Review

"Berenguela of Castile (1180–1246) and Political Women in the High Middle Ages provides a thorough and thoughtful investigation not only of the life of this medieval queen, but also of her kinswomen and peers. The Berenguela who emerges from these pages was a force to be reckoned with. Shadis’s analysis of the texts also demonstrates how useful previously mined sources can be when viewed through the lens of women’s agency rather than oppression. This book has much to offer and will be of interest and use to all who study the lives of aristocratic and royal women."--Amy Livingstone, Wittenberg University

"Under Shadis's deft analysis, a whole new view of Berenguela emerges; one who was not the victim of political events, but rather the architect of them."--Medieval Feminist Forum "Berenguela of Castile is a major addition to studies of queenship and of Iberia especially.  Not only does it bring scholarly attention to an individual monarch who has been often overlooked, it also interrogates the place of women--wives and especially mothers--within the jointly ruled monarchy of western Iberia."--American Academy of Research Historians of Medieval Spain "Shadis has built an outstanding piece of political history and history of the genre which greatly enriches our historical knowledge and helps lay the groundwork for further and necessary approaches to the relationship between power, politics, and women in the medieval past."--Hispania “This is an important study of medieval political history. Shadis convincingly critiques scholarship that dismisses Berenguela as ‘queen for a day,’ arguing instead that Berenguela’s famous grant of kingship to Fernando in 1217 was co-rulership, not abdication. She vividly presents a superbly talented ruler who defied categorization in her lifetime and whose complex and contradictory life provoked a lively discourse on women’s rule and virility as a component of kingship. Deftly linking queenship, feminist, women’s, and masculinity studies, this book is at the forefront of political history.”—Theresa Earenfight, Associate Professor, Seattle University and author of The King’s Other Body: María of Castile and the Crown of Aragon

About the Author

Miriam Shadis is an Assistant Professor of History at Ohio University.

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