Joana of Portugal

Hi!
A couple of days late, but to note that 12 May was the 520th
anniversary of Princess Joana Afonses' death, aged 38, in 1490.
(Since she was beatified in the 17C, it's also her feast-day). Joana
was in the running to be Richard's second wife, although generally
reluctant to be prised from her Dominican convent life of self-
mortification in Aveiro. The poor girl seems to have ruined her
health with it, dying after a long illness. (One hopes that, if she
had made it to England, Cecily would have given her a good talking-
to, to remind her that all that ostentatious piety can wait till
you've fulfilled your wifely duties!) I notice a picturesque little
legend about her on the US Richard III Society site:
http://www.r3.org/bosworth/texts/legends_princess.html
I'd be very grateful if anyone could share with me the original
Barrie Williams article from the March 1983 'Ricardian' and
discussions of it.

I do wonder if the rumour about Richard wanting to marry Elizabeth of
York stemmed from a misunderstanding (wilful or accidental) of the
proposed joint Portuguese marriages, with Elizabeth marrying Joana's
cousin Manoel? As events transpired, with the death of King Joaõ's
son, this could have made Elizabeth Queen of Portugal. But I can see
how someone might choose to get the wrong end of the stick re:
"discussions of the marriage of the King and the Lady Elizabeth", and
interpret it as them marrying *each other*, not 2 separate people.

I have a couple of 1952 Portuguese stamps depicting Joana, for her
500th birthday: she was just a few months older than Richard. I've
put her portrait in the Portraits album. I wonder, too, if she is the
girl in red with the elaborate headdress in Gonçalves's St Vincent
altarpiece ('Panel of the Princes'), from the late 1470s? There is a
resemblance between the portraits.
http://www.all-art.org/gothic_era/page14/goncalves2.jpg
She also appears as a cartoon on this fun heritage website, 'Once
Upon a Time in Aveiro':
http://www.eraumavezemaveiro.com
The site is in very basic Portuguese (easy to get around if you have
a bit of Spanish, Italian or Latin), and includes images of her tomb,
her portrait, a reliquary of her hair, another of a bit of her
Dominican habit, and a processional statue of her. Under 'Saber
Mais', click on 'Artefactos' to get a list to summon up the pictures.
best wishes,
Doc M

Hello Dr. M and welcome, from the Brooklyn contingent.



I have a bio, in Portuguese, about Joana, which was sent to me a while ago
by a member of the Mediber (Medieval Iberia) group; it’s been a long time
since I’ve read it, but can take a run through it again, if you like. I
generally split my interest between Richard and England and Iberia (in
general and Castile in particular): my father is from Spain, which explains
this tendency.



Just for fun, I’ll let you know that we had sent my father’s DNA for
genealogical analysis and discovered that the place where his DNA occurs
most often is Scotland.



Maria

Elena@...



From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of Dr M M
Gilchrist
Sent: Friday, May 14, 2010 8:17 PM
To:
Subject: Joana of Portugal





Hi!
A couple of days late, but to note that 12 May was the 520th
anniversary of Princess Joana Afonses' death, aged 38, in 1490.
(Since she was beatified in the 17C, it's also her feast-day). Joana
was in the running to be Richard's second wife, although generally
reluctant to be prised from her Dominican convent life of self-
mortification in Aveiro. The poor girl seems to have ruined her
health with it, dying after a long illness. (One hopes that, if she
had made it to England, Cecily would have given her a good talking-
to, to remind her that all that ostentatious piety can wait till
you've fulfilled your wifely duties!) I notice a picturesque little
legend about her on the US Richard III Society site:
http://www.r3.org/bosworth/texts/legends_princess.html
I'd be very grateful if anyone could share with me the original
Barrie Williams article from the March 1983 'Ricardian' and
discussions of it.

I do wonder if the rumour about Richard wanting to marry Elizabeth of
York stemmed from a misunderstanding (wilful or accidental) of the
proposed joint Portuguese marriages, with Elizabeth marrying Joana's
cousin Manoel? As events transpired, with the death of King Joaõ's
son, this could have made Elizabeth Queen of Portugal. But I can see
how someone might choose to get the wrong end of the stick re:
"discussions of the marriage of the King and the Lady Elizabeth", and
interpret it as them marrying *each other*, not 2 separate people.

I have a couple of 1952 Portuguese stamps depicting Joana, for her
500th birthday: she was just a few months older than Richard. I've
put her portrait in the Portraits album. I wonder, too, if she is the
girl in red with the elaborate headdress in Gonçalves's St Vincent
altarpiece ('Panel of the Princes'), from the late 1470s? There is a
resemblance between the portraits.
http://www.all-art.org/gothic_era/page14/goncalves2.jpg
She also appears as a cartoon on this fun heritage website, 'Once
Upon a Time in Aveiro':
http://www.eraumavezemaveiro.com
The site is in very basic Portuguese (easy to get around if you have
a bit of Spanish, Italian or Latin), and includes images of her tomb,
her portrait, a reliquary of her hair, another of a bit of her
Dominican habit, and a processional statue of her. Under 'Saber
Mais', click on 'Artefactos' to get a list to summon up the pictures.
best wishes,
Doc M