Matrimonio y patrimonio. Las arras de leonor plantagenet, reina consorte de castilla

Abstract

The dower charter of Leonor Plantagenet granted by her husband Alfonso VIII of Castile in 1170 is one of the most interesting yet least studied documents in that period in regards to the analysis of queenship and the exercise of power by royal females. This document not only lists nuptial property and rights given under the same conditions, but a more contextualized analysis aided by some legal texts of the time brings out a very significant distinction between what the king granted with full rights and that could be identified as sponsalicia largitas, and property granted with limited rights as a donatio propter nupcias. The first type of property empowered the queen consort with economic autonomy, while the second authorized her before the political community of the kingdom.