Las mujeres nobles y el poder en los reinos de León y Castilla en el siglo XII: un estudio preliminar

Abstract

his article examines the extent to which aristocratic women could wield power and influence in the twelfth-century Kingdoms of León and Castile. Although it is true that a noblewoman’s access to power and influence were constrained by reason of her gender, which meant that she was to a large extent excluded from some important spheres of activity, such as membership of the royal curia, she was far from being a mere passive victim of male domination, as has sometimes been supposed. Thanks to their considerable economic resources, which they commanded through the intertwined institutions of lordship and the family, and their close relationship with the church, such women were able to fulfil important public roles and exercise power and authority to a significant degree as they passed through the female life cycle from marriage to widowhood. That active public role did not necessarily diminish on the death of a husband, if anything it was magnified, as mothers continued to offer support to their sons and daughters, and bestowed patronage, especially religious patronage, on an unprecedented scale.