tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23529274.post3027323749208192690..comments2023-06-22T03:36:23.556-04:00Comments on Pr3++yG33kyTh1ng: Saving Us All a Walk to the MailboxGarrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17923202158010674606noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23529274.post-81587974658426316202007-10-08T13:46:00.000-04:002007-10-08T13:46:00.000-04:00The play I'm directing later this year intersects ...The play I'm directing later this year intersects nicely with Chuck Coldumbus rather nicely. <BR/><BR/>Juana was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. She was tutored by Beatriz Galindo, aka "La Latina", the first woman (in Spain at least) to learn Latin and teach in a University. Juana spoke English, French, possibly Dutch and most likely German. A smart chick with a big attitude problem. She confronted the Grand Inquisitors over the death of one of her Jewish teachers, and generally raised heck around Spain.<BR/><BR/>She was married off to Philip the Handsome of Austria. After Isabella died, Juana moved to Spain and was crowned queen of Castile. Her siblings died, leaving her the heir of their territories. Her husband was poisoned, leaving her Empress of Austria.<BR/><BR/>So now the very smart, very independently minded Juana was queen of half the world. This freaked out Ferdinand to no end, seeing as how he was merely king of a small patch of land called Aragon. No Ferdinand conspired to have Juana thrown into a dark cell in the middle of a rat infested castle. The word was spread that she had gone mad after the death of her husband.<BR/> <BR/>Juana's son Charles (the future Holy Roman Emperor) continued this tradition of keeping the uppity non-conformist locked up, and more or less let the Austrian Lords steal Spain blind. Gold from the new world was sent to Austria directly.<BR/><BR/>Juana, meanwhile was under the impression she was still running things. She made all sorts of plans, wrote reams and reams of orders: "stop raping and killing Indians," "Let the commoners have a say in how they are governed" etc. She was in the frustrating position of being the smartest person in Spain, having her brilliant advice and suggestions ignored while she sat locked up in a dark, windowless room. She didn't even have high speed internet or diet coke! So consider yourself lucky.<BR/><BR/>Anywho, a revolt of the peasantry erupted, and Spain sat on the brink of revolution. Juana was freed, and presided over a parliment of duly elected commoners. She was engineering the first real democracy at that time. Everything looked up ... until her son Charles rode in with the Austrian army. Juana was put back into "the room without light" where she remained for another couple of decades.<BR/><BR/>So there you go. If Juana had been allowed to rule, the Indians would still be running around naked, and we'd all be speaking Spanish.Andrew Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12684769639772929411noreply@blogger.com