I've been playing over the idea in my mind for a timeline that I came up with a while ago with in the cultural description thread. The POD is that Queen Joanna of Castile is far more competent, capable, and ruthless and her madness doesn't appear until much later in life. I'd like people's opinion of my idea's plausibility before I do anything more than cursory research:
Joanna, daughter of Isabella, is primarily remembered for having inherited her parent's ability to rule but without their restraint. Her education was among the finest in Europe and despite the unlikely chance of her inheriting the crown was prepared for the throne by her mother who remembered her own unlikely path to power.
With the death of Isabella in 1504 Joanna became Queen regnant of Castile and her husband Phillip king although her father Ferdinand continued to rule. Increasingly dismissive of both Joanna and her husband, in 1505 he attempt to convince the Cortes that Joanna was too unstable to rule, a move that was narrowly avoided when Joanna herself appeared before them to convince them of her sanity. He husband was no better though, and seeing Joanna as a means to a kingship he increasingly isolated her from the court, issuing decisions on her behalf and without her knowledge. After avoiding being declared mad by her father her husband proclaimed her too ill to make any but the most cursory public appearances. Having been marginalized and trapped by Phillip she became a pawn in the struggle between her husband and father for control of Spain.
That struggle ended suddenly in September 1506 with Phillip's death, publicly a case of typhoid but poisoned by agents of Ferdinand. A regency council was proposed but with the Queen's sudden public reappearance as an intelligent and clearly mentally sound ruler, something that flew in the face of both her husband and father's assertions, the regency council idea was abandoned. Joanna stepped into her role as Queen in a difficult situation as plague and famine devastated the kingdom and without funds was unable to manage the growing public disorder. Ferdinand declared the situation a clear indication that Joanna was unfit and unable to rule. He arrived in Castile in July 1507 and again called for the Cortes to declare Joanna unfit to rule. That evening however he died from what was declared to be rather fittingly a sudden case of typhoid. His death coincided with a remission of the plague and famine giving the impression that his death had restored the health of the kingdom.
After the untimely and suspect deaths of both her husband and father she was free to rule in her own right. After spending some years securing her position in 1520 she turned away from the endless European wars she restarted the reconquista that her parents had completed. In addition to appeasing her lifelong religious nature it also allowed her son Charles to improve his standing among the citizens of Castile, show himself to be separate from Hapsburg influence, and reenforce the idea of the Catholic Monarchs. In time she and her descendants succeeded in pushing Catholic Spanish rule into Morocco. Funded by the wealth of Spain's new American territories and supported by her sisters in other European courts (who's husbands were happy to see Spain's gaze looking elsewhere) Spain's armies marched into Africa. With the Spanish crown came Catholicism and the Inquisition and in time whole regions were depopulated. Resettled by many Spanish and Portuguese to this day Morocco and Algiers remain firmly Christian, Spanish speaking lands.
Anyway that's the broad scope of what I'd like to do, and probably carry the timeline up to 1800 or so. Of course I don't want it to just be a Spanish wank though. Pushing Spain's power south instead of into the new world is going to leave a lot of empty land in the Americas available for other nations to colonize, no Spanish California or Argentina here. I'd like more land going to the smaller nations who were pushed out by England, France, and Spain in OTL.
Your opinion please!
Joanna, daughter of Isabella, is primarily remembered for having inherited her parent's ability to rule but without their restraint. Her education was among the finest in Europe and despite the unlikely chance of her inheriting the crown was prepared for the throne by her mother who remembered her own unlikely path to power.
With the death of Isabella in 1504 Joanna became Queen regnant of Castile and her husband Phillip king although her father Ferdinand continued to rule. Increasingly dismissive of both Joanna and her husband, in 1505 he attempt to convince the Cortes that Joanna was too unstable to rule, a move that was narrowly avoided when Joanna herself appeared before them to convince them of her sanity. He husband was no better though, and seeing Joanna as a means to a kingship he increasingly isolated her from the court, issuing decisions on her behalf and without her knowledge. After avoiding being declared mad by her father her husband proclaimed her too ill to make any but the most cursory public appearances. Having been marginalized and trapped by Phillip she became a pawn in the struggle between her husband and father for control of Spain.
That struggle ended suddenly in September 1506 with Phillip's death, publicly a case of typhoid but poisoned by agents of Ferdinand. A regency council was proposed but with the Queen's sudden public reappearance as an intelligent and clearly mentally sound ruler, something that flew in the face of both her husband and father's assertions, the regency council idea was abandoned. Joanna stepped into her role as Queen in a difficult situation as plague and famine devastated the kingdom and without funds was unable to manage the growing public disorder. Ferdinand declared the situation a clear indication that Joanna was unfit and unable to rule. He arrived in Castile in July 1507 and again called for the Cortes to declare Joanna unfit to rule. That evening however he died from what was declared to be rather fittingly a sudden case of typhoid. His death coincided with a remission of the plague and famine giving the impression that his death had restored the health of the kingdom.
After the untimely and suspect deaths of both her husband and father she was free to rule in her own right. After spending some years securing her position in 1520 she turned away from the endless European wars she restarted the reconquista that her parents had completed. In addition to appeasing her lifelong religious nature it also allowed her son Charles to improve his standing among the citizens of Castile, show himself to be separate from Hapsburg influence, and reenforce the idea of the Catholic Monarchs. In time she and her descendants succeeded in pushing Catholic Spanish rule into Morocco. Funded by the wealth of Spain's new American territories and supported by her sisters in other European courts (who's husbands were happy to see Spain's gaze looking elsewhere) Spain's armies marched into Africa. With the Spanish crown came Catholicism and the Inquisition and in time whole regions were depopulated. Resettled by many Spanish and Portuguese to this day Morocco and Algiers remain firmly Christian, Spanish speaking lands.
Anyway that's the broad scope of what I'd like to do, and probably carry the timeline up to 1800 or so. Of course I don't want it to just be a Spanish wank though. Pushing Spain's power south instead of into the new world is going to leave a lot of empty land in the Americas available for other nations to colonize, no Spanish California or Argentina here. I'd like more land going to the smaller nations who were pushed out by England, France, and Spain in OTL.
Your opinion please!