Esboços (Dec 2007)
Gender and Power: Leonor Teles, queen of the cavalier heart
Abstract
The article analyzes the profile of the last queen of the Borgonha dynasty in Portugal,, Leonor Teles (1350-1386) drawn by the chronicler of the Avis dynasty, Fernão Lopes. The queen who emerges from Fernão Lopes’s chronicles perseveres obstinately in her determination of legitimizing her rights as a ruler, which in fact are referred to in the Salvaterra Treaty, by which she would be dealing as equal to the most influential men in Portugal and Castela. The chronicler develops a narrative effective in making illegitimate the power conferred upon the Ruler Leonor by King D. Fernando, identifying her with Eve, the opposite of the great feminine model in the Middle Ages, the Marian model. The efficacy of this discourse is impressive, even influencing the Portuguese historiography until the XX century.
