Queenship

One of the topics developed by the Clarissan abbess Isabel de Villena in her work "Vita Christi" was the politics. This text is framed in the cultural and political polemic known as "Querelle des Femmes" that was developed in the Late Middle Ages. The author vividly poses the issue "gender and sovereignty". She designs a complete political theory represented in a feminine paradigm: the Virgin is the theoretical and practical model of the “marvelous science” of human government. Strikingly, Mother Isabel offers this female model to any class of rulers, including men, who should look at themselves in that model, but especially those with institutional, secular or ecclesiastical, power. In order to develop these ideas, the Virgin is presented as the performer of the two main instances of power of that time embodying the functions of queen and female pope and offering a new basis to the “art of government” of the kingdoms and the Church.
Uno de los temas desarrollados por la abadesa clarisa Isabel de Villena en su obra "Vita Christi" fue la política. Esta obra se enmarca en la polémica política y cultural conocida como "Querella de las Mujeres", que se desarrolló en la Baja Edad Media. La autora plantea vívidamente el tema "género y soberanía". Diseña una teoría política completa encarnada en un paradigma femenino: la Virgen es el modelo teórico y práctico de la "ciencia maravillosa" del gobierno humano. Sorprendentemente, la madre Isabel ofrece este modelo femenino a cualquier clase de gobernantes, incluidos los hombres, que se deben mirar en él, pero especialmente aquellos con poder institucional, secular o eclesiástico. Para desarrollar estas ideas, la Virgen se presenta como la titular de las dos principales instancias de poder de aquel tiempo encarnando las funciones de reina y papisa y ofreciendo  un nuevo fundamento al "arte del gobierno" de los reinos y la Iglesia

Throughout history, the idea of the king having two bodies has been used as a tool to strengthen royal authority. When crowned and anointed with sacred oils, the king was no longer just a mortal ruler, but also the figurative 'head' of the mystical body of the commonwealth (and in some cases the Church). By granting a sovereign the status of a supernatural being, the body politic effectively allowed a king to transcend his human limitations and frailties. However, one should not believe that the king's two bodies complemented one other harmoniously, creating a firm and stable unity. In fact, their mutual relationship tended to be highly problematic: political body cannot be separated from the person of the king, yet it is not synonymous with him. The aim of the present paper is to offer a practical analysis of how the theory of the king's two bodies functioned during the Elizabethan era and, specifically, how it may have influenced artistic practices of the time. The paper will examine how the complexities of this concept was reflected in portraits of Queen Elizabeth I: by using royal portraits from each decade of her reign as examples, we will demonstrate how the naturalistic portraits from the first years of her reign were eventually replaced by her political public image, that of the ever-beautiful, semi-divine Virgin Queen .

By drawing on a broad range of evidence from the Hebrew Bible and several successive Near Eastern societies, the chapter attempts to expose the realia of the use and abuse of women in dynastic politics
and to counteract any disparaging attempts amongst scholars to regard female participation in succession issues, or in the broader politics of rule, as abnormal and the products of hostile historiography.

Benkowski, Rachel Rae. M.A. The University of Memphis. August 2011. The Sun Queen’s Trademark: A Study of the Tall Blue Crown of Queen Nefertiti. Major Professor: Patricia Podzorski, PhD.

The iconic tall blue crown favored by queen Nefertiti, wife of the pharaoh Akhenaten, is unique. I believe it was strongly influenced by a crown seen in depictions of queen Tiye as a sphinx from Sedinga, Nubia and the king’s xprS crown. The choice of Nefertiti’s unique crown was dictated by the need of the Atenist theology for a visual signifier of the link between the queen, the goddess Tefnut in her various forms, and the rwty lions. The connection between Shu and Tefnet and the solar guardian lions points directly to the notion that Akhenaten and Nefertiti, as personifications of the primeval twins, were both guardians, and offspring, of their unique solar deity, the Aten. To understand how Nefertiti’s crown helped define her status and roles during the Amarna period, this thesis examines the crown’s possible origins and divine associations, context of use, and Nefertiti’s titles and epithets that appear beside it.

In 1525 Catherine of Austria came to Portugal armed with Flemish tapestries, illuminated manuscripts,family jewels, and a lavish wardrobe, the requisite dowry of a Castilian princess destined to be queen. These personal goods that formed the nucleus of her collection evolved into one that later clearly defineed her social and political position, reflecting a particular hierarchy and symbolism. As a foreign-born queen, Catherine used her possessions to create her own identity at the Portuguese court. Shortly after her arrival sometime between 1525 and 1528, Catherine began collecting imported wares, luxury goods, Chinese silk and porcelain, gems, and jewelry from India and the Far East, available to her through agents stationed in Goa, Malacca and Macau. She created a system that allowed her to purchase directly overseas and key hubs of the Portuguese trade network.

This article discusses the queens (mí.é.gal) of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the ninth to the seventh century BC, focusing on their number and sequence, with the intent to clarify the vexed question whether there could be more than one queen simultaneously. There is no conclusive proof for such a practice. It is argued that the title of “queen” was connected to that of the king and that, when a new king ascended to the throne, his wife replaced the former holder of the title as queen. Moreover, the analysis of textual sources and archaeological data establishes that in at least three cases, there is no discernable correlation between the queen and the mother of the crown prince.

Emma (°985-1052) was de dochter van de Normandische hertog Richard I en zijn Deense minnares Gunnor. In 1002 trouwde ze met Æthelred II en de komende vijftien jaar zou ze koningin van Engeland zijn. Toen Æthelred stierf, volgde Vikingleider Cnut hem echter op en was Emma, afhankelijk van de bronnen net wel of niet, overgeleverd aan diens genade.
Enerzijds beval Cnut Emma te ontvoeren zodat hij haar in 1017 kon huwen, anderzijds vaardigde hij amper een paar maanden later een wet uit die verhinderde dat weduwes gedwongen moesten hertrouwen. Opvallend is echter dat historici zich hier nooit eerder vragen bij stelden en Emma, in tegenstelling tot de EER, altijd heel passief voorstelden. Mijn hypothese is echter dat ze zich vrijwillig, maar wel met een aantal eisen, schikte in haar aanvankelijk passieve rol en dat ze die later kon ombuigen in een zeer actieve rol. De onderzoeksvraag van deze paper luidt dan ook: Wat was de verhouding van Emma van Normandiës huwelijk met Cnut (1017) ten opzichte van chapter 72-74 uit diens wetten (1018) en wat was Emma’s eigen visie op dit huwelijk?

Kush, Kingship of (eahaa00438) "Interactions with the Classical World" Solange Ashby Word count: 4132 5000 words including references Abstract: The kings of Kush ruled a polity that was a 3000-year old, culturally continuous kingdom dominant in the Middle Nile Valley as Kerma, Napata, and Meroe. During the Napatan period, kings from Kush ruled Egypt as the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. In the Meroitic period (300 BCE-300 CE), many of the most powerful rulers were, in fact, sole-ruling queens.

Resumen: La fundación de conventos y monasterios y las políticas desarrolladas en torno a estos espacios de espiritualidad constituyen una interesante herramienta de conocimiento del oficio regio femenino en su concepción y praxis. Analizamos en esta clave las actuaciones de Catalina de Lancaster, con interesantes diferencias entre sus etapas como reina consorte y regente. Ello permite mostrar su concepto como " mujer política " arraigada en la noción de un principio político femenino, así como los frentes de acción que desarrolló en este ámbito y que no fueron únicamente simbólicos o propagandísticos.
Abstract: A knowledge of the foundation of convents and monasteries and the policies surrounding these spaces of spirituality proves an interesting stepping-stone towards a better knowledge of both the concept and practice of queenship. The work of Catherine of Lancaster is analyzed in this light, and the differences between her periods as queen consort and queen regent are revealed. An insight is provided into the queen as a 'female politician', rooted in the notion of a 'female policy', and into her action fronts in this area, which were more than merely symbolic or propagandistic.

From rags to being the richest woman in the world in 8th century Baghdad; the first woman to occupy the throne of Egypt after Cleopatra in 13th Century Cairo and her contemporary in Delhi who continues to be the subject of popular culture eight centuries later with Bollywood films and TV mini-series; the emigrant who becomes a queen in 16th century Morocco, and her contemporary: the girl from Ukraine that defied royal traditions in Istanbul.

In recent years countries such as Bangladesh, In recent years countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Mauritius, Northern Cyprus, Pakistan, Senegal, Singapore and Turkey have continued the tradition with Muslim women as head of state or government.

Amastris, daughter of Oxyathres (brother of Darius III), was first married by Alexander at Susa to Craterus, then to Dionysius of Heraclea, and finally to Lysimachus. She founded an eponymous city in Paphlagonia and was the first queen to issue coins with her own portrait. Amastris was the mother of three children, was supposedly divorced so that Lysimachus could marry Arsinoe, and was allegedly murdered by her sons for interfering in their affairs. Lysimachus still avenged her death by killing her sons.

Amastris rose to power and prominence in the early third century and was in a sense the first true Hellenistic queen. Other royal women received the title basilissa before her, perhaps – notably Phila and Apama. No other Hellenistic queen founded cities or issued coins before her, and none were of Persian descent. Yet modern scholarship has mostly ignored Amastris and left the few known details of her life as contradictory as the ancient sources present them.

This paper intends to review the surviving evidence with the aim of reappraising the life of Amastris. Rather than present her as a pawn in dynastic marital games, I will focus on the extent of her agency in her remarkable career, her invaluable roles for the men she married, and reevaluate the circumstances of her death. Lysimachus, whose royal aim certainly was to enlarge his kingdom as far as possible, more generally employed his queens as representatives of his power. Amastris, moreover, seems to have promoted her Persian heritage with pride.

Louise of Meckelburg-Strelitz was born on March 10, 1776 and died just thirty-four years later. In her short time as the queen consort of Prussia, she would give birth to nine children, negotiate with Napoleon, and eventually become a complex and celebrated German historical figure. Immensely popular in life, her early death was considered a national tragedy, and commemorations of her life only solidified her role as a new type of Prussian queen. Using Louise as a case study, this work will examine how the role of queen changed, not only in Prussia, but also between the early modern and modern era in Europe. Following Joan W. Scott’s framework for gender analysis, this work places Louise within societal conceptions of Prussian masculinity and femininity, as well as each gender’s connection to power. This will require the use of secondary sources on Louise’s life as well as an examination of primary sources such as Louise’s personal correspondence, as well as an analysis of commemorations through the artifacts of material culture, memorial literature, and popular depictions. This assessment of Louise’s role as a woman, a mother, and as a martial consort within a socio-cultural context, as well as its representations both during and after her life, will reveal the Louise’s role as a transitional queen of the Sattelzeit period. This work will therefore contribute to the growing field of queenship studies and provide insight to of how periodization can impact historians’ understanding of queenship, gender, and power.

This collection expands previous regional and individual studies of queenship and female political agency in order to engage in a comparative study of premodern female rule on a global scale. While the field of queenship studies and examinations of gender and power have been flourishing, the literature has tended be dominated by studies of European royalty. This volume aims to embrace and develop the trend towards an increasingly global outlook for the field of queenship studies. Case studies of women from different periods, places and religions are deliberately mixed to compare and contrast the realities of queenship in varied settings. Lesser studied examples of queens are provided alongside fresh perspectives on more familiar figures and regions. The authors increase our understanding of understudied individuals and groups of queens as well as encouraging the comparison of the practice of queenship in the premodern era. This authoritative and comprehensive Companion will be required reading for all scholars and students of premodern gender and political studies.

Sinopse
Filha mais nova de Joana de Castela e de Filipe, o Belo, Catarina era o fruto de uma união dinástica que reuniu a Casa Real de Espanha com as dinastias borgonhesa e de Habsburgo. Mulher culta e inteligente, teve um casamento feliz com D. João III e governou Portugal como rainha consorte e como regente por mais de cinquenta anos. Catarina de Áustria era uma estadista dotada, uma filantropa e uma grande colecionadora de arte. A sua coleção de arte asiática incluía mais objetos não europeus do que qualquer outra coleção contemporânea anterior ao século XVI.

A ela se deve também a conclusão da atual capela-mor do Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. Tal como era esperado de uma rainha consorte, deu à luz um herdeiro da Coroa e vários príncipes reais. Contudo, os seus nove filhos não lhe sobreviveram

O novo regime constitucional e a legislação liberal trouxeram várias alterações à Casa das Rainhas, nacionalizando os seus bens e transformando-a numa organização dependente da Casa Real. Mas não só. A constituição da Casa da Rainha D. Maria II significou um estreitamento das vias de acesso feminino a esta instituição, restringindo o número de senhoras que aí prestou serviço, bem como das categorias dos diferentes ofícios femininos, fenómeno que se manteve até à extinção da Casa Real, com a implantação da República. Por outro lado, os vários textos constitucionais e, em particular, a Carta Constitucional de 1826, que durante mais tempo vigorou durante a monarquia constitucional, limitaram o poder régio. A representação da nação portuguesa passava a ser partilhada entre o rei e as cortes gerais, pertencendo àquele a sanção régia do poder legislativo, a responsabilidade última do poder executivo e o poder de moderação, que garantisse o equilíbrio dos restantes poderes. A emergência das Cortes Gerais poderá ter eclipsado a corte como centro do poder político e, ainda que às mulheres tivesse sido sempre vedado a participação activa na vida política, estes factores terão inviabilizado, ou pelo menos dificultado, a possibilidade do exercício do seu poder informal, da sua agency ou dos seus actos de micropolítica. Nesse sentido, importa analisar a casa da rainha na média duração ao longo da monarquia constitucional, de forma a compreender as alterações que o novo regime lhe impôs e o seu impacto, nomeadamente a nível das suas servidoras. Para além da identificação dos seus recursos humanos femininos e o seu processo de recrutamento, da observação das suas funções e trabalho desempenhado, importa analisar de que forma esta instituição poderá ter continuado a ser um centro de poder, ainda que informalmente, possibilitando a manutenção de privilégios nas elites aristocráticas femininas do reino de Portugal ao longo do século XIX e inícios do século XX.

The successors of Alexander the Great engaged in shaping their image of Basileis. Hellenistic rulers and statesmen became increasingly aware of the relevance of self-representation to convey political and social messages for their audience. Unique among them is the case of the Basilissa Amastris of Herakleia, currently the first woman, at least in the history of the Greek Mediterranean and Near East, publicly identified through agency and appearance as the political, economic, and administrative royal authority.
 
Comparing the local tradition from Memnon of Heraklea with the numismatic evidence from the area, the paper shows that Amastris not only crafted her own Basileia but she also shaped her own fame. The peculiarity of her background and the metamorphic historical context allowed her to move between cultures and manipulate the social conventions to create a new political profile. To grant support and confer legitimacy on the new Hellenistic institutions, she made herself and her Basileia vessels of innovations that reflected the interests not only of the conqueror but also those of the native cultures, which had to accept them.

This book is a study of medieval queenship – an examination of the nature and role of feminine authority and power and the monarchy in the late Middle Ages.  Based on thorough and rigorous original archival research, it examines the life and career Maria de Luna, queen-consort of the Crown of Aragon (1396–1406); a woman who also served as lieutenant-general (second-in-command) for her husband, King Martí I (1396–1410).  It is not, however, a biography, nor does it focus narrowly on themes which tend to be considered “political.” It approaches the phenomenon of queenship from an array of perspectives, and by uncovering networks of religious, cultural, familial patronage demonstrates that “political” activities cannot be sectioned off from the wider activities of the royal and queenly court. A revised Spanish translation was published in 2012, María de Luna. Poder, piedad y patronazgo de una reina medieval. Zaragoza: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC, 2012.

Aproximación a los contactos e interacciones entre la nobleza femenina y las reinas castellanas del siglo XV como evidencia del papel de las mujeres de la nobleza como agentes sociales y conectores entre las monarcas y los diferentes territorios que conformaban la Corona de Castilla. Ante la distancia física que separó a los reyes castellanos del reino de Galicia, se toman como ejemplos para abrir interrogantes sobre el caso gallego los casos de doña Aldonza de Mendoza y doña Teresa de Távora.
https://munarqas.com/2022/05/30/quien-rodea-a-la-reina-coloquio-internacional-poblar-la-casa-conectar-los-reinos/

This series features academic, yet accessible biographies of royal women -
consorts, dowagers, royal mothers and female sovereigns - inclusive of all
periods, cultures and geographic regions. These biographies include a
deep engagement with the premise of queenship studies and the exercise
of the queen’s office (or equivalent), in addition to covering the lives of
particular women.

Over 30 years since Women in Hellenistic Egypt, in which Sarah Pomeroy bemoaned the absence of a general sociological study of queenship (1984: 11), the subject remains an underappreciated field of study. Pomeroy has touched on the position of Ptolemaic queens, particularly Arsinoe II, Berenice II, in various publications (e.g, Pomeroy 1984: 13-40). Following up on van Oppen 2015, this paper will focus on the theme of lamentation in the context of Ptolemaic apotheosis to establish patterns in the roles of female members of the Ptolemaic royal house. Employing textual and artistic evidence, both Greek and Egyptian, this study will confirm Pomeroy’s assertion that Ptolemaic queens were particularly identified with goddesses such as Aphrodite and Isis, as well as Demeter and Hathor, due to their especially feminine nature. Contrary to Pomeroy’s opinion, however, I will argue that queenship in Ptolemaic Egypt was a very public office.

Family relationships were the
foundation of dynastic monarchy and
provided a crucial basis for the support
of the rule of a reigning queen, who was
arguably in a far more vulnerable position
than that of her male counterparts. This
article will examine the situation of the
queens regnant of Navarre, between 1274
and 1517 with particular regard to their
relationship with their natal and marital
families. It will highlight various examples
which demonstrate the key support
that reigning queens received from their
family members, which was especially
vital in times of crisis. While the paper
will also discuss episodes of confl ict and
tension within the queens’ family over the
succession, it will ultimately argue that
support from within the dynasty and from
her ruling partner, the king consort, played
a vital role in securing and maintaining
the rule of a reigning queen.

This book is a study of medieval queenship – an examination of the nature and role of feminine authority and power and the monarchy in the late Middle Ages.  Based on thorough and rigorous original archival research, it examines the life and career Maria de Luna, queen-consort of the Crown of Aragon (1396–1406); a woman who also served as lieutenant-general (second-in-command) for her husband, King Martí I (1396–1410).  It is not, however, a biography, nor does it focus narrowly on themes which tend to be considered “political.” It approaches the phenomenon of queenship from an array of perspectives, and by uncovering networks of religious, cultural, familial patronage demonstrates that “political” activities cannot be sectioned off from the wider activities of the royal and queenly court. A revised Spanish translation was published in 2012, María de Luna. Poder, piedad y patronazgo de una reina medieval. Zaragoza: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC, 2012.

In the seventeenth century, elite women throughout Europe took to the waters of spa towns and springs to ingest or to bathe in their healthful waters, particularly to engender fertility. I posit that as English Stuart queens consort Catherine of Braganza and Mary of Modena visited Bath and Tunbridge Wells from 1663-1688, they participated in a royal spectacle of dynastic display. I consider the experience of the queen in the water and in the towns' rural surroundings, as well as the material and visual significance attached to the real and imagined sight of the queen bathing and drinking. An impression of her fertility, health and her suitability and agency as consort was shaped in part by the life-giving English waters in spa towns. Even once Catherine and Mary left, the waters continued to represent their images in name, monument, and common memory. As such, the waters take on meaning as politically charged spaces: Catherine of Braganza's infertility led to plots to have her kidnapped, while the birth of Mary of Modena's son, a Catholic heir to the English throne, sparked the Glorious Revolution. This paper considers the spectacle the queens at the spa presented, who had access to it, the space and experience of the spa and how the waters of Bath and Tunbridge Wells were used distinctly by Catherine and Mary in comparison with their husbands Charles and James.

Although the ancient sources are well informed on the claim, employment and meaning of the title of basileus by the successors of Alexander, this does not hold true for the public assumption and significance of the title of basilissa, or Greco-Macedonian queen. Until the fourth century the term appears in the sources to generally indicate the female kin of the king owing to their familial relationship with the ruler. However, by the end of the third century basilissa eventually designated specific members of the dynasty as the female public representatives of the post-Alexander empires.
During the third century the status of the queen is increasingly attested throughout the Hellenistic monarchies, suggesting the existence of a phenomenon that crossed the geographical and political boundaries of the time. The innovations in the institutional role and terminology developed transversally through the Mediterranean and the Near East.
Building on literary and documentary evidence this paper focuses on third-century Hellenistic queenship and its relation with coeval monarchic institutions. It considers the An-tigonid instances of queenship, from Phila I to Phthia of Macedonia, to explore the history of the status of the Hellenistic basilissa as well as of the title used to identify it. Stressing the cross-familial and cross-cultural nature of the phenomenon, the study eventually shows that the condition of basilissa altered its meaning according to the spatial and chronological context, owing to the diversity of institutional answers given to specific cultural and administrative requirements.

Durante la segunda mitad del siglo XV y el primer tercio del XVI se atestigua en el contexto hispánico un importante fenómeno de mujeres autoras muy relevante en el campo espiritual. Esta renovación solió entenderse en clave de reforma constituyendo un fenómeno de características diferenciadas que podemos denominar "reformismo femenino". Fijamos la atención en el círculo cortesano femenino de la reina Isabel la Católica para analizar sus comportamientos religiosos en esta clave.

Amastris (ca. 340/39-285), a niece of Darius III, was first married to Craterus, then to Dionysius of Heraclea, and finally to Lysimachus. She was the mother of four known children; was supposedly divorced when Lysimachus married Arsinoe; Amastris founded an eponymous city in Paphlagonia; she was the first queen to issue coins in her name; and was allegedly murdered by her sons for interfering in their affairs. This paper argues that Amastris, who rose to power and prominence in the early third century, was in a true sense the first Hellenistic queen.

Isabel de Villena, author of Humanism, offers a female paradigm of government in her Vita Christi: the Virgin Mary as queen and as pope. Through queenship, she formulates a new political ethic that she presents as a model to power male holders. Its study confirms the participation of the author in the “Querelle of Femmes” and show coincidences with contemporary courts of queens like Isabel I.
Isabel de Villena, autora del Humanismo, presenta un paradigma femenino de gobierno en su Vita Christi: la Virgen María reina y papisa. Mediante la reginalidad formula una nueva ética política a seguir por los titulares masculinos del poder. Su estudio refrenda la participación de la autora en la Querella de las Mujeres y muestra sintonías con cortes de reinas contemporáneas como Isabel I.

A list of all the works cited in my monograph Queens and Queenship (ARC Humanities Press, 2021). This can be used as a bibliography for global queenship--while not exhaustive it is a good starting place for research as it covers a wide range of periods and places.

Introduction THIS PAPER TAKES ITS ORIGINAL IMPULSE from Colleen Donnelly's analysis of "feudal values, vassalage, and fealty" in an article for Mythlore in 2007. Here she discusses the characterisation of Denethor as the Bad Steward, consumed with "hunger for power" (22). In supplement to the ideas in Donnelly's paper, I shall here examine something of the relationship between the King and the good Steward, focusing on Faramir and his immediate predecessors and on one important model for Tolkien's concept of stewardship: Sir Orfeo. I shall also consider the relationship between this male based feudal bond and that of the King with his Queen. The idea that Tolkien's fictions are in part modeled on medieval Romances and their values is not of course new. Tolkien himself writes in his introduction to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: If the most certain thing known about the author is that he also wrote Patience, Purity and Pearl, then we have in Sir ...

Mary I, England’s first crowned queen regnant, is more often remembered by her wrongful moniker ‘Bloody Mary’. But was she truly as bloody as she is portrayed? The Cathedral community know Mary well from her (in)famous wedding at Winchester Cathedral, but despite the happy occasion Mary’s wedding ceremony was actually a cause for great ongoing tension about Mary’s role as a queen regnant with a king consort. Martyrologist John Foxe, writer Edmund Spenser, and popular literature of the Elizabethan era build on these tensions, arguing that Mary was indeed the ‘bloody’ monarch of legend. Modern historical research, though, challenges these early modern perceptions. This, then, begs the question: why did Mary become ‘bloody’? Elizabeth I is remembered in a much more positive way than her sister and predecessor and Elizabeth herself greatly shapes the narrative told about Mary. For religious, national, and gendered reasons, it was in Elizabeth’s interests to vilify Mary and – as a result of the length of Elizabeth I’s reign – it’s this perception that has lasted in the popular imagination. This talk draws on research undertaken as part of Johanna’s PhD thesis at the University of Winchester.

In Chariots of Ladies, Nuria Silleras-Fernandez traces the development of devotion and female piety among the Iberian aristocracy from the late Middle Ages into the Golden Age, and from Catalonia to the rest of Iberia and Europe via the rise of the Franciscan Observant movement. A program of piety and morality devised by Francesc Eiximenis, a Franciscan theologian, royal counselor, and writer in Catalonia in the 1390s, came to characterize the feminine ideal in the highest circles of the Iberian aristocracy in the era of the Empire. As Eiximenis's work was adapted and translated into Castilian over the century and a half that followed, it became a model of devotion and conduct for queens and princesses, including Isabel the Catholic and her descendants, who ruled over Portugal and the Spanish Empire of the Hapsburgs.
Silleras-Fernandez uses archival documentation, letters, manuscripts, incunabula, and a wide range of published material to clarify how Eiximenis's ideas on gender and devotion were read by Countess Sanxa Ximenis d'Arenós and Queen Maria de Luna of Aragon and how they were then changed by his adaptors and translators in Castile for new readers (including Isabel the Catholic and Juana the Mad), and in sixteenth-century Portugal for new patronesses (Juana’s daughter, Catalina of Habsburg, and Catalina’s daughter, Maria Manuela, first wife of Philip II). Chariots of Ladies casts light on a neglected dimension of encounter and exchange in Iberia from the late fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries.

En la política de promoción de las monjas mendicantes que desarrollaron los reyes de Castilla se percibe una tipología de “fundaciones en relación” con mujeres. Alfonso X y Pedro I colaboraron con sus amantes, Mayor Guillén y María de Padilla, y el segundo también con sus hijas, Beatriz e Isabel, para dar origen a monasterios de la Orden de Santa Clara o de sus formas previas. Estas páginas analizan unos procesos de fundación que enlazan lo personal y lo familiar con lo político, visibilizan formas de interacción entre los sexos y desvelan algunas de las fisonomías adoptadas por las religiosas que constituyeron la institución clarisa, una orden religiosa exclusivamente femenina en la que tuvieron gran peso las mujeres como agentes históricos.

The study of royal women has been one of the most dynamic fields of inquiry into the Hellenistic world (ca. 336–30 BC) and has dramatically shifted our perceptions of gender, status, and influence in the ancient world. Amid numerous works on the Ptolemies, Antigonids, and Argeads, this volume is the first to examine the roles and representations of the women of the Seleukid dynasty and its clients. These royal women were born or married into a dynasty that ruled an empire spanning dozens of cultures and languages, encompassing territory from western Asia Minor to modern-day Afghanistan. As representatives of their family's prestige, they were highly influential in shaping the culture and legacy of this Empire that spanned East and West.
The contributions of this volume offer a systematic scrutiny of the representation of female Seleukids in visual and textual media. Avoiding Eurocentric perspectives in favour of embracing the diversity of the Empire, these scholars examine the interaction of Seleukid women with royal traditions ranging from Persia, Bactria, and Judaea to their Hellenistic contemporaries. The result is a landmark achievement in the study of ancient women.

Available to order at: http://www.steiner-verlag.de/titel/60870.html