These Great Qeens: Journeys of Power on Medieval Royalty Portuguese Court (From thirteenth to fifteen century) – A Queenship study
Royalty, Portugal, Middle Age, Power Relations, Queenship
SANTOS-SILVA, Danielle Oliveira. These Great Qeens: Journeys of Power on Medieval Royalty Portuguese Court (From thirteenth to fifteen century) – A Queenship study. 2008.174 p.Thesis (Doctoreddegree in History). Instituto de Ciências Humanas e Sociais. Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Seropédica, RJ, 2008.
This thesis intend to analyze, within the assesment established by the concept of Queenship power possibilities of the Portuguese queens in the medieval period, which comprises the 12th and 15th centuries. Within this space-time period, the biographies of seven Portuguese queens were studied, in an attempt to establish how much power ‘her highness’ managed on her own individual accomplishments. The social and economic importance of the queen's family of origin is a relevant criteria to consider how she would be received in the kingdom for which she would later marry.The more important the family, the more valuable would be the alliance achieved.This alliance could be used by the queen as a way of negotiating her power attributes. Achieving the role of perpetuator of the dynasty, succeeding in the maternal function was another assesment of unique relevance, which could secure the position of the queen. Gaining access to political power through the role as Queen-Mother. Through pious gestures, the queen encountered other opportunities for power by establishing relationships with the high clergy of the medieval Catholic Church. In the court setting, the Queen could, through donations, feasts, and patronage, favor and please bishops, abbots and cardinals, who would strengthen her position and support her political ambitions, while making virtually impossible any expectation the king had to replace her. In this view the papacy became a great ally of the medieval queens, and their relations with the prelates ensured that they guarantee power and good fame among the population. As Queenship's last assesment, there are questions about intercession, the power the queen possessed from the physical and emotional closeness she established with the king, her husband. This set of assesment, balanced and combined in different ways, underlines the framework that will provide the Queen´s power. Personality, natal culture, individual wealth were other criteria that could alter the sensitive relations of power in the medieval Portuguese court.