Abstract
Like in many contemporary European kingdoms, the queens of the Crown of Aragon administered their own patrimony and managed their own household and court, their consortium domesticum et familiar urn, which was independent of that of the king. The queen’s “house,” which combined private and public spaces and functions, was magnificent, dynamic, and mobile. It was defined not by a concrete location, but by a fluctuating framework of administrators, family members, and servants. Peopled by noblemen, officials, servants, ladies and maidens, clergy and tradesmen, it was at once the practical foundation of queenly power and the venue for formal manifestations of the queen’s agency. Her court and household comprised a base of operations and a protective nucleus for the queen, a cultural center, and a locus of power and patronage. It was a circle into which she admitted choice members of the aristocracy, whom she brought under her protection and control, and who became, in turn, instruments of her influence. The more closely individuals became embroiled in the queen’s household, the greater the benefits that they derived, but the more dependent they became on her continued favor. That said, the queen depended on the loyalty and support of her servants and favorites, and the more that these received the more they would continue to expect.
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Notes
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© 2008 Nuria Silleras-Fernandez
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Silleras-Fernandez, N. (2008). Court and Ceremony. In: Power, Piety, and Patronage in Late Medieval Queenship. The New Middle Ages. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230612969_7
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