Joan ‘the Mad’
Infanta of Spain, heiress to Castile and Aragon; consort of Philip I, ‘the Fair’
Born in Toledo (Spain) on 6 November 1479
Died in Tordesillas (Spain) on 12 April 1555
Donna Juana (Joan) of Castile and Aragon was married to Philip the Fair in an alliance arranged between the Spanish royal house and the Habsburgs. Simultaneously her brother married Philip’s sister. This double wedding was aimed against France and led to the Habsburgs acquiring the Spanish crowns. After the death of her husband Juana is alleged to have lost her mind and has therefore gone down in history as ‘Joan the Mad’.
