Juana and Isabel

This chapter analyzes various aspects of the construction of Juana of Castile as “mad,” taking as points of departure her mother's years of bereavement and Juana's own love for her husband, Philippe le Fair. It covers Juana's life as princess, from her childhood in the Castilian court up to her mother's death in 1504. Juana was age twenty-five when she became queen, an unexpected turn of events for a young woman who had been third in the line of succession. The chapter considers Juana's relationships with both her mother and her husband, including how these relationships were seen by contemporaries, and the monumentally daunting task she faced in succeeding the Catholic Queen. The period from 1497 to 1504 constituted Juana's years of sorrow, which was a period when she was afflicted with her own cumulative grief and melancholy for losing three heirs in rapid succession.