Abstract
Bonds of blood and marriage were the foundation of the medieval social and political order. These went far beyond the immediate family; complex and extensive networks of interrelation among noble families were the medium by which alliances were concluded and patrimonial entities were created. The relationships of pedigree and patronage that shaped the political and cultural landscape were circumscribed neither by national divisions, nor by a duality of Church and State. Like any contemporary potentate, Maria de Luna favored her relatives and used them to further her own agenda—the better placed and more secure they were, the better positioned they would be to support her. Moreover, like the head of any household, noble or common, perpetuating her lineage was the highest priority. But in each of these cases, Maria faced serious challenges. As for building a kinship network, her own close family was small, and she had a critical shortage of male blood relatives. As regarding the future of her dynasty, she confronted a similar situation. Moreover, her and Martí’s only surviving child was having trouble producing an heir of his own, although by the time of her death he had sired an illegitimate son.
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Notes
For this reason the slanderous accusations against Carroça de Vilaragut and Francesc d’Aranda were understood to be potent, political attacks (see p. 38) See also, T. Fenster and D. L. Smail, “Introduction,” in Fama: The Politics of Talk and Reputation in Medieval Europe (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003), p. 4.
For an introduction to sibling relations in premodern Europe see, for example, Naomi J. Miller and Naomi Yavnew, Sibling Relations and Gender in the Early Modern World (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006), p. 4.
Cf.: Carroça de Vilaragut, p. 38. See also, Louise Mirrer, “The ‘Unfaithful Wife’ in Medieval Spanish Literature and Law,” in Medieval Crime and Social Control, ed. Barbara Hanawalt and David Wallace (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999), pp. 143–55.
Vern Bullough and James Brundage, Sexual Practices and the Medieval Church (Buffalo: Prometheus, 1981).
For the resulting feud, see Esteban Sarasa, “Mitos y ritos feudales en Aragón. El caso de doña Brianda de Luna,” I Congreso de Aragón de Etnología y Antropología (Zaragoza: CSIC, 1979), pp. 127–32]
Salvador Sanpere, Las damas dAragó (Barcelona: Renaixensa, 1879), pp. 89–105.
See Esteban Sarasa Sánchez, Sociedad y conflictos sociales en Aragón (Madrid: Siglo veintiuno, 1981).
Angel Sesma and Esteban Sarasa, Cortes del reino de Aragón 1351–1451 (Valencia: Anubar, 1976), p. 82
Medieval queens frequently took an active role in arranging their children’s marriages. See J.C. Parsons, “Mothers, Daughters, Marriage, Power. Some Plantagenet Evidence, 1150–1500” in Medieval Queenship, ed. J.C. Parsons (New York: St. Martin’s, 1998), p. 69
Joanna Laynesmith, The Last Medieval Queens. English Queenship 1445–1503 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 149.
Próspero de Bofarull, “Generación de Juan I de Aragón,” MRABLB 6 (1896): 297–312.
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© 2008 Nuria Silleras-Fernandez
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Silleras-Fernandez, N. (2008). Family. In: Power, Piety, and Patronage in Late Medieval Queenship. The New Middle Ages. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230612969_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230612969_4
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