ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the reputations of Berengaria of Navarre and Joanna of Sicily have been manipulated in three crusading chronicles: Ambroise’s The crusade of Richard Lion-heart; Izz al-Dīn Abū al-Hasan ‘Alī ibn al-Athīr’s The chronicle of Ibn-al’Athīr for the Crusading Period from al-Kāmil fī’l-Tā-rīkh, Part 2: The Years 541–589/1146–1193: The Age of Nur al-Din and Saladin; and Richard de Templo’s The chronicle of the Third Crusade: The Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi. Recent crusades historiography has brought to light the many ways in which women could participate on crusade, although research on queens on crusades remains a work in progress. Crusading narratives were largely concerned with portraying heroic deeds and chivalrous activity, encouraging future soldiers and pilgrims, rather than recording the deeds and actions of queens. The reasons why these two queens had their reputations and representations manipulated by the three authors will be explored, including examination of their cultural backgrounds. This research demonstrates that Berengaria and Joanna were repressed by the chroniclers and examines how political agency is represented in the chronicles. It examines the external issues surrounding their agency, namely their relationship with Richard I, and access to dower lands, and how these had an impact on the reality and perceptions of their political agency. The chapter ultimately brings to light a new analysis on these three chronicles, proving that Berengaria and Joanna were subjected to considerable editing and manipulation, and that the representations of them in the chronicles have led to an inaccurate view of their abilities and later political and diplomatic skills.
