Tenure 1458–1468 Spouse John II of Aragon | House House of Enriquez Name Juana Enriquez | |
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Died 13 February 1468
Tarragona Issue Ferdinand II of Aragon
Joanna, Queen of Naples Father Fadrique Enriquez, Count of Melba and Rueda | ||
Juana Enríquez, la madre de Fernando el Católico.
Juana Enriquez de Córdoba, 5th Lady of Casarrubios del Monte (1425 – 13 February 1468, Tarragona), was a Castilian noblewoman who became Queen of the Kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon.
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Biography
She was a daughter of Fadrique Enríquez de Mendoza and Mariana Fernández de Córdoba y Ayala, 4th Lady of Casarrubios del Monte. Born in Torrelobatón, she was a great-great granddaughter of Alfonso XI of Castile. She succeeded her mother in 1431. Juana married John II of Navarre in April 1444, three years after the death of his first wife, Queen Blanche I of Navarre.
Although John ceased to be de jure uxoris monarch of Navarre on his wife's death, he never ceded power to his heir, Charles, Prince of Viana, and Juana was thus styled Queen of Navarre. Juana supported her husband in his decision not to cede power to his son and later to his daughter, who was de jure Blanche II of Navarre. Such breaking of the law of succession led to a confrontation with the Crown of Aragon and a conflict between farmers and nobles, the outbreak of Navarrese Civil War. Accused of having ordered the poisoning of Carlos, her stepson, who died in 1461, Juana fled to Girona, seeking the protection of the bishop.
Juana became Queen of the Crown of Aragon, including Barcelona-Catalonia, Majorca, Valencia, and Sicily in 1458 on the death of her brother-in-law, King Alfonso V of Aragon. Queen Juana's children were Ferdinand II of Aragon who married the future Queen Isabella I of Castile and reigned with her as King of Castile, and Joanna, who married Ferdinand I of Naples and thus became Queen of Naples.
Juana's greatest wish was to have her son married to Infanta Isabella, half-sister and heiress presumptive of King Henry IV of Castile. Ferdinand did marry Isabella and their marriage, which lasted for 35 years, produced a prince and four queens. However, Juana died on 13 February 1468 from breast cancer, a year before the marriage occurred. She was survived by her husband, who never remarried and reigned until his death in 1479.
