Skip to main content

The Final Testament of Violante de Aragón (c. 1236–1300/01): Agency and (dis)Empowerment of a Dowager Queen

  • Chapter

Part of the book series: Queenship and Power ((QAP))

Abstract

The empowerment of the ruling queens of Castile, Aragón, Navarra, and Portugal, as compared to their counterparts north of the Pyrenees, has been justly recognized.1 Deserving attention has been shown to those who ruled in their own right, such as Urraca of León (1079–1126), Berenguela of Castile (1180–1246), and Isabel la Católica (1451–1504), as well as those who ruled as consorts.2 Recognition of their achievements arises in part from a broadening of the definition of queenship to what Theresa Earenfight characterizes as “a repertoire of collective norms, institutional structures, and strategies for participation within the public political sphere of monarchy…In short, queenship is a partnership.”3 Such a formula, predicated on the corollary of kingship, begs the question of how the history of queenship is written postrulership. Or to put it more simply, what happens to the queen consort when “till death do us part” becomes parted by death?

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Bibliography

  • Annales toledanos. In España Sagrada, ed. Enrique Flórez de Setien, vol. 23. (Madrid: imp. M. F. Rodríguez, 1756).

    Google Scholar 

  • Arco y Garay, Ricardo del. Sepulcros de la casa real de Aragón. (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto Jerónimo Zurita, 1945).

    Google Scholar 

  • Arco y Garay, Ricardo del. Sepulcros de la casa real de Castilla. (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto Jerónimo Zurita, 1954).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ballesteros Beretta, Antonio. Alfonso X el Sabio. (Barcelona/Madrid: CSIC, Salvat Editores, 1963).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bianchini, Janna C. The Queen’s Hand: Power and Authority in the Reign of Berenguela of Castile. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bijsterveld, Arnoud-Jan A. “The Medieval Gift as Agent of Social Bonding and Political Power: a Comparative Approach.” In Medieval Transformations: Texts, Power and Gifts in Context, ed. Esther Cohen and Mayke de Jong, 123–56. (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2001).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowie, Colette. “To Have and Have Not: the Dower of Joanna Plantagenet, Queen of Sicily (1177–1189).” In Queenship in the Mediterranean: Negotiating the Role of the Queen in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras, ed. Elena Woodacre, 27–50. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bruguera, Jordi, ed. Llibre dels fets del Rei en Jaume, 2 vols. (Barcelona: Barcino, 1991).

    Google Scholar 

  • Burns, Robert I., ed. Las Siete Partidas. Vol. 2: Medieval Government: the World of Kings and Warriors. Trans. Samuel Parsons Scott. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001).

    Google Scholar 

  • Carmona Ruíz, María Antonia. María de Molina. (Barcelona: Plaza & Janés, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  • Carson, Cindy L., and Angela Jane Weisl, eds. Constructions of Widowhood and Virginity in the Middle Ages. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999).

    Google Scholar 

  • Earenfight, Theresa. “Preface: Partners in Politic.” In Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Theresa Earenfight, xiii–xxviii. (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  • Earenfight, Theresa. “Absent Kings: Queens as Political Partners in the Medieval Crown of Aragón.” In Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Theresa Earenfight, 33–51. (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  • Earenfight, Theresa. The King’s Other Body: María of Castile and the Crown of Aragón. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010).

    Google Scholar 

  • Earenfight, Theresa, ed. Women and Wealth in Late Medieval Europe. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).

    Google Scholar 

  • Echeverria, Ana. Catalina de Lancaster: reina regente de Castilla, 1372–1418. (Hondarribia, ES: Nerea, 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  • Estow, Clara. “Widows in the Chronicles of Late Medieval Castile.” In Upon My Husband’s Death: Widows in the Literature and Histories of Medieval Europe, ed. Louise Mirrer, 153–67. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992).

    Google Scholar 

  • Flórez de Setien, Enrique (1702–1773). Memorias de las reinas católicas. Historia Genealogica de la Casa Real de Castilla, de Leon 2 vols. (1761; repr. Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León, Consejería de Educación y Cultura, 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaibrois Riaño de Ballesteros, Mercedes. María de Molina. Tres veces reina. (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1936, repr. 1963).

    Google Scholar 

  • Garcia Barriuso, Patronicio. “Documentos sobre la fundación, privilegios y derechos históricos del Monasterio de Santa Clara de Allariz.” Liceo Franciscano: revista de estudios e investigaciones 127–29 (1990): 2–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • García Oro Marín, José. Francisco de Asís en la España Medieval. (Santiago de Compostela: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Liceo Franciscano, 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  • García Oro Marín, José. Iglesia, señorío y nobleza: Galicia en la baja Edad Media. (Santiago de Compostela: Bibliófilos Gallegos, 1977).

    Google Scholar 

  • García Oro Marín, José. “Origen de las clarisas en España.” Archivo Iberoamericano 54 (1994): 163–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • González Jiménez, Manuel. Alfonso X, 1252–1284. (Palencia: Diputación Provincial and Editorial La Olmeda, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  • González Jiménez, Manuel. Alfonso X el Sabio. (Barcelona: Ariel, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  • González Jiménez, Manuel, ed. Crónica de Alfonso X según el Ms. II/2777 de la Biblioteca del Palacio Real (Madrid). (Murcia: Real Academia Alfonso X el Sabio, 1999).

    Google Scholar 

  • González Minguez, Cesar. Fernando IV de Castilla (1295–1312). La guerra civil y el predominio de la nobleza. (Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, 1976).

    Google Scholar 

  • González Minguez, Cesar. Fernando IV de Castilla (1295–1312). (Valladolid: Palencia: Diputación Provincial and Editorial La Olmeda, 1995).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jofré de Loaisa (13th c.). Crónica de los Reyes de Castilla. Fernando III, Alfonso X, Sancho IV, y Fernando IV (1248–1305), ed. Antonio García Martínez. (Murcia: Academia Alfonso X el Sabio, 1982).

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, Melissa R. “A Convent for ‘la Sabia’: Violante de Aragón and the Foundation of Santa Clara de Allariz.” In Culture and Society in Medieval Galicia: a Cultural Crossroads at the Edge of Europe, ed. James D’Emilio. (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2014).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinkade, Richard P. “Violante of Aragon (1236?–1300?): an Historical Overview.” Exemplaria Hispanica 2 (1992–93): 1–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larriba Baciero, Manuel. “El Testamento de Maria de Molina.” Signo 2 (1995): 201–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linehan, Peter. History and the Historians of Medieval Spain. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Linehan, Peter. The Ladies of Zamora. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  • Linehan, Peter. Spain, 1157–1300: a Partible Inheritance. (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  • Linehan, Peter. The Spanish Church and the Papacy in the Thirteenth Century. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971).

    Google Scholar 

  • Liss, Peggy K. Isabel the Queen: Life and Times. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).

    Google Scholar 

  • López, Atanasio. “Apuntes Históricos sobre el Convento de Santa Clara de Allariz (siglos XIII y XIV).” Boletín de la Comisión Provincial de Monumentos Históricos y Artísticos de Orense VIII, no. 172 (Jan–Feb. 1927): 8–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, Therese. Queen as King: Politics and Architectural Propaganda in Twelfth-Century Spain. (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2006).

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, Therese. “Exceptions and Assumptions: Women in Medieval Art History.” Reassessing the Roles of Women as ‘Makers’ of Medieval Art and Architecture, 1–34. (Leiden: Brill, 2012).

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez, H. Salvador. Alfonso X, el Sabio. Una biografía. (Madrid: Ediciones Polifemo, 2003).

    Google Scholar 

  • Martínez, H. Salvador. Alfonso X, the Learned: a Biography. Trans. Odile Cisneros. (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2010).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McKiernan González, Eileen. “Shifting Expectations: Maria de Lusignan and Elisenda de Montcada, Childless Queens of Aragon.” Paper presented at the International Medieval Congress, Institute for Medieval Studies, Leeds, UK, July 2, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mirrer, Louise, ed. Upon My Husband’s Death: Widows in the Literature and Histories of Medieval Europe. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992).

    Google Scholar 

  • Moxó y Montoliu, Francisco de. “El enlace de Alfonso de Castilla con Violante de Aragon: Marco político y precisiones cronológicas.” Hispania 49, no. 171 (1989): 69–110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muntaner, Ramón (1265–1336). Ramón Muntaner: Crónica (c. 1328), ed. Joan Francesc Vidal Jové. (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1970).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nieto Soria, José Manuel. Sancho IV 1284–1295. (Palencia: Diputación Provincial and Editorial La Olmeda, 1994).

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Callaghan, Joseph F. The Learned King: the Reign of Alfonso X of Castile. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Callaghan, Joseph F. Alfonso X and the Cantigas de Santa María: a Poetic Biography. (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 1998).

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Callaghan, Joseph F. “The Many Roles of the Medieval Queen: Some Examples from Castile.” In Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Theresa Earenfight, 21–32. (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  • Orlandis, José. “La reina en la monarquía visigoda,” Anuario de Historia de Derecho Español 27–28 (1957–58): 109–35. Reprinted in El poder real y la sucesión al trono en la monarquía visigoda, 102–23. (Rome: CSIC/Delegación de Roma, 1962).

    Google Scholar 

  • de Pina Baleiras, Isabel. “The Political Role of a Portuguese Queen in the Late Fourteenth Century.” In Queenship in the Mediterranean; Negotiating the Role of the Queen in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras, ed. Elena Woodacre, 97–123. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).

    Google Scholar 

  • Proctor-Tiffany, Mariah. “Lost and Found: Visualizing a Medieval Queen’s Destroyed Objects.” In Queenship in the Mediterranean; Negotiating the Role of the Queen in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras, ed. Elena Woodacre, 73–96. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ray, Jonathan. The Sephardic Frontier: The Reconquista and the Jewish Community in Medieval Iberia. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  • Reilly, Bernard F. The Kingdom of León-Castilla under Queen Urraca, 1109–1126. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz, Teofilo F. From Heaven to Earth: the Reordering of Castilian Society, 1150–1350. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  • Santa Clara de Allariz: História y vida de un monasterio. Ourense: Diputación Provincial de Ourense, 2002. Originally published in Liceo Franciscano: revista de estudios e investigaciones 127–29 (1990): 11–266.

    Google Scholar 

  • Santa Clara de Allariz: Septimo centenario de la Fundación. Boletín Avriense, anexo 5. (O(u)rense: Museo Arqueoloxico Provincial, 1986).

    Google Scholar 

  • Shadis, Miriam. Political Women in the High Middle Ages: Berengula of Castile (1180–1246) and her Family. (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave, 2001).

    Google Scholar 

  • Silleras-Fernandez. Núria. Power, Piety, and Patronage in Late Medieval Queenship: Maria de Luna. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Stone, Marilyn (1990). Marriage and Friendship in Medieval Spain: Social Relations According to the Fourth Partida of Alfonso X. (New York: Peter Lang, 1990).

    Google Scholar 

  • Thacker, Shelby, and José Escobar, trans. Chronicle of Alfonso X. (Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  • VanLandingham, Marta. “Royal Portraits: Representations of Queenship in the Thirteenth-Century Catalan Chronicles.” In Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Theresa Earenfight, 109–19. (Aldershot, UK/Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  • Vann, Theresa M. “The Theory and Practice of Medieval Queenship.” In Queens, Regents and Potentates, ed. Theresa M. Vann, 125–47. (Dallas: Academia, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  • Vann, Theresa M. (2003). “Violante.” In Medieval Iberia: an Encyclopedia, ed. Michael E. Gerli, 839. (New York: Routledge, 2003).

    Google Scholar 

  • Villacañas Berlanga, José Luis. Jaume I el Conquistador. (Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 2003).

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, Rose. “Images of Burial in Northern Spain, c. 950-c. 1250.” In Medieval Memories: Men, Women, and the Past, 700–1300, ed. Elisabeth van Houts, 150–73. (Harlow, Essex, UK: Longman, 2001).

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiner, Annette B. Inalienable Possessions: the Paradox of Keeping-While-Giving. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Zurita, Jerónimo (1512–1580). Anales de la Corona de Aragón, ed. Ángel Canellas López, 9 vols. (Zaragoza: Institución ‘Fernando El Católico’, 1967–86).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Elena Woodacre

Copyright information

© 2013 Elena Woodacre

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Katz, M.R. (2013). The Final Testament of Violante de Aragón (c. 1236–1300/01): Agency and (dis)Empowerment of a Dowager Queen. In: Woodacre, E. (eds) Queenship in the Mediterranean. Queenship and Power. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137362834_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137362834_4

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-47278-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-36283-4

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics