Networking Queenship? Queens as Promoters of the Congregation of Santa Clara de Tordesillas (1411-1463)

Abstract

The Congregation of Santa Clara de Tordesillas was born in close connection with the Castilian monarchy. In this paper we analyse the link that the queens of Castile established with it from the point of view of their promotion of monastic affiliations. Three queens of Castile favoured the development of this Congregation and a queen of Aragon identified with its religious model. We seek to assess their political interests questioning whether the associative peculiarity of this institution fostered a sort of ‘networking’ policy that may shed new light on the construction and exercise of queenship, its relation to the design of this monastic family and its influence on the relationships between Iberian kingdoms. To this end, we will reconstruct the spiritual landscapes in which their actions were embedded.