Joan of Portugal ( pt, Joana �uˈɐnɐ 31 March 1439 – June 13, 1475)Charles Cawley, ''Medieval Lands, Portugal'' was the Queen of Castile as the second wife of King

Henry IV of Castile Henry IV of Castile ( Castilian: ''Enrique IV''; 5 January 1425 – 11 December 1474), King of Castile and León, nicknamed the Impotent, was the last of the weak late-medieval kings of Castile and León. During Henry's reign, the nobles became ...

. The posthumous daughter of King

Edward of Portugal Edward ( pt, Duarte (; 31 October 1391 – 9 September 1438), also called Edward the King Philosopher (''Duarte o Rei-Filósofo'') or the Eloquent (''o Eloquente''), was the King of Portugal from 1433 until his death. He was born in Viseu, the son ...

and Eleanor of Aragon, she was born in the Quinta do Monte Olivete Villa,

Almada Almada () is a city and a municipality in Portugal, located on the southern margin of the Tagus River, on the opposite side of the river from Lisbon. The two cities are connected by the 25 de Abril Bridge. The population in 2011 was 174,030, in a ...

Queen of Castile

On 21 May 1455 in Córdoba, she married as his second wife King

who had repudiated his first consort,

Blanche II of Navarre Blanche II ( es, Blanca, eu, Zuria; 9 June 1424 – 2 December 1464), was the titular Queen of Navarre between 1461 and 1464. She was the daughter of John II of Aragon and Blanche I of Navarre. She was also Princess of Asturias by marriage t ...

, after thirteen years of marriage. It was rumoured that their marriage had never been consummated due to the king's

impotence Erectile dysfunction (ED), also called impotence, is the type of sexual dysfunction in which the penis fails to become or stay erect during sexual activity. It is the most common sexual problem in men.Cunningham GR, Rosen RC. Overview of male ...

. Henry and Joan shared the same maternal grandparents;

Ferdinand I of Aragon Ferdinand I (Spanish: ''Fernando I''; 27 November 1380 – 2 April 1416 in Igualada, Òdena) named Ferdinand of Antequera and also the Just (or the Honest) was king of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia and (nominal) Corsica and king of Sicily ...

and

Eleanor of Alburquerque Eleanor, 3rd Countess of Alburquerque (1374 – 16 December 1435) was Queen of Aragon by her marriage to Ferdinand I of Aragon. In Spanish, she is known as ''Leonor Urraca de Castilla, condesa de Alburquerque''. She was the regent of Aragon ...

(making them first cousins). They also shared the same paternal great-grandfather;

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was an English royal prince, military leader, and statesman. He was the fourth son (third to survive infancy as William of Hatfield died shortly after birth) of King Edward ...

(making them second cousins). In February 1462, six years after Joan's marriage to Henry, she gave birth to a daughter, also named

Joan Joan may refer to: People and fictional characters * Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters *:Joan of Arc, a French military heroine * Joan (surname) Weather events *Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multip ...

, called ''La Beltraneja'' because of rumours that she was in fact the daughter of Don

Beltrán de la Cueva Beltrán is a Spanish male given name and surname. In non-Spanish speaking countries, the accent is usually omitted as Beltran. It derives from the Germanic words berht ("bright") and hramn ("raven"). It shares this same Germanic origin with Bertran ...

, 1st Duke of Alburquerque, who was suspected of being Joan's lover. Henry banished Joan from the royal court and she went to live in Coca at the castle of Henry's supporter, Bishop Fonseca. She soon fell in love with Bishop Fonseca's nephew; they embarked on a sexual affair, which resulted in Joan bearing her lover two illegitimate sons. Henry subsequently declared their marriage had never been legal and thus divorced her in 1468. At the death of her former husband in 1474, Joan championed her daughter's right to succeed to the throne, but she died shortly thereafter. This led to the outbreak of the

War of the Castilian Succession The War of the Castilian Succession was the military conflict contested from 1475 to 1479 for the succession of the Crown of Castile fought between the supporters of Joanna 'la Beltraneja', reputed daughter of the late monarch Henry IV of Castil ...

(1475–1479).

Scandals and illegitimate children

Prior to her banishment, Joan had provoked much criticism in the Castilian court as she allegedly wore dresses that displayed too much ''

décolletage Cleavage is the narrow depression or hollow between the breasts of a woman. The superior portion of cleavage may be accentuated by clothing such as a low-cut neckline that exposes the division, and often the term is used to describe the low neck ...

'', and her philandering with men was considered scandalous. She was considered haughty, unscrupulous, ambitious and ruthless, participating in intrigues and completely controlling her husband. Joan has been credited with many lovers, including the poet

Juan Rodríguez de la Cámara Juan Rodríguez de la Cámara (1390–1450), also known as Juan Rodríguez del Padrón, was a Galician writer and poet, considered the last poet of the Galician school.James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, ''A History of Spanish Literature'' (D. Appleton and Co ...

.James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, ''A History of Spanish Literature'' (D. Appleton and Company, 1898), 97. Joan had two illegitimate children by Pedro de Castilla y Fonseca "el mozo", nephew of Bishop Fonseca, and a great grandson of King Pedro of Castille: Her two sons were Pedro de Castilla y Portugal married to Joana de Mendonza and Andres Apostol de Castilla y Portugal married to Mencía de Quinones. The birth of her two illegitimate children only added to Joan's considerable notoriety. She later entered the convent of San Francisco in

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau (''Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of th ...

. Joan died in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

on June 13, 1475 at the age of 36. She was buried in the Convent of San Francisco. File:Coat of Arms of Joan of Portugal as Queen of Castile.svg, Coat of arms as queen consort File:Coat of Arms of Joan of Portugal as Queen Dowager of Castile.svg, Coat of arms as queen dowager

Ancestry

References

1439 births 1475 deaths House of Aviz House of Trastámara Castilian queen consorts Leonese queen consorts Galician queens consort Repudiated queens Portuguese infantas People from Almada 15th-century Portuguese people 15th-century Spanish women Daughters of kings {{Authority control