Maria Antónia Lopes, Blythe Alice Raviola, eds.. Portogallo e Piemonte: nove secoli (XII-XX) di relazioni dinastiche e di destini politici. Rome: Carocci, 2014. 271 pp. EUR 29.00, paper, ISBN 978-88-430-7034-3. Reviewed by Catherine Ferrari Published on H-Italy (May, 2018) Commissioned by Matt Vester (West Virginia University) Scholarship on powerful women and politics a mother, focusing particularly on her daughter is currently of great interest to historians across Teresa/Mafalda, who married the count of Flan‐ time periods. For elite families, a woman’s mar‐ ders and the duke of Burgundy and was much in‐ riage not only established and solidified relation‐ volved in European politics. ships but also served as a tool to elevate a family’s The next marriage considered in this volume status within European politics. This collection of took place almost four hundred years later. In essays traces the centuries-long relationship be‐ 1521, Beatrice of Portugal married the duke of tween the royal dynasty of Portugal and the Savoy, Charles II. Ana Isabel Buescu focuses on House of Savoy. The repeated unions between Beatrice’s early life at the Portuguese court, while these two houses from the twelfth century on‐ Pierpaolo Merlin picks up with Beatrice’s mar‐ ward exemplify the way that dynasties exploited riage to the duke. By this time, the Portuguese kinship ties to cement and increase their prestige. crown had solidified its prestige among the royal This volume, initially published in Portuguese in houses of Europe, and both authors point out that 2012, brings together an international group of this marriage was considered somewhat beneath scholars to trace the balance in this hitherto over‐ a princess of Portugal. Merlin, however, notes looked relationship as it shifted and changed over that this was an alliance involving more than just the centuries. the houses of Portugal and Savoy; indeed, it was Maria Alegria Fernandes Marques opens the part of a complex balancing of powers both be‐ collection with the starting point of the relation‐ tween European dynasties and on the Italian ship: the marriage of the frst king of Portugal, Al‐ peninsula. Beatrice, with a strong sense of pride fonso I, to Mafalda of Maurienne and Savoy in in her status, introduced new court models that 1146. Alfonso sought a consort of well-established would be followed by later duchesses of Savoy. A pedigree to help legitimize his rule, and through capable regent for her husband, she was also a his marriage with Mafalda he gained her family’s staunch champion of ducal sovereignty in the face powerful connections with the royal house of of encroachment by local lords. France and the dukes of Burgundy. Drawing out Blythe Alice Raviola analyzes the political ca‐ the very little information available about Mafal‐ reer of the much-maligned Margaret of Savoy, the da, Fernandes Marques explores Mafalda’s role as connecting point between Portugal and Piedmont H-Net Reviews during Spanish rule of Portugal. Daughter of the time, the Piedmontese dynasty had achieved its infanta Catalina Micaela and Charles Emanuel I, much-desired royal title and become the sover‐ duke of Savoy, in 1608 Margaret became the eigns of the new Kingdom of Italy. Maria Antónia duchess of Mantua and Monferrato upon her mar‐ Lopes explores the political and dynastic motiva‐ riage to Francesco Gonzaga. When he died, she tions behind the marriage of Luís I of Portugal became a key fgure in the European-wide conflict and Maria Pia of Savoy, daughter of the frst king over the succession of Monferrato. Loyal to the of Italy. In 1861, the Portuguese dynasty was in Spanish crown and politically ambitious, Mar‐ dire need of an heir, while the new rulers of Italy garet was appointed vicereine of Portugal by her sought a connection with a well-established Euro‐ cousin Philip IV of Spain, but faced insurmount‐ pean monarchy. In addition, both families were able difficulties governing a Portugal that was al‐ Catholic, rendering the match the most natural ready boiling with resentment against Spanish choice. Lopes dismantles the black legend that lat‐ rule. Her government buckled in 1640 and Mar‐ er arose around the queen, arguing that a nega‐ garet returned to Spain. tive representation does not tally with Maria Pia’s Just twenty years after Margaret’s removal, contemporary reputation as a queen who was another woman of the House of Savoy arrived in loved and respected for her charity work and Portugal. Maria Francesca Isabella of the compassion for her people. Nemours branch of Savoy married Alfonso VI in Pierangelo Gentile closes this collection with 1666. Isabel M.R. Mendes Drumond Braga de‐ the only essay that does not focus on women. He scribes Maria Francesca Isabella’s arrival at the discusses the two moments when Portugal took in deeply factional Portuguese court. The weak King Sabaudian kings as exiles: in 1849, when Carlo Al‐ Alfonso was soon ousted by his brother Dom Pe‐ berto, king of Sardinia, abdicated the throne, and dro, who seized power as regent. Maria Francesca a hundred years later, after the short reign of the Isabella’s marriage to the king was annulled and last king of Italy, Umberto II. Gentile’s chapter she married Pedro, giving birth to their daughter provides closure to this history of the relationship Isabella Luisa. Toby Osborne continues Maria between Portugal and Piedmont. After an arduous Francesca Isabella’s story by focusing on the journey by land to reach Portugal, Carlo Alberto “grand dessin” between the Portuguese queen survived his exile in Porto for only three months. and her sister Maria Giovanna Battista, mother Umberto II, on the other hand, lived almost forty and duchess regent of Savoy, to marry their chil‐ years in Portugal after the Italian monarchy was dren to each other. The planned marriage be‐ abolished in 1946. tween Isabella Luisa of Portugal and Victor The choice to trace the relationship between Amadeus II, duke of Savoy never came to pass, two dynasties over a period of centuries will most notably because the marriage would have hopefully inspire other similarly long-term dynas‐ required the duke to leave his duchy to live in tic studies. By following the thread of Portuguese/ Portugal. Nevertheless, the intense negotiations Piedmontese relations over eight hundred years between these two dynasties is a fascinating mo‐ the authors have provided an intriguing look into ment in the relations between them. Osborne the gradual but purposeful kinship strategies of points out that this failed betrothal was part of two houses that used marriage and diplomacy to the House of Savoy’s ongoing ambition to obtain a become greater power players in European poli‐ royal title through prestigious regal connections. tics. The accelerated growth of the House of Savoy Two centuries later the House of Savoy pro‐ and Portugal’s role within this growth was partic‐ duced another Portuguese queen. In the mean‐ ularly interesting. This successful collaborative ef‐ 2 H-Net Reviews fort by an international group of scholars ought to serve as a starting point for further comparative studies of dynastic tactics and of the role of politi‐ cal women from the medieval period to the twen‐ tieth century. If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-italy Citation: Catherine Ferrari. Review of Lopes, Maria Antónia; Raviola, Blythe Alice, eds. Portogallo e Piemonte: nove secoli (XII-XX) di relazioni dinastiche e di destini politici. H-Italy, H-Net Reviews. May, 2018. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=48076 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 3.