What was the name of Queen Isabella of Spain's second daughter (her sister, Catherine, married Henry VIII), who did she marry, and what did she do right after her husband's early death?

great2beme

Joanna of Castille. Married Philip I of Castille. She tried to exercise her rights as Queen of Castille to rule alone in her own name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joanna_of_Castile#Philip.27s_death Aug 11 10, 4:35 PM

star_gazer

She is still known in history as Joanna the Mad (a.k.a, Joanna la Loca). Born in 1479 as the second daughter of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon (yes, that Ferdinand and Isabella of Christopher Columbus fame), she had a reputation from an early age of being morbid. With a longstanding taste for the macabre, Joanna was intensely superstitious and obsessed with death. According to one story, she told her governess that she wanted to try on her skeleton and cried when her governess informed her that the skeleton was already inside her. Although she originally wanted to be a nun, her parents knew that a marriage of state would be essential to strengthen their political position. While Joanna wasn't the heir (she had two brothers and an older sister), her arranged marriage to Archduke Philip of Burgundy (a.k.a. "Philip the Handsome"), only son of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I made perfect sense. It was actually a double marriage with Philip's sister marrying Joanna's brother Juan so you can imagine how glorious the wedding was. Sadly, for Joanna, Philip was not a good husband. A spoiled 16-year old brat with decadent tastes, his arranged marriage to a seventeen-year old princess with little experience of life was a disaster. Although Joanna quickly fell in love with her husband, it didn't take long for him to neglect her in favour of other women who were more to his taste (he liked blondes). Joanna had to go to extreme lengths to entice Philip back to her bed (as well as making sure none of her attendants were attractive enough to distract her husband). After attempting to escape from La Mota, Joanna went into a hysterical rage and lashed out at her attendants and even her powerful mother. That was probably a mistake. http://drvitelli.typepad.com/providentia/2010/05/mad-joanna.html Aug 11 10, 5:15 PM