Infanta

Magdalena S. Sánchez is professor of early modern European history at Gettysburg College and the author of The Empress, the Queen, and the Nun: Women and Power at the Court of Philip III of Spain.

“A captivating, much-needed biography of a lesser-known woman early modern elite woman.”—Gonzalo Verasco Berenguer, History Extra“Based on the more than 3000 letters between Catalina Micaela, the daughter of Philip II of Spain, and her husband, the duke of Savoy, Sánchez’s rich, intimate portrait of this largely unstudied princess reveals how she conscientiously fulfilled early modern expectations of a royal woman, becoming a devoted wife, a dedicated mother, and a skilled diplomat.”—Allyson Poska, author of Women and Authority in Early Modern Spain“A sensitive and impressively researched account of the life, career and untimely death of one of the notable and cultured elite women of sixteenth-century Europe.”—Henry Kamen, author of Early Modern European Society“In this first book-length study dedicated to Infanta Catalina Micaela, Magdalena Sánchez expertly explores the Spanish infanta’s political agency at the Savoy court through her stunningly copious correspondence with her often-absent husband, the duke of Savoy. Thanks to Sánchez’s illuminating research, Philip II’s younger daughter finally assumes her rightful place in early modern history.”—Anne J. Cruz, University of Miami