Juana la Beltraneja, between impotence and betrayal

A supposedly impotent king, a dubiously illegitimate daughter and a half-sister capable of being able to make up, basically, the elements that made the kingdom of Castile in the second half of the fifteenth century live a first uprising and a War of Succession afterwards.The result was none other than the rise to the Castilian throne of Isabel la Catolica (the stepsister) and the retirement for life to a convent of Juana de Trastamara , legitimate crown heiress.

The first wife of Enrique IV de Castilla , Blanca de Navarra , alleges the impotence of the king in his marriage annulment process.That process would end ruling such impotence, but only with respect to the queen, or what is the same, that the king was able to fornicate with any woman, except with that He was joined by the sacrament.

A nobility in a constant struggle for power with the monarchical institution, however, was responsible for keeping alive the rumor of impotence that would accompany his faint-hearted Enrique IV all his life.This one contracted second nuptials with his cousin Juana de Portugal .Seven years later, in 1,462, a daughter of this marriage would be born to whom they would name Juana.The Cortes recognize her as heiress and, what things are, your aunt Isabel the Catholic will be the godmother of baptism.

Soon the murmuring will begin: the crown heiress is not the daughter of the king, who is supposed to be helpless, but of the valid Beltran de la Cueva. Without DNA evidence capable of dispelling reasonable doubt, a part of the nobility eager to limit the royal power makes this rumor its cause: Beltraneja, a derogatory nickname with which they wish to make clear the illegitimate origin of the heiress, must not reign, the Crown must pass, to the death of and Henry IV to his half-brother Alfonso , elder brother of Isabel la Catolica.

King Enrique, whose impotence and homosexuality are yet to be demonstrated, behaves like a true inept and, instead of taking the bull by the horns (sorry for the simile), he folds to the wishes of the nobility and disinherits his daughter in November 1464, although without making any declaration of illegitimacy, declaring his stepbrother Alfonso as heir.

Some historians tell us that in this act of disinheriting their daughter there was a calculated move.Apparently, the accounts of Henry IV went through to marry his daughter with his stepbrother Alfonso.Be that as it may, these plans, real or invented, went to waste with the death of Alfonso in 1468.The history of Spain should wait a few centuries to have an Alfonso XII.

And this is where Isabel the Catholic comes into play as heiress of the Castilian throne.But things get complicated, some noble sedicio SOS decide to change sides and join the cause of the legitimacy of Beltraneja.Even King Henry himself gives more firm evidence in the defense of his daughter.All this makes the cerebral Isabel precipitate her marriage with Fernando de Aragon, seeking the marital and military support of the other great peninsular kingdom.

In this state of affairs Henry IV dies, which makes the Beltraneja supporters precipitate their marriage with the infant Alfonso of Portugal , what would happen in Plasencia, proclaiming both as kings of Castile.The letters were made and the solution had to come from the hand of arms.After not a little spilled blood, the War of the Spanish Succession can be terminated with the battle of La Albuera , where the Portuguese would be definitely defeated.

Isabel the Catholic would be proclaimed Queen of Castile by the will of God, and of aristocr weapons and intrigues Attics.The Portuguese would obtain some countervailing counterparts in the African Atlantic and Juana la Beltraneja, legitimate heiress of the Castilian throne while no one proves otherwise, would be confined for life in a convent in Coimbra.In 1,530, the Excellent Senora , which is how the Portuguese refer to Juana la Beltraneja, will die in her Portuguese retirement.

I never stop being considered queen of Castile and lived long enough to see the rest of protagonists of this story.Now that some claim the beatification of Isabel la Catolica, it may be a good time to do some justice with this woman.

The story of Juana La Beltraneja after the War of Succession

L The Spanish War of Succession is terminated in 1479 , when the so-called peace of Alcacovas was signed between Portugal, Aragon and a kingdom of Castile already completely dominated by Queen Elizabeth I (where a first one was also held differentiation between the limits of influence of Castile and Portugal in the Atlantic, agreement which recognized, for example, the Castilian sovereignty of the Canary Islands), at the same time as the so-called Tercerias de Moura were agreed upon.During these negotiations, I remain stipulated that Isabel I was the legitimate queen of Castile , the re No neighbor gave up any claim on the Castilian crown, the marriage between King Alfonso V of Portugal and his niece Juana la Beltraneja was annulled and it was indicated that the latter should choose between marrying Prince John, son of the future Kings Catholics, born in 1478, or secluded in a convent .Juana was aware that it was quite unlikely that her marriage to her cousin Juan, from which seventeen years would separate her, would one day come true and she also knew that risks to which he was exposed if he returned to Castile, under the control of his rival, were enormous, so he decided to stay in Portugal, professing in the monastery of Santa Clara in the city of Coimbra.

In the image, Isabel La Catolica:

Juana habia passed in a short time to be queen of Castile by right and Portugal by marriage to lacking both crowns and being practically alone in his claims to the Castilian heritage.His uncle Alfonso V of Portugal , with whom he had married during the war of Castilian Succession, had suffered a great credit for having involved in Portugal in an expensive war that did not concern him.During the last months of the war of the Spanish Succession, his son and heir Juan II took the reins of the government and, after the signing of Peace, Alfonso V retired from public life , living until his death in 1481 in a monastery of Sintra.

However, the Portuguese royal family always kept Juana under his protection .Not only for being part of his family (remember that, in addition to Alfonso V's brief wife, his mother, Juana de Portugal, had been a Portuguese princess), but because it also gave them a political advantage over Castilla.Juana never stopped being considered the legitimate queen of Castile and As long as I lived, despite the loss As of his candidacy in the war of the Spanish Succession, there would always be a shadow of illegitimacy planning on the throne of Isabel I that his enemies could use against him.That is why Isabel I, in his negotiations with Portugal, always tried to make sure that Juana was well controlled and, in the documents that have remained where she is mentioned, she continually expresses her concern about the problems that the continued existence of the one known in Portugal as the Excellent Lady could mean for her.many experts indicate that the marital alliances that he forged with Portugal, marrying his first-born Isabel consecutively with Prince Juan and King Manuel I and, after his death, his daughter Maria with the latter, also aimed to make their own daughters , like princesses and queens of Portugal , they could exercise greater control over what was once their mother's enemy.

On the other hand, like Isabel was aware that Juana would remain a threat to her throne while living , other people knew that an alliance with the Excellent Lady could allow them to influence Castile and attract a significant number of nobles that had been harmed by the Catholic Monarchs after the end of the War of Succession Castilian or who were dissatisfied with their actions, flying as a flag the dynastic rights that Joan always claimed to possess.This is the reason why Joan received various marriage proposals throughout her life, although she never took that state.he knows, for example, that Louis XI of France, in full conflict with Aragon over the property of Rosellon, wanted to marry his nephew, Francisco Febo, young king of Navarre, with Juana, but his early death prevented such negotiations from moving forward.

After the death of Isabel I in 1504 , Jeronimo Zurita claims that there were rumors that the Catholic king wanted to marry the Excellent Lady to retain power in Castilla, which looked threatened by the arrival of her daughter Juana and her husband Felipe el Hermoso.Juana flatly refused such a project, if she ever had serious signs, and Fernando contracted a second marriage with Germana de Foix, niece of the king of France , seeking to have a male heir to separate Juana and Felipe from the heritage of their heritage territories of the Crown of Aragon.