Now and then I come across medieval women who wielded significant power. On the Iberian Peninsula there is Urraca and Berenguela, Maria de Molina, Isabel la Católica (better known as one half of the double act Isabel and Fernando)—and today’s protagonist, Leonor Teles de Meneses. In general, medieval chroniclers are a bit leery towards female […]
Constanza Manuel was born a pawn. That’s what happens when your mother is an Aragonese princess and your father, Juan Manuel, is a scion of the House of Ivrea, the ruling dynasty in Castile. Don Juan Manuel was the nephew of Alfonso X and the much younger cousin of Sancho IV. From his father, Infante
Constanza Manuel – a pawn to her daddy’s ambitions Read More »
Today, dear peeps, we are going back to medieval times and to one of my favourite locations, Castile. Now, Castile in medieval times was a pretty harsh place, a country constantly at war against the Moors in a determined effort to oust the infidel from the Iberian peninsula. The kings of Castile were mostly out
From princess to queen to countess – meet Richeza Read More »
Early in March of 1526, Isabel of Portugal finally got her dream prince. At last! The groom, Holy Roman Emperor Carlos I (or Charles V, depending on who you’re asking) had originally been less than interested in the match with his first cousin, and for years Isabel had waited for the man to come to
His empress, his love – of Isabel, matriarch to the Spanish Hapsburgs Read More »
Today, we’re going to spend some time with a woman called Elisabeth. Back in her day, there were many, many Elisabeths. And Eleanors. And Matildas. Our Elisabeth had the misfortune of a somewhat burdened surname. Being a de Montfort in 13th century England was not necessarily a good thing—at least not after the battle of
Today, dear peeps, we’re going to be spending time in medieval England, more specifically in the reign of King John. This time and place was a man’s world where women rarely got more than a passing mantion by the (male) chroniclers. There were exceptions of course, and one such exception was Nicholaa de la Haye,
Today, dear peeps, we’ll be lingering in 13th century Sweden. (Blame it on a recent road trip, which had me passing places that were once seats of power in the nascent kingdom of Sweden, now mostly are backwaters . . .) Now, the reason why this story caught my eye was because of a name:
The abducted bride – the story of Ingrid Svantepolksdotter Read More »
In Sweden, Kristian II of Denmark has the not-so-flattering epithet ”the tyrant”. After all, it was because of his duplicity that the streets of Stockholm ran red with blood one cold November night in 1520 as one after another of the Swedish nobles who’d fought against Danish dominion were summarily executed. In Denmark, obviously, he
When Isabella of Austria became Elisabeth of Denmark – the story of a young queen Read More »
Sometimes, I start out by researching one person and end up fascinated by another. In this particular case, I wanted to know more about Hans II, King of Denmark and Norway (“And Sweden!” he adds, but as he was only king here for like three years, I see that as more of a parenthesis) This
Ms Ironbeard, King Hans and the failure of a royal marriage Read More »
Sometimes, hubby and I spend several hours over the weekend solving crosswords. He is much better at it than I am, mainly because there are so many words/clues that only exist in the rarefied world of crossworders (is that even a word?) and he has been solving crosswords for yonks. Today, one of the clues