore |title=The Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian World: From Mad Queen to Martyred Saint: The Case of Juana La Loca Revisited in History and Art on the Occasion of the 450th Anniversary of Her Death |journal=Hispania |date=March 2007 |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=165–172 |jstor=20063477 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20063477 |access-date=March 12, 2021}}</ref> It was only after her marriage that the first suspicions of mental illness arose. Some historians believe she may have had [[melancholia]], a [[depressive disorder]], a [[psychosis]], or a case of inherited [[schizophrenia]].<ref name=gomez>{{Citation |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=shpVyhetbC4C |author1=María A. Gómez |author2=Santiago Juan-Navarro |author3=Phyllis Zatlin |edition= illustrated |publisher= Associated University Presse |year= 2008 |pages= 9, 12–13, 85 |isbn=9780838757048 |title= Juana of Castile: History and Myth of the Mad Queen}}</ref>{{rp|9}} She may also have been unjustly painted as "mad" as her husband Philip the Handsome and her father, Ferdinand, had a great deal to gain from Joanna being declared sick or incompetent to rule.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Medievalists.net|date=2015-12-08|title=The Tragic Story of Joanna the Mad|url=https://www.medievalists.net/2015/12/the-tragic-story-of-joanna-the-mad/|access-date=2020-12-27|website=Medievalists.net|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Aram |first=Bethany |title=Juana of Castile: History and Myth of the Mad Queen |publisher=Bucknell University Press |year=2008 |veditors=Gómez MA, Juan-Navarro S, Zatlin P |location=Lewisburg, PA |pages=33–46 |chapter=Queen Juana: Legend and History}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilkinson |first=Greg |date=2020 |title=Juana la Loca/'Joanna the Mad' (1479–1555): Queen of Castile and of Aragon – and necrophiliac? – psychiatry in history |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/juana-la-locajoanna-the-mad-14791555-queen-of-castile-and-of-aragon-and-necrophiliac-psychiatry-in-history/40ACAC3CDE1F1F3526AC19997BA4C62C |journal=[[British Journal of Psychiatry]] |language=en |volume=217 |issue=2 |pages=449 |doi=10.1192/bjp.2020.71 |issn=0007-1250|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The narrative of her purported mental illness is perpetuated in stories of the mental illness of her maternal grandmother, [[Isabella of Portugal, Queen of Castile]], who, in widowhood, was exiled by her stepson to the castle of [[Arévalo]] in [[Ávila]], Castile.<ref name=gomez/>{{rp|12}}

==Legacy==

Bethany Aram argues that while she seemed to be unable or unwilling to rule herself, Joanna's major (political) significance lay with her defense of the rights of her descendants and thus the Habsburg dynasty. While she did have affection for Philip, her refusal to bury her husband (and attempt to bring his corpse to Granada so that he would lie beside her mother) was likely an attempt to ward off suitors and create a connection between Charles and Castile. Facing the leaders of the Comunero Revolt, she again chose the Habsburg dynasty over her Castilian heritage. Her fecundity provided Charles with many Habsburg siblings (and by extensions, these siblings' children) who upheld his rule. Sara T. Nalle agrees with Aram that this was Joanna's major success, while pointing out that Aram seems to gloss over the fact that Joanna's contemporaries did see her as different. Nalle opines that overall, Joanna was a troubled individual who, not trained for the political world, found herself surrounded by strong personalities, and had to face a shocking amount of cruelty and deceit.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Nalle |first=Sara T. |last2=Aram |first2=Bethany |title=Juana the Mad: Sovereignty and Dynasty in Renaissance Europe |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |date=1 July 2006 |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=534 |doi=10.2307/20477911 |jstor=20477911 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20477911 |access-date=6 September 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{sfn|Fleming|2018|p=7}}

==Arms==
{{Gallery|width=260|height=240|noborder=yes|align=center
|File:Coat of Arms of Joanna of Castile as Consort of Philip the Handsome.svg|Coat of arms as consort of [[Philip I of Castile|Philip the ''Handsome'']]<ref name="carlosamberes">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ooaJA2cksIsC&pg=PA174 |title=Felipe I el Hermoso: La belleza y la locura |year=2006  |publisher= Madrid: Fundación Carlos de Amberes|isbn=84-934643-3-3|access-date=19 March 2013}}</ref><ref name="pidal">Menéndez-Pidal De Navascués, Faustino (1999) ''El escudo''; Menéndez Pidal y Navascués, Faustino; O'Donnell, Hugo; Lolo, Begoña. ''Símbolos de España''. Madrid: Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales. {{ISBN|84-259-1074-9}}</ref>
|File:Coat of Arms of Joanna of Castile, Princess of Asturias and Girona as Consort of Philip the Handsome.svg|Coat of arms as consort and [[Princess of Asturias]] and [[Princess of Girona|Girona]]<ref name="carlosamberes"/><ref name="pidal"/>
|File:Ornamented Coat of Arms of Queen Joanna of Castile.svg|Coat of arms as Queen of Castile<ref name="pidal"/><ref>[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Santa_Mar%C3%ADa_la_Real_-_Aranda_de_Duero_-_portada_g%C3%B3tica_20-07-07_1242.jpg] Image at Santa María la Real Church Facade, Aranda de Duero, Burgos (Spain)</ref> }}

==Children==
{{See also|Descendants of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Name!!Birth!!Death!!Notes
|-
|[[Eleanor of Austria|Eleanor]]||15 November 1498||{{Death date and age|1558|2|25|1498|11|15|df=y}}|| first marriage in 1518, [[Manuel I of Portugal]] and had children;  second marriage in 1530, [[Francis I of France]] and had no children.
|-
|[[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles]]||24 February 1500||{{Death date and age|1558|9|21|1500|2|24|df=y}}||married in 1526, [[Isabella of Portugal]] and had children.
|-
|[[Isabella of Austria|Isabella]]||18 July 1501||{{Death date and age|1526|1|19|1501|7|18|df=y}}||married in 1515, [[Christian II of Denmark]] and had children.
|-
|[[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand]]||10 March 1503||{{Death date and age|1564|7|25|1503|3|10|df=y}}||married in 1521, [[Anna of Bohemia and Hungary]] and had children.
|-
|[[Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)|Mary]]||18 September 1505||{{Death date and age|1558|10|18|1505|9|18|df=y}}||married in 1522, [[Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia]] and had no children.
|-
|[[Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal|Catherine]]||14 January 1507||{{Death date and age|1578|2|12|1507|1|14|df=y}}||married in 1525, [[John III of Portugal]] and had children.
|}
[[File:Children of Joanna and Philip.JPG|thumb|The children of Phillip and Joanna]]

== Ancestry ==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. '''Joanna of Castile'''
|2= 2. [[Isabella I of Castile]]
|3= 3. [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]]
|4= 4. [[John II of Castile]]<ref name="Britannica295037">{{Britannica|295037|Isabella I, Queen of Spain}}</ref>
|5= 5. [[Isabella of Portugal, Queen of Castile|Isabella of Portugal]]<ref name="Britannica295037"/>
|6= 6. [[John II of Aragon]]<ref name="1911-Ferdinand">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Ferdinand V. of Castile and Leon and II. of Aragon |volume=10 |pages=266–267}}</ref>
|7= 7. [[Juana Enríquez]]<ref name="1911-Ferdinand"/>
|8= 8. [[Henry III of Castile]]<ref name="Britannica261568">{{Britannica|261568|Henry III, King of Castile}}</ref>
|9= 9. [[Catherine of Lancaster]]<ref name="Britannica261568"/>
|10= 10. [[John, Constable of Portugal]]<ref name="DNB-Philippa">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Philippa of Lancaster|volume=45|page=167}}</ref>
|11= 11. [[Isabel of Barcelos]]<ref name="GerliArmistead2003">{{cite book|last=Gerli|first=E. Michael|last2=Armistead|first2=Samuel G.|title=Medieval Iberia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ra9BtjLRNMsC&pg=PA182|access-date=17 May 2018|year=2003|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9780415939188|page=182}}</ref>
|12= 12. [[Ferdinand I of Aragon]]<ref name="1911-John II">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=John II of Aragon |volume=15 |page=440}}</ref>
|13= 13. [[Eleanor of Alburquerque]]<ref name="1911-John II"/>
|14= 14. [[Fadrique Enríquez de Mendoza|Fadrique Enríquez]]<ref name="Ortega1999">{{cite journal |last=Ortega Gato |first=Esteban |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/1098484.pdf |title=Los Enríquez, Almirantes de Castilla |trans-title=The Enríquezes, Admirals of Castile |journal=Publicaciones de la Institución "Tello Téllez de Meneses" |language=es |issn=0210-7317 |volume=70 |year=1999 |page=42}}</ref>
|15= 15. [[Mariana Fernández de Córdoba]]<ref name="Ortega1999"/>
}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
'''Biographies'''
*[[Michael Prawdin|Prawdin, Michael]], ''The Mad Queen of Spain'' (1939)
* Dennis, Amarie, ''Seek the Darkness: The Story of Juana La Loca'', (1945)
* [[William H. Prescott|Prescott, William H.]], ''History of Ferdinand and Isabella'' (1854)
* Rosier, ''Johanna die Wahnsinnige'' (1890)
* Tighe, Harry, ''A Queen of Unrest: The Story of Juana of Castile, Mother of Charles V., Born 1479, Died 1555'' (1907).
* Villa, R., ''La Reina doña Juana la Loca'' (1892)
* Aram, Bethany, ''Juana the Mad: Sovereignty and Dynasty in Renaissance Europe'' (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005).
* Fleming, Gillian B., ''Juana I: Legitimacy and Conflict in Sixteenth Century Castile'' (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).
* Assini, Adriana, ''Le rose di Cordova'', Scrittura & Scritture, Napoli 2007
* [[Julia Fox (author)|Fox, Julia]], ''Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile'' (New York: Ballantine Books, 2011).
* Bergenroth, G A. Introduction, Part 1, Calendar of State Papers, Spain; vol. 1, 1485–1509, (London, 1862), p. xlvii. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/spain/vol1

'''Works cited'''
* Miller, Townsend, ''Castles and the Crown''. Coward-McCann: New York, 1963
* Aram, Bethany, "Juana 'the Mad's' Signature: The Problem of Invoking Royal Authority, 1505–1507", ''Sixteenth Century Journal''
* Elliott, J.H., ''Imperial Spain, 1469–1716''
* de Francisco Olmos, José María: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120114061003/http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/revistas/byd/11321873/articulos/RGID0202220291A.PDF Estudio documental de la moneda castellana de Juana la Loca fabricada en los Países Bajos (1505–1506)], ''Revista General de Información y Documentación 2002, vol. 12, núm. 2 (Universidad complutense de Madrid)''.
* de Francisco Olmos, José María: [https://web.archive.org/web/20060526211146/http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/revistas/byd/11321873/articulos/RGID0303220133A.PDF Estudio documental de la moneda castellana de Carlos I fabricada en los Países Bajos (1517); ''Revista General de Información y Documentación 2003, vol. 13, núm. 2 (Universidad complutense de Madrid)''].
* Juan-Navarro, Santiago, Maria Gomez, and Phyllis Zatlin. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1BYXLQAACAAJ ''Juana of Castile: History and Myth of the Mad Queen''.] Newark and London: Bucknell University Press, 2008.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{EB1911 poster|Joanna}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-hou|[[House of Trastámara]]|6 November|1479|12 April|1555}}
{{S-reg|}}
{{S-bef
| before = [[Isabella I of Castile|Isabella I]] and [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|Ferdinand V]]
}}
{{S-ttl
| title = [[List of Castilian monarchs|Queen of Castile]] and [[List of Monarchs of Leon|León]]
| years = 1504–1555
| regent1 = [[Philip I of Castile|Philip I]]
| years1 = 1506
| regent2 = [[Ferdinand V of Castile|Ferdinand V]]
| years2 = 1506-1516
| regent3 = [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles I]]
| years3 = 1516–1555
}}
{{S-aft
| rows = 2
| after = [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles I]]
}}
|-
{{S-bef
| rows = 1
| before = [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|Ferdinand II]]
}}
{{S-ttl
| rows = 1
| title = [[List of Aragonese monarchs|Queen of Aragon]], [[King of Sicily|Sicily]], [[King of Sardinia|Sardinia]], [[List of Valencian monarchs|Valencia]],<br>[[King of Majorca|Majorca]], [[King of Naples|Naples]], and [[King of Navarre|Navarre]];<br>[[List of Counts of Barcelona|Countess of Barcelona]],<br>[[Count of Roussillon|Roussillon]] and [[Count of Cerdagne|Cerdagne]]
| years = 1516–1555
| regent1 = [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles I]]
| years2 = 1516–1555
}}
{{S-roy|es}}
|-
{{S-vac|rows=2|last=[[Miguel da Paz, Prince of Portugal|Miguel of Portugal]]}}
{{S-ttl
| title = [[Prince of Girona|Princess of Girona]]
| years = 1502–1509
}}
{{S-aft
| after = [[John, Prince of Girona|John of Aragon]]
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{{S-ttl
| title = [[Prince of Asturias|Princess of Asturias]]
| years = 1502–1504
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{{S-aft
| rows = 2
| after = [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles of Austria]]
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{{S-bef
| before = [[John, Prince of Girona|John of Aragon]]
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{{S-ttl
| title = [[Prince of Girona|Princess of Girona]]
| years = 1509–1516
}}
{{S-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Joanna Of Castile}}
[[Category:Joanna of Castile| ]]
[[Category:1479 births]]
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