Keeping it in the Family: The Diplomatic Role of Eleonora and Beatrice d’Aragona in Dynastic Networks

This thesis explores how Eleonora (1450-1493) and Beatrice d’Aragona (1457-1508), daughters of king Ferrante of Naples, negotiated their natal and marital relationships to achieve diplomatic outcomes. This thesis will argue that Ferrante expected his daughters to follow paternal imperatives and to remain engaged in collective dynastic strategy, but that the extent of the women’s continued participation in familial projects was dependent on the nature of their marital relationships. It was access to these relationships which enabled courtly women to re-enter the diplomatic space after marriage, not as objects, but as agents, with their own strategies, politics, and schemes.