Joanna Of Austria, Princess Of Portugal
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Joanna of Austria (in Castilian, ''Doña Juana de Austria''; in Portuguese, ''Dona Joana de Áustria'', 24 June 1535 – 7 September 1573) was Princess of Portugal by marriage to João Manuel, Prince of Portugal. She served as regent of
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
for her brother Philip II during his trips to
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
to marry
Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous a ...
from 1554 to 1556, and 1556 to 1559. She was the mother of King Sebastian of Portugal. Married at 16 to her even younger husband, Joanna was widowed after two years, giving birth in the same month to her only child. Later that year Joanna returned to Spain at her father's request, leaving her young son in the care of her mother-in-law, who was also her aunt. She never saw Sebastian again, but corresponded and had portraits sent. In later life Joanna was active in religious affairs.


Life


Early years

Born in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
, Joanna was the daughter of
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (as Charles I) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy (as Charles II) ...
, who was the first king of united Spain, officially
King of Aragon This is a list of the kings and queens of Aragon. The Kingdom of Aragon was created sometime between 950 and 1035 when the County of Aragon, which had been acquired by the Kingdom of Navarre in the tenth century, was separated from Navarre in ...
and King of Castile and his wife, Isabella of Portugal. Therefore, her paternal grandparents were Philip of Castile and Joanna of Castile, and her maternal grandparents were
Manuel I of Portugal Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate (), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portugal, as monarch. Manu ...
and Maria of Aragon. She was the sister of King
Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...
and Maria of Austria. Among others, Joanna held the titles of
Archduchess of Austria The Archduchy of Austria (; ) was a major Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, principality of the Holy Roman Empire and the nucleus of the Habsburg monarchy. With its capital at Vienna, the archduchy was centered at the Empire's southeastern periph ...
, Infanta of Castile and of Aragon, and princess of Burgundy. Named for the saint's day of her birth (24 June is the Nativity of St. John the Baptist) and in honour of her paternal grandmother, Queen Joanna of Castile, Joanna of Austria was motherless at the age of four and was entrusted to Doña Leonor de Mascareñas. By age eight she could understand
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
and could play several musical instruments.


Princess of Portugal

On 11 January 1552, at the age of sixteen, Joanna married her double first cousin, the fourteen-year-old crown prince of Portugal, John Manuel of Portugal, by proxy in
Toro Toro may refer to: Places *Toro, Molise, a ''comune'' in the Province of Campobasso, Italy *Toro, Nigeria, a Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Nigeria *Toro, Shizuoka, an archaeological site in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan *Toro, Zamora, a ''m ...
. She arrived at the Portuguese court in November 1552. The marriage was cut short when John Manuel died of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
at age sixteen on 2 January 1554. However, Joanna was pregnant by that time, and the future Portuguese king Sebastián I was born on 20 January 1554. Joanna returned to Spain in May 1554 at the request of her father, leaving her newborn son with her mother-in-law, the Portuguese Queen Catherine of Austria, who was Charles V's youngest sister.


Regent of Spain

Shortly after Sebastian's birth, Joanna was called back to Madrid by her brother Philip to act as regent during his absence in England from 1554. She filled this role with intelligence and efficiency. Joanna never remarried and never returned to Portugal. She never saw her son Sebastian again, although she sent him letters and had portraits of him painted at various ages so she could see what he looked like. In 1557, Joanna founded the Convent of Our Lady of Consolation (''Nuestra Señora de la Consolación'') for the nuns of the order of
Poor Clares The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare (Latin language, Latin: ''Ordo Sanctae Clarae''), originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and also known as the Clarisses or Clarissines, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Or ...
, also known as '' Discalced Clarisses'' (in Spanish, ) because they did not wear covered shoes, and only walked either barefoot or in sandals, now known as the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales, or convent of the ''royal barefoot females'', partly due to her affiliation and that the convent continued to attract aristocratic women as nuns. This convent is now a national monument and holds an art collection. It was founded in the royal palace where Joanna was born and where Charles V had lived when in Madrid. Joanna repeatedly intervened in favour of the new order of the
Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
, founded by
Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola ( ; ; ; ; born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Basque Spaniard Catholic priest and theologian, who, with six companions, founded the religious order of the S ...
. In 1555, she is reputed to have been admitted surreptitiously to the male-only Jesuit order under the name of a pseudonym, Mateo Sánchez. She corresponded with both Ignatius and Francis Borgia.


Arms

File:Coat of Arms of Spanish Infantas as Single Women (1527-1552).svg, Coat of arms of Joanna of Austria before her marriage File:Coat of Joan of Austria as Princess of Portugal.svg, Coat of arms of Joanna of Austria after her marriage File:Alcalá de Henares (RPS 26-08-2007) Real Colegio de Agustinos Calzados, escudo de Juana de Austria.png, Coat of arms of Joanna of Austria on ''Real Colegio de San Agustín'' of
Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish municipality of the Community of Madrid. Housing is primarily located on the right (north) bank of the Henares River, Henares. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municip ...
.


Ancestry


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joanna Of Austria, Princess of Portugal 16th-century House of Habsburg 16th-century Portuguese people 16th-century Portuguese women 16th-century Spanish women 16th-century women regents 16th-century regents Regents of Spain Spanish infantas Austrian princesses 1535 births 1573 deaths Princesses of Portugal Sánchez, Mateo Daughters of emperors Children of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Mothers of Portuguese monarchs 16th-century Spanish nobility