Queenship And Political Power In Medieval And Early Modern Spain

by Earenfight,Theresa

• ISBN13: 9780754650744
• ISBN10: 075465074X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-08-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Unlike empresses in Germany and queens in England and France, the lives and political careers of most Iberian queens remain largely unknown to non-specialists. In this collection, Theresa Earenfight brings together new research on medieval and early modern Spanish queens that highlights the distinctive political culture that resulted in forms of queenship similar to, yet also substantially different from, that of northern Europe. The essays consider three aspects of queenship and politics: the institutional foundations and practice of politics, the politics of religion and religious devotion, and the literary and artistic representations of queenship and power. Late medieval queens, because they often occupied prominent and powerful offices such as the regency in Castile and Portugal and the Lieutenancy in the Crown of Aragon, exemplify a unique form of queenship that can best be described as a political partnership. Habsburg queens and empresses, often excluded from such official political roles, were less publicly visible but their power as partner to the king, although shrouded, remains potent. Their political careers were the result of two forces: first, military circumstances brought about by territorial expansion, conquest, and second, a political culture that did not explicitly prohibit queens from active participation in the governance of the realm. The essays in this collection-by both newer and well established scholars-demonstrate the range and depth of current research on Iberian queenship, and prompt a re-examination of long-held assumptions about women and the exercise of power in pre-modern Spain.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
List of Contributors	x
Preface	xiii
Acknowledgements	xxix
Note on Proper Names	xxx
PART I: THE PRACTICAL LIMITS OF PARTNERSHIP
1 Unwilling Partners: Conflict and Ambition in the Marriage of Peter II of Aragon and Marie de Montpellier
Elizabeth Haluska-Rausch	3	(18)
2 The Many Roles of the Medieval Queen: Some Examples from Castile
Joseph F. O'Callaghan	21	(12)
3 Absent Kings: Queens as Political Partners in the Medieval Crown of Aragon
Theresa Earenfight	33	(22)
PART II: PRACTISING THE POLITICS OF RELIGION
4 Defending Their Jewish Subjects: Elionor of Sicily, Maria de Luna, and the Jews of Morvedre
Mark Meyerson	55	(23)
5 Spirit and Force: Politics, Public and Private in the Reign of Maria de Luna (1396-1406)
Núria Silleras-Fernandez	78	(13)
6 The Queen and the Master: Catalina of Lancaster and the Military Orders
Ana Echevarria-Arsuaga	91	(18)
PART III: REPRESENTING THE POLITICS OF QUEENSHIP
7 Royal Portraits: Representations of Queenship in the Thirteenth-Century Catalan Chronicles
Marta VanLandingham	109	(11)
8 Isabel of Castile (1451-1504), Her Self-Representation and Its Context
Peggy Liss	120	(25)
9 Choices and Consequences: The Construction of Isabel de Portugal's Image
Jorge Sebastián Lozano	145	(18)
10 Conspicuous in Her Absence: Mariana of Austria, Juan José of Austria, and the Representation of Her Power
Eleanor Goodman	163	(22)
Bibliography	185	(17)
Index	202