Abstract
The birth of this edited collection of essays must be understood as part of the growing interest in the agency of early modern women and bringing the many shades of female power into light. Specifically, it intends to partially correct a gap in scholarship, which has tended to focus on the importance of female figures within the Protestant world. This volume instead offers explorations of an extensive range of topics on the agency of Catholic women, particularly in the Italian and Spanish peninsulas. The ten chapters deal with very different spheres where women could have a significant impact, from managing the households to building their legacy, to show the extent of women's power. In approaching their case studies, the contributors employ various archival sources, notably letters, ambassadorial reports, and wills. The time range is also remarkable, covering the 1530s to the 1850s.
The ten essays are organized in chronological order. Lina Scalisi analyzes the role played by noblewomen during Charles V's visit to Naples in 1536. Their refinement was praised by diplomats and ambassadors, whose depictions were nonetheless less flattering when it came to describing their temperaments. The example of the pro-imperial Irene Castriota, Princess of Bisignano, who was not afraid to confront Charles V himself face to face, is particularly fitting in this sense. Among the noblewomen examined, nevertheless, Giulia Gonzaga stands out as the most active figure. Although she was primarily involved in a sphere generally considered to be a female domain, she was able to rely on a network that allowed her to arrange her relatives’ marriages for clearly political purposes, such as a possible union between her nephew Vespasiano and a niece of Pope Paul III Farnese.
Remaining in the Habsburg possessions in Italy, Silvia D’Agata introduces us to a largely neglected character, Margherita of Austria Branciforte. Born in Sicily, but a descendant of Charles V from her mother's side, her case demonstrates the importance of the matrilineal lineage in defining a woman's identity. Since she was an only child, she actively elaborated plans to preserve the memory of her dynasty and her own legacy. After the death of her husband, Federico Colonna, a childless Margherita agreed to nominate her husband's cousin heir on condition that he keep her coat of arms, showing the insignia of the Austria-Branciforte and Colonna families. In this way, they would have been a clear display of her memory. The other contribution about Southern Italy is Cinzia Recca's chapter on the centrality of women's dowries in eighteenth-century Sicily. In a time when a woman's future was either marriage or the convent, the absence of a dowry further halved the options. The author presents the case study of Anna Maria Morso, who married into the well-known and prestigious family of the Princes of Biscari. By analyzing the marriage contract, Recca highlights the level of attention paid by the Sicilian nobility to all the components of the dowry, to ensure that their prestige and patrimony remained intact. The author also examines Anna Morso's will, since she left goods not only to her firstborn son, but also to her second son, going against the tradition of primogeniture. Thus, this example reveals women's possibility of disposing of family goods.
For Northern Italy, Blythe Alice Raviola gives a compelling overview of the network of noblewomen revolving around the ‘Company of Humility’, the female version of the Compagnia di San Paolo, a secular association founded in Turin, capital of the Duchy of Savoy, in 1563. Starting from the study on the Company she had previously edited in Italian, Raviola argues that as female members of the ruling family often joined this fellowship, they created a sort of parallel court where political and religious matters were unified. Moreover, noblewomen from the collateral branches of the House of Savoy became associates in order to show their loyalty to the main dynasty. Raviola makes an interesting point about Jacqueline d’Entremont, the widow of Admiral Gaspar de Coligny, the leader of the Huguenot faction during the French Wars of Religion. She suggests that her affiliation with the Company was part of the strategies employed by the then Duchess of Savoy, Catalina Micaela of Habsburg, to restore d’Entremont's reputation. By the mid-seventeenth century, the purpose of the Company moved in a more philanthropic direction, providing dowries to young but poor women of the local elite.
Partially related to the Savoy court is the only chapter examining France, in which Elena Riva addresses the topic of Marie Adelaide of Savoy's education. Once she arrived in France as the bride of the dauphin and became Duchess of Burgundy, Marie Adelaide's upbringing was entrusted by the king himself to one of the most discussed and controversial figures of the Sun King's court, his morganatic wife, Madame de Maintenon. The Marquise de Maintenon was conscious that, as a future queen and mother to the heir, the new Duchess of Burgundy had to become completely French and adapt to Versailles. By using letters and ambassadorial reports, Riva shows that Madame de Maintenon developed a precise pedagogical program for her special pupil. One of her main concerns was making sure that the princess of Savoy did not participate in festivities and, especially, get acquainted with the ‘immoral’ court of Monsieur and Madame, the king's brother and his wife, who were also the Marquise's fierce adversaries. Thus, this engaging piece can be put into the broader historiographical trend researching how women could exploit informal spaces of power to gain influence and consideration.
Vincenzo Lagioia focuses instead on two case studies of Medici women to demonstrate all the strategies they employed to resist marriages they did not desire. The first one is Marguerite-Louise d’Orléans, who became Cosimo III's unwilling wife in 1661. For this reason, she defied every social expectation that demanded her obedience, starting by trying to jeopardize her first pregnancy, then by choosing to move to a convent in Montmartre. In vain Louis XIV attempted to convince his cousin to do her duty and remain in Florence. The second case is less extreme but still valuable. Anna Marie Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg married the last Medici Grand Duke, Gian Gastone, in 1697. Since their marriage proved to be broken from the beginning, the princess refused to leave Prague, where her entourage was ready to protect her, and move to Florence, as her father-in-law pressured her to do. Using ambassadorial reports, the author sheds light on the resilience of these elite women, who refused to be subjugated to the reasons of state, valuing their happiness and well-being more.
Geographically, the remaining chapters revolve around Spain. María Luz González Mezquita investigates the strategies employed by the high Spanish nobility to conserve their patrimony in the seventeenth century. Through a fascinating approach to sources like wedding contracts and wills related to Juan Tomás Enríquez de Cabrera, 11th Admiral of Castile, the author reveals that, unlike other European women, Spanish women could inherit and were therefore valued. They did not passively spend their years of marriage, they actively engaged in the economic administration of the house. The reason is that the wedding coins were considered their domain, as they were granted to noblewomen to allow them to display their aristocratic status. Thus, this money could not be alienated and could only pass to the woman's heirs.
Moving to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Francisco Precioso Izquierdo's essay revolves around noblewomen's wills. The case studies come from the most distinguished families of the Spanish aristocracy, such as Osuna, Alba, Astorga, and San Carlos. By framing his research into the enlightenment, which started to question women's position in society, the author argues that analysis of last wills can help detect these changes in society, reaching conclusions similar to Recca's arguments. For instance, the author detects that women had an increasing inclination to leave economic means to all their sons, not just the firstborn and, sometimes, to their grandchildren as well. However, this essay also highlights a growing interest in the staff of the household. As some of them were particularly close to the lady of the house, she could ask for them to be rewarded either with pensions, or by being allowed to continue working for the new lady.
The use of wills as an historical source is also at the core of Antonio Irigoyen López and Juan Hernández Franco's co-authored contribution. This time, however, the focus is on emotions, starting from the well-demonstrated argument that, at the end of the Ancien Régime, feelings became increasingly important within the family sphere. Hence, the authors investigate how this shift is reflected in the actions of the Spanish nobility. Although arranged marriages were still widely popular, especially in case of remarriages, women could choose their husbands based on affinity and companionship. As these men were usually of a lower rank, noblewomen either actively sought pensions for them or left them part of their patrimony. It was thus a way to provide them with protection, in a curious switch of traditional gender roles. Still, even arranged marriages did not preclude women from finding happiness with their consorts. In this case too, in their wills, they could leave them part of their dowry in recognition of their ‘mutual affection’ (148). Similarly, when they supervised the choice of brides for their sons, they were willing to take sentiments into account to ensure the success of the marriage.
Lastly, Arnaud Pierre's chapter brings us to the heart of the nineteenth century. His purpose is to investigate how women could acquire noble titles, despite their being excluded from any aspect of public life. The author notices an increase in granting titles to women from the previous century, as some women were rewarded for their late husbands’ and sons’ actions in the service of their country. Although it might sound like women were passive objects to the government's decisions, Pierre shows that this was not the case. He suggests that it was rather a subtle way to reward these women for their own merits during the Peninsular War (1808–1814) and epidemic episodes. By pressing their capacity as dutiful wives and companions, who always assisted their husbands in their efforts, they could thus obtain official recognition of their own endeavors. Far from being a first step towards the improvement of female conditions, this research displays one of the many paradoxes of nineteenth-century Spain.
Overall, the volume demonstrates that women had different ways to leave their marks in Catholic countries. Indeed, the most important contribution is allowing a non-Italian and non-Spanish academic audience to approach these topics for the first time. Nevertheless, it is also a valuable introduction for graduate students and young researchers who could find interesting arguments they could expand on, along with updated approaches to archival sources.
