Joanna I of Castile

Joanna I of Castile, known as “The Mad” (1479-1555) was the third daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. Following the death of her older brothers and of her sister’s son Miguel later, she was to inherit the throne of Castile upon her mother’s death (1504). However, her husband Philip I of Habsburg, with whom she had lived until then in the duchy of Burgundy, effectively ousted her and her father Ferdinand from government. At the beginning of the sixteenth century the first rumors of the supposed madness of the sovereign emerged, due, according to tradition, to her obsessive love towards her husband and his constant infidelity. The death of Philip (1506), however, did not mark a return to power for Joanna, who was locked up instead, at the behest of his father, in the fortress of Tordesillas (1509) where she lived for the rest of her life. Her eldest son, Charles V (1500-1558), decided in fact to keep her in captivity even after the death of Ferdinand (1516), when he became the new king of Castile and Aragon. Joanna remained formally queen, while remaining a recluse for 46 years, subject to the harsh and violent custody of the Marquises of Denia. In 1520, the so-called revolt of the comuneros saw in her the ideal figure to counter the power of the young Charles V, although Joanna always refused to take sides against her son. The revolt being quelled, she returned to her prison, where she lived until she was 76 years of age.