Thread about Joanna of Castile: Part: 10.1.1. :“A Turbulent Marriage: Violent Scenes and Unresolved Tensions between Joanna and Philip”
Mojica had visited Castile in July 1504 to inform Isabella and Ferdinand of the grave things that had happened since the Princess returned, and which the ambassador had not written about in his letters because they were very delicate and secret. Although Philip had behaved well, Joanna was not interested in seeing or talking to the Spanish ambassadors any more.
In August, the monarchs contacted them by writing, expressing their dissatisfaction with the lack of affection between their daughter and son-in-law.
The following are some of the violent incidents that transpired between the spouses, which were subsequently recollected by the ambassador to Ferdinand and Isabella:
As the Princess was unwilling to be accompanied by anyone apart from her slaves, whom she had brought from Castile, who had contracted illness as a result of being overworked. Philip ordered her to dismiss her slaves and use the women whom he had chosen, threatening that he would not come to see her until she complied.
Joanna got annoyed, refused to obey, and dismissed the messenger who had informed her, threatening him with death.
The Prince had to come personally to remove the slaves because, besides, the Princess had marked them on their faces; she opposed him and spoke to him insolently. Only when he threatened he would not sleep with her anymore did the Princess agree to dismiss the slaves, although not without pulling one of them when she was about to leave.
As soon as Philip left the bedchamber, Joanna summoned one of them again, and after another violent scene, the Prince himself left.
Later, he wrote to Fuensalida to inform him that he had resolved to lock all of Joanna’s doors, except one because he was afraid she would try to run off to a monastery, and from there to Spain – and that he would not allow any Spaniard to see her and would send her slaves and almoner back to Spain.
The Spanish ambassadors begged him to not do this without thinking it over, but he replied he was not going to seed as far as the slaves were concerned.
The ambassadors went to see the Princess, and to convince her she should resolve that problem. Joanna responded harshly that they should not speak to her about anything, except what her parents told them to.
Philip ordered the children to be brought and begged Joanna sweetly to be reasonable, but it did not have any effect on her, and she insisted on having her slaves back.
Then, annoyed, Philip told her she was going to be locked away, and no Spaniard would be able to see her. She locked herself up in her rooms, refused to eat, and asked Philip to come. He, however, refused to go, despite the ambassador's pleas.
He returned at night, sick and with one of his feet hurt. Furthermore, he retired to a chamber that was situated below the one in which his wife resided. When Joanna sensed he was there, she started hitting the floor with a stick or stone, calling him. She spent the entire night doing this, saying from time to time:
‘Answer me, I want to know if you are there…’
And, at the same time, she began scratching the floorboards with a knife.
The next day, she said if they wanted her to take food, then her children and ladies should be brought to her.
Philip became desperate, had all the doors opened for her, and said she could go wherever she wanted. He was going to Flanders, to not have to see her any more until she complied with his wishes.
Shortly afterwards, the Princess wrote him a long letter, apparently very reasonable, given that, according to Fuensalida, Philip believed he would find her obedient at his return. In the end, in the month of November, the Prince sent the slaves, and some other of Joanna’s servants, back to Spain. He believed that after separating them from Joanna, they would live in greater harmony.
Although the ambassador wrote to King Ferdinand:
‘The Prince would like to do with the Princess all that we tell him on your behalf, or even more, because we have always found him ready to please her, if she wanted, but she would rather not let him (please herself) or to do what she ought to… It is a pity to see him when he speaks of the Princess…’
The ambassador firmly believed that if God did not miraculously take Joanna’s obsession (over her husband) away, and did not give Philip a different character, it would be impossible for them to live in harmony.
With such a lack of it at home, how would they be able to rule well over so many kingdoms?
Correspondencia de Gutierre Gomez de Fuensalida, embajador en Alemania, Flandes é Inglaterra (1496-1509), el duque de Berwick y de Alba, conde de Siruela
