Joan of Portugal

The Infanta Joana (20 March 1439–1475; pron. IPA2|ʒu'ɐnɐ; English: "Joan", ) was a Portuguese infanta daughter of King Edward of Portugal and his wife Eleanor of Aragon. She was born in the Quinta do Monte Olivete, Almada on March 20, 1439, six months after the death of her father.

Marriage

In 1455 she married Henry IV of Castile and six years later had a daughter also named Juana (or Joan), called "La Beltraneja" because of rumours that she was in fact daughter of Don Beltrán de la Cueva. Henry sent Joan to live in Coca at the castle of Henry's supporter, bishop Fonseca. She fell in love with Bishop Fonseca's nephew and had two male children by him: Andres Apostol and Pedro Apostol. Henry declared their marriage had never been legal. Joan provoked much criticism as she allegedly wore dresses that displayed much too much décolletage, and her behaviour was considered scandalous. Joan has been credited with many lovers, including the poet Juan Rodríguez de la Cámara. [James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, "Chapters on Spanish Literature" (A. Constable and Company, ltd., 1908), 74.] [James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, "A History of Spanish Literature" (D. Appleton and Company, 1898), 97.] Juana had two illegitimate children with Pedro de Castilla y Fonseca "el mozo", great granson of Pedro I "the cruel" of Castille. Her two male children were: Pedro de Castilla y Portugal and Andres Apostol de Castilla y Portugal.She later entered the convent of San Francisco in Segovia. She died in Madrid on June 13, 1475.

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