Power, Piety, and Patronage in Late Medieval Queenship: Maria de Luna (The New Middle Ages) - Hardcover

Silleras-Fernandez, N.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1403977593 ISBN 13: 9781403977595

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009

Synopsis

This book is a study of medieval queenship -- an examination of the nature and role of feminine authority and power and the monarchy in the late Middle Ages. Based on an exhaustive and varied study of predominantly unpublished archival material as well as a variety of literary and non-literary sources, this book investigates the relation between patronage, piety and politics in the life and career of one Late Medieval Spain's most intriguing female personalities, Maria de Luna.  She was queen-consort of Martí I (1396-1410), King of the Crown of Aragon (1396-1406), and served as his lieutenant-general (second-in-command).

It was published in translation to Spanish as María de Luna. Poder, piedad y patronazgo de tuna reina bajomedieva, trans. Virginia Tabuenca (Zaragoza: Institución Fernando el Católico, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 2012).

About this title

About the Author:

Nuria Silleras-Fernandez is Associate Professor of Spanish at the University of Colorado-Boulder. She is also affiliated faculty in History and Women and Gender Studies. She is the author of Power, Piety, and Patronage in Late Medieval Queenship: Maria de Luna (Palgrave, 2008)  and of Chariots of Ladies: Francesc Eiximenis and the Court Culture of Medieval and Early Modern Iberia (Cornell UP, 2015). Chariots of Ladies is the winner of the biennial Premio del Rey from the American Historical Association (2016), and has also garnered Honorable Mentions from the Modern Language Association ( Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize, 2016) and the University of Colorado at Boulder (Kayden Book Award, 2016). She is also coeditor of In and Of the Mediterranean: Medieval and Early Modern Iberian Studies (Vaderbilt UP, 2015) and of Teaching Gender Through Latin American, Latino, and Iberian Texts and Cultures (Sense 2015).

Review:

"Simply bringing Maria de Luna to light makes this book by Núria Silleras Fernandez a welcome addition to the field of queenship studies. But Power, Piety, and Patronage in Late Medieval Queenship: Maria de Luna is more than just an introductory bow to a prodigiouslytalented woman...Maria's reign allows Silleras Fernandez to present in a compact space a queen consort in the full range of her life and in the potential for power. Her thesis benefits from and builds on the work of anthropologists (culture of court and ceremony), sociologists (networks of power), gender studies (complementarity of femininity and masculinity), and political theory (the dynamics of power). Her discussion of Maria's thoughts on kingship in a letter to her son is part of a field of research that needs much more attention...This book is jam-packed with details that scholars will pore over for some time." - The Medieval Review

"Silleras-Fernandez builds up a comprehensive study of the life and work of Maria de la Luna which is securly placed in the wider context of medieval queenship and socio-political movements of the late medieval era... Altogether this is a well crafted and highly readable account of the political career of a truly remarkable woman." - AARHMS"Power, Piety, and Patronage in late Medieval Queenship offers interesting insight into the life of an exceptional woman, who had an understanding of the politics of power far superior to that of most men of her time." - The Feminist Review

"In this richly textured and superbly researched book, Silleras-Fernandez convincingly shows the important political role of medieval queens in the Crown of Aragon and, by implication, in the rest of western Europe. This book offers a compelling, original, and insightful account of the intersection of lineage, marital affection, institutional history, and power. In doing so Silleras-Fernandez provides a much needed and timely contribution to our understanding of the life and activities of medieval queens in the Crown of Aragon and elsewhere in the medieval West." - Teofilo F. Ruiz, Professor of History, UCLA

"An intriguing account of the career of a late medieval queen of Aragon who was arguably a more capable partner in rulership than her husband the king. Maria de Luna was faced with uprisings, invasions, financial difficulties, and other challenges. Through extensive use of original documents this book reveals Maria s personal and political life and shows that she was a redoubtable ruler. The result is a fascinating biography, one that helps us understand what it meant to be a queen in a chaotic world." - Paul Freedman, Yale University

"This monograph, written in a highly readable style, excels in its use of a wealth of archival resources including royal letters, account books, municipal and ecclesiastic documents. With the publication of Power, Piety, and Patronage in late Medieval Queenship, Silleras-Fernandez has introduced a new theoretical frame into the growing discipline of medieval queenship studies." - Dawn Bratsch-Prince, Professor of Spanish andAssociate Deanof the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Iowa State University

"Silleras-Fernandez's work rests on a truly impressive range of archival sources... [T]his is an engaging and important study of queenship, gender, and power in the late medieval world." - Elizabeth A. Lehfeldt, Cleveland State University

About this edition

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1403977593
• ISBN 13: 9781403977595
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 270