Janna Bianchini,The Queen’s Hand: Power and Authority in the Reign of Berenguela of Castile

Reviewed by: José Manuel Cerda, Universidad Gabriela Mistral, Chile

Queen Berenguela of Castile (1180–1246) was a powerful woman not just because she was the influential mother of King Fernando III and the experienced regent for her brother King Enrique, but mainly because she was an able political figure who exercised power by using territorial administration, patronage and a network of clients to her advantage and purposes. That is the main argument put forward by Janna Bianchini. Her point of departure for this thought-provoking study is Theresa Earenfight’s approach to the exercise of royal power by females and Nuria Silleras-Fernandez’ s ideas about patronage, consensus and loyalty in the relationship between kings (and queens) and their nobles.

Unlike other European queens, female Iberian rulers could hold effective and independent lordship and property, employed for a variety of political goals. In the absence of legitimate male heirs, the agency of Berenguela in Castile and León is understood in an evolving monarchical scheme which goes far beyond the collaborative governance expected of queens consort. In the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, these kingdoms were evolving from monocratic to plural monarchies with shared power and authority. In this context, patronage given directly by the ‘queen’s hand’ is key to understanding the basis for Berenguela’s power and thus the title of the book. In the author’s words, ‘her career encourages us to question assumptions about the gender, and the singularity, of medieval monarchy’ (259).

The life and work of Berenguela, in particular, and the study of medieval Iberian queens, in general, have recently attracted a great deal of historical attention. The biography published by Fray Valentín de la Cruz in 2006 (Berenguela la Grande) appears as a more traditional and not very scholarly account of the queen and her brother, but Bianchini should have considered this publication in the introduction, or at least in the bibliography. In 2009, Miriam Shadis challenged traditional views by stating that Berneguela had not abdicated in 1217 but established co-rulership with her son, but Bianchini claims to have taken the focus away from royal motherhood to personal, independent and direct regency. A comparison between these two biographies, however, leads to the conclusion that this shift in focus might not be as significant as Bianchini portrays it as. H. Salvador Martínez’s monumental biography of Berenguela (Berenguela la Grande y su época 1180–1246), finally, was published in 2012 and arrived at very similar conclusions: Berenguela co-ruled with Fernando III and her power stemmed from personal ability and direct patronage. It is unfortunate that Bianchini’s and Salvador Martínez’s biographies could not benefit from each other.

Bianchini’s work is superbly grounded in the accounts of the very well-known chronicles written in the first half of the thirteenth century and the documentary records, such as the diplomas drafted by the royal chancery and some individual charters and letters. No female ruler had attracted that much attention from contemporaries since Urraca, and the author makes very good use of the increasing amount of written primary sources. Yet it is difficult to explain why Bianchini has overlooked the importance of visual sources, particularly in a period when royal patronage was often geared towards self-representation and exposing the images of power, legitimacy and authority. Wax seals and signos rodados (drawn seals) in the diplomatic registry, funerary art and sculpture, wall paintings and miniatures are left out, as well as the clothing and fabrics found in Berenguela’s sarcophagus in Las Huelgas. Perhaps none of these sources are essential to our understanding of the political agency of the queen, but some of these personal objects contain clues as to how these rulers saw themselves and wanted to be remembered. In fact, the first image that comes to mind when reading the title of the book is precisely the drawn seal of Leonor Plantagenet (Berenguela’s mother), which is a representation of the queen’s hand: an image of her power and authority.

The book is a scholarly, yet pleasantly readable account of Berenguela’s long political career which begins with her infancy as heir to the throne of Castile (1180–1197), moving to her marriage and divorce from Alfonso IX of León, the failed regency, and the final period as queen mother of Castile and León, until her death in 1246.

Bianchini’s work is a welcome contribution to a field of study that has experienced significant progress in the last few years and has developed new stimulating research agendas. The exercise of power, authority and patrimonial administration by Iberian queens in particular are themes that remain open for further historical research. Although it will not be uncontroversial, the author’s argument for a cooperative monarchy in Castile and León with effective co-rulership between Berenguela and her son Fernando, presents a very interesting view and finds some ground in the sources. The question is whether this was all circumstantial or part of a new trend in governance and political theory, a question which is underlined by the fact that Bianchini had to move forward by two centuries to find (in Isabel I) another reigning Castilian queen in a plural monarchy. A comparison with other European queens of the thirteenth century as well as a consideration of political and legal treaties such as the Espéculo and the Siete Partidas, written shortly after Berenguela’s death, would have been interesting and may have strengthened the case presented by this book.