The women in the family which ruled thirteenth-century Castile used maternity, familial and political strategy, and religious and cultural patronage to secure their personal power as well as to promote their lineage. Leonor of England, and her daughters Blanche of Castile (queen of France), Urraca (queen of Portugal), Costanza (a Cistercian nun of Las Huelgas) and Leonor, (queen of Aragon) provide the context for a study focusing on Berenguela of Castile, queen of Leon through marriage and of Castile by right of inheritance, whose most significant accomplishment was to enable the successful rule of her son Fernando.

Mother of a Sisterhood: Leonor of England, Queen of Castile (1160?-1214) Princesses Among Men: Leonor's Daughters and the Function of Marriage The Queen Stands Alone: Political Motherhood after Marriage Princesses Among Women: Youth, Old Age, and the Heavenly Bridegroom Living with the Dead Mothers and Crusaders A New Semiramis, or the Manly Queen

MIRIAM SHADIS holds an appointment as Research Scholar at Ohio University, where she also teaches in History and has taught in Women's Studies.