Queen, Mother, and Stateswoman: Mariana of Austria and the Government of Spain. Silvia A. Mitchell. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019. xvi + 294 pp. $84.95

• Published in: Renaissance quarterly Vol. 74; no. 2; pp. 622 - 623
• Main Author: Silleras-Fernandez, Nuria
• Format: Journal Article Book Review
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Cambridge University Press 01.07.2021
• Subjects: Councils; Politics; Queens; Austria; United States > US; Pennsylvania; Spain
• ISSN: 0034-4338; 1935-0236
• DOI: 10.1017/rqx.2021.37

In Mitchell's words: “based on new sources and a reinterpretation of known ones, this monograph seeks to establish Mariana's rightful, preeminent place in Spanish history, a place denied to her for nearly three hundred years” (5). [...]this volume looks at seventeenth-century Spanish and European politics from the perspective of the queen who, as regent, shaped the politics of the time—“a dynamic period of economic, demographic, diplomatic, and political transformation” (7). Mariana should not be seen as an anomaly: she is part of a long tradition of medieval and early modern Iberian royal women who actively participated in government as queens in their own right, as well as lieutenants, regents, and viceroys. Mariana's transition from queen-consort to dowager, queen-mother, and regent was facilitated by Philip IV's last will and testament in which he named Mariana “tutor and curator” (54) for Charles and “governor” (55) during his minority.