This book examines the deep and lengthy crisis of legitimacy triggered by the death of Prince
Juan of Castile and Aragon in 1497 and the subsequent ascent of Juana I to the throne in 1504.
Confined by historiography and myth to the madwoman's attic Juana emerges here as a key figure
at the heart of a period of tremendous upheaval reaching its peak in the war of the
Comunidades or comunero uprising of 1520-1522. Gillian Fleming traces the conflicts generated
by the ambitions of Juana's father husband and son and the controversial marginalisation and
imprisonment of Isabel of Castile's legitimate heir. Analysing Juana's problems and strategies
failures and successes Fleming argues that the period cannot be properly understood without
taking into account the long shadow that Juana I cast over her kingdoms and over a crucial
period of transition for Spain and Europe.
