infantaticum, regina, imperatrix - Inheritance and rule of daughters of Spanish monarchs in the 10th - 12th centuries

According to a document from 1157, Sancha, the sister of King Alfonso VII, made an introductory donation to the cathedral of Zamora and the church of San Miguel de Mercadillo with the words "Ego Sancia regina, comitis Raimundi et Vrrache regine ragina proles ...". A typical but in this case remarkable activity for the Spanish High Middle Ages; as an unmarried woman who held no monastic office, the king's sister held the title regina and had considerable property and jurisdiction. In the course of the project, the inheritance rights of the daughters of rulers in the Christian part of northern Spain and the resulting scope of their power will be analysed: Why and to what extent were infantas involved in the material, royal inheritance? How did they utilise their inheritance and what power relations grew out of it? The relationship between power and gender in Spain is more differentiated than the great female personalities already researched, who as abbesses, wives and widows were merely placed adaptively alongside the male ruler figures. The doctoral project is dedicated to analysing female positions of power in their configuration and interdependence.