Introduction: The Iberian Queen’s Households: Dynamics, Social Strategies, and Royal Power

Abstract

  The study of royal households has undergone a remarkable development in recent years. Thanks to the appearance of works on their composition, family strategies, or specific people at the service of queens and infantas, it is possible to raise new analytical questions, or to focus on lesser-known stages, such as the queens’ youth. The company and service of officers, ladies-in-waiting, maidens, or servants contributed to the creation of a “circle of security” for the infanta and later for the queen, but also of a political instrument, and even of a cultural agent if necessary. The examination of the royal environment of Iberian queens and infantas allows us to understand exchanges in court codes and etiquette, or the demonstration of royal authority over a bordering territory. The comparative study of the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula reflects the ability of royal women when it comes to introducing changes in the composition of the household, as well as being key to understanding the motivations of the personnel at their service. Thus, the objectives of this monographic issue are vindication of queenly authority from the first demonstrations of her political capacity, and contextualization of the changes and decisions orchestrated within the queen’s household through some previously unknown cases in the Late Middle Ages and the early modern eras.