The Seals of Queen Blanche

By Isabella McMillen, Emma Salafsky, and Tate Underwood

Introduction

Blanche of Castile was the queen of France and served twice as its regent, once during her husband Louis VIII’s rule and once during that of her son, Louis IX. She was born in 1188 to a royal family, the daughter of King Alfonso VIII of Castile and Queen Eleonor of England (Jeandet). At the age of eleven, her maternal grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, selected her to move to Spain and receive her education there. In Spain, Blanche was trained for regent duties, as it was not uncommon for royal women to step into this role or even inherit the throne in their own right (Jeandet). Even Blanche’s mother, who did not serve as regent, actively participated in diplomacy and religious affairs. Although Blanche left Spain at a young age, she always maintained strong cultural ties to the region and her family (Nolan 123). Blanche was married to Louis VIII (1187-1226) through a treaty in the year 1200 (Jeandet).

Louis VIII was a member of the Capetian dynasty that ruled France from 987 to 1328 (Britannica). He became king in 1223 when his father Philip died, and ruled for only three years until he died of dysentery in 1226 (Jeandet). Blanche and Louis VIII had twelve children but only five survived to adulthood. Blanche’s role as a mother initially restricted her ability to be a queen as Blanche and Louis VIII believed that her role as a mother was the most important aspect of her responsibilities. Due to this focus on motherhood, Blanche’s role as queen was not defined throughout her husband’s reign as she spent most of her time out of the public sphere, caring for her children. She did, however, help her husband through his duties, with her most prominent assistance coming during his campaign in England in 1216. It also didn’t stop her from being able to take over as queen regent, as she created a unique political identity out of her devotion to motherhood. This devotion, alongside the help that she gave to her husband during his English campaign, led to Louis VIII having a great deal of respect for her (Shadis).

Because the oldest child and thus heir to the throne, Louis IX (1214-1270), was only twelve years old, Blanche served as the regent upon her husband’s death (Jeandet). Louis VIII appointed Blanche of Castille as the queen regent before his death due to her role as the mother of Louis IX. Blanche served as queen regent between the years of 1226 and 1234, where she initially faced difficulties due to her position as a foreigner and a woman in court. Pushing through these obstacles, Blanche was able to consolidate her power as queen regent, such as by being able to pacify her opponents and those who challenged her through treaties, in addition to promising to marry her children off for political purposes (Shadis). Even after Louis IX started acting as an independent king in 1234, Blanche remained very involved in political affairs and Louis IX strongly valued her opinion on such matters (Jeandet). Blanche and Louis IX continued the trend of co-rulership in France that already had existed, although typically this co-rulership was between the current king and the heir to the throne. In 1248, Louis IX went off to fight in the Crusades, leaving Blanche to act as regent once again until her death in 1252. Throughout her life we can see Blanche’s powerful influence, especially in the commissioning of religious buildings and manuscripts (Nolan 122). This influence is also exhibited in one of her key symbols: the seal she used to authorize official documents.

The Seal of Blanche: Imagery and Make-Up

While there may be significant regional variation in their production, traditionally seals are round impressions usually made of wax or metals that are used to authenticate documents. (Barret). Blanche had both a seal and a counterseal, which is a second seal that reinforces the authority of the main seal. Blanche was the first Capetian queen to have her own counterseal, which also was made of wax. Her seal is an oval-shaped impression made from wax. It depicts a woman standing and wearing a crown, who is surrounded by an inscription that reads “by the Grace of God, Queen of the Franks", proclaiming the authority of Blanche as queen (Grant 319). Having a seal as a woman was normalized by the time Blanche was in power, in large part because of previous queens, like Bertrade of Montfort, who had created their own seals (Nolan 152). The seals of queens of the time were distinguished by their shape–circular seals were reserved for kings, whereas women or men of distinguished religious status used oval-shaped seals (Nolan 157), like that of Blanche. The specific choices in Blanche’s depiction within the seal were also heavily influenced by her gender. The figure shown is clearly a woman, not only because of her body itself but also her positioning and props. Women found on seals at this time were depicted with crowns and occasionally scepters, but they were never sitting on a throne as was common on many kingly seals (Rosenthal 8). Furthermore, women often stood asymmetrically or at an angle in an effort to feminize their portraits, in contrast to the straight-on images on the seals of men (Nolan 152). On the seal, Blanche is depicted wearing "a long pleated dress whose folds crush on the floor, covering the feet, tightened at the waist by a belt and adorned at the collar with an ironmail outfit” (Nielen 74). This outfit was both feminine in style, due to its length and cut, and a symbol of high status. In Blanche’s hand she grasps the cord of her cloak, a common gesture of aristocracy at the time, as a means of showing off her wealth and well-crafted outfit (Nolan 153). To distinguish herself from other noblewomen of the time, Blanche is depicted with a crown which was accepted only in portraits of queens (Bedos-Rezak 75).

In the background of the seal, as well as in Blanche’s right hand and on her crown, there are a number of Fleur-de-Lis (stylized lily blossoms).There are nine total–five in the background, one in her hand, and three in her hair (Nielen 74). The fleur-de-lis symbolizes “dynastic motherhood, as in the Tree of Jesse, fertility, as in the depiction of Venus’s month on calendars, and, of course, the ideal of femininity as an attribute of the Virgin.” (Rosenthal 7). Because of its reproductive significance, the fleur-de-lis was often claimed as a sign of lineage and very important to the Capetian family. The fleur-de-lis seen on Blanche’s seal were extremely similar to those on her husband Louis VIII’s counterseal, which was a shield made up of a number of fleur-de-lis (Nolan 154). The fleur-de-lis symbol had also appeared on Louis VI’s seal and other important Capetian tombs, cementing its association with French royalty of this time.

 

Blanche also employed the fleur-de-lis symbol on her counterseal. Blanche’s counterseal depicts the Castle of Castile, an homage to her roots, flanked by two fleur-de-lis (Nolan 154). This image was a clear blending of Blanche’s two identities and sources of power– her Spanish heritage and her marriage into the French Capetian family. Overall, when looking at Blanche’s seal and counterseal, it becomes clear both identities were very important to her personally and as a way to legitimize her rulership. Blanche’s seal matrix, which formed her seal by making impressions on the wax, was created by the same French stamp makers who created the seal matrix for other members of the royal family. These seal matrices were unique in their nature as each individual had their own design that displayed their identity. It is significant that French stamp makers are the ones that created Blanche of Castile’s seal matrix as they are treating her with the same power as other members of the French royal family, even though she is a foreign-born queen. This serves as a testament to the power that she was able to consolidate within her reign both as queen and Queen Regent of France. While the exact date of the seal matrix’s creation is unknown, there is evidence that Blanche had access to this stamp dating back to at least 1241, due to seals corresponding with that year.

 

The Seal of Blanche: Importance and Influence

  

The wax seals themselves were put on any official documentation that Blanche of Castile chose to release with her personal seal on them. The deliberate choice to include the seal on a document that she was releasing demonstrates her desire to put her name and influence on the document itself. This is critical to Blanche’s exercise of power, as the seal carries the weight of Blanche’s influence and her selective use of it makes it so that her power is being displayed deliberately and strategically (Nolan).

 

A seal’s use, and/or power, varied depending on the owner. Male seals held more power than female seals and noble seals more than a seal owned by a layperson. Unsurprisingly, the most powerful seal, with the largest variation of uses, was the seal of the king as it was backed by a male ruler with the symbolic power of the state. Queenly seals, on the other hand, while powerful, “were absolutely limited to private and domestic matters and were never endowed with the symbolic value of the king’s seal as representative of the authority of the state” (Rosenthal 4). However, there are some instances of this gender-bias being blurred. An interesting example arises when examining seals through the context of the clergy. The seals of abbesses seem to be used in largely the same context as those of abbots, their male counterparts, alluding to both sigils holding the same power. While, in most cases, seals demonstrated how women were granted less power than men, they were still a crucial element in the expression of the extent of female power. Though these seals could only be used by women for private and domestic matters, all French reigning queens had seals after Eleanor of Aquitaine

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Queen Blanche’s depiction on her personal seal alludes to her notable, though limited, agency as queen. Representations of Blanche constructed by others, for example,  in the hagiographies of her son, feature a wise and pious, but severe and austere, mother of Saint Louis IX (Grant 326). With her seal, Queen Blanche could decide how she wanted to be perceived, which was often as a pious woman that was also fun-loving, feminine, and powerful. One of the most noticeable calls upon her femininity in her seal is her stance. Rather than directly facing the viewer, evoking queenly power, Blanche’s face is turned to a three-quarter view “like a film star in a publicity photo” (Grant 319). To evoke her queenliness, Queen Blanche makes a gesture to her noble background through the holding of her gown, an aristocratic symbol (Nolan 152). Additionally, the six fleur-de-lis present on the seal were a symbol of French royalty as well as fertility (Rosenthal 7). The depiction of Blanche on her seal, then, presents a woman who is a noble, wise, powerful, and feminine queen. 

 

 There are also a number of other both subtle and obvious ways that Blanche’s depiction on the seal, as well as the power that went along with the sigil, demonstrate her queenliness. A visual queenly aspect of Blanche’s seal is the presence of a crown on her head. Though, importantly, Blanche is not sitting on a throne as on many kingly seals. This is because queens had limited options when it came to displaying their queenliness, as they “could be differentiated from noblewomen only by their crowns and occasionally their scepters” (Bedos-Rezak 75). No other physical aspects could be used to exhibit their queenly power. While this depiction of Queen Blanche on her seal presented her as a less powerful individual than the king, Blanche’s use of the seal, as well as her ability to influence its design, empowered her position. Queen Blanche used her own seal while Louis IX, her son, was off fighting and while she was regent during his minority and absence from court (Nolan 157).

 

Blanche’s seal was also used to identify herself as a daughter to the “savior of Christendom”, i.e. her father King Alfonso VIII of Castille (Grant 319-320). Blanche’s association with her father on her counterseal was common, as women regularly linked themselves with a father or husband on their seals, but also calculated. After all, Alfonso VIII of Castile was a well-respected ruler of León and Castile following the transformative Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa which occurred on July 16, 1212 and was a turning point in the Christian reconquest of Spain, changing Blanche “from an Angevin hostage princess, niece of a vicious and defeated English tyrant, into the daughter of an Iberian hero” (Grant 320). Alfonso VIII was also famously associated with castles, thereby influencing the image on Blanche’s counterseal, the iconic castle of Castile (Grant 319). Blanche was the first French queen to use a counterseal, and the images present on it evoke her powerful lineage as well as her current power as queen. 

Conclusion

 

The agency of 13th century French queens, though limited, could be expressed through seals and sigils. The queen’s image on the seal, as well as its use, represented a power previously denied to women - the ability to present themselves as they desired and put their names to deeds and documents. The seal of Queen Blanche was no exception. Queen Blanche was able to display herself as a powerful, noble, kind, and gentle woman in both her counterseal and personal seal through her chosen body-language, clothing, and surroundings. Additionally, her use of the seal in governmental documents while her son, Louis IX, was away from court exhibited the power Queen Blanche held in her own right. Queen Blanche’s use of her seal and her personalized depiction of herself on said seal was carefully calculated, “for she always knew that, at the End of Time, someone might point to her and say ‘Look - that was once the queen of France.’” (Grant 327).

Bibliography

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Grant, Lindy. “The Image of the Queen”. Blanche of Castile, Queen of France. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016. Pgs 319-327.

Nielen, Marie-Adélaïde. “Blanche of Castille”. Corpus des sceaux française du Moyen Âge, vol. 3, Les sceaux des reines et des enfants de France. Paris: Archives de France, 2011. Pgs 74-75.

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Rosenthal, Joel. “Medieval Women in French Sigillographic Sources”. Medieval Women and the Sources of Medieval History. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1990. Pgs 1-36.

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