Queens of Navarra

This work, which begins a new collection of the publishing house Sílex, titled Reginae et reges, presents the biographical profile of the queens of Navarre (905-1512): sovereign consorts, most of them, and holders of the kingdom, the least. Throughout these pages it is possible to rewrite the vision of women, traditionally studied as mere companions or circumstantial depositaries of power.

There is no doubt that the choice of a wife by a monarch in the Middle Ages was mostly conditioned by the winds of diplomatic strategies in the different political scenarios. However, the female royal figures, a priori secondary pieces of this complex mechanism, represented something more than the role of consorts destined to generate offspring and strengthen sovereign legitimacy.

This Issue goes a step further in Hispanic historiography, to approach -as far as the historical testimonies allow-, each of these queens, their backgrounds and family environments, their cultural preferences, their religious devotions, their courtly interests and their intervention in the main events of the time. In this way, by unpacking these questions and others related to their lives and personal pathway , our reading about the Age average can be broadened and enriched.

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