Abstract
The Pyrenean kingdom of Navarre, now a semiautonomous region in the northeast corner of Spain, was a realm that “was born and lived in the Middle Ages.”1 Although it was smaller than its Iberian neighbors, Castile and Aragon, its comparatively diminutive size belies the kingdom’s historical significance. Navarre’s location gave it dominance over the most accessible, and therefore the most important, Pyrenean passes that controlled land traffic between the Iberian Peninsula and Continental Europe. Its central position on the famous pilgrimage route from Continental Europe to the shrine at Santiago de Compostela brought travelers and traders from across Europe. The kingdom was also a locus for cultural interaction as the junction between the Iberian Peninsula, France, and the Basque region.
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Notes
Béatrice Leroy, La Navarre au Moyen Age (Paris, 1984), 186.
The other queens regnant during this period are: Margaret of Norway (Queen of Scotland, 1286–90), Beatrix of Portugal (contested queen, 1383–85), Constanza of Aragon (claimant queen, 1369–87), Isabel of Castile (1474–1504), Isabella of Mallorca (claimant queen, 1375), Maria of Sicily (1392–1401), Giovanna I of Naples (1343–82), Giovanna II of Naples (1414–35), Maria of Hungary (1382–95), Elizabeth of Hungary and Bohemia (claimant queen, 1437–42), Jadwiga of Poland (1382–99), and Margarethe of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1375–1412). See Armin Wolf, “Reigning Queens in Medieval Europe: Where, When and Why,” in Medieval Queenship, ed. John Carmi Parsons (Stroud, 1998), 169–188. Outside of Europe, it must be noted that the Kingdom of Jerusalem had a similar number of reigning queens immediately prior to the period of this study: Melisende (1131–53), Sibylla (1186–90), Isabella (1190–1205), Maria (1205–12), and Isabella II/Yolande (1212–28). Although these women will be discussed as comparative examples, many of these women were queens regnant in title only, due to the loss of Jerusalem in 1187 and the increasing loss of territory during the subsequent years. In addition, despite the fact that most were of French descent, these queens cannot be considered to be truly “European” and therefore do not challenge Navarre’s record of the most female sovereigns in Europe during the Middle Ages.
Rachel Bard, Navarra: The Durable Kingdom (Reno, 1982), 28.
Regarding Carlos as a French prince, see Jocelyn N. Hillgarth, The Spanish Kingdoms 1250–1516. Vol. 2; 1410–1516 Castillian Hegemony. 2 vols. (Oxford, 1978), 564. For a discussion of his reorientation toward peninsular politics see
Eloísa Ramírez Vaquero, “A modo de presentación: Estudios sobre la realeza Navarra en siglo XV,” in Estudios sobre la realeza Navarra en siglo XV, ed. Eloísa Ramírez Vaquero (Pamplona, 2005), 11–13.
María Narbona-Cárceles, “Woman at Court: A Prosopographic Study of the Court of Carlos III of Navarre (1387–1425),” Medieval Prosopography 22 (2001), 31–64.
Jaime Vicens Vives, Juan II de Aragon (1398–1479); Monarquia y revolución en la España del siglo XV (Barcelona, 1953), 83, and
Jerónimo Zurita, Anales de la Corona de Aragon. 9 vols., ed. Angel Canellas Lopez, vol. 6 (Zaragoza, 1980–90), 134–136.
Eloísa Ramírez Vaquero, Historia de Navarra La Baja Edad Media, Colección Temas de Navarra, vol. 2 (Pamplona, 1993), 82–83.
Ibid., 1. In 1976, Natalie Zemon Davis called for women’s studies to move “from Women Worthies to a worthier craft,” arguing for a wider examination of women’s agency and activities than just elite women; Natalie Zemon Davis, “‘Women’s History’ in Transition: The European Case,” Feminist Studies 3, no. 3/4 (1976), 93.
Theresa Earenfight, “Highly Visible, Often Obscured: The Difficulty of Seeing Queens and Noble Women,” Medieval Feminist Forum 44, no. 1 (2008), 86–90.
See Barbara F. Weissburger, Isabel Rules: Constructing Queenship, Wielding Power (Minneapolis, 2004),
Peggy K.Liss, Isabel the Queen: Life and Times (Oxford, 1992), and
David A. Boruchoff (ed.), Isabel la Católica, Queen of Castile: Critical Essays (London, 2003). Luis Suárez Fernández also wrote a seminal three-volume work, Politica Internacional de Isabel la Católica: Estudio y Documentos (Valladolid, 1965–69). Work on Isabel’s daughter Juana includes Bethany Aram, Juana the Mad: Sovereignty and Dynasty in Renaissance Europe (Baltimore, 2005), and a collection Juana of Castile: History and Myth of the Mad Queen, ed. Maria A. Gomez, Santiago Juan-Navarro and Phyllis Zatlin (London, 2008).
Ana Isabel Cerrada Jiménez, “Tres Generaciones de mujeres en el poder: Urraca de Zamora, Urraca de Castilla, Teresa de Portugal y Doña Sancha. Las mujeres en la construcción de las monarquia feudales hispánicas,” in Las mujeres y el poder: Representaciones y Prácticas de vida, ed. Ana Isabel Cerrada Jimenez and Cristina Segura Graíño (Madrid, 2000), 99–106.
Jennifer R. Goodman, “The Lady with the Sword: Phillipa of Lancaster and the Chivalry of the Infante Dom Henrique (Prince Henry the Navigator),” in Queens, Regents and Potentates, ed. Theresa M. Vann (Cambridge, 1993), 149–165.
César Olivera Serrano, Beatriz de Portugal: la pugna dinastica Avís-Trastámara, Cuadernos de Estudios Gallegos (Santiago de Compostela, 2005).
Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León-Castilla under Queen Urraca, 1109–1126 (Princeton, NJ: 1982).
Nuria Silleras-Fernández, “Widowhood and Deception: Ambiguities of Queenship in Late Medieval Crown of Aragon,” in Shell Games: Studies in Scams, Frauds and Deceits (1300–1650), ed. Mark Crane, Richard Raiswell, and Margaret Reeves (Toronto, 2004), 185–210.
Nuria Silleras-Fernández, Power, Piety and Patronage in Late Medieval Queenship: Maria de Luna (New York, 2008),
Miriam Shadis, Berenguela of Castile (1180–1246) and Political Women in the High Middle Ages (New York, 2009),
Janna Bianchini, The Queen’s Hand: Power and Authority in the Reign of Berenguela of Castile (Philadelphia, 2012), and
Theresa Earenfight, The King’s Other Body: Maria of Castile and the Crown of Aragon (Philadelphia, 2010).
Cristina Segura Graíño, “Las mujeres y la sucesión a la corona en Castilla durante la Baja Edad Media,” En la España Medieval 12 (1989), 205–214, “Participación de las mujeres en el poder político,” Anuario de Estudios Medievales 25, no. 2 (1995), 449–462, “Las mujeres y el poder real en Castilla: Finales del siglo XV y principios del XVI,” in Las mujeres y el poder: Representaciones y Prácticas de vida, ed. Ana Isabel Cerrada Jiménez and Cristina Segura Graíño (Madrid, 2000), 135–146.
An early example of research into French queenship is Marion Facinger, “A Study of Medieval Queenship: Capetian France, 987–1237,” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History 5 (1968), 3–48. See also
Peggy McCracken, The Romance of Adultery: Queenship and Sexual Transgression in Old French Literature (Philadelphia, 1998),
Kathleen Nolan (ed.), Capetian Women (New York, 2004), and André Poulet, “Capetian Women and the Regency: The Genesis of a Vocation,” in Medieval Queenship, 93–116. On Early Modern French queens, see
Katherine Crawford, Perilous Performances: Gender and Regency in Early Modern France (Cambridge, MA: 2004),
Pauline Matarasso, Queen’s Mate: Three Women of Power in France on the Eve of the Renaissance (Aldershot, 2001), and Simone Bertière’s series on the queens of France: Les Reines de France au temps du Valois and another on the Bourbon queens.
See Éliane Viennot, Marguerite de Valois: Histoire d’une femme, histoire d’un mythe (Paris, 1993) and Anne de France, Enseignements à sa fille, suivis de l’Histoire du siège de Brest (Saint-Etienne, 2007);
Sarah Hanley, “The Politics of Identity and Monarchic Government in France: The Debate over Female Exclusion,” in Women Writers and the Early Modern British Political Tradition, ed. Hilda L. Smith (Cambridge, 1998), 289–304;
Craig Taylor, “The Salic Law and the Valois Succession to the French Crown,” French History 15 (2001), 358–377 and “The Salic Law, French Queenship and the Defense of Women in the Late Middle Ages,” French Historical Studies 29, no. 4 (2006), 543–564.
Éliane Viennot, La France, les femmes et le pouvoir: l’invention de la loi salique (V-XVI siècle) (Paris, 2006).
An excellent review article on this strand is Anne McLaren, “Queenship in Early Modern England and Scotland,” The Historical Journal 49 (2006), 935–952. A few examples of research into Early Modern British queenship:
Alice Hunt and Anna Whitelock, Tudor Queenship: The Reigns of Mary and Elizabeth (London, 2010),
Robert M. Healey, “Waiting for Deborah: John Knox and Four Ruling Queens,” Sixteenth Century Journal 25, no. 2 (1994), 371–386,
Glyn Redworth, “‘Matters Impertinent to Women’: Male and Female Monarchy under Phillip and Mary,” The English Historical Review 112, no. 447 (1997), 597–613,
Judith M. Richards, “Mary Tudor as ‘Sole Quene’? Gendering Tudor Monarchy,” The Historical Journal 40, no. 4 (1997), 895–924, and “‘To Promote a Woman is to Beare Rule’: Talking of Queens in Mid-Tudor England,” Sixteenth Century Journal 28, no. 1 (1997), 101–121.
Clarissa Campell Orr (ed.), Queenship in Britain: 1660–1837—Royal Patronage, Court Culture and Dynastic Politics (Manchester, 2002),
Susan Doran and Thomas S. Freeman (eds.), Mary Tudor; Old and New Perspectives (New York, 2011),
Carole Levin and Robert Bucholz (eds.), Queens and Power in Medieval and Early Modern England (Lincoln, 2009).
Charles Beem, The Lioness Roared: The Problems of Female Rule in English History, Queenship and Power (New York, 2008).
Helen Castor, She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England before Elizabeth (London, 2010).
John Carmi Parsons (ed.), Medieval Queenship (Stroud, 1998).
Anne J. Duggan (ed.), Queens and Queenship in Medieval Europe: Proceedings of a Conference Held at Kings College London, April 1995 (Woodbridge, 1997).
Anne J. Cruz and Mihoko Sukuki (eds.), The Rule of Women in Early Modern Europe (Chicago, 2009),
Levin and Bucholz, Queens and Power, and Liz Oakley-Brown and Louise Wilkinson (eds.), The Rituals and Rhetoric of Queenship: Medieval to Early Modern (Dublin, 2009).
Sharon L. Jansen, The Monstrous Regiment of Women: Female Rulers in Early Modern Europe (New York, 2002).
William Monter, The Rise of Female Kings in Europe; 1300–1800 (New Haven, 2012), and Theresa Earenfight, Medieval Queenship (New York, 2013).
A rare recent example of a survey of both halves of a monarchal pair is Katie Whitaker, A Royal Passion: The Turbulent Marriage of Charles I and Henrietta Maria (London, 2010).
Theresa Earenfight, “Without the Persona of the Prince: Kings, Queens and the Idea of Monarchy in Late Medieval Europe,” Gender and History 19, no. 1 (2007), 8.
For Albert, see Stanley Weintraub, Uncrowned King: The Life of Prince Albert (New York, 2000), and a rare example of an analysis of a partnership between a queen and her consort,
Gillian Gill, We Two: Victoria and Albert; Rulers, Partners, Rivals (New York, 2009).
For the Duke of Edinburgh, see Tim Heald, Philip: A Portrait of the Duke of Edinburgh (New York, 1991). A recent biography of Henrik is Stéphanie Surrugue, Enegænger—Portræt af en prins (Copenhagen, 2010), or his autobiography, Prince Henrik of Denmark, Destin Oblige (Paris, 1996).
Jean Bodin, Six Books of the Commonwealth (Les Six livres de la République), Abridged and trans. by M. J. Tooley (Oxford, 1955), Book VI, Chapter 5.
Margaret R. Sommerville, Sex and Subjection: Attitudes to Women in Early Modern Society (London, 1995), 57.
Ernst H. Kantorowicz, The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology (Princeton, 1957).
H. E Mayer, “Studies in the History of Queen Melisende of Jerusalem,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 26 (1972), 100. Baldwin II died not long after he confirmed Melisende’s rights on August 21, 1131, and less than a month later on September 14, Fulk and Melisende were crowned together in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. See William, Archbishop of Tyre, A History of Deeds Done beyond the Sea (Volume Two), translated and annotated by E. Babcock and A. C. Krey (New York, 1976), 51.
H.E. Mayer, “Angevins versus Normans: The New Men of King Fulk of Jerusalem,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, no. 133 (Philadelphia, 1989); 1–25. The chronicler Orderic Vitalis noted that Fulk had also alienated the nobles by shutting them out of governance and replacing them with Angevins who had accompanied him to Jerusalem.
See Marjorie Chibnall (ed.), The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, vol. 6 (Oxford, 1978), 390–392.
William of Tyre, History of Deeds, 76. Charter evidence does seem to support this enhancement of her position, even though her title varies to some extent. Charters in 1136, after the insurrection had blown over, do have Melisende’s “consent” although she is referred to merely as uxoris, not as reginae. Two years later in 1138, she is referred to as reginae, which is more appropriate given her original status as heir and supposed coruler. However, in charters from later that same year, Melisende is once again reduced to uxoris and their son Baldwin begins to be mentioned in the consent clause. See R. Rohricht (ed.), Regesta Regni Hierosolymitani MXCVII–MCCXCI. Vols. 1 and 2 (New York, reprinted edition, 1960, originally published 1893–1904), document nos. 163,164, 174, 179, and 181.
See Barbara F. Weissberger, “Tanto monta: The Catholic Monarchs’ Nuptial Fiction and the Power of Isabel I of Castile,” in The Rule of Women in Early Modern Europe ed. Anne J. Cruz and Mihoko Sukuki (Chicago, 2009), 43–62, for an in-depth analysis of the use of this motto and the official symbolism of the Reyes Católicos.
Lester Kruger Born, “The Perfect Prince: A Study in Thirteenth and Fourteenth Century Ideals,” Speculum 3, no. 4 (1928), 504.
Constant J. Mews, “The Speculum dominarum (Miroir des dames) and the Transformations of the Literature of Instruction for Women in the Early Fourteenth Century,” in Virtue Ethics for Women 1250–1500, ed. Karen Green and Constant J. Mews (London, 2011), 27.
William Caxton, The Game and Playe of the Chesse (1474) (Reprint London, 1883), Book II, Chapter 2.
See Lois L. Huneycutt, “Intercession and the High Medieval Queen: The Esther Topos,” in The Power of the Weak: Studies on Medieval Women, ed. Jennifer Carpenter and Sally-Beth MacLean (Chicago, 1995), 126–146.
Philippa of Hainault’s tearful intervention on behalf of the burgers of Calais as described in Jean Froissart, Chronicles, trans. and ed. Geoffrey Brereton (London, 1978), 109.
Kelly DeVries, “Catapults Are Not Atomic Bombs: Towards a Redefinition of Effectiveness in Pre-Modern Military Technology,” War in History 4 (1997), 460.
Antonia Fraser, The Warrior Queens (New York, 2004), 177.
Anthony Eastmond, “Royal Renewal in Georgia: The Case of Queen Tamar,” in New Constantines; the Rhythm of Imperial Renewal in Byzantium, 4th to 13th Centuries (Papers from the 26th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, St. Andrews, March 1992), ed. P. Magdalino (Aldershot, 1994), 289. Note; alternative spellings for Tamar’s first husband include “George Bogolyubski” and “Yuri Bogolyubsky,” and he is also known as Giorgi Rusi by the Georgians.
George Vernadsky, Kievan Russia (New Haven, 1948), 360.
A.A. Vasiliev, “The Foundation of the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1222),” Speculum 11, no. 1 (January 1936), 13.
Examples include: José Ramón Castro Alava, Archivo General de Navarra: Catalogo de la seccion de comptos; Documentos. Vol. Tomo II (1332–1357) (Pamplona, 1952), and Maria Itziar Zabalza Aldave, Archivo General de Navarra (1322–1349). II Fuentes documentales medievales del País Vasco 81 (Donostia, 1998).
Merche Osés Urricelqui, Documentación medieval de Estella (siglos XII-XVI). Vol I (Pamplona, 2005),
Marcelino Beroiz Lazcano, Documentación medieval de Olite (siglos XII-XIV) (Pamplona, 2009),
and Jose Maria Jimeno Jurio and Roldán Jimeno Aranguren, Merinidad de Olite II: Documentación del Archivo Muncipal de Tafalla (1) (Pamplona, 2008).
Jose Goñi Gaztambide, Catalogo del Archivo Catedral de Pamplona: Tomo I (829–1500) (Pamplona, 1965),
JoséAntonio Munita Loinaz, “Regesta documental del monasteria de La Oliva (1132–1526),” Principe de Viana 56, no. 205 (1995), 343–484.
F. Menéndez Pidal de Navascués, Mikel Ramos Ramos Aguirre, and Esperanza Ochoa de Olza Eguiraun, Sellos Medievales de Navarra: Estudio y corpos descriptivo (Pamplona, 1995),
Carmen JusuéSimonena and Eloísa Ramírez Vaquero, La Moneda en Navarra. 2nd ed. (Pamplona, 2002).
Santos Garcia Larragueta, Documentos Navarros en Lengua Occitana, Fuentes Documentales Medievales del Pais Vasco 26 (San Sebastián, 1990),
and Ricardo Cierbide and Julián Santano, Colección Diplomatica de Documentos Gascones de la baja Navarra (Siglos XIVXV): Tomo II, Fuentes Documentales Medievales del Pais Vasco 59 (San Sebastián, 1995).
Javier Baleztena, Documentos Navarros en los Archivos Nacionales Franceses de Paris (Pamplona, 1978), and the unpublished work by Martín Larráyoz Zarranz, Documentos Relativos a Navarra Existenses en los Archivos Franceses.
Important examples include: R. Anthony and Henri Courteault, Les testaments des dernièrs rois de Navarre: François Phébus, 1483, Madeleine de France, 1493, Catherine de Foix, 1504, Jean d’Albret, 1516, Anne d’Albret, 1532: teste béarnais (Toulouse, 1940),
Jean Auguste Brutais, Documents des Archives de la Chambre des Comptes de Navarre (1196–1384) (Paris, 1890),
M. Champollion-Figeac, Lettres des rois, reines et autres personages de cours de France et d ’Angleterre depuis Louis VII jusqu’á Henri IV. Vol. 1: 1162–1300 Collection de Documents Inédits sur l’histoire de France (Paris, 1839), Auguste Longnon, Documents Relatifs au Comté de Champagne et Brie 1172–1361. Vol. 1: Les Fiefs (Paris, 1901),
Joachim Miret y Sans, “Lettres Closes des Derniers Capétiens Directs,” Moyen Age 28 (1915–1916), 35–57,
and G. Servois, “Documents inédits sur l’avenement de Philippe le Long,” Annuaire-Bulletin de la société de l’histoire de France, no. 2 (1864), 44–79.
Raffaele Strarrabba, Lettere e Documenti Relativi al Vicario della Regina Bianca in Sicilia (Palermo, 1993).
D. Prospero Bofarull y Mascaro, Coleccion de Documentos Ineditos del Archivo General de la Corona de Aragon (Barcelona, 1851).
Some important chronicles for particular areas of my research, for example, the succession crisis of France and Navarre during the childhood of Juana II, include those collected in Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France; Contenant la quatrième livraison des monuments des règnes de Saint Louis, de Philippe le Hardi, de Philippe le Bel, de Louis X, de Philippe V et de Charles I V, depuis MCCXXVI jusqu’en MCCCXXVIII, ed. H. Welter, XXI – XXIII (Paris, 1876. Reprint, Farnborough, 1968), Gullaume de Nangis, Chronique Latine de Guillaume de Nangis de 1113 à 1300 avec les continuations de cette chronique de 1300 à 1368. Vol. 1. 2 vols., ed. H. Geraud (Paris, 1843), and Geffroy de Paris, La Chronique Métrique attribuée à Geffroy de Paris, ed. Armel Diverrès (Paris, 1956).
Selected examples include Crónica Anónima de Enrique IV de Castilla, 1454–1474 (Crónica Castellana). Vol. 2; Cronica, ed. María Pilar Sanchez-Parra (Madrid, 1991), and Elio Antonio de Nebrija, Historia de la Guerra de Navarra. trans. Jose Lopez de Toro (Madrid, 1953).
Jerónimo Zurita, Anales de la Corona de Aragon. 9 vols., ed. Angel Canellas Lopez (Zaragoza, 1980–90).
Garci Lopez de Roncevalles, Cronica de Garci Lopez de Roncevalles Cuadernos de trabajos de historia, ed. Carmen Orcastequi Gros and Ángel J. Martin Duque (Pamplona, 1977),
Carlos, Principe de Viana, Cronica De Los Reyes De Navarra, ed. Jose Yanguas y Miranda and Antonio Ubieto Arteta (Pamplona, 1843).
José Ramón Castro Alava, Historiografia: Los Cronistas Moret y Aleson. Vol. 118 Navarra: Temas de Cultura Popular (Pamplona, 1987), 5–6.
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Woodacre, E. (2013). Introduction: Geography and Gendered Rule. In: The Queens Regnant of Navarre. Queenship and Power. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137339157_1
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