Description
Book SynopsisQueen María of Castile, wife of Alfonso V, the Magnanimous, king of the Crown of Aragon, governed Catalunya in the mid-fifteenth century while her husband conquered and governed the kingdom of Naples. For twenty-six years, she maintained a royal court and council separate from and roughly equivalent to those of Alfonso in Naples. Such legitimately sanctioned political authority is remarkable given that she ruled not as queen in her own right but rather as Lieutenant-General of Catalunya with powers equivalent to the king''s. María does not fit conventional images of a queen as wife and mother; indeed, she had no children and so never served as queen-regent for any royal heirs in their minorities or exercised a queen-mother''s privilege to act as diplomat when arranging the marriages of her children and grandchildren. But she was clearly more than just a wife offering advice: she embodied the king''s personal authority and was second only to the king himself. She was hi
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"An important contribution to our understanding of premodern queenship and, indeed, of late medieval monarchy itself." * John Watkins, University of Minnesota *
Table of Contents
A Note on Proper Names
Maps
1. Alter Nos: The Lieutenancy of María of Castile
2. From Castilian Princess to Aragonese Queen
3. From Queen to Queen-Lieutenant, 1420-35
4. A Permanent Lieutenancy, 1436-48
5. The Struggle to Liberate the Remença Peasants, 1448-53
6. Queenship, Kingship, and the Dynamics of Monarchy 131
Genealogy: The Trastámara Family in the Crown of Aragon
Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
