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Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Lord of the Netherlands, Duke of Burgundy

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Lord of the Netherlands, Duke of Burgundy; Credit – Wikipedia

The Holy Roman Empire was a limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, prince-bishoprics, and Free Imperial Cities in central Europe. The Holy Roman Empire was not really holy since, after Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1530, no emperors were crowned by the pope or a bishop. It was not Roman but rather German because it was mainly in the regions of present-day Germany and Austria. It was an empire in name only – the territories it covered were mostly independent each with its own rulers. The Holy Roman Emperor directly ruled over only his family territories, and could not issue decrees and rule autonomously over the Holy Roman Empire. A Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances, including marriage alliances, made him, and his power was severely restricted by the many sovereigns of the constituent monarchies of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century, prince-electors, or electors for short, elected the Holy Roman Emperor from among the sovereigns of the constituent states.

Frequently but not always, it was common practice to elect the deceased Holy Roman Emperor’s heir. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy. No person had a legal right to the succession simply because he was related to the current Holy Roman Emperor. However, the Holy Roman Emperor could and often did, while still alive, have a relative (usually a son) elected to succeed him after his death. This elected heir apparent used the title King of the Romans.

Learn more at Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Best known as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles was one of the most powerful ever monarchs and had a large number of titles due to his vast inheritance of the Burgundian, Spanish, and Austrian realms. He was born on February 24, 1500, at the Prinsenhof in Ghent, County of Flanders, Burgundian State, now in Belgium. He was the second of the six children and the elder of the two sons of Philip of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, the ruler of the Burgundian State from the House of Habsburg, and Juana I, Queen of Castile and León from the House of Trastámara.

A portrait of the extended Habsburg family: standing (left to right) Maximilian I. Holy Roman Emperor; Maximilian and Mary’s son Philip of Austria; Maximilian’s first wife Mary of Burgundy; sitting (left to right) Maximilian and Mary’s grandsons Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor; and Louis II, King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, the husband of Maximilian and Mary’s granddaughter Mary of Austria; (Note: This portrait is anachronistic. Mary of Burgundy died in 1482 when her son Philip of Austria was 4 years old and her son Philip died in 1506 when his son Charles was 6 years old); by Bernhard Strigel painted after 1515; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles’ paternal grandparents were Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and the ruler of the Archduchy of Austria, and the Duchies of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, and the first of his three wives, Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, the ruler of the Burgundian State in her own right. His maternal grandparents were Ferdinand II, King of Aragon and Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León. Charles would turn out to be the heir to all four of his grandparents’ dominions.

The three eldest children of Philip and Juana: Eleanor, Charles, and Isabella; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles had five younger siblings who were all monarchs or consorts of monarchs:

Four years after his birth, Charles’ maternal grandmother Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León died. His mother Juana became Queen of Castile and León but her father Ferdinand II, King of Aragon proclaimed himself Governor and Administrator of Castile and León. In 1506, Juana’s husband Philip became King of Castile and León jure uxoris (by the right of his wife) as Philip I, initiating the rule of the Habsburgs in the Spanish kingdoms which would last until 1700 when the  Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg became extinct. However, Philip’s rule lasted only from July 12, 1506 to September 25, 1506, when he died, aged 28, apparently of typhoid fever, although an assassination by poisoning was rumored at the time.

Philip had spread rumors about Juana’s supposed madness and her misunderstood behavior after his death may have reinforced these rumors. Juana decided to transfer Philip’s remains from Burgos in the north of present-day Spain, where he had died and had already been buried, to Granada in the south of present-day Spain, a journey that took eight months. This trip was used as evidence of Juana’s madness. Juana did show excessive grief as she traveled through Castile with Philip’s coffin. What is overlooked is that her 28-year-old husband died suddenly after a five-day illness and that Juana was fulfilling Philip’s wish to be buried in Granada. In addition, her father Ferdinand deliberately blocked Philip’s burial in Granada causing major delays in Juana’s journey.

Charles in 1519; Credit – Wikipedia

As can be seen in the above portrait, Charles suffered from an enlarged lower jaw, often called the Habsburg jaw, a congenital deformity that became considerably worse in later Habsburg generations. The deformity was probably caused by the family’s long history of inbreeding, commonly practiced in royal families of that time to maintain dynastic control of territories.

In 1509, Juana’s father Ferdinand II, King of Aragon convinced the parliament that Juana was too mentally ill to govern, and was appointed her guardian and the regent of Castile and León. Juana was confined in the Royal Convent of Santa Clara in Tordesillas, Castile, now in Spain, under the orders of her father. In 1516, Ferdinand II, King of Aragon died. In his will, Ferdinand named his daughter Juana and her eldest son Charles the co-heirs of the Kingdom of Aragon. However, Juana would never reign as her son Charles would continue keeping her confined. Juana would not be released from her confinement until she died in 1555. Was Juana mad or was she manipulated by her father, her husband, and her son? Juana’s father Ferdinand and her son Charles had a lot to gain from Juana being declared unfit to rule and confined.

Territories controlled by the 19-year-old Charles in 1519; Credit –  by Lucio Silla, modification by Paul2, recreated by Schoeneh – Modification of Europa02.jpg, using Europe-central-blank.svgEste archivo deriva de: Empire-Roman-Emperor-Charles-V.jpg de original author, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=106952839

Charles would inherit and reign over the dominions of his mother Juana (Castile and León, and Aragon which would be united under Charles as the Kingdom of Spain), the dominions of his father Philip (the Burgundian State Philip had inherited from his mother Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, consisting of parts of the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany), and also the Habsburg dominions of his paternal grandfather Maximilian (Archduchy of Austria, Duchy of Styria, Duchy of Carinthia, and Duchy of Carniola, today parts of Austria and Slovenia). Charles would be elected Holy Roman Emperor after the death of his paternal grandfather Maximilian in 1519. In addition, Charles oversaw the continuation of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Charles’ Titles

Portrait of Isabella of Portugal by Titian; Credit – Wikipedia

On March 11, 1526, at the Royal Alcázar of Seville in Seville, Spain, Charles married his first cousin Isabella of Portugal, daughter of Manuel I, King of Portugal and his second wife Maria of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand II, King of Aragon and Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León. Charles and Isabella’s main residence was in Spain. Charles was often away from his family to lead military campaigns and administer his other realms, and Isabella was appointed regent in his absence.

Charles and his son and successor Felipe; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles and Isabella had five children but only three survived to adulthood:

Double portrait of Charles and Isabella by Peter Paul Rubens after a portrait by Titian; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles and Isabella’s happy marriage lasted for thirteen years. In 1539, during the third month of Isabella’s seventh pregnancy, she developed a fever causing her to miscarry. The fever caused her condition to worsen and Isabella died two weeks later on May 1, 1539, aged thirty-five. Charles was so grief-stricken that he shut himself up in a monastery for two months where he prayed and mourned for her in solitude. He never recovered from Isabella’s death, dressed in black for the rest of his life, and despite being only thirty-nine, never remarried.

Titian’s La Gloria, one of the several paintings commissioned by Charles V in memory of his wife Isabella; On the right are Charles, his wife Isabella, his son Felipe, his daughter Juana, and his sisters Mary and Eleanor, all wearing their shrouds Credit – Wikipedia

In memory of Isabella, Charles commissioned several musical and artistic tributes to Isabella. Probably his favorite tributes were the portraits of Isabella that he commissioned from his favorite painter Tiziano Vecelli, better known as Titian. Titian painted several portraits of Isabella, which included his Portrait of Isabella of Portugal (the portrait of Isabella above in this article), La Gloria (directly above, read about the painting at the link), and a double portrait of Isabella and Charles (above). Charles kept these paintings with him whenever he traveled and after he retired to the Monastery of Yuste.

Charles several years before his abdication; Credit – Wikipedia

Physically exhausted after forty years of ruling, Charles abdicated in 1555, the same year his 75-year-old mother Juana, confined for forty-six years, died. Charles retired to the peace of the Monastery of Yuste in Extremadura, Spain. He suffered from epilepsy and had a serious case of gout. As he aged, his gout progressed from painful to crippling. In his retirement, Charles was carried around the monastery in a sedan chair. A ramp was specially constructed to allow him easy access to his rooms.

Charles’ bedroom at the Monastery of Yuste; Credit – By Alonso de Mendoza – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78867364

Upon Charles’s abdication, his younger brother Ferdinand, who had already been given Charles’ Austrian lands in 1521, became the Holy Roman Emperor. The Spanish Empire, including the possessions in the Netherlands and Italy, was inherited by Charles’ son who reigned as Felipe II, King of Spain. In addition, Felipe II also added the Kingdom of Portugal to the House of Habsburg’s dominions. In 1578, King Sebastian of Portugal from the House of Aviz was killed in battle without any heirs, causing a succession crisis. He was succeeded by his elderly great-uncle Henrique who was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and had no descendants because he had taken a vow of chastity as a priest. When Cardinal-King Enrique died two years later, three grandchildren of Manuel I, King of Portugal claimed the Portuguese throne. Ultimately, the grandchild who was successful in his claim was Felipe II, King of Spain. The Iberian Union was the union of the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Portugal that existed between 1580 and 1640, under the Spanish Habsburg kings Felipe II, Felipe III, and Felipe IV who reigned in Portugal under the names Filipe I, Filipe II, and Filipe III. In 1640, the Portuguese House of Braganza came to power in Portugal after deposing the Spanish Habsburgs in the Portuguese Restoration War.

In August 1558, Charles became seriously ill with malaria. He died, aged fifty-eight, at the Monastery of Yuste on September 21, 1558, holding the same cross his wife Isabella had been holding when she died. Charles was originally buried in the chapel at the Monastery of Yuste. However, in his will, he asked for the establishment of a new religious site where he could be reburied with his beloved wife Isabella.

Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial; Credit – By Turismo Madrid Consorcio Turístico from Madrid, España – Monasterio EscorialUploaded by Ecemaml, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6581920

To fulfill his father’s wish, in 1563, Charles’s son King Felipe II of Spain started building the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial about 28 miles/45 kilometers from Madrid, Spain. The complex includes a palace, basilica, monastery, and library. When the Royal Crypt was completed in 1574, the remains of Charles and Isabella were re-interred in a small vault directly underneath the altar of the Royal Chapel. In 1654, after the basilica and royal tombs were finally completed during the reign of their great-grandson Felipe IV, King of Spain, the remains of Charles and Isabella were moved into the Royal Pantheon of Kings. Since then, the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial has been the burial place of Spanish monarchs and many members of the Spanish royal family.

The Royal Pantheon of Kings where Charles and his wife Isabella are interred; Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperor> [Accessed 21 July 2022].
  • Es.wikipedia.org. 2022. Carlos I de España – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre. [online] Available at: <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_I_de_Espa%C3%B1a> [Accessed 21 July 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Juana I, Queen of Castile and León and Queen of Aragon. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/juana-i-queen-of-castile-and-leon-and-queen-of-aragon/> [Accessed 21 July 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Philip of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, King of Castile and León. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/philip-of-austria-duke-of-burgundy-king-of-castile/> [Accessed 21 July 2022].
  • Wilson, Peter, 2016. Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

William of Blois, Count of Boulogne

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

William’s coat of arms as Count of Boulogne; Credit – Wikipedia

Born circa 1137, William of Blois, Count of Boulogne was the youngest of the five children and the third but the second surviving of the three sons of Stephen I, King of England (born Stephen of Blois) and Matilda I, Countess of Boulogne in her own right. Boulogne was a county within the Kingdom of France from 896 – 1501, centered on the city of Boulogne-sur-Mer, a coastal city in Northern France.

William’s paternal grandparents were Stephen II, Count of Blois and Adela of Normandy and England, a daughter of William I, King of England (the Conqueror). His maternal grandparents were Eustace III, Count of Boulogne and Mary of Scotland, daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland and Saint Margaret of Scotland, born an Anglo-Saxon princess.

William had four elder siblings:

Circa 1148 – 1149, William married Isabel de Warenne, 4th Countess of Surrey in her own right. Isabel was the only child of William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey and Adela of Ponthieu. Isabel’s father had died in 1148 at the Battle of Mount Cadmus during the Second Crusade and she inherited his earldom of Surrey. Upon his marriage, William became Earl of Warenne jure uxoris (by right of his wife. As a result of his marriage, William became one of the richest barons in England. This marriage was also strategic because it allowed King Stephen to increase his control in England because the Warenne lands included more than 200 manors in Sussex Norfolk, Yorkshire, and many other English counties. William and Isabel did not have children.

The sinking of the White Ship; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1120, a terrible tragedy caused a succession crisis in England. The White Ship, carrying King Henry I of England’s only legitimate son William Ætheling, sank as it left France to sail to England, and William Ætheling was among the estimated 300 passengers who drowned. Empress Matilda was then King Henry I’s only legitimate child and on Christmas Day in 1126, Henry I had his barons swear to recognize his only surviving legitimate child Empress Matilda and any future legitimate heirs she might have as his successors.

Stephen of Blois and his wife Matilda of Boulogne stayed close to his maternal uncle King Henry I and spent much time in England realizing that Stephen was very close to the throne. Stephen’s mother Adela of Normandy and England was the daughter of William I, King of England (the Conqueror). Henry I’s daughter Empress Matilda had left England as a child to marry Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich V. The marriage was childless and Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich V died in 1125. After her husband’s death, Empress Matilda went to the royal court in the Duchy of Normandy (Kings of England were also Dukes of Normandy). Eventually, King Henry I made arrangements for his daughter to marry Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou in 1128. Empress Matilda and Geoffrey did not get along and their marriage was stormy with frequent, long separations but they did produce three sons, including Henry FitzEmpress, the future Henry II, King of England.

William’s father King Stephen of England; Credit – Wikipedia

On December 1, 1135, King Henry I of England died. His nephew Stephen of Blois quickly crossed over the English Channel from the County of Boulogne, now in France, to England, accompanied by his military household. With the help of his brother Henry of Blois who was Bishop of Winchester, Stephen seized power in England and was crowned King of England on December 22, 1135. However, Empress Matilda did not give up her claim to England and Normandy, leading to the long civil war known as The Anarchy between 1135 and 1153.

Empress Matilda; Credit – Wikipedia

Geoffrey of Anjou, Empress Matilda’s husband, began a systematic conquest of the Duchy of Normandy. By 1143, Geoffrey secured all of Normandy west and south of the Seine River and he then assumed the title of Duke of Normandy. Geoffrey held the duchy until 1149 when he and Empress Matilda ceded it to their son Henry FitzEmpress.  In 1151, William’s brother Eustace and King Louis VII of France launched an invasion of the Duchy of Normandy. However, they were defeated by the troops of Henry FitzEmpress.

At a council held in London on April 6, 1152, King Stephen asked the barons to recognize his eldest son Eustace as their next king and to pay him homage. He wanted to follow the French practice of ensuring the succession by declaring his heir Eustace the junior king. The barons refused. By the early 1150s, after years of civil war, most of the barons and church leaders wanted long-term peace. Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury refused to grant Stephen’s request to crown Eustace and Pope Eugene III refused to recognize Eustace as Stephen’s successor.

William’s mother Matilda I, Countess of Boulogne in her own right died on May 3, 1152, and her eldest son succeeded her as Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne. On August 17, 1153, Eustace, aged about twenty-three, died suddenly and William became Count of Boulogne. William was also the heir to the English throne for a short time. Shortly after Eustace’s death, on December 25, 1153, William’s father King Stephen and Henry FitzEmpress father King Stephen and Henry FitzEmpress reached a formal agreement known as the Treaty of Wallingford. The treaty allowed King Stephen to keep the English throne until his death but forced him to recognize Empress Matilda’s son Henry FitzEmpress as his heir. Henry FitzEmpress guaranteed that William, Count of Boulogne would retain his possessions in England and Normandy, the lands of the House of Boulogne, and the lands of the House of Warenne.

William’s father King Stephen survived for a little more than a year after the death of Eustace, dying on October 25, 1154. A line of fourteen Plantagenet kings who ruled England until 1485 started, with Henry FitzEmpress, now King Henry II of England. William did not attempt to oppose Henry II’s accession to the English throne. For the rest of his life, William remained loyal to King Henry II.

In 1159 William accompanied King Henry II on an unsuccessful invasion of the County of Toulouse, now in France. William died October 11, 1159, aged circa twenty-two, from an illness on the return trip to England, while still in the County of Toulouse. He was buried at the Abbey of Montmorel (link in French) in the Duchy of Normandy, now in France.

With William’s death, the male line of King Stephen died out. The County of Boulogne and other possessions of the Boulogne family were inherited by William’s only surviving sibling Marie of Blois who became Countess of Boulogne in her own right. In 1164, King Henry II arranged for William’s widow Isabella de Warenne to marry Hamelin of Anjou, the illegitimate son of Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou. Hamelin was, therefore, the half-brother of King Henry II and the uncle of his sons King Richard I and King John and was prominent at their courts. Hamelin adopted the surname de Warenne, as did his descendants. Isabel and Hamelin had one son and three daughters. Isabel survived her first husband William of Blois, Count of Boulogne by forty-four years, dying on July 12, 1203, aged about sixty-six.

Sharon Kay Penman’s excellent historical fiction novel When Christ and His Saints Slept deals with The Anarchy and most of the historical figures mentioned here are characters.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Isabel de Warenne, Countess of Surrey – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_de_Warenne,_Countess_of_Surrey> [Accessed 19 July 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. William I, Count of Boulogne – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_I,_Count_of_Boulogne> [Accessed 19 July 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2016. King Stephen of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-stephen-of-england/> [Accessed 19 July 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2014. Matilda of Boulogne, Queen of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/may-3-1152-death-of-matilda-of-boulogne-wife-of-king-stephen-of-england/> [Accessed 19 July 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2015. The Sinking of the White Ship and How It Affected the English Succession. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/november-25-1120-the-sinking-of-the-white-ship-and-how-it-affected-the-english-succession/> [Accessed 19 July 2022].

Philip of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, King of Castile and León

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Philip of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, King of Castile and León; Credit – Wikipedia

Also known as Philip of Habsburg, and Philip the Handsome, Philip was born in Bruges in the  County of Flanders, now in Belgium, on July 22, 1478. He was the husband of Juana I, Queen of Castile and León and Queen of Aragon. Philip was the elder of the three children and the elder but the only surviving of the two sons of Maximilian I, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, and Holy Roman Emperor, and the first of his three wives, Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, the ruler of the Burgundian State in her own right. The Burgundian State consisted of parts of the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany. Philip’s paternal grandparents were Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor (also Friedrich V, Archduke of Austria and Duke of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola) and Eleanor of Portugal. His maternal grandparents were Charles I (the Bold), Duke of Burgundy and the second of his three wives Isabella of Bourbon.

Philip had two younger siblings but only his sister survived childhood:


Philip’s parents; Credit – Wikipedia

Philip was the heir to both his father’s and mother’s dominions. His mother Mary was the only child of Charles I (the Bold), Duke of Burgundy, and succeeded him after his death at the Battle of Nancy during the Burgundian Wars in 1477. Philip’s father Maximilian was the heir to the Archduchy of Austria and the Duchies of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, today part of Austria and Slovenia. Maximilian was elected King of the Romans in 1486. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy. No person had a legal right to the succession simply because he was related to the current Holy Roman Emperor. However, the Holy Roman Emperor could, and often did, have a relative (usually a son) elected to succeed him after his death. This elected heir apparent bore the title King of the Romans. Maximilian became Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria, and Duke of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola when his father Friedrich III died in 1493. However, Philip predeceased his father and never succeeded to his father’s dominions but his eldest son Carlos did.

In March 1482, Philip’s parents Mary and Maximilian were participating in a hunt. Mary was an experienced rider and she held her falcon in one hand and the reins in the other hand. However, her horse stumbled over a tree stump while jumping over a newly dug canal. The saddle belt under the horse’s belly broke causing Mary to fall out of the saddle and into the canal with the horse on top of her. Twenty-five-year-old Mary, who was pregnant, was seriously injured and died several weeks later from internal injuries.

Philip at the age of five; Credit – Wikipedia

Philip, who was not quite four years old, succeeded his mother as ruler of the Burgundian State under the guardianship of his father Maximilian. Philip now held the following titles and was the ruler of the following:

Beginning in 1480, Philip was educated by Olivier de la Marche, a soldier, diplomat, poet, and chronicler of the Burgundian court, and François de Busleyden (link in French), a priest and later Archbishop of Besançon and Philip’s chancellor in Flanders. In September 1494, Philip was declared of legal age and released from his father’s guardianship.

Philip’s bride, then Infanta Juana of Aragon; Credit – Wikipedia

During the First Italian War (1494 – 1495), Philip’s father Maximilian made an alliance with the husband and wife rulers of what is now Spain, Ferdinand II, King of Aragon and Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León, for a double marriage between their children. Juan, Prince of Asturias, the only son and heir of Ferdinand and Isabella, would marry Maximilian’s only daughter Margaret of Austria, and Ferdinand and Isabella’s second daughter Infanta Juana of Aragon would marry Maximilian’s only son Philip. These marriages were part of the foreign policy of Ferdinand and Isabella to build a network of alliances through the marriages of their children to strengthen their kingdoms, destined to be inherited by their son Juan, against France, their major rival at that time. The double marriages were never intended to allow the Spanish kingdoms to fall under the control of the House of Habsburg, which they eventually did. Philip’s intended bride Juana was third in line to the thrones of Aragon, Castile, and León after her elder brother Juan and her elder sister Isabella, and would fall further down the line of succession if her elder siblings had children.

18-year-old Philip and 16-year-old Juana were married by proxy at the Palacio de los Vivero in Valladolid, Kingdom of Castile. On August 22, 1496, Juana began her journey to her new home. The wedding was formally celebrated on October 20, 1496, at the Collegiate Church of Saint Gummarus in the small town of Lier, then in the County of Flanders, now in Belgium, near the city of Antwerp.

The three eldest children of Philip and Juana: Eleanor, Carlos, and Isabella; Credit – Wikipedia

Philip and Juana had six children, all were kings or queen consorts:

Within four years of her marriage to Philip, Juana became the heir to her parents’ kingdoms after the death of her childless only brother Juan, Prince of Asturias in 1497, the death of her eldest sister Isabella of Aragon, Princess of Asturias, Princess of Portugal in childbirth in 1498, and the death of her sister Isabella’s only child Prince Miguel da Paz of Portugal in 1500, shortly before his second birthday.

Juana and Philip, stained glass, Basilica of the Holy Blood in Bruges, Belgium; Credit – Wikipedia

Although Juana was deeply in love with Philip, their married life was unhappy. Philip was unfaithful and politically insecure. He constantly attempted to usurp Juana’s legal birthrights. This led to the rumors of Juana’s insanity because those rumors benefited Philip politically. Most historians now agree Juana was clinically depressed and not insane as commonly believed.

On November 26, 1504, Juana’s mother Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León died. Juana became Queen of Castile and León but her father Ferdinand II, King of Aragon proclaimed himself Governor and Administrator of Castile and León. In 1506, Juana’s husband Philip became King of Castile and León jure uxoris (by the right of his wife) as Philip I, initiating the rule of the Habsburgs in the Spanish kingdoms which would last until 1700. However, Philip’s rule lasted only from July 12, 1506 to September 25, 1506, when he died, aged 28, at Casa del Cordón in Burgos, Castile, apparently of typhoid fever, although an assassination by poisoning was rumored at the time.

A 19th-century painting of Juana holding vigil over Philip’s coffin by Francisco Pradilla Ortiz, 1877; Credit – Wikipedia

Philip had spread rumors about Juana’s supposed madness when he was still alive and her misunderstood behavior after his death may have reinforced these rumors. Juana decided to transfer Philip’s remains from Burgos in the north of present-day Spain, where he had died and had already been buried, to Granada in the south of present-day Spain. Apparently, Philip wanted to be buried in Granada. The distance from Burgos to Granada is 423 miles/681 kilometers, a 6 1/2 hour car ride today, but an extraordinary distance in 1506. Pregnant with her last child, Juana traveled with her husband’s body from Burgos to Granada. The trip would take eight months. During the trip, Juana gave birth to her last child named Catherine after her youngest sister, Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII of England. Finally, Philip was interred at the Royal Chapel of Granada where his mother-in-law Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León was interred and where his father-in-law Ferdinand II, King of Aragon and his wife Juana I, Queen of Castile and León, Queen of Aragon would also be interred.

Was Juana mad or was she manipulated by her father, husband, and son? Juana’s father Ferdinand, her husband Philip, and eventually her son Carlos had a lot to gain from Juana being declared unfit to rule. Juana did show excessive grief as she traveled through Castile with Philip’s coffin. What is overlooked is that her 28-year-old husband died suddenly after a five-day illness and that she was fulfilling Philip’s wish to be buried in Granada. In addition, her father Ferdinand deliberately blocked Philip’s burial in Granada causing delays in Juana’s journey.

In 1509, Juana’s father Ferdinand convinced the parliament that Juana was too mentally ill to govern, and was appointed her guardian and regent of Castile and León. Juana was confined in the Royal Convent of Santa Clara in Tordesillas, Castile, now in Spain, under the orders of her father. In 1516, Ferdinand II, King of Aragon died. In his will, Ferdinand named his daughter Juana and her eldest son Carlos (also known as Charles in history) as the co-heirs of the Kingdom of Aragon. However, Juana would never really reign as she would not be released from her confinement until her death.

Philip and Juana’s son Carlos; Credit – Wikipedia

It would be Philip and Juana’s son Carlos who would reign and inherit the dominions of his mother Juana (Castile, León, and Aragon), the dominions of his father Philip (the Burgundian State which were parts of the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany, see the list of Philip’s titles above), and also the dominions of his paternal grandfather Maximilian I, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, and Holy Roman Emperor who died after Philip’s death. When Juana died in 1555, it resulted in the personal union of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, as her son Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, among many other titles, also became King of Castile and León and King of Aragon, effectively creating the Kingdom of Spain. Carlos I was not only the first King of a united Spain and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, but he was also Charles I, Archduke of Austria, and Charles II, Lord of the Netherlands, among many other titles.

Tomb of Philip and Juana at the Royal Chapel of Granada; Credit – By Javi Guerra Hernando – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35974698

Juana survived her husband Philip by forty-nine years, dying on April 12, 1555, aged 75, at the Royal Convent of Santa Clara in Tordesillas. She had spent the last forty-six years of her life confined, living through decades of internment, isolation, and sometimes inhumane treatment by the guards.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Mary of Burgundy – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary,_Duchess_of_Burgundy> [Accessed 17 July 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor> [Accessed 17 July 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Philip I of Castile – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_I_of_Castile> [Accessed 17 July 2022].
  • Es.wikipedia.org. 2022. Felipe I de Castilla – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre. [online] Available at: <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felipe_I_de_Castilla> [Accessed 17 July 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Juana I, Queen of Castile and León and Queen of Aragon. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/juana-i-queen-of-castile-and-leon-and-queen-of-aragon/> [Accessed 17 July 2022].
  • Wheatcroft, Andrew, 1995. The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
  • Wilson, Peter, 2016. Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Eustace (of Blois) IV, Count of Boulogne

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Eustace’s coat of arms as Count of  Boulogne; Credit – Wikipedia

Born circa 1129, Eustace (of Blois) IV, Count of Boulogne was the second but the eldest surviving of the five children and the second but the eldest surviving of the three sons of Stephen I, King of England (born Stephen of Blois) and Matilda I, Countess of Boulogne in her own right. Boulogne was a county within the Kingdom of France from 896 – 1501, centered on the city of Boulogne-sur-Mer, a coastal city in Northern France.

Eustace’s paternal grandparents were Stephen II, Count of Blois and Adela of Normandy and England, a daughter of William I, King of England (the Conqueror). His maternal grandparents were Eustace III, Count of Boulogne and Mary of Scotland, daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland and Saint Margaret of Scotland.

Eustace had four siblings. After the death of his elder brother Baldwin in 1135, Eustace became the heir of his father and mother’s lands.

The sinking of the White Ship; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1120, a terrible tragedy caused a succession crisis in England. The White Ship, carrying King Henry I of England’s only legitimate son William Ætheling, sank as it left France to sail to England, and William Ætheling was among the estimated 300 passengers who drowned. Empress Matilda was then King Henry I’s only legitimate child and on Christmas Day in 1126, Henry I had his barons swear to recognize Empress Matilda and any future legitimate heirs she might have as his successors.

Stephen and his wife Matilda of Boulogne stayed close to his maternal uncle King Henry I and spent much time in England realizing that Stephen was very close to the throne. Stephen’s mother Adela of Normandy and England was the daughter of William I, King of England (the Conqueror). Henry I’s daughter Empress Matilda had left England as a child to marry Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich V. The marriage was childless and Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich V died in 1125. After her husband’s death, Empress Matilda went to the royal court in the Duchy of Normandy (Kings of England were also Dukes of Normandy). Eventually, King Henry I made arrangements for his daughter to marry Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou in 1128. Empress Matilda and Geoffrey did not get along and their marriage was stormy with frequent, long separations but they did produce three sons, including Henry FitzEmpress, the future Henry II, King of England.

Eustace’s father King Stephen of England; Credit – Wikipedia

On December 1, 1135, King Henry I of England died. His nephew Stephen quickly crossed over the English Channel from the County of Boulogne, now in France, to England, accompanied by his military household. With the help of his brother Henry of Blois who was Bishop of Winchester, Stephen seized power in England and was crowned King of England on December 22, 1135. Eustace was now also the heir apparent to the throne of the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy, However, Empress Matilda did not give up her claim to England and Normandy, leading to the long civil war known as The Anarchy between 1135 and 1153.

Empress Matilda; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1137, as heir apparent to the English throne, Eustace did homage for the Duchy of Normandy to King Louis VII of France, whose sister, Constance of France, he subsequently married in 1140. Eustance and Constance had no children. However, Geoffrey of Anjou, Empress Matilda’s husband, began a systematic conquest of the Duchy of Normandy. By 1143, Geoffrey secured all of Normandy west and south of the Seine River and he then assumed the title of Duke of Normandy. Geoffrey held the duchy until 1149 when he and Empress Matilda ceded it to their son Henry FitzEmpress

Eustace was knighted in 1147. By this time he was sixteen or seventeen years old and he began to take a more active part in the civil war. In 1151, Eustace and King Louis VII of France launched an invasion of the Duchy of Normandy. However, they were defeated by the troops of Henry FitzEmpress.

At a council held in London on April 6, 1152, Stephen asked the barons to recognize Eustace as their next king and to pay him homage. He wanted to follow the French practice of ensuring the succession by declaring his heir Eustace the junior king. The barons refused. By the early 1150s, after years of civil war, most of the barons and church leaders wanted long-term peace. Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury refused to grant Stephen’s request to crown Eustace and Pope Eugene III refused to recognize Eustace as Stephen’s successor. However, Eustace’s mother Matilda I, Countess of Boulogne died of a fever on May 3, 1152, and her eldest son succeeded her as Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne.

Finally, the armies of Henry FitzEmpress and King Stephen of England met at Wallingford in Oxfordshire, England. Pressured by the barons, Stephen called a ceasefire and agreed to a truce, over the objections of his son Eustace. Eustace flew into a rage and plundered church lands of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England.

On August 17, 1153, Eustace, aged about twenty-three, died suddenly in Bury St. Edmunds.  Various chroniclers of the time attribute Eustace’s death to the wrath of God for plundering church lands, a fever, a fit of madness, or poisoning. Eustace was buried in Faversham Abbey in Faversham, Kent, England which had been founded by his parents who were also buried there. All three tombs were lost when Faversham Abbey was demolished during the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of King Henry VIII. Their remains were reportedly thrown into the nearby Faversham Creek. Their empty tombs were unearthed in 1964 near what had been the center of the choir. At St. Mary of Charity Church, the parish church in Faversham, there is a tomb where it is said that the remains of King Stephen, his wife Matilda of Boulogne, and his son Eustace were reinterred after the destruction of Faversham Abbey.

The supposed tomb of King Stephen, his wife Matilda, and their son Eustace; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Shortly after Eustace’s death, King Stephen and Henry FitzEmpress reached a formal agreement known as the Treaty of Wallingford. The treaty allowed Stephen to keep the throne until his death but forced him to recognize Empress Matilda’s son Henry FitzEmpress, as his heir. King Stephen survived for a little more than a year after the death of Eustace, dying apparently of appendicitis at Dover Castle on October 25, 1154, and a line of fourteen Plantagenet kings who ruled England until 1485 started, with Henry FitzEmpress, now King Henry II of England. Ironically, on August 17, 1153, the day of Eustace’s death, the first child of Henry FitzEmpress, the future King Henry II, and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine was born. The child, William IX, Count of Poitiers, survived for only two years, but he was followed by seven siblings, two of whom became Kings of England, King Richard I (the Lionheart) and King John.

Sharon Kay Penman’s excellent historical fiction novel When Christ and His Saints Slept deals with The Anarchy and most of the historical figures mentioned here are characters.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustace_IV,_Count_of_Boulogne> [Accessed 14 July 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2016. King Stephen of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-stephen-of-england/> [Accessed 14 July 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2014. Matilda of Boulogne, Queen of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/may-3-1152-death-of-matilda-of-boulogne-wife-of-king-stephen-of-england/> [Accessed 14 July 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2015. The Sinking of the White Ship and How It Affected the English Succession. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/november-25-1120-the-sinking-of-the-white-ship-and-how-it-affected-the-english-succession/> [Accessed 14 July 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Eustache IV de Boulogne — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustache_IV_de_Boulogne> [Accessed 14 July 2022].
  • Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Monday, September 19, 2022 – The Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II – What we can expect to happen?

Westminster Abbey; Credit – By Σπάρτακος (changes by Rabanus Flavus) – File:Westminster-Abbey.JPG, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76031882

This is the first time since the funeral of King George II in 1760 that the funeral of a British monarch has been held at Westminster Abbey. The funerals of British monarchs from King George III to King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II’s father, were held at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.

  • The Lying-in-State of Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin at Westminster Hall will end at 6:30 AM British Time, 1:30 AM US Eastern Time as the final members of the public will be admitted.
  • At 10:44 AM British Time, 5:44 AM US Eastern Time, the coffin will travel in procession on the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy the short distance from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey for the State Funeral. King Charles III, members of the Royal Family, and members of The King’s Household will follow the coffin. The procession will arrive at Westminster Abbey eight minutes later. The coffin will be lifted from the State Gun Carriage and carried into Westminster Abbey for the State Funeral Service.
  • The State Funeral Service will be conducted by David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster. During the Service, Prime Minister Liz Truss and Secretary General of the Commonwealth Patricia Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal will read Lessons. Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York; Vincent Nichols, Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster; Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; and Helen Cameron, Free Churches Moderator will say Prayers. The Sermon will be given by Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, who will also give the Commendation. The Dean of Westminster will then pronounce the Blessing. Two Minutes Silence will be observed in Westminster Abbey and throughout the United Kingdom. The National Anthem will be sung and the State Funeral Service will end at approximately 12 noon British Time, 7:00 AM US Eastern Time.
  • After the State Funeral Service, the coffin will be carried out of Westminster Abbey and returned to the State Gun Carriage. There will be a procession to Wellington Arch, Hyde Park Corner which King Charles III and members of the Royal Family will follow. Guns will be fired every minute in Hyde Park and Big Ben will toll throughout the duration of the procession.
  • The procession will arrive at Wellington Arch at approximately 1:00 PM British Time, 8:00 AM US Eastern Time. The coffin will be transferred to a hearse for the trip to St. George’s Chapel in Windsor where the burial will take place. As the hearse departs, there will be a Royal Salute and the National Anthem will be played. King Charles III and members of the Royal Family will then travel to Windsor by car.
  • When the coffin reaches Windsor, the hearse will join a procession on Albert Road and travel along the Long Walk to St.George’s Chapel, Windsor for the Committal Service.
  • Members of the Royal Family will join the procession in the Quadrangle at Windsor Castle. Guns will be fired each minute on the East Lawn of Windsor Castle and bells will toll. The procession will end at the bottom of the West Steps of St. George’s Chapel. The coffin will be carried in procession into the chapel.
  • The Committal Service will begin at 4:00 PM British Time, 11:00 AM US Eastern Time. The congregation will include King Charles III, members of the Royal Family, past and present members of The Queen’s Household, including from the private estates, Governors-General, and Commonwealth Realm Prime Ministers. The service will be conducted by David Conner, Dean of Windsor, with prayers said by The Reverand Canon Jonathan Riviere, Rector of Sandringham; Kenneth Mackenzie, Minister of Crathie Kirk; and Martin Poll, Chaplain of Windsor Great Park.
  • Before the final hymn, the Imperial State Crown, the Orb, and the Sceptre will be removed from the coffin, and placed on the altar. After the final hymn, King Charles III will place The Queen’s Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin and Andrew Parker, Baron Parker of Minsmere, The Lord Chamberlain, the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, will break his Wand of Office and place it on the coffin.
  • As the coffin is lowered into the Royal Vault, the Dean of Windsor will say a Psalm and the Commendation followed by David White, Garter King of Arms pronouncing Her Majesty’s styles and titles. The Sovereign’s Piper will play a Lament and The Archbishop of Canterbury will pronounce the Blessing. The National Anthem will be sung at the conclusion of the Committal Service.
  • A private burial will take place in the King George VI Memorial Chapel at St. George’s Chapel later in the evening, conducted by the Dean of Windsor in which Queen Elizabeth II will be buried together with her husband Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh in the King George VI Memorial Chapel where The Queen’s parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and the ashes of her sister Princess Margaret are buried.

King George VI Memorial Chapel; Photo Credit – http://thebluerememberedhills.blogspot.com/

The Death of Queen Elizabeth II – Operation London Bridge – What we can expect to happen on Sunday, September 18, 2022

On Saturday, all eight grandchildren of Queen Elizabeth II stood vigil at her coffin – From left to right, going around the coffin: Zara Tindall, Lady Louise-Mountbatten-Windsor, Princess Beatrice, The Duke of Sussex, Princess Eugenie, Viscount Severn, Peter Phillips, and The Prince of Wales (both partially hidden)

  • Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin will lie in state for the fourth full day in Westminster Hall, where people will be able to pay their respects.
  • King Charles III will hold an audience with Prime Minister Liz Truss at Buckingham Palace.
  • King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla will also host heads of state and official overseas guests for an official state event at Buckingham Palace.
  • A one-minute silence will be held across the United Kingdom at 8:00 PM British Time, 3:00 PM US Eastern Time. People can observe the silence privately in their own homes, on the street with neighbors, or at community events and vigils.

The Death of Queen Elizabeth II – Operation London Bridge – What we can expect to happen on Saturday, September 17, 2022

All eight grandchildren of Queen Elizabeth II stood vigil at her coffin – From left to right, going around the coffin: Zara Tindall, Lady Louise-Mountbatten-Windsor, Princess Beatrice, The Duke of Sussex, Princess Eugenie, Viscount Severn, Peter Phillips, and The Prince of Wales (both partially hidden)

Juana I, Queen of Castile and León and Queen of Aragon

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Juana I, Queen of Castile and León and Queen of Aragon; Credit – Wikipedia

Juana I, Queen of Castile and León and Queen of Aragon was born on November 6, 1479, in Toledo, Kingdom of Castile, now in Spain. She was the third of the five children and the second of the four daughters of Ferdinand II, King of Aragon and Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León. Juana’s paternal grandparents were Juan II, King of Aragon and his second wife Juana Enriquez, 5th Lady of Casarrubios del Monte. Her maternal grandparents were Juan II, King of Castile and León and his second wife Isabel of Portugal.

Juana with her parents Ferdinand and Isabella; Credit – Wikipedia

Juana had four siblings:

Juana in her teenage years; Credit – Wikipedia

Like her mother Isabella, Queen of Castile and León and her youngest sister Catalina (Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII of England), Juana had a fair complexion and golden-red hair which had come from her mother’s descent from the English House of Plantagenet. Isabella’s paternal grandmother was Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster who was the son of King Edward III of England. As an infanta (princess), Juana was not expected to inherit either of her parent’s thrones although, through deaths, she inherited both. Her education reflected the fact that she was an unlikely heir. Juana had a general education, studying church and civil law, genealogy and heraldry, grammar, history, languages, and mathematics.

Philip of Austria, Juana’s husband; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1496, 16-year-old Juana was betrothed to 18-year-old Philip of Austria, often called Philip of Habsburg or Philip the Handsome. He was the only son of Mary, Duchess of Burgundy in her own right, the ruler of a collection of states known as the Burgundian State, and Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria. When Philip was four years old, his mother died in a riding accident, and Philip succeeded her as ruler of the Burgundian State which consisted of parts of the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany.

Philip’s father Maximilian I made an alliance with the husband and with Juana’s parents King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, for a double marriage between their children. Juan, Prince of Asturias, the only son and heir of Ferdinand and Isabella, would marry Maximilian’s only daughter Margaret of Austria, and Ferdinand and Isabella’s second daughter Infanta Juana of Castile would marry Maximilian’s only son Philip. These marriages were part of the foreign policy of Ferdinand and Isabella to build a network of alliances through the marriages of their children to strengthen their kingdoms, destined to be inherited by their son Juan, against France, their major rival at that time. The double marriages were never intended to allow the Spanish kingdoms to fall under the control of the House of Habsburg, which they eventually did. Juana was third in line to the thrones of Aragon, Castile, and León after her elder brother Juan and her elder sister Isabella, and would fall further down the line of succession when her elder siblings had children, as was expected.

Juana and Philip were married by proxy at the Palacio de los Vivero in Valladolid, Kingdom of Castile. On August 22, 1496, Juana began her journey to her new home. The wedding was formally celebrated on October 20, 1496, at the Collegiate Church of Saint Gummarus in the small town of Lier, now in Belgium, near the city of Antwerp.

The three eldest children of Juana and Philip: Eleanor, Carlos, and Isabella; Credit – Wikipedia

Juana and Philip had six children, all of whom were kings or queen consorts:

Within four years of her marriage to Philip, Juana became the heir to her parents’ kingdoms after the death of her childless only brother Juan, Prince of Asturias in 1497, the death of her eldest sister Isabella of Aragon, Princess of Asturias, Princess of Portugal in childbirth in 1498, and the death of her sister Isabella’s only child Prince Miguel da Paz of Portugal in 1500, shortly before his second birthday.

Although Juana was deeply in love with Philip, their married life was unhappy. Philip was unfaithful and politically insecure. He constantly attempted to usurp Juana’s legal birthrights. This led to the rumors of Juana’s insanity because those rumors benefited Philip politically. Most historians now agree Juana was clinically depressed and not insane as commonly believed.

On November 26, 1504, Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León died at the age of 53. Juana became Queen of Castile and León but her father Ferdinand II, King of Aragon proclaimed himself Governor and Administrator of Castile and León. In 1506, Juana’s husband Philip of Austria became King of Castile and León jure uxoris (by the right of his wife) as Philip I, initiating the rule of the Habsburgs in the Spanish kingdoms which would last until 1700. However, Philip’s rule lasted only from July 12, 1506 to September 25, 1506, when he died suddenly, apparently of typhoid fever, although an assassination by poisoning was rumored at the time.

A 19th-century painting of Juana holding vigil over Philip’s coffin by Francisco Pradilla Ortiz, 1877; Credit – Wikipedia

There were also rumors circulating about the supposed madness of Juana. Unfortunately, Juana’s husband Philip had spread rumors about her madness when he was still alive and her behavior after his death may have reinforced these rumors. Juana decided to transfer Philip’s remains from Burgos in the north of present-day Spain, where he had died and had already been buried, to Granada in the south of present-day Spain. Apparently, Philip wanted to be buried in Granada. The distance from Burgos to Granada is 423 miles/681 kilometers, a 6 1/2 hour car ride today, but an extraordinary distance in 1506. Pregnant with her last child, Juana traveled with her husband’s body from Burgos to Granada. The trip would take eight months. During the trip, Juana gave birth to her last child named Catherine after her youngest sister,  Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII of England.

Royal Convent of Santa Clara in Tordesillas, Kingdom of Castile where Juana was confined for forty-six years; Credit – By José-Manuel Benito – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=519592

In 1509, Juana’s father Ferdinand convinced the parliament that Juana was too mentally ill to govern, and was appointed her guardian and regent of Castile and León. Juana was confined in the Royal Convent of Santa Clara in Tordesillas, Kingdom of Castile, under the orders of her father. Juana’s youngest child Catherine stayed with her mother at the convent until 1525, when she was released from the custody that her mother was to endure until her death in 1555.

Was Juana mad or was she manipulated by her father, husband, and son? Juana’s father Ferdinand, her husband Philip, and her son Carlos had a lot to gain from Juana being declared unfit to rule. Juana did show excessive grief as she traveled through Castile with Philip’s coffin. What is overlooked is that her 28-year-old husband died suddenly after a five-day illness and that she was fulfilling Philip’s wish to be buried in Granada. In addition, her father deliberately blocked Philip’s burial in Granada causing delays in Juana’s journey.

On January 23, 1516, Ferdinand II, King of Aragon died. In his will, Ferdinand named his daughter Juana and her eldest son Carlos (also known as Charles in history) as the co-heirs of the Kingdom of Aragon. However, Juana would never reign as she would not be released from her confinement until her death.

Juana’s son Carlos; Credit – Wikipedia

It would be her son Carlos who would reign. Carlos would inherit the dominions of his mother Juana (Castile, León, and Aragon), the dominions of his father Philip (the Burgundian State which were parts of the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany), and also the dominions of his paternal grandfather Maximilian I, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, and Holy Roman Emperor who died after his father Philip’s death. When Juana died in 1555, it resulted in the personal union of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, as her son Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, among many other titles, also became King of Castile and León, and Aragon, effectively creating the Kingdom of Spain. Carlos I was not only the first King of a united Spain and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, but he was also Charles I, Archduke of Austria, and Charles II, Lord of the Netherlands, among many other titles.

Tomb of Philip and Juana; Credit – By Javi Guerra Hernando – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35974698

Juana spent forty-six years basically imprisoned. Decades of internment, isolation, and sometimes inhumane treatment by her guards had serious negative effects on her. Juana, Queen of Castile and León and Queen of Aragon died on April 12, 1555, aged 75, at the Royal Convent of Santa Clara in Tordesillas, Castile, now in Spain. She was buried with her parents and husband at the Royal Chapel of Granada, now in Spain.

Royal Chapel of Granada in 1850, drawing by Francesc Xavier Parceris; Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Joanna of Castile – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joanna_of_Castile> [Accessed 17 July 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Philip I of Castile – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_I_of_Castile> [Accessed 17 July 2022].
  • Es.wikipedia.org. 2022. Felipe I de Castilla – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre. [online] Available at: <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felipe_I_de_Castilla> [Accessed 17 July 2022].
  • Es.wikipedia.org. 2022. Juana I de Castilla – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre. [online] Available at: <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juana_I_de_Castilla> [Accessed 17 July 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Ferdinand II, King of Aragon, King of Castile and León. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinand-ii-king-of-aragon-king-of-castile-and-leon/> [Accessed 16 July 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León, Queen of Aragon. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/isabella-i-queen-of-castile-and-leon-queen-of-aragon/> [Accessed 16 July 2022].

The Death of Queen Elizabeth II – Operation London Bridge – What we can expect to happen on Friday, September 16, 2022

King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla will visit the Senedd (the Welsh Parliament); Credit – Wikipedia

  • Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin will lie in state for the second full day in Westminster Hall, where people will be able to pay their respects.
  • King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla will travel to Wales. They will attend a service at Llandaff Cathedral in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales. After the service, Charles and Camilla will greet schoolchildren and members of the public. The King and Queen Consort will be presented with a Motion of Condolence at the Senedd (the Welsh Parliament) in Cardiff Bay and they will have a chance to read condolence messages. King Charles III will have a private audience with First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford and the Llywydd (Presiding Officer) of the Senedd Elin Jones at Cardiff Castle. The King and The Queen Consort will have a reception with guests from local organizations, charities, and members of faith communities.
  • At 7:30 PM British Time, 2:30 PM US Eastern Time, King Charles III, The Princess Royal, The Duke of York, and The Earl of Wessex will hold a vigil around the coffin of The Queen.

The Death of Queen Elizabeth II – What happened on Thursday, September 15, 2022

The lying-in-state of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall

Operation London Bridge was the codename for the detailed set of plans following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The plans had long been planned in consultation with the Government. The following is what happened on Thursday, September 15, 2022.

Thursday, September 15, 2022, is the first full day that Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin lay in state in Westminster Hall. Hundreds of thousands of mourners paid their respects until 6:30 AM on Monday, September 19, 2022, the day of the funeral.