Joanna of Castile

About Joanna of Castile

Joanna of Castile (1479–1555), often styled Joanna the Mad, was a crucial political figure whose reign shaped the early modern Iberian Peninsula and the future Spanish Empire. As the daughter of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, her marriage to Philip the Handsome united the crowns of Castile and Aragon, a foundational step in the creation of modern Spain. Although her mental health often precluded direct rule, she was Queen Regnant of Castile, and her eventual confinement-despite her legal status as monarch-set the stage for her son, Charles V, to inherit an unprecedented dynastic empire stretching from Europe to the Americas.

Despite her profound historical importance, ranking #743 globally by the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Joanna of Castile's online attention is relatively muted. In 2025, her Wikipedia pages garnered 534K annualized views, resulting in an Attention Gap of approximately 1x, indicating her web presence is broadly aligned with her historical influence, though still modest for a foundational monarch. This attention level is notably lower than many contemporaries, such as Louis Philippe I (#946 importance), who received 817K views, suggesting a relative under-representation in modern digital queries compared to other deposed or secondary monarchs.

Joanna’s online interest is, however, slightly growing, evidenced by a +13.8% year-over-year increase in views. This slow growth contrasts with a recent dip in momentum, as Q1 views dropped by 9% relative to Q3, suggesting her digital relevance might be experiencing short-term volatility despite the underlying trend of modest historical re-engagement.