Women and Exemplary Social Conduct in Fifteenth Century Portuguese Literature

Authors

• Ana M. Montero, Saint Louis UniversityFollow

Abstract

This article examines one relevant episode on how and why women emerge as heroic characters in vernacular didactic literature in fifteenth-century Iberian letters. It does so by comparing two courtly pieces respectively written by members of the same Avis family: one is the Portuguese didactic treatise Livro da vertuosa benfeytoria (ca. 1429) by the Infante Pedro of Avis; the second is Sátira de felice e infelice vida (ca. 1449–1459), a courtly love narration initially composed in Portuguese and finished in Castilian by Pedro, Constable of Portugal and the Infante’s son. A close reading analysis of how women are portrayed in both works, combined with a historical scrutiny of the political contexts which generated these two works, allow us to improve our understanding of the social relationships between genders, the appearance of feminine characters in late medieval letters, and the motivations that women found to intervene in social life at a time when they were considered inferior.

Recommended Citation

Montero, Ana M. (2026) "Women and Exemplary Social Conduct in Fifteenth Century Portuguese Literature," Medieval People: Vol. 40: Iss. 1, Article 12.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/medpros/vol40/iss1/12