Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain (review)

In gathering the ten essays in this collection, Theresa Earenfight aims to correct a tendency to see 'Spanish history … as peripheral to European history', a tendency which explains the absence of a body of scholarship comparable to that dealing with such monarchs as Elizabeth I (p. xiii). Yet, as Earenfight contends: 'Spanish royal women … exercised considerable legitimate authority more often, more publicly, and more directly than queens elsewhere in Europe' (p. xiii). She defines the concept of 'queenship', for the purposes of this collection, as 'a repertoire of collective norms, institutional structures, and strategies for participation within the public political sphere of monarchy that included, but was not limited to, governance' (p. xvi).

Ambitious in scope, the collection spans the period from the twelfth century to the end of the seventeenth century. It also presents a range of approaches to history, from the study of relatively regional affairs focusing on records of legal disputes, to art history, and to matters of imperial rule and succession. The book is divided into three sections: 'The Practical Limits of Partnership', 'Practising the Politics of Religion', and 'Representing the Politics of Queenship'. There is, perhaps predictably, a great deal of overlap, which the editor's best efforts to group material separately could not overcome.

Joseph F. O'Callaghan's essay, 'The Many Roles of the Medieval Queen: Some Examples from Castile', sets a benchmark, as it goes beyond the particular to provide a social framework for an entire age. O'Callaghan's historical touchstones are two texts by Alfonso X ('the Wise'), the Espéculo and the Siete partidas – specifically, how these two works helped to define gender-norms, particularly matters of female sexual conduct in the royal household and its environs. Ultimately designed to ensure the maintenance of the royal – read 'male', 'kingly' – bloodline, and to stamp out the incidence of scandal, Alfonso X's deliberations shed light on the restrictions placed upon Spanish royal women throughout the medieval and early modern periods.

Earenfight's own contribution, 'Absent Kings: Queens as Political Partners in the Medieval Crown of Aragon', is another highlight. It examines the reign of Jaume II, and the role of his wife, Blanca of Naples, as his lieutenant – a precursor of the later position of regent. Earenfight's examination of the peculiarities of that reign is underscored by a well-developed theoretical argument about the 'corporate character' of 'monarchy' in the late-medieval period, which makes the very term 'monarchy' – with its connotations of absolutism – downright misleading (p. 33). She also draws attention to the composite nature of many such realms, in reality made up of disparate, superficially integrated regions under the nominal command of a ruler. She describes the Crown of Aragon as 'a far-flung federative realm', which, at different times, included not only the various territories along the eastern coast of modern Spain, but also Mallorca, Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia (pp. 33-37).

Also of interest is the examination by Núria Silleras-Fernández of Maria de Luna's role in suppressing conflict among the leading families in the Kingdom of Valencia at the turn of the fifteenth century. Silleras-Fernández sheds light on the avenues open to a queen to shape policy – while power officially rested in the hands of her ruling husband. Maria de Luna appealed to spiritual values – through self-representation as a devout woman – and to the temporal power of the Church in the form of the Pope, with whom she corresponded concerning the cause of peasant manumission – as well as by nurturing a network of family alliances.

There are instances, however, where the collection's overall object of demonstrating the range of queenly authority, and female contributions to royal decision-making, may test the reader's credulity. Jorge Sebastián Lozano's essay, 'The Construction of Isabel of Portugal's Image', which focuses primarily on some...