“Actions speak louder than words: constance of France and motherhood in 12th-century Norman Italy”

Abstract

ABSTRACT In 1106, Constance, the daughter of King Philip I of France, married Bohemond of Antioch, a hero of the First Crusade. After their wedding, the couple returned to Bohemond’s territories in Apulia. However, their marriage proved short-lived. Bohemond’s untimely death in 1111 left Constance with the task of securing the inheritance of their only surviving son, Bohemond II, still a minor at the time. Throughout the course of the next fifteen years, Constance was relentless in her determination to preserve Bohemond II’s patrimony, enduring repeated captivities and working tirelessly to secure the military and diplomatic support necessary to establish permanent control of his inheritance. This article argues that these actions on behalf of her son and the experiences that informed them reflect her expectations about motherhood and her understanding of her role in that capacity. It integrates a range of sources, most notable among them her unique seal, to demonstrate how her conception of motherhood was informed by her own experiences as a child and her observations of other powerful women acting on behalf of their own sons. Her tenacity was a direct reflection of her emotional investment in and maternal commitment to Bohemond II, providing insight into the medieval mother-son bond. Her determination to physically protect her son in the present as well as ensure his future safety by establishing control of the lands he inherited from his father were impulses she would have shared with noble mothers across medieval Europe.