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Introduction
- University of Pennsylvania Press
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I n t r o d u c t i o n Berenguela of Castile is not a household name. Even in her native Spain, and even among historians, mention of her is often greeted with a puzzled smile. Compared to her grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine or her sister Blanche of Castile, she is at best an obscure figure in the already shadowy ranks of medieval queens. During her lifetime, though, Berenguela was one of the most powerful women in Europe. Contemporary sources, both narrative and documentary, praise her accomplishments and authority in terms rarely accorded to women. They leave no doubt that Berenguela was responsible for major events in thirteenth-century Spanish history, from the conquest of Muslim Córdoba to the unification of the kingdoms of Castile and León. Her fall from such prominence to such obscurity is not altogether mystifying . Like most medieval women, she was a casualty of gender bias in the work of medieval, early modern, and modern historians. To some extent, she was also affected by what was, until quite recently, a disdain for Iberian history on the part of European and North American scholars—although those attitudes cannot explain her near-total absence from Spanish historiography as well. In the Spanish context, the most important obstacle to a full recognition of her significance was that she had a son—and not just any son. She was the mother of Fernando III, San Fernando, the crusading saint-king whose spectacular successes in the Reconquista could have made him a legend all by themselves. Combined with his canonization as a Catholic saint, they instead made him a figure of such cultural stature that it can be difficult to tease the historical fact of his life away from its mythos. That mythos does not easily accommodate anyone else’s contributions to its hero’s legacy— certainly not his mother’s. It is not my purpose to degrade Fernando III’s achievements. I want only to consider the early thirteenth century from a different angle, one that centers on Berenguela rather than her son. It is not possible to understand 2 introduction the history of Castile and León as long as the history of women is excised from it. But to say that Berenguela’s pivotal role during her son’s reign subtracts anything from Fernando III’s own significance creates a false dichotomy . History is not a zero-sum game. In Berenguela’s case and that of many other women, however, it has been treated as one; Fernando III’s success has been allowed to eclipse his mother’s. And her career deserves to be studied in its own right. Until very recently, though, it hasn’t been. In the last few years, scholars such as Miriam Shadis, Ana Rodrı́guez López, Georges Martin, David Raizman , and James D’Emilio have begun to reestablish Berenguela’s centrality to thirteenth-century Spanish history.1 Yet misconceptions about her and her reign persist, even in the work of deeply informed and thoughtful scholars. In the last few years, prominent Iberian historians have continued to repeat the canard that Berenguela abdicated the throne to her son in 1217—or, in one case, even that she died that year.2 When the date of Fernando III’s accession to Castile can be mistaken for the date of Berenguela’s death, it is a sign of something seriously amiss in the historiographical record. These omissions are all the more startling when one considers that, in comparison with what is available for other medieval queens, the documentation for Berenguela’s career is an embarrassment of riches. Her actions and the major events of her life are well represented by contemporary chronicles, the most significant of which were composed by men who knew her personally . A number of surviving official documents record her own acts or decrees; we also have letters that she exchanged with the pope and other European potentates. Hundreds of royal diplomas attest to her participation in the acts of her father, husband, or son. And literally thousands of other medieval documents refer to her, even if only in passing. This wealth of archival sources, both published and unpublished, makes it possible to reconstruct large parts of Berenguela’s career. That career offers a useful case study for medieval queenship. During her lifetime, Berenguela exercised power in every way available to a royal woman of her era. As a child, she...