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Editor says, what if Arthur Prince of Wales had married the other fertile Sister Queen and lived? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the August 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1479, on this day future Queen Joanna of England was born in Toledo, Spain. She was the third child and second daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon of the royal House of Trastámara.
Happy Endings Part 10
Many blessings of Joanna and ArthurBy the time she was of age to be married, the dynastic wars in England were over. To move the country forward in the face of renewed threats from France, King Henry VII decided to build upon the Tudor and Yorkish alliance. His primary aim was to prevent the French from supporting potential pretenders (most notably Perkin Warbeck) to the throne. And so he sought the support of Queen Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon ("Ferdinand the Catholic"). When his son Arthur was two years old, a marriage with their second youngest daughter, Catherine of Aragon was arranged for him as part of the Treaty of Medina del Campo.
Yet Isabella and Ferdinand were in no hurry to have their daughter married, and, although the treaty had been made, they were open to other options. Ferdinand was especially aware that Tudor rule was threatened and sent Pedro de Ayala as ambassador in Scotland, where Warbeck had found support. After Warbeck had been hanged and the Earl of Warwick, another potential threat, beheaded in 1499, the rule of Henry VII stabilised. The marriage to Prince Arthur could then proceed although these carefully laid plans were almost destroyed when the Prince of Wales almost perished from consumption. Fortunately, Joanna saved his life, and while their marriage was blessed with children, her younger sister Katherine was not so fortunate. She suffered from infertility and a tortured marriage. Her megalomaniac husband Philip the Handsome would dominate everyone on the continent reducing the power of Catholic England to a mere vassal state within a truly global Spanish Empire.
An article from the Happy Endings series conceived by Jackie Rose.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Joanna, Arthur, Henry VIII, England, Spain. Editor says, in reality her sister Katherine married Arthur and after his death, his brother Henry VIII. Joanna's marriage to Philip the Handsome initiated the rule of the Habsburgs in Spain. However, throughout her long reign, she was under the regency of her husband, father, inquisitor, or son and she was long confined to a nunnery for reasons of mental illness that are (according to Wikipedia) disputed.
~ Spanish wars with the Dutch independence would still spark, leading up to an overall Protestant-Catholic war in Germany with Sweden backing the north. The Scots broke with the Papacy in 1560, just after the Thirty Years' War, but I wonder if it could've spilled into Britain as well.
~ I think of her as the 15th Century version of Zelda Fitzgerald, who was also branded with insanity by the men in her life...in Juana's case, her, father, husband and son, all eager to seize her royal power. For me, the tipoff is that, once Juana had been confined in the nunnery, her own loyal servants were replaced by guess whose. The only bright spot is that she apparently lived pretty royally there. This whole issue was the subject of a well-known historical novel called "The Prisoner of Tordesillas." The reason I am thinking about this now is that I recently wrote an AH where Zelda gets her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, sent to the asylum before he can do it to her, because I always like a happy ending.
~ I think this should read "By the time she was of age to be married, the dynastic wars in England were over." 1479 was before Bosworth. Thanks - changed. Ed
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