Isabel of Coimbra and the Models of Queenly Piety in the Iberian Courts in the Late Middle Ages (SP)

Abstract

A few Iberian queens stood out for their religiosity and were venerated as saints. Isabella of Coimbra (1432-1455) is not one of those. The chroniclers of her short life focus on the way in which she conciliated her duties as the daughter of the Infant Pedro and the wife of King Alfonso v of Portugal in the conflict which both men held and which ended with the death of the former in battle. However, the documents of the Royal Chancellery reveal an Isabella that protected the destitute, looked after poor and honest women, and promoted the introduction into Portugal of the new congregation of Saint John the Evangelist, endowing it with a convent in Lisbon. Reading Isabella in parallel with other queens of her time will allow us to define the models of religiosity available to the medieval Iberian queens, which varied with the queens’ life cycles and with their personal devotions.