Children Sebastian of Portugal Name Joanna Austria, | Religion Roman Catholic Mother Isabella of Portugal | |
 | ||
Born 24 June 1535Madrid ( 1535-06-24 ) House House of AvizHouse of Habsburg Spouse Joao Manuel, Prince of Portugal (m. 1552) Parents Isabella of Portugal, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Siblings Philip II of Spain, Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress Similar People Philip II of Spain, Charles V - Holy Roman E, Maria of Austria - Holy Rom, Isabella of Portugal, Catherine of Austria - Queen of | ||
Joanna of Austria (in Castilian, doña Juana de Austria; in Portuguese, Dona Joana de Áustria, 24 June 1535 – 7 September 1573) was Infanta of Spain and Archduchess of Austria by birth and Princess of Portugal by marriage. She was the mother of Sebastian of Portugal, and later regent of Spain for her brother, Philip II of Spain (1554-1559).
Contents
Life
Born in the royal court of Madrid, Joanna was the daughter of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (who was the first king of united Spain, officially King of Aragon and King of Castile) and his consort Isabella of Portugal. Therefore, her paternal grandparents were Philip of Castile and Juana of Castile, and her maternal grandparents were Manuel I of Portugal and Maria of Aragon .
She was also the sister of King Philip II of Spain and Maria, Holy Roman Empress. She served as regent to Philip during his trip to England to marry Mary I (1554-1556), and from 1556 to 1559.
Among others, Joanna held the titles of Archduchess of Austria, Infanta of Castile and of Aragon, and princess of Burgundy.
Early Years and Marriage
Named for the saint's day of her birth (June 24 is the Nativity of St. John the Baptist) and in honor of her paternal grandmother, Juana 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 and could play several musical instruments. On January 11, 1552, at the age of seventeen, she married her first cousin, the fifteen-year-old crown prince of Portugal, John Manuel of Portugal, by proxy in Toro. She arrived at the Portuguese court in November 1552.
The marriage was cut short when John Manuel died of tuberculosis at age sixteen on January 2, 1554. However, Joanna was pregnant by that time, and the future Portuguese king Sebastián I was born on January 20, 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.
Return to 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. 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, also known as Discalced Clarisses (in Spanish, clarisas descalzas) 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 barefoot royals, 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 favor of the new order of the Jesuits, founded by Ignatius of Loyola. In 1555, she is reputed to have been admitted surreptitiously to the male-only Jesuit order under the name of a pseudonym, Mateo Sánchez.