Medieval Castilian women writers: authorship, audience, religious models

Abstract

Three aspects of the works of Leonor López de Córdoba, Constanza de Castilla and Teresa de Cartagena, the most important women writers in Castille during the Middle Ages, have been taken into account by critics and are to be analysed here: doubts about the authorship, the feminine audience and religious models. The important role of the notary in Leonor López de Córdoba's Memories, the plagiarism in Teresa de Cartagena's Arboleda de los enfermos, the feminine audience in Constanza de Castilla's Libro de devociones y oficios, and the Virgin Maria as the main character, will be some questions that we are going to explore in this paper.