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Spanish queens regnant

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Helen_Davis

Spanish queens regnant

Post by Helen_Davis » Sat December 21st, 2013, 3:40 am

Other than Isabella of Castile and Juana la Loca, are there any novels about the other queens of Spain? Spanish queens are so sadly neglected :(

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Susan
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Post by Susan » Sat December 21st, 2013, 1:05 pm

[quote=""Helen_Davis""]Other than Isabella of Castile and Juana la Loca, are there any novels about the other queens of Spain? Spanish queens are so sadly neglected :( [/quote]

There's only one other queen regnant, Isabella II, who reigned from 1833-1868. She was deposed and exiled. Of course, there are many consorts of kings. Queen Mary I of England was technically a Queen Consort of Spain. Here's a list from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_consorts_of_Spain There is a royalty site has an extensive list of books (some fiction) about royalty, but most of them are NF. I took a quick look at the books about Spanish royalty, but all I saw was HF about Isabella I and Juana. Here's the site: http://www.royalty.nu/Europe/Spain/index.html#books
Last edited by Susan on Sat December 21st, 2013, 1:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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donroc
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Post by donroc » Sat December 21st, 2013, 3:30 pm

I do mention often in my novel ROCAMORA the Queen-consort of Philip IV, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry IV and sister of Louis XIII, who changed her name to Isabel when she wed. Historically, she went from frivilous girl and young woman to clever politician by collecting enemies of the Count-Duke de Olivares and influencing her husband to dismiss and rusticate the de facto ruler of Spain.
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Bodo the Apostate, a novel set during the reign of Louis the Pious and end of the Carolingian Empire.

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Post by DanielAWillis » Sat December 21st, 2013, 3:51 pm

A queen-consort who became Regent was Maria Cristina, mother of the Isabel II.

She has an interesting life story which seems like it would be ripe for HF interpretation.

She started of as a Princess of Sicily and was married off to her own uncle, Fernando VII, as his 4th wife. She three children by the King, but only the 2 daughters lived. The elder became Isabel II when Fernando died, sparking the Carlist Wars. (The Carlists were against a queen in her own right)

She fell in love with one of her body guards and actually married him secretly after the King died and while she was Regent. She made him a Duke and had several children with him. She had the first four in secrecy (not an easy thing to do). Ultimately, her secret family was discovered and she forced from the regency and into exile.
Daniel A. Willis
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Susan
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Post by Susan » Sat December 21st, 2013, 4:06 pm

[quote=""DanielAWillis""]A queen-consort who became Regent was Maria Cristina, mother of the Isabel II.[/quote]

Just to make sure no is confused...a Queen Regnant is a monarch in her own right like Queen Elizabeth II. A regent is someone who rules for a monarch who is a minor. Another Maria Christina (of Austria), who was also a queen consort, became regent for her son King Alfonso XIII.
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MLE (Emily Cotton)
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Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Sat December 21st, 2013, 4:13 pm

There was Queen Urraca of Castile and Leon. And for one year, Berengaria of Castile (concurrently Queen Consort of Leon.)

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Post by Susan » Sat December 21st, 2013, 4:23 pm

[quote=""MLE""]There was Queen Urraca of Castile and Leon. And for one year, Berengaria of Castile (concurrently Queen Consort of Leon.)[/quote]

Very true...I just posted about the Kingdom of Spain which was united by the marriage of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. Their daughter Juana was the actual first monarch of the Kingdom of Spain.
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Helen_Davis

Post by Helen_Davis » Sat December 21st, 2013, 5:45 pm

[quote=""MLE""]There was Queen Urraca of Castile and Leon. And for one year, Berengaria of Castile (concurrently Queen Consort of Leon.)[/quote]

MLE-gracias! Those were the ones I was thinking of! For the life of me I could not remember their names and I have been too busy with grad works and submitting my current novels to publishers to look them up!

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MLE (Emily Cotton)
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Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Sat December 21st, 2013, 10:47 pm

[quote=""Susan""]Very true...I just posted about the Kingdom of Spain which was united by the marriage of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. Their daughter Juana was the actual first monarch of the Kingdom of Spain.[/quote]
I don't believe Juana was ever Queen of Spain, because she couldn't be Queen Regnant in Aragon. They followed Salic law--no inheritance by females. So in the case of King Ferdinand II of Spain and I can't remember which number of Aragon, the succession went directly to his Grandson Charles.
Spain wasn't actually unified until sometime in the 1600s. The three kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon (four, if you include Naples) each had separate Cortes, and Castile had it's own Cortes (think parliament) too. The laws were different in each.
For instance, colonizing the New World was restricted to Castilians. Aragonese, Catalans, and Valencianos were not allowed.

There was surprisingly little attempt to create a unified 'Spain' on Ferdinand and Isabella's part. But then, their thrones (particularly Ferdinand's) were always much more precarious than hindsight shows.
Last edited by MLE (Emily Cotton) on Sat December 21st, 2013, 10:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by DanielAWillis » Sun December 22nd, 2013, 4:49 am

[quote=""MLE""]I don't believe Juana was ever Queen of Spain, [/quote]

Not only was she never Queen of Spain, she also never was able to exercise royal authority on her own. Due to her mental instability, she reigned under a series of regencies. She and her husband, Philip of Austria, were crowned jointly as King and Queen of Castile when her mother died, with Philip conducting all royal business in both of their names. When Philip died, a more formal regency was declared in Castile with an Archbishop trying, and failing, to maintain order. Juana's father stepped in as Regent until his death, when it passed to Juana's son and heir, Carlos.

Technically, Juana and Carlos reigned as co-heirs in both Aragon and Castile, but by this time she was completely unhinged so Carlos was the true authority. Carlos also became Holy Roman Emperor as Charles V. Needless to say, his hands were full.
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