Joan of Austria, Princess of Portugal

Archduchess Joan of Austria (in Castilian, Juana de Austria, 24 June 1535 – 7 September 1573) was regent of Spain for her brother, King Philip II of Spain.

Life

She was born in Madrid to 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, daughter of King Manuel I of Portugal.

As such, Joan was an Archduchess of Austria, Infanta of Castile and of Aragon, princess of Burgundy and Flanders, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, etc.

Marriage

She married her double first cousin, Infante John of Portugal, the heir of Portugal, the sole surviving son of her paternal aunt Catherine of Austria and her maternal uncle King John III of Portugal. Their only child, Sebastian of Portugal, was born posthumously in 1554, a couple of weeks after John's death at the age of 16.

Shortly after Sebastian's birth Joan was called back to Madrid, by her brother King Philip II, to run the kingdom while he was away in his new kingdom, England. She filled this role with intelligence and efficiency.

She never remarried and she never returned to Portugal to see 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. One of these, of him at age 11, is now in the Convento de Las Descalzas Reales.

In 1557, Joan 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 has marvelous holdings of art. It was founded in the royal palace where Joan was born, and where Charles V had lived when in Madrid. She also repeatedly intervened in favor of the new order of Jesuits founded by the Spaniard, Saint Ignatius of Loyola. In 1555, eager to curry her favor, she is reputed to have been admitted surreptitiously to the male-only Jesuit order under the name of a pseudonym, Mateo Sánchez.

Ancestry

References