Joan, Princess of Castile
Encyclopedia
Joanna of Castile, known also as la Beltraneja (21 February 1462 – 1530) was a princess and claimant to the throne of Castile. She was also Queen consort of Portugal.

Birth

Her birth caused a scandal in the Castilian
Crown of Castile
The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne...

 court. Her mother was Joan of Portugal
Joan of Portugal
Joan of Portugal was Queen consort of Castile as the second wife of King Henry IV of Castile and a Portuguese infanta, the posthumous daughter of King Edward of Portugal and his wife Eleanor of Aragon...

, the spouse of Henry IV of Castile
Henry IV of Castile
Henry IV , King of the Crown of Castile, nicknamed the Impotent , was the last of the weak late medieval kings of Castile...

. The king had no other children from this or the previous marriage and rumour said he was impotent. Because of this and the fact that Joan of Portugal was having a relationship with Beltrán de La Cueva
Beltrán de la Cueva
Beltrán de la Cueva y Alfonso de Mercado, 1st Duke of Alburquerque was a Spanish nobleman and presumed lover of Queen Joan of Portugal.-Early life:...

, a Castilian noble, she was considered illegitimate. She was nicknamed the Beltraneja (a mocking reference to her assumed real father) from the cradle.

Her mother was banished to Bishop Fonseca's castle where she fell in love with Fonseca's nephew and became pregnant. Henry divorced her in 1468.

Heir to the throne

Joanna remained the only child who could be remotely attributed to Henry IV of Castile. On 9 May 1462, Joanna was officially proclaimed heir to the throne of Castile and created Princess of Asturias
Prince of Asturias
Prince of Asturias is the historical title given to the heir to the Spanish throne. It was also the title under the earlier Kingdom of Castile. The current Prince of Asturias is Felipe, son of King Juan Carlos of Spain and Queen Sofía...

. Henry had the nobles of Castile swear allegiance to her and promise that they would support her as monarch.

In 1464, however, her father was forced by a rebellion to promise her in marriage to his half-brother, Infante Alfonso, her uncle, who was proclaimed her future spouse and co-monarch. In 1468, her half-uncle died and she was stripped of her succession-rights by the separation of her parents. Her half-aunt, Infanta Isabella
Isabella I of Castile
Isabella I was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon brought stability to both kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. Later the two laid the foundations for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor...

, was placed before her, on condition that Isabella marry a man chosen out by the monarch, although Joanna was considered the heir after Isabella.

Joanna was kept hostage by the Mendoza family from 1465 to 1470, and by Juan Pacheco from 1470-1475. In 26 October 1470, she was engaged and then married by proxy to the Duke of Guienne, and again proclaimed as legitimate heir to the throne. The duke died in 1472. There were many marriage negotiations in order to marry her to someone who could defend her succession. After a few unsettled arrangements, which included French and Burgundian princes, Joanna was promised in marriage to her maternal uncle, King Afonso V of Portugal
Afonso V of Portugal
Afonso V KG , called the African , was the twelfth King of Portugal and the Algarves. His sobriquet refers to his conquests in Northern Africa.-Early life:...

, who swore to defend her (and his own) rights to the crown of Castile.

Throne claimant

When Henry died in 1474, she was recognized as monarch by some noble fractions, while other recognized her half-aunt as Queen Isabella I of Castile
Isabella I of Castile
Isabella I was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon brought stability to both kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. Later the two laid the foundations for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor...

 initiating a four-year War of the Castilian Succession
War of the Castilian Succession
The War of the Castilian Succession was the military conflict contested from 1475 to 1479 for the succession of the Crown of Castile fought between the supporters of Juana la Beltraneja, daughter of the late monarch Henry IV of Castile, and those of Henry's half sister, Isabella, who was ultimately...

. Joanna sent a letter to the cities in which she explained the will of her father that she should rule, and proposed that the cities vote for which succession they wished should be recognized. Galicia was held by her, while the south was held by Queen Isabella I. Joanna held court at Toro
Toro, Zamora
Toro is a town and municipality in the province of Zamora, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is located on a fertile high plain, northwest of Madrid at an elevation of 740 meters....

, and was considered a promising ruler by her courtiers, though too young.

On 30 May 1475, her uncle Afonso V of Portugal married Joanna in Plasencia
Plasencia
Plasencia is a walled market city in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Western Spain. , it had a population of 41,447.Situated on the bank of the Jerte River, Plasencia has a historic quarter that is a consequence of the city's strategic location along the Silver Route, or Ruta de la Plata...

 and prepared for the fighting. In 1476 Afonso invaded Castile. Afonso was defeated in the battle of Toro
Battle of Toro
The Battle of Toro was a Royal battle from the War of the Castilian Succession, fought on 1 March 1476, near the city of Toro, between the Castilian troops of the Catholic Monarchs and the Portuguese-Castilian forces of Afonso V and Prince John....

 by Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand the Catholic was King of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia, Sardinia, and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, jure uxoris King of Castile and then regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of...

, Isabella I's husband. After this, Afonso V tried to procure, without success, an alliance with Louis XI of France
Louis XI of France
Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....

. In 1478, the marriage between Joan and Afonso was annulled by Pope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV , born Francesco della Rovere, was Pope from 1471 to 1484. His accomplishments as Pope included the establishment of the Sistine Chapel; the group of artists that he brought together introduced the Early Renaissance into Rome with the first masterpiece of the city's new artistic age,...

 on account of their family relation. She was then forced to renounce her titles as Infanta of Castile, Queen regnant of Castile, and also as Queen consort of Portugal.

Later life

In 1479, the king of Portugal gave up on the pretension and signed a treaty with the Catholic Monarchs
Catholic Monarchs
The Catholic Monarchs is the collective title used in history for Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being both descended from John I of Castile; they were given a papal dispensation to deal with...

. Joanna was given the choice to marry the son of Isabella when he became an adult and if he then chose to consent, or to enter a convent. Joanna entered the convent Santa Clara in Coimbra
Coimbra
Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...

, and the ceremony was witnessed by Isabella, who praised her decision. She was not incarcerated in the convent, and was eventually allowed to reside in the Castle of São Jorge in Lisbon. In 1482, King Francis of Navarre, nephew of Louis XI of France
Louis XI of France
Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....

, proposed to her as a French warning to Castile, who threatened Roussilon, but he died soon after. At the death of Isabella in 1504, Ferdinand is alleged to have proposed to her to keep the throne from his son-in-law, but she refused.

Joanna signed her letters until the day she died, "La Reina", meaning "the Queen". She died in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, having survived her aunt Isabella I. Joanna's own claim to the throne passed to her cousin, Queen Isabella I's daughter Joanna
Joanna of Castile
Joanna , nicknamed Joanna the Mad , was the first queen regnant to reign over both the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon , a union which evolved into modern Spain...

, who was already monarch of Castile.

In fiction

A drama entitled "Juana la Beltraneja" has been published in Liceus El Portal de las Humanidades by the author Santiago Sevilla. Here the role of Juan Pacheco and Beltrán de la Cueva shows the pernicious influence of certain members of the nobility towards princess Joanna.

Sources

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