(Santa Clara convent in , Castile, Spain. 1553)

Though Joanna of Castile was still considered Queen of the Spanish Empire by her loyal subjects-standing in at times for her son Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, she had early in her life acquired the cruel title "Juana la Loca,"-'Joanna the Mad,' This legacy derived from a mandate by her father, King Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1509 that she be detained outside of the royal palace due to her mental condition. This perception of her madness was to follow her for most of her life, much of it from her second home, a small but comfortable room in the convent of Tordesilles in the northwest of Spain.

This highly irregular situation existed for the reason that both Queen Joanna's husband, Duke of Burgundy, and her father insisted that she was mentally incompetent to rule. This once beautiful Spanish queen, who was adored by her subjects, became early maligned in her life simply for falling deeply in love with the man she was directed to marry as a political maneuver by her parents. By all observations and historical accounts, she truly loved Phillip, the Arch Duke of Burgundy, with an uncommon passion. Despite the efforts by the men in her life to keep her at a distance from the reigns of power, when it came to certain issues-such as events and decisions involving missions of exploration in the Americas-she demanded to be kept appraised of them from the convent. And through this capacity, she often stood in to rule on such matters abroad competently and with resolve.

Joanna had been perhaps the strongest of the four daughters of Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II, though she endured bouts of depression and a lifetime of condemnations by her father and husband that she was incapable of leading the newly emerging Spanish Empire. Upon coming of age at seventeen, she left the palace of her parents in Granada and traveled to the Low Countries by ship to dutifully marry 'Philipp the Handsome,' as this Duke of the Netherlands was called. Their royal marriage united her parents' Iberian kingdoms and provinces in Italy with the Low Countries to the north of Europe under the House of the Hapsburgs.

However, Joanna's happiness would always be just out of her reach due to the curse of her new husband's well-known infidelities both within and outside of the court. Phillip, early in his marriage began to show his diffident feelings toward his beautiful Castilian bride whom adored him with extraordinary devotion. Her affections were indeed a rare phenomenon for such political unions of convenience. His coldness toward her began in earnest with the birth of their first son, Charles I, and his constant unreturned affections soon unhinged her emotions. Her reactions were witnessed inside the northern foreign court to which she had moved, and many in the Flanders palace were quick to find fault with her. Her fiery antics of despair and bold accusations of Phillip's dalliances with other women publically, caused her to be seen as emotionally unstable by those close to the royal household.

In fairness, however, Joanna over time went on to be the loving mother of six of Phillip's children. And when both her own mother Isabella I, and older sister, Isabella II of Portugal had died prematurely, Joanna suddenly became heir to the throne of the Spanish Empire, along with her husband Phillip. This caused an instant and jealous rivalry between her husband, now titled Phillip I of Spain, and her father Ferdinand II. Both men clearly saw themselves as rightful co-rulers of the vast, joint territories of the new Queen Joanna. This auburn-haired, blue-eyed 'daughter of Visigoths,' would nonetheless be consistently known for her moody difficulties associated with Phillip.

Her legacy as "the mad queen," interfered entirely with her political and religious responsibilities, putting her competence always in question. She was soon viewed as 'unpredictable' to both the courts of the Netherlands and eventually Spain when she and Phillip relocated to Castile. For this reason she intermittently shared the throne at times with her father and also her husband-up until Phillip's untimely death, thought by many to be the result of poisoning by Ferdinand. When rumors had it that Joanna was spending long hours in the crypt of her dead husband, for whom she deeply loved despite his own indifference to her, Joanna was definitively labeled by her own subjects as Queen "Juana Loca."

But those rumors had been skewed historically, for it was in another burial vault she frequented often and for entirely different reasons that the moniker of "Joanna the Mad" was to stay with her for the fifty years she remained as regent. The details of that preoccupation were entirely unknown by the public and not understood by even those closes to her where she spent the remainder of her life in isolation. Ultimately, just following Phillip's death, Joanna was removed from the palace at Granada by her father's orders and confined to an order of nuns to the north of Castile in Tordesillas. There, at the convent of Santa Clara she maintained the title of Queen, eventually sharing the reign with her son Charles I, King of Castile and Leon. In 1518 at age 17, Joanna's son Charles I, was appointed Holy Roman Emperor. It was prophetic that her deceased husband Phillip's own father had been crowned so earlier as Maximilian I.

Charles I, as the new Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, came to Spain in 1519 to rule jointly with his mother. This new young monarch would have supreme power over the expansive areas of Europe and the New World colonies which he and Queen Joanna had amassed though their inherited titles. She, nevertheless, eventually chose to stay in seclusion at Tordesillas, only stepping back into power periodically with full royal capacity to cover for her son's duties when needed. She could, as was recorded historically, rule admirably when she decided to intervene. For it was over matters of the Americas, particularly, that Joanna expressed a great interest, and her reign made its mark upon issues of expansion in the New World.

On balance and by demands of the Roman Church, she was seen as hostile and brutally intolerant of Islam and Judaism in her kingdoms, as were her parents as rulers of the new, united Spain. Often she would be blamed for many of the vagaries and horrors of the Spanish Inquisition, which, as an instrument of the Church had taken upon itself to rid the world of heresy and "evil"-specifically those secretly remaining loyal to their unlawful worship of Islam and Judaism.

Indeed, during the years Joanna and Charles I ruled, the Spanish Inquisition remained active in both Spain and the New World, additionally hunting out and brutally persecuting Protestants, homosexuals, and those who might "embrace evil" in the form of witchcraft or sorcery. Yet, while Charles I was primarily supportive of these actions, often capitulating to the Church's repugnant authority toward maters of religious heresy, Joanna worked aggressively against the inhumane treatment of the native peoples in the Americas. This was historically evident when reports of their brutal mistreatment at the hands of the Spanish explorers and colonists reached the royal authorities in Seville. She was particularly sensitive to children and the ongoing sexual exploitation indigenous women suffered during such explorations and incursions by her cruel and opportunistic countrymen.

This "Mad Queen" was at the same time proactive in the granting of contracts for explorers to venture into new and promising territories of the New Wold. She insisted, however, in sending along priests to act as observers of human rights and report on any transgressions instigated by sailors or soldiers upon the local inhabitants. It was with just such temperance and resolve to reign in his past brutalities, that a more controlled compact in 1529 was granted by Queen Joanna to the aging Hernan Cortes-former conqueror of the Aztecs. This charter was explicitly signed by her, acting on behalf of her son, King Charles V, to explore further a newly discovered peninsula northwest of New Spain (Mexico). It had been referred to on early navigational charts by Cortes and his attending captains as "Califia's Island"-'California.'

This new land mass was vastly mistaken to be a large island, and the misconception was perpetuated for the next two hundred years as it appeared so on many influential maps of the day. The 'island' image of the Baja California land mass was undoubtedly envisioned by many after the influence of Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo's fifth book, 'Las Sergias de Esplandian,' published separately in the first years of the 16th century, and appearing in print widely after Montalvo's own death in 1504.

This popular text, though criticized by the likes of Cervantes and others for its over- propagandizing of the Christian faith and preaching stilted moral tones of behavior, was nevertheless read in Spain by the likes of Cortes. It was well-known to his voyaging contemporaries-explorers of the region, Ulloa, Ximenes, and Bolinas. These expeditionary captains, along with their pilots, scoured the SouthSea on both sides of the BajaPeninsula for new cultures and possible riches. They sought out new islands to plunder and in the process all the while had the fanciful work of Montalvo fresh in their minds. These men, like their later countrymen who sailed further northward up the California coast, were fully aware of the fictional mystique of "Califia," who carried the essence of an Amazon Queen, reigning somewhere beautifully and dangerously at the edge of this new and undiscovered world.

Throughout much of her reign, "Joanna the Mad" was placed in forced isolation at the convent in due to her perceived mental illness. While it was believed by many that this was no more than a ploy by the men with whom she shared power to severely limit her influence upon the affairs of the day, she eventually saw her quarters at a sanctuary for her troubles and a quiet venue for contemplation. But it was also there that she had become silently involved in another avocation which gave her life meaning and became a cause for which her efforts were to expand to the present day. This reclusive monarch, unbeknownst to the chroniclers of her day, heroically kept the ancient and clandestine society of the ancient Amazons alive. It was a duty which her mother and numerous prominent women of power before her had taken on secretly, expanding its reach across the various courts and borders of Europe.

According to her advantageous position within the line of queens and influential females who were in a position to preserve this 'Wish of Penthesilea,' Queen Joanna would also rise to the occasion of her own great challenges. Enough to admirably counsel her own six children. All of these personalities were to play out complex roles in the political fabric of the Hapsburg legacy of Europe, as Joanna would eventually be the mother of two emperors and four queens. She was herself bestowed upon with the titles of regnant ruler of Castile, Leon, Aragon, , Naples, , and later, huge colonial tracts in the New World.

It was, therefore, an unknown fact of history that Joanna would also be, along with one other phenomenal queen-long considered the arch-enemy of Spain-and later most responsible for perpetuating the "Amazonian Sisterhood" across two vast seas to a New World. For it would be there where the secret organization would eventually make its most phenomenal progress and greatest impact on women throughout the world-on the rugged coast of "Califia's Island."

And so it was one such clandestine decision that Joanna had personally made toward the end of her life which totally escaped notice of the Courts at Seville-and for the most part, European history. This maneuver managed to even elude Charles V, her own son, and his royal oversight. It was the bold commitment to move the quiet remains of Penthesilea, once the noble Queen of the Amazons, which had carefully been put into her care and under the auspices of the Spanish Crown, to an undisclosed and remote location in the New World.

As had auspiciously occurred many years before, the mummified body of this ancient queen had been delivered unceremoniously into Joanna's care, early in her reign. The gift was addressed to her as "Her majesty, most Holy Roman Empress." It happened within a month of the celebrated coronation of her son, Charles V and his arrival at the RoyalPalace in 1519. This unexpected delivery was carried out by trusted members of the Knights of St. John. For their order had, centuries earlier, discovered Penthesilea's remains at Halicarnassus in a small vault beneath the foundations of the famous Mausoleum ruins there. A location finished and embellished by Artemisia II. These Knights Hospitaliers had apparently sent her body, upon unearthing it, to the island of Rhodes, their headquarters, for safe-keeping. The body was identified within a sealed stone crave box. It was inscribed by the following carved words in Greek: ΠΕΝΘΕΣΙΛΕΙΑ ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΑ ΤΩΝ ΑΜΑΖΩΝΩΝ-"Penthesilea Queen of the Amazons."

This humble, granite casket, carried by members of the Knights of St. John under the floorboards of a horse-drawn wagon, had been delivered by escort to the palace in Granada. It was during the cover of night that the carriage appeared at the gate, unannounced and formally unexpected. Its care-takers, secret members of the Order of Hospitaliers, told the palace guards that they had been instructed years before to "safeguard this gift within their care until a time when it should be delivered to a rightful Queen." This armed delegation of four Knights of St. John at the palace gate came with no written orders. Nor did the envoy have any sealed documents to present on the sarcophagus' behalf. They only told the soldiers at the entrance, that the stone casket must be "placed into the care and wisdom of the Empress."

Beginning with that momentous event, Queen Joanna of Castile arranged to have Penthesilea's mummified body protected and hidden in a vault originally relegated as a final resting place for her religious sisters of Santa Clara at the convent. It was the cloister where she would eventually spend her own final days and nights. There it would remain in Joanna's safekeeping for thirty-six years before its unprecedented relocation the year before her death.

This monastic life at Santa Clara would become Joanna's true home for the better part of her reign. And there she was able to watch over Penthesilea's care and protection. But it was during her own last years, in light of new dangerous events brewing in Europe, that the aging queen saw her own territories in the Americas as a safer haven for the remains of this Amazon queen for whom she had become sole caretaker. It was there, in the New World, that she decided to relocate what was considered by many women before her as the sacred vestiges of women's strength and independence. These remains were seen by Joanna, and those before her, not in the same light as the holy relics of the Christian saints. These had been venerated by pilgrims over the centuries for their early martyrdom in the holy land. Rather this body had become a spiritual emblem of a totally different sense and purose-specific to the plight and freedom of women.

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