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Juana the Mad: Sovereignty and Dynasty in Renaissance Europe

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Born to Isabel and Ferdinand, the Catholic Monarchs whose marriage united the realms of Castile and Aragon, Juana "the Mad" (1479–1555) is one of the most infamous but least studied monarchs of the Renaissance. Conventional accounts of Juana portray her as a sullen woman prone to depression, a jealous wife insanely in love with her husband, and an incompetent queen who was deemed by her father, husband, and son, unable to govern herself much less her kingdoms. But was Juana truly mad or the victim of manipulative family members who desired to rule in her stead? Drawing upon recent scholarship and years of archival research, author Bethany Aram offers a new vision of Juana's life. After the deaths of three relatives directly in line for the throne, Juana became heir to her parents' realms. As queen, Juana worked tirelessly to assure the succession of her son Charles V to the throne and thereby to establish the Habsburg dynasty in the kingdoms that others managed to govern in her name. In this part biography, part study of royal authority, Aram rightly asserts that Juana was more complicated than her contemporaries and biographers have portrayed her. Not the frail and unstable woman usually depicted, Juana employed pious practices to defend her own interests as well as those of her children. She emerges as a woman of immense importance in Spanish and European history.

280 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

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Bethany Aram

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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Profile Image for Ruby.
115 reviews45 followers
June 19, 2019
I had actually started to read another book about Juana, "Juana I: Legitimacy and Conflict in Sixteenth-Century Castile" by Gillian B. Fleming, but Aram's work was cited in the introduction as adapting Kantorowicz's theory of the king's two bodies to Juana, and since I am familiar with the theory, and also fascinated by it, I decided to read this book instead.

I have truly enjoyed it. Even though it is not that long, it still details Juana's life from beginning to end. It is well-researched and well-written, I have completely eaten it up (though Juana is one of my favourite historical figures so I cannot promise everyone will read this book in a couple of hours)

I recommend "Juana the Mad: Sovereignty and Dynasty in Renaissance Europe" to anyone who has heard of Juana but never actually read a biography of hers. Aram dispels a lot of "popular" "facts" about her and the Queen Juana that emerges from her book is a very compelling woman who, unfortunately, never experienced peace and harmony in her life. She was constantly hurt by those closest to her: her parents, her husband and even her son... nevertheless she fought with tooth and nail for her children's rights (especially Charles'), even at the cost of her own royal authority... and her own reputation, I guess.
Profile Image for Pádraig Lawlor.
10 reviews4 followers
March 1, 2018
Bethany Aram's, Juana the Mad: Sovereignty and Dynasty in Renaissance Europe, presents to us a royal life that plays only a tragic and tangential role in the political drama of imperial Spain. In the midst of Renaissance Europe's fluttering narratives arrives the complex, yet thought provoking world centering on Juana the Mad. The daughter and sole surviving heir of Isabella I and Ferdinand V, Juana of Castile (1479 - 1555) survived to a great age, vacating a life mired in controversy and tragedy. To nineteenth-century scholars she was a heretic (Gustav Bergenroth), a lunatic (Louis-Poster Gachard), an exceptionally devoted wife (Antonio Rodríguez Villa), or consumed by love (Constantin von Höfler). Most twentieth-century historians consider her schizophrenic (Ludwig Pfandl, Nicomedes Sans y Ruiz de la Peña, Amarie Dénnis, Miguel Ángel Zalama). Such a legacy typically accompanies a prosperous paper trail allowing for an equally rich biographical account. However, most of her life subsisted in confinement at Tordesillas, the unofficial capital of Castile during the period. Bethany Aram challenges the traditional historiography on Juana. As will be discussed in the subsequent paragraphs, she depicts Juana as neither a heroine nor a victim, but an individual who remains "little understood."
One particular aspect of Aram's work deserving applause is her utilization of sources. One third of the manuscript is devoted to an appendix, which details the letters, financial accounts, and various sources she tracked down in her effort to understand Juana in the context of Spanish constitutional thought, female sovereignty, princely courts and households, and cultural understandings of madness. Examining underutilized archival material from the Burgundian archives in Brussels, Ghent, and Lille, Aram extends on current historiography concerning princely courts. It illuminates the rationale behind European court etiquette and the various moves and posturing of early modern rulers.

Dividing her monograph into six chapters, Aram highlights both the political and personal troubles that plagued the young queen. Her research examines changing concepts of monarchial authority and relationships between royal persons at the beginning of the Spanish empire. Second, it offers a practical inquiry into the nature of Renaissance queenship. Finally, it illuminates the dangers of applying the values of one age to another. Reconstructing Juana's early years in the court of her mother, her marriage and strained relationship with her husband, father, son, and household servants, Aram aims to offer a fresh insight into Juana's presumed madness. In essence, her effort is revisionist in nature, drawing upon familiar sources to reinterpret and transform conventional views of the "Mad Queen." Perhaps Juana's mother detected her daughter was troubled, and this became the rationalization for her exclusion and the diagnoses of madness that shadowed Juana throughout her life. At sixteen, she was betrothed to an eighteen-year-old Habsburg prince, Philip the Fair of Flanders. Despite being unknown to one another, they demanded to be married instantaneously. Notwithstanding early evidence of success, the marriage was tempestuous. Philip saw no reason to curb his appetite for women, and Juana reacted with furious jealousy. After Queen Isabella died naming Juana heir to the Spanish throne, Philip tried to have her declared incompetent to rule. Historians question, however, whether she was truly mad or if this was a slander spread by the power-hungry men in her life. By virtue of the agreement of Villafáfila, the procurators of the Cortes met in Valladolid, Castile on 9 July 1506. On 12 July, they swore allegiance to Philip and Joanna together as King and Queen of Castile and León, and to their son Charles (later Charles I of Castile, Leon and Aragon and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor) as their heir-apparent. Two months later, Philip died suddenly of typhoid fever in the city of Burgos in Castile. His death would catapult Spain into political anarchy as Juana fought for her legitimacy to rule.

Aram focuses on the one particular scenario in which later historians justified Juana's madness. Accompanied by her husband's coffin, Juana traveled all over Spain intending to bury him in Granada. At every place Juana rested, locals gathered and acknowledged Philip as their dead king-consort. The narrative accompanying Juana's trip generated commentary on her psyche, which evidently added to the already inquisitive debate centering of her state of mind. Aram's analysis uncovers possible motives for such an action by the queen. As Philip kept Juana imprisoned and under close observation, his death was likely a relief for the restricted queen. The motive for her journey points to her safeguarding her son Charles' inheritance. By parading her husband's coffin through as many cities as possible, Juana was in effect laying claim to the lands for his sons. In interring him next to her mother's sepulcher in Granada, she would have won the `chess game' and had him acknowledged as equal to Isabella in importance. Furthermore, it created an excuse against other suitors, Henry VII of England being the most notable, whom amassed an invading army to come and marry her by force before his death. By professing overwhelming devotion to her dead husband's body, Juana was using the only excuse permissible of a royal widow in her time to put off remarriage. It was both a strategic and tactful ploy, which a person of Juana's supposed mental status could have not executed.

Building upon this narrative, Aram utilizes postmodern structural analysis to gain a great understanding of Juana. She adopts Ernst H. Kantorowicz's thesis of the king's two-bodies. The King has in him two Bodies; a Body natural, and a Body politic. His Body natural is a mortal Body, subject to all infirmities that come by nature or accident, to the imbecility of infancy or old age, and to the like defects that happen to the natural Bodies of other people. In contrast, his Body politic is a Body that cannot be seen or handled, consisting of policy and government, and constituted for the direction of the people, and the management of the public weal, and this Body is void of infancy, and old age, and other natural defects and imbecilities. The King's Two Bodies thus form one unit indivisible, each being fully contained in the other. Aram argues that Juana was a product of her time, and she incorporated these aforementioned ideas into her own political discourse. She contends that the two-body theory worked both in favour of and against women's political authority during the period because a woman ruler posed dangers to the body politic. Consequently, this has created problems for unwitting future historians who mistook her references to "love" for connubial passion, not love for her kingdom. Likewise, Aram's work promotes itself as a sophisticated postmodern theoretical analysis on the operations of gender and power in Habsburg Spain.

In this respect, Michel Foucault's concept of madness as a social construction influences Aram's arguments. Moreover, as feminist scholars contend, this particular construction is a powerfully effective weapon when used against women who operate in the public political sphere. By labeling Juana 'mad,' it portrayed her as a weak and susceptible ruler governing in a time of 'decline.' It made her a vulnerable target for criticism. Aram stresses that Juana's madness was perhaps reflective of a "socially constructed discursive category," and not necessarily a biological illness. This supposed madness justified her inability to rule. Nevertheless, based on this famous episode, authors such as Ludwig Pfandl branded the late queen a lunatic, fortifying a notion that contains traces of exaggeration. It is here where Aram's work inspires. Understanding the context in which Juana existed, Aram methodologically delves into the sources to assist our understanding of the complex circumstances that plagued Juana throughout her life. Driven by fluent prose and a fresh historiographical approach, Aram's work is certainly a worthwhile read. Reading like an academic dissertation, the manuscript is very organized and consistent. Although this endorses certain strengths, it is perhaps best suited for those with a background in early modern European history.
Illuminating the political moves and norms of European royalty, Aram's narrative often feels like watching a chess game, knowing the basic moves but not understanding the strategy. Her work leaves one contemplating whether Juana was, as her contemporaries labeled her, "mad." Exercising a fresh examination on the late queen's tragic life, it is intriguing to ponder whether Juana's supposed madness was indeed a result of a socially constructed illness. Although it would be easy to portray Juana as a helpless victim of circumstance, one cannot ignore the surviving evidence pointing to a conspiracy surround her right to rule. Rather than focusing primarily on a governing queen, Aram's main contribution is her attention on the governing of a queen. Her insights contribute not only to the history of the supposed "mad" queen, but also to our understanding of gender power relations within the political sphere of the early modern period.
Profile Image for María.
16 reviews
July 30, 2025
Sinceramente, es un libro muy difícil de leer, no está bien escrito. Se me ha hecho muy pesado y siento que tampoco ha contado mucho. Me parece un buen libro para empezar a entender quien fue Juana, y que no estaba loca, pero si no lo complementas con otros libros se me queda corto. Lo que más me ha gustado ha sido la conclusión, ojalá todo el libro estuviese redactado así.

Mi niña Juana, que no tenia ni un pelo de tonta, era una girlboss. Sabía que todo el mundo opinaba que estaba loquita y lo utilizaba a su favor. Se la pelaban los demás muy basto. Su historia con su nieta Juana ha sido lo que más me ha gustado. Juana fue una mujer realmente admirable, con sentido del humor y muy inteligente. Quizás si se hubiese impuesto más, sobre todo contra su padre, sería la mejor reina de España.
Pero al no tener una figura masculina a su lado que reforzase su posición, se la quitaron de encima.

Juana, una persona fascinante.
2 reviews
April 13, 2019
Very important that potential readers know that this book is the product of the author’s doctoral dissertation in the discipline of political science. It is an extremely well-researched and analytical book with the goal of viewing late medieval/early renaissance “Spanish” conceptions of monarchy and sovereignty in the late 15th century through the lens of this fascinating female historical figure. A fantastic read for fans of history from a more academic historical background. I thoroughly enjoyed the author’s use of occasional art historical references and her ability to concisely explain potential motivations of historical figures using creative approaches to the available historical record. The author succeeded in providing explanations and at times revealing agency for a tragic historical figure whose legacy has been purposefully and systematically misrepresented.
Profile Image for Amanda.
110 reviews
October 8, 2012
This book reads like an academic dissertion which is both a strength and a weakness. On the one hand, it is organized and the author keeps to the topic fairly well. On the other hand, it strips some of the humanity out of the story. It was interesting nonetheless and a good introduction to Juana and the politics of early Hapsburg Spain.
Profile Image for Jayne Doe.
15 reviews6 followers
January 11, 2022
A very dense, academic, and brief account of Juana's life. Aram takes no stance on Juana's madness, instead reporting on the facts of her "mad" behavior while also placing them into the political and social contexts necessary to understand her motivation.

The text emphasizes the efforts she went to the assert her son Charles's right to the throne, despite his objectively abhorrent behavior towards her. Basically everyone was treating her terribly from the beginning; or at the very least, severely limiting her agency and freedom even as the governess of her household.

There's the unanswered chicken or the egg question: was Juana mad because she was so heavily restricted, or was she restricted for her madness? The book makes no argument either way, and seems to indicate that it was a bit of both. Juana was under great duress, but her reactions were considered unhinged for the time. However, the abuse inflicted upon her in her marriage was genuinely horrible, and it would make complete sense that someone who may have been slightly atypical for their time may have become more seriously erratic under the severe mistreatment and neglect she underwent.

The book is not very effective in expressing dates for most of what goes on, and the reader is left out of the loop on very basic issues: the length of Juana's confinement under Philip, how long she carried his body with her, etc., etc. There's also some ambiguity as to when she began her ascetic
practices.

All in all it was well worth reading, it provided much needed light on a poorly understood figure in the Anglophonic world.
Profile Image for The Logophile.
125 reviews2 followers
January 5, 2022
One of the worst biographies I've ever read. It basically skimmed over her entire life until her marriage then repeated again & again & again how her despicable husband withheld $$$ & honors for her. All this without managing to highlight a single thing about her life, her personality or feelings. Reading 2 paragraphs in an encyclopedia would've served me better & taken much less time. If given the opportunity I would've given it 1/4 star.
Profile Image for lynnvariety.
35 reviews4 followers
February 1, 2015
I read this as research for National Novel Writing Month. I ate it up, but I'm fascinated by this person and her place in Spain's history, so I wouldn't expect any old person to love it. It's a bit of an academic read (Aram writes as a historian and even half-apologizes for the eminently readable chronologic order of her book). There are terms thrown about whose definitions I couldn't catch, but which seemed important. Also, Aram seems fairly in awe of Juana's sacrifice of personal autonomy for the sake of her family's dynasty. I thought that was an interesting perspective, but Aram never fully owns it, probably because she's trying to maintain an academic distance from her subject. This shows up in smaller ways when Aram points out really interesting details but fails to tie them to the larger picture and draw the conclusions she seems to be headed toward.
I would have liked to see her actually make the explicit argument from the beginning that Juana was a bit of a tragic hero, not, as imagined by previous historians, because of some disastrous love for her philandering husband, but because she settled on a strategy for her family that pushed all glory away from her own person, and it more or less worked.
Profile Image for Mabi.
324 reviews
March 25, 2023
Interesante

He escuchado otra versiones donde se confirma que la reina Juana sí estaba loca o padecía una enfermedad mental. En este libro se describe más como una reina que tenía a veces mal carácter, que tenía ideas diferentes en cuanto a su posición como reina, y muy enamorada y atolondrada por su marido, quien por lo que veo, no fue un marido ejemplar ni enamorado de ella. La gente a su alrededor tengo parece haber aportado una ejemplar relación hacia ella. Interesante lectura que aportó este libro a mi conocimiento de esta pobre reina.
Profile Image for Caroline.
610 reviews45 followers
December 22, 2014
A little academic for me - not so much a biography as an analysis of the subject individual through some concepts of royalty and kingship (anything that uses the word 'interrogate' in the preface and doesn't mean to ask a person questions sets a certain tone...). And I feel like it got a little repetitive. But it definitely got across the point that from the moment she was married to her husband this woman was a pawn and a prisoner of husband, parents, and children for 60 years.
27 reviews11 followers
March 7, 2021
I picked up this book after reading C.W.Gortner's book "The Last Queen" as I wanted find out more about the real Juana. It is very scholarly and sometimes dry in places but wonderful nonetheless. What I love about this book is that the author feels no need to pad the book out with extraneous information and keeps her focus fully on Juana. By the time I had finished it I felt that I understood a lot more about both Juana's place in history and the beginnings of Hapsburg Spain.
Profile Image for Mariana.
Author 4 books19 followers
July 28, 2013
This book tells more about the men in Juana De Castilla's life then about her. Did she really choose religion over government?
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews

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