Isabel Rules: Constructing Queenship, Wielding Power

The movement to canonise the Catholic Queen Isabel has recently been revived and, therefore, this detailed and original scrutiny of both Isabel and the power she wielded is timely. Of special interest to Weissberger is the relationship between sexuality and power in 15th-century Spain, in particular the anxiety felt at the time about the nature of male and female sexuality. This created a conflict in the minds of Isabel’s subjects in their perception of their queen as both spiritual and political leader and as a weak and corrupt woman. Drawing on documentary and literary accounts, Weissberger discusses male anxiety about Isabel, Isabel’s type of sovereignty, effeminacy in historiography, Isabel’s patronage of the arts and Juan de Flores’ treatment of the mad queen. An innovative and interesting approach to a remarkable woman.