Joanna, the daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, was born in 1479, and was brought up in Spain under the care of her mother. Although it was not in those days the custom of the court, as it was in the time of Philip II., to attend the _auto-da-fé_, the whipping and the torture of heretics, these exploits of fanaticism done to the honor of Jesus Christ and his holy mother were nevertheless at this epoch the favorite subject of conversation at that devout court. The prison, the whip, the rack, and the stake, were the commonplaces of their intercourse. The compassionate heart, the sound understanding, and all the good instincts of the young girl rebelled against these excesses of the Roman faith; and it was soon discovered that there was in her mind an opposition to the favorite notions of her mother, and a deep feeling against these punishments. It was a great grief to Isabella to see her own daughter wantonly ruining herself; for was it not in her eyes ruin to doubt of the holiness of the proceedings of the Inquisition? She, therefore, attempted to stifle the first germs of disobedience. She did not shrink from extreme measures to bring Joanna to a better mind. The marquis of Denia, chief jailer of the unhappy prisoner, wrote to Charles the Fifth, on January 26, 1522, as follows: 'If your Majesty would employ torture against her, it would be in many respects rendering service to God and at the same time doing a good work towards the queen herself. This course is necessary with persons of her disposition; and the queen, your grandmother, punished and treated in this way her daughter the queen, our sovereign lady.' When Joanna had attained the age of seventeen her father and mother began to think about a marriage alliance for her; and it is easy to understand that she was eager to accept the hand of the archduke of Burgundy, one of the handsomest knights of his age. The prince was to conduct her to the Netherlands, of which he had been sovereign since 1482, and thus he would withdraw her from the teaching of her mother. Joanna's readiness was very natural under the circumstances.