in a
high-spirited young woman who was being treated in a high-handed and
illegal manner; but because her jailer had been the Bishop of Burgos,
and because she had been detained by royal order, her action was
considered as a certain indication of mental derangement. Again, it was
asserted that on one occasion, soon after Juana's return to Flanders
from the place of her imprisonment, she gave unmistakable signs of
insanity in the course of a court quarrel. It seems that during her
absence a certain lady in waiting at her ducal court had succeeded in
winning the favor of Philip, and had received such marked attentions
from the archduke that the affair was soon gossiped about in every nook
and corner of the palace, from scullery maid to the lord high
chamberlain. Juana was given a full account of the whole affair before
she had been in the palace twenty-four hours, and it so enraged her that
she sought out her rival in her husband's affection, and, after a
terrible scene, clipped the golden locks of the fair enchantress so
close to her head that, for a time at least, her beauty was marred. This
was not dignified action, and it might well have been the act of any
angered woman under those circumstances, but in Spain the one terrible
word "insanity" was whispered about and no other explanation could or
would be accepted. Her sanity had never been questioned in Flanders,
and, in spite of her quick temper and many unreasonable acts, no one had
ever thought to fasten this terrible suspicion upon her. The game was
worth the candle, however; Isabella had been unwilling to take any
chances, and the ambiguous clause, "being present in Castile, but unable
or unwilling to reign," gave the hint which Fernando had been only too
willing to act upon, and the trumped-up charge of insanity was an easy
thing to sustain.

Fernando's assumption of the regency, however, and the action of the
Cortes, which virtually disregarded the claims of Juana to the throne,
angered her and her husband still more, and they set out by ship for
Spain, after some delay, to demand an explanation. Fernando went to meet
them at the little village of Villafafila, and there, after an audience
with the archduke which took place in the little parish church and which
lasted for several hours, it was agreed between them that Juana, "on
account of her infirmities and sufferings, which decency forbids to be
related," was to be "refused under any circumstances to occupy