Juana Enríquez

Juana Enriquez de Córdoba, 5th Lady of Casarrubios del Monte (1425 – 13 February 1468, Tarragona), a Castilian noblewoman, was Queen of Navarre from her marriage in April 1444 to King John II and Queen of Aragon from John II's accession in 1458 until her death. She married John three years after the death of his first wife, Queen Blanche I of Navarre.

Biography

She was a daughter of Fadrique Enríquez de Mendoza and Mariana Fernández de Córdoba y Ayala, 4th Lady of Casarrubios del Monte, and succeeded her mother in 1431. Born in Torrelobatón, she was a great-great granddaughter of Alfonso XI of Castile.

Although John ceased to be de jure uxoris monarch of Navarre on his wife's death, he never ceded power to his son, Charles, Prince of Viana, and daughter, de jure Blanche II of Navarre, a decision which Juana supported. Such breaking of the law of succession led to a confrontation with the Crown of Aragon and a conflict between farmers and nobles, the outbreak of Navarrese Civil War. Accused of having ordered the poisoning of Charles, her stepson, who died in 1461, Juana fled to Girona, seeking the protection of the bishop.

Legacy

Queen Juana's greatest wish was to have her son, Ferdinand, married to Isabella, half-sister and heir presumptive of King Henry IV of Castile. Their marriage, which did occur, lasted for 35 years and produced a prince and four queens. However, Juana died on 13 February 1468 from breast cancer, a year before the marriage occurred. Her husband never remarried and reigned until his death in 1479. Her daughter Joanna married Ferdinand I of Naples and thus became Queen of Naples.