«Una perfecta princesa» Casa y vida de la reina Isabel de Valois (1559-1568). Segunda parte

Abstract

This brief study analises the various roles assigned to Isabel de Valois besides controlling her household. It begins with an analysis of her political role and in particular of her primary political duty, which was to improve relations between France and Philip II. It examines how she carried out these tasks and offers some explanations for her lack of success. It is argued here that her association with France was always too strong for her to mediate successfully between them. Her fundamental role, as that of all women, was to be a mother and good wife, but by virtue of her position and circumstances she was burdened with additional expectations and endured enormous pressures. The impact of maternity on her relations with Philip II is examined here, as is the process of creating the image of a perfect marriage, despite the inevitable tensions and problems that existed between them. It offers some conclusions on the sources, on the proyection of private feelings in a public sphere, and on the transfiguration of a mediocre personality into an idealised image