Historiography tends to lean towards an ideal of women being treated as a victim with no autonomy over their life and marriages. This idea can often be found in royalty and higher-class women. Marriage for these women was unlikely to be about love, it involved a union that could benefit the man, the families, and sometimes the women. In the cases of Maria de Montpellier, Violant de Bar, and Isabella I of Castile; these women represent how they could use their marriages to their advantage and push themselves up on the patriarchal ladder, becoming Queens and leaders over a city or kingdom. Their marriages could be a way to obtain or keep power that they likely would not have had without maintaining their marriages. Maria de Montpellier’s relationship was a power struggle for geographical gain which concerned her and her husband Peter II. This power struggle proved to Maria that the legitimacy of their marriage was detrimental for her role as the Lady of Montpellier, she then worked to keep her title as Lady by proving the legality of her marriage. Queen Violant used her love letters to push a narrative of the romance of a married wife to gain support from subjects. This meant that she would have to push a narrative of a woman who was infatuated with her husband to encourage outside support, especially while she took the role of lieutenant in her husband’s absence. Isabella I of Castile was the only Queen in this essay to have full control over a kingdom. Isabella I ruled in partnership with her husband Ferdinand II, Isabella ruled Castile and Ferdinand ruled the Crown of Aragon. Their relationship was used by Isabella I to secure her somewhat unstable claim to the throne. Isabella then used her marriage concessions to protect herself from any attempts Ferdinand may have had to take possession of the Kingdom of Castile. The marriages of Maria de Montpellier, Queen Violant de Bar, and Isabella I of Castile were used by the women strategically to gain political support and power over subjects—love was an afterthought or tactic used by these queens to gain sympathy from subjects and lords. This challenges the idea by many historians that marriage was entrapping and involved zero autonomy for royal women.

Maria de Montpellier’s marriage to Peter II took place June 15, 1204. The marriage was alliance based and it represented “a logical step in the extension of Aragonese power north of the Pyrenees.”[i] For Philip II, their marriage alliance was crucial towards expanding the Spanish empire into France. Marie surrendered her dowry shortly after their marriage, this inheritance included the seigneuries of Aumelas and Montpellier, the port of Lattes and its surrounding countryside. In return, Peter II gifted Marie the county of Roussillon.[ii] This marriage was highly influential for Peter II, he may have been unwelcoming to Maria as a partner, but Peter was aware of her power over the land she owned, and he desired that influence. Author Haluska-Rausch mentions that “Marie may have been uneasy about her husband’s attempts to leverage her property, but it was not until September of 1205 that it became clear that Peter had every intention of dispossessing his bride in order to realize his own goals.”[iii] Shortly after the birth of their daughter, Peter attempted to betroth their daughter to the count of Toulouse, a hereditary enemy of Maria’s family. Maria’s response to this was violent, she no longer desired giving away everything she held power over.[iv] Her response is as thus,

As a result, I have been debased and tormented by undignified threats on the part of the Lord king, my aforementioned husband… he would no longer lend protection to the town of Montpellier and its dependencies, more, that he would abandon them for all time, because he did not want to have a land, a seigneury, or a wife, or anything else, that he was unable to dispose of at his will.[v]

Maria’s seething response shows how emotionally distraught she was when Peter II attempted to take away the power that she had by betrothing her daughter to the count of Toulouse, this is because Peter was attempting to take away the power that she held. After this conflict, Maria began to assume her role as lady of Montpellier even if Peter remained the official titular lord.[vi] Because Marie de Montpellier had gifted the town, her marriage to Peter II was now imperative to keep her authority as lady of the city. “Marie’s future depended on the confirmation of the marriage’s legitimacy; Peter’s goals were best served by its dissolution.”[vii] Because Marie did not hold the title as the official seigneury of the land Peter attempted to separate from Marie de Montpellier so she would lose her ownership of the city and he would gain it. This divorce would leave Marie’s life stagnant and her control desolate. Marie de Montpellier went to Rome to defend her marriage, winning the admiration of Pope Innocent III and retained her inherited title, and therefore her power.[viii] Maria could have given up her right to being Lady of Montpellier, and though she disliked her husband greatly, she defended their marriage to keep the power that she would possibly lose through dissolution of their marriage.

Queen Violant plays many roles through her life, and she creates these roles to gain sympathy from her subjects. Dawn Bratsch-Prince argues in their essay that “The Aragonese queen self-consciously constructed herself, her family, friends, and subjects…  Violant’s letters revealed numerous self-representations, each fashioned with purposeful intent by her hand.”[ix] Through her letters, Queen Violant constructed herself in a plethora of different female selves; Violant wrote in the personality of a daughter, mother, widow, and in the case of this essay, a wife.[x] Queen Violant exercised her authority over subjects by using her reputation of the King’s loving wife. In the Catalonian Queen’s love poem titled “E-z ieu am tal que es bo e bell,” Queen Violant creates a romanticised narrative in which she misses her husband in his absence rather than benefitting from his departure. Violant states in the love poem “I love one who’s good and handsome; / I’m as happy as the white bird / who, for love, bursts out in song; / I am a sovereign lady / and let him I love make no appeal, / because I love more than any other woman, / since I had chosen him of greatest worth.”[xi] In these lines, Violant mentions how she is a sovereign lady who loves more than any other woman. This phrasing creates an extremely feminine narrative that depicts Violant as a loving wife who desires her husband romantically. By depicting herself as a loving wife, Violant uses the idealized version of herself to artfully maintain respectable power as Joan I’s lieutenant.

Violant’s poem creates a description of loving wife who misses her husband compared to the true powerful woman running as the King’s lieutenant. Queen Violant de Bar gained power through her union with Joan I by using her political influence through her husband by becoming his lieutenant.[xii] A lieutenant in Medieval Spain was a permanent official within royalty, this official would hold office at the discretion of the king and would do so sometimes for life.[xiii]  Much like many other royal marriages before them, Violant would be the first choice as the King’s lieutenant. Though men were usually expected to be in this sort of authority, in the Crown of Aragon seven queen consorts governed at lieutenants—of these seven, Queen Violant was one.[xiv] Queen Violant expressed her desire for her husband to come home from his duties elsewhere by writing in the poem, “when I think of how you went away / and haven’t come back / and how far away you are, / my despairing heart barely beats.”[xv] Violant’s act of ‘wanting’ her husband home suggests that she is attempting to feign wanting him home to gain support from her subjects as a powerful ruler. Queen Violant used her authority as queen to gain the power that is essential with the traits of the King’s lieutenant. Historian Earenfight states in the chapter of ruling queens in king’s absence that “the scope of authority exercised by these Aragonese queen- lieutenants had enormous implications… As more Queens became lieutenants, and as they served for longer periods of time, the office became the key component of queenship.[xvi] Earenfight mentioned that not much is known of Queen Violant’s rule as a lieutenant. Her role as lieutenant overlapped with her successor, Maria de Luna, shortly after the crown was transferred to Joan I’s brother Marti.[xvii] This could indicate that Queen Violant did not want to give up her authority as lieutenant, even after the death of her husband Joan I. Queen Violant depicted herself both as a wife and a Queen. Violant pushed a dual narrative of femininity and power and did so through the confines of her marriage. This gave her the authority to rule with lieutenancy. Violant may have loved her husband Joan I, but she used this marriage to portray herself as a loving wife and a powerful leader while her husband was absent in order to gain power as a (temporary) ruler.

Isabella I of Castile differs from the two female queens above because Isabella I ruled Castile without her marriage to Ferdinand. Isabella’s compassionate union to Ferdinand proved useful as it solidified her claim to the Castilian throne. Their marriage also united the crown of Aragon and Castile in a way that had not happened before. Isabella I maintained her authority through her marriage concessions as they acted as a prenup to protect the Queen from any challenge of power from Ferdinand. Many did not support Isabella’s claim to the throne as her brother had a son who had a solid claim as an heir. Therefore, her prenuptials were extremely rushed after her brother died.[xviii] Isabella marriage to Ferdinand helped protect her reign as queen, yet, she also had to defend her reign from her equally powerful husband—the King of Aragon. Isabella successfully avoided any challenge through her marriage concession, which in short was a promise that Ferdinand would not attempt to supersede power from Queen Isabella I. Below are selected concession promises,

7. I will treat all the greater and lesser Lords and others of the Kingdom properly and with due love, affection, and honor, as one may expect of a good king

10. I will go personally to these kingdoms (Castile and Leon) to reside and be in them with Her Highness the princess, and I will not leave them without her will in council, and I will not remove her from them without her consent and will

24. I will undertake no war or peace treaty with any neighboring king or Lord of any kind, nor with any night or Lord of said kingdoms, whether ecclesiastical or secular, without the will and knowledge of her Highness the princess and her counselors.[xix]

These promises written by Ferdinand ensure that he would not step on the toes of any lords in Castile, especially when Isabella’s claim to the throne is somewhat unstable. Ferdinand will also be unable to push his authority into the kingdom of Castile and remove Isabella’s power. Isabella carefully plans out her reign so that she maintains support of the lords in her kingdom while refusing to withdraw from her Queenship through marriage. Historian Theresa Earenfight indicates that “Their political relationship is represented with didactic clarity on their various gold coins… All of them depict both as crowned monarchs, either seated or facing each other, with him in the position of honor on the left and his name preceding hers.”[xx] This explanation is a great representation of Isabella and Ferdinand’s relationship. Their union helps Isabella rise as a queen, she signs before Ferdinand in documents, she is the prevalent power of Castile over her husband.

The three queens in this essay have experiences that correlate with each other in one way or another, each pertaining to their way of demonstrating authority while in a typical patriarchal structure such as marriage. Isabella and Maria both fight to protect themselves from their husbands. In Isabella’s marriage concessions Ferdinand mentions in number twelve “I will not relinquish or give away any city, town, or fortress of these kingdoms… or anything else belonging to the royal Crown without the consent and will of Her Highness the princess.”[xxi] This text ensures that Ferdinand cannot challenge the power of Isabella I by relinquishing her cities in this kingdom. Maria had to fight for her right as seigneury of Montpellier by directly going to Pope Innocent III to argue for the validity of her marriage, because of their conversation the Pope insists that the people of Montpellier should welcome Marie as their lady.[xxii] Queen Maria and Violant both do not have power over the kingdoms that they reside in, yet they use such marriages to obtain power over a city or kingdom. Maria’s marriage to her husband directly correlated with her seigneury over Montpellier, she wanted her son to govern the families’ lands in the future.[xxiii] Maria may have abstained from any power within the kingdom, but she successfully retained her power as the Lady of Montpellier through proving the validity of her marriage. Similarly, Violant did not have any claim to the kingdom. But Violant’s marriage assisted her in stretching the limit of her influence as a woman—pushing her authority with her role as the king’s lieutenant.[xxiv] Both Queen Violant and Isabella I use manifestations of courtly love to push their power and gain support under the guise of loving wives. With the observation of Violant’s romantic language in her love poem, we are encouraged to see her as a womanly figure and proper wife.[xxv] In Peggy K. Liss’ book on Isabelle I, the author describes Isabella and Fernando’s love as “an instant attraction, and, remarkably, they proved a passionate and long-lasting love.”[xxvi] This description is extremely romanticised and can depict how some historians see the union as a passionate and romantic one, unlike the bland union described in the marriage concessions. The marriage concessions depict their marriage as purely political while documents describe the meeting of the two betrotheds as romanticized, both supporting and protecting Isabella I’s claim to the throne of Castile as depicting her as a loving wife instead of selfish and power hungry.

Maria de Montpellier, Violant de Bar, and Isabella I of Castile’s marriages played an influential role for how these three Queens sustained power in their Kingdoms as women in Medieval Spain, unlike how historiography can depict royal women as stuck within the confines of marriage. Maria de Montpellier’s marriage was necessary to preserve her authority as the Lady of Montpellier after gifting and then fighting for that role with her husband. If she were to be removed from the marriage through annulment, she would lose her seigneurial right to the city. Violant de Bar used her role as a wife to Joan I to influence her role as lieutenant and to provide support from subjects. Violant used her role as a loving in her poem to push this support in her power. Isabella I, arguably the most powerful Queen in this essay, used her marriage alliance to provide some stability in her claim to the throne of Castile. She also used her marriage concessions to provide protection from her husband if he were to attempt to usurp the throne from her. Each woman in this essay retains power and authority over others as a queen and they solidify this authority through their marriages with a male figure. The women use the patriarchal concept of historic marriage and twist it to something that fits them as powerful women, denying the social structures that royal women had no autonomy in their marriages.

[i] Elizabeth Haluska-Rausch, “Unwilling Partners: Conflict and Ambition in the Marriage of Peter II of Aragon and Marie de Montpellier,” in Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Teresa Earenfight (New York: Routledge, 2016),  4-5.

[ii] Elizabeth Haluska-Rausch, “Unwilling Partners: Conflict and Ambition in the Marriage of Peter II of Aragon and Marie de Montpellier,” in Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Teresa Earenfight (New York: Routledge, 2016), 5.

[iii] Elizabeth Haluska-Rausch, “Unwilling Partners: Conflict and Ambition in the Marriage of Peter II of Aragon and Marie de Montpellier,” in Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Teresa Earenfight (New York: Routledge, 2016), 8.

[iv] Elizabeth Haluska-Rausch, “Unwilling Partners: Conflict and Ambition in the Marriage of Peter II of Aragon and Marie de Montpellier,” in Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Teresa Earenfight (New York: Routledge, 2016), 11.

[v] Elizabeth Haluska-Rausch, “Unwilling Partners: Conflict and Ambition in the Marriage of Peter II of Aragon and Marie de Montpellier,” in Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Teresa Earenfight (New York: Routledge, 2016), 11.

[vi]Elizabeth Haluska-Rausch, “Unwilling Partners: Conflict and Ambition in the Marriage of Peter II of Aragon and Marie de Montpellier,” in Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Teresa Earenfight (New York: Routledge, 2016), 14.

[vii] Elizabeth Haluska-Rausch, “Unwilling Partners: Conflict and Ambition in the Marriage of Peter II of Aragon and Marie de Montpellier,” in Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Teresa Earenfight (New York: Routledge, 2016), 17.

[viii] Elizabeth Haluska-Rausch, “Unwilling Partners: Conflict and Ambition in the Marriage of Peter II of Aragon and Marie de Montpellier,” in Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Teresa Earenfight (New York: Routledge, 2016), 19

[ix] Dawn Bratsch-Prince, “The Politics of Self-Representation in the Letters of Violant de Bar (1365-1431),” Medieval Encounters 12, no. 1 (2006): 3.

[x] Dawn Bratsch-Prince, “The Politics of Self-Representation in the Letters of Violant de Bar (1365-1431),” Medieval Encounters 12, no. 1 (2006): 8.

[xi] Queen Violant, “Love Letters of a Catalan Queen: E-z ieu am tal que es bo e bell,” in Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, ed, Olivia Remie Constable (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 425.

[xii] Dawn Bratsch-Prince, “The Politics of Self-Representation in the Letters of Violant de Bar (1365-1431),” Medieval Encounters 12, no. 1 (2006): 2.

[xiii] (Teresa Earenfight, “Absent Kings: Queens as Political Partners in the Medieval Crown of Aragon,” in Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Teresa Earenfight (New York: Routledge, 2016), 36.

[xiv] Teresa Earenfight, “Absent Kings: Queens as Political Partners in the Medieval Crown of Aragon,” in Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Teresa Earenfight (New York: Routledge, 2016), 34.

[xv] Queen Violant, “Love Letters of a Catalan Queen: E-z ieu am tal que es bo e bell,” in Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, ed, Olivia Remie Constable (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 426.

[xvi] Teresa Earenfight, “Absent Kings: Queens as Political Partners in the Medieval Crown of Aragon,” in Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Teresa Earenfight (New York: Routledge, 2016), 34.

[xvii] Teresa Earenfight, “Absent Kings: Queens as Political Partners in the Medieval Crown of Aragon,” in Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Teresa Earenfight (New York: Routledge, 2016), 38.

[xviii] William Monter, “Difficult Beginnings: Heiresses with Crowned Husbands, 1300-1500,” in The Rise of Female Kings in Europe, 1300-1800 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2012), 84.

[xix] Diego Clemencín, “King Ferdinand: Marriage Concessions,” in Early Modern Spain: A Documenting History, ed. John Cowans (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 8-9.

[xx] William Monter, “Difficult Beginnings: Heiresses with Crowned Husbands, 1300-1500,” in The Rise of Female Kings in Europe, 1300-1800 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2012), 85.

[xxi] Diego Clemencín, “King Ferdinand: Marriage Concessions,” in Early Modern Spain: A Documenting History, ed. John Cowans (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 8.

[xxii] Elizabeth Haluska-Rausch, “Unwilling Partners: Conflict and Ambition in the Marriage of Peter II of Aragon and Marie de Montpellier,” in Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Teresa Earenfight (New York: Routledge, 2016), 19.

[xxiii] Elizabeth Haluska-Rausch, “Unwilling Partners: Conflict and Ambition in the Marriage of Peter II of Aragon and Marie de Montpellier,” in Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, ed. Teresa Earenfight (New York: Routledge, 2016), 4.

[xxiv] Dawn Bratsch-Prince, “The Politics of Self-Representation in the Letters of Violant de Bar (1365-1431),” Medieval Encounters 12, no. 1 (2006): 8.

[xxv] Dawn Bratsch-Prince, “The Politics of Self-Representation in the Letters of Violant de Bar (1365-1431),” Medieval Encounters 12, no. 1 (2006): 3.

[xxvi] Peggy Liss, “The Right Marriage,” in Isabel the Queen: Life and Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 78.

Bibliography

Bratsch-Prince, Dawn. “The Politics of Self-Representation in the Letters of Violant de Bar (1365-1431).” Medieval Encounters 12, no. 1 (2006): 2-25.

Diego Clemencín. “King Ferdinand: Marriage Concessions.” In Early Modern Spain: A Documenting History, edited by John Cowans, 7-9. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Elizabeth Haluska-Rausch. “Unwilling Partners: Conflict and Ambition in the Marriage of Peter II of Aragon and Marie de Montpellier.” In Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, edited by Teresa Earenfight, 4-20. New York: Routledge, 2016.

Queen Violant. “Love Letters of a Catalan Queen: E-z ieu am tal que es bo e bell.” In Medieval  Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, edited by Olivia Remie Constable, 425-426. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012.

Earenfight, Teresa. “Absent Kings: Queens as Political Partners in the Medieval Crown of Aragon.” In Queenship and Political Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, edited by Teresa Earenfight, 34-52. New York: Routledge, 2016.

Monter, William. “Difficult Beginnings: Heiresses with Crowned Husbands, 1300-1500.” In The Rise of Female Kings in Europe, 1300-1800, 26-53. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2012.

Liss, Peggy K. “The Right Marriage.” In Isabel the Queen: Life and Times, 65-80. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.