Archduchess Joan of Austria

Infanta Joan
Spouse	John Manuel, Prince of Portugal
Issue
Sebastian of Portugal
House	House of Aviz-Beja House of Habsburg
Father	Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Mother	Isabella of Portugal
Born	24 June 1535(1535-06-24)
Died	7 September 1573 (aged 38)

Joan of Spain (in Castilian, Juana de Austria, 24 June 1535 – 7 September 1573), Infanta of Spain, of the Habsburg family.

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 a Holy Roman Emperor, etc.

She married her first cousin, Infante John of Portugal, who was the heir of Portugal, the sole surviving son of her paternal aunt Catherine of Habsburg and her maternal uncle King John III of Portugal. Their teenage marriage led to pregnancy (João was 15 years old when his wife conceived), and their only child Sebastian of Portugal was born posthumously in 1554 a couple of weeks after the teenage father João had perished of juvenile diabetes at the age of 16 years (Note: the Spanish wikipedia entry states the cause was tuberculosis).

Joanna of Habsburg

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 England to marry Queen Mary. 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, Juana 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 Juana was born, and were Charles V had lived when in Madrid. She also repeatedly intervened to favor in 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.

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