as the son of Fernando de la Cerda, Alfonso X’s eldest
son, alleged that he had a better right to rule. She also
had to contend with Sancho IV’s uncle, Infante Enrique,
who, after long years in exile in Italy, returned home
and now demanded the right to act as regent for the boy
king. María skillfully won over the towns of the realm,
who formed their hermandades (military and religions
fraternities) in defense of their liberties and the rights
of Fernando IV. Through her impassioned appeal the
cortes (parliament) of Valladolid in 1295 recognized
him as king, giving María custody of his person and
naming Enrique as guardian of the realm. In the turmoil
of the next few years she succeeded in keeping her son’s
domestic enemies at bay and eventually made peace
with his external enemies, Portugal and Aragón. She
then arranged his betrothal to Constanza, daughter of
King Dinis of Portugal. When Fernando came of age in
1302 he wished to be free of his mother’s control and so
there followed a period of estrangement. Though forced
to withdraw into the background, she later endeavored
to induce the nobles to abandon their hostility toward
her son.
After the sudden death of Fernando IV in 1312 and
of Queen Constanza in 1313, María de Molina emerged
once more as a central fi gure in Castilian politics,
championing the cause of her grandson, Alfonso XI (r.
1312–1350), then an infant. Summoned to determine
who should be regent, the cortes of Palencia in 1313
were unfortunately divided, some acknowledging her
brother-in-law, Infante Juan, while others accepted
María and her son, Infante Pedro. After a year of dip-
lomatic, political, and military maneuvering, María
took the lead in persuading the infantes to collaborate.
The cortes of Burgos in 1315 acknowledged the unifi ed
regency, entrusting María with custody of the king. She
successfully maintained the unity of the regency, despite
the tensions between Juan and Pedro, but after both men
died on the plains of Granada in 1319, her skill was
tried to the utmost. Her son Felipe, Juan’s son Juan, and
Infante Juan Manuel, the distinguished writer, now all
demanded a share in the regency. Insisting that nothing
could be done without the consent of the cortes, she sum-
moned them to Valladolid in 1321, but she fell gravely
ill. After making her will on 29 June, she died the next
day and was buried in the Cistercian nunnery in Val-
ladolid. By her marriage to Sancho IV she had several
children: Fernando IV, Alfonso, Enrique, Pedro, Felipe,
and Beatriz. A truly remarkable woman, she deserves to
be ranked among those who most effectively governed
medieval Castile. In many respects both Fernando IV
and Alfonso XI owed their thrones to her.
See also Alfonso X, El Sabio, King of Castile and
León; Dinis, King of Portugal; Fernando III, King
of Castile; Juan Manuel
Further Reading
Gaibrois de Ballesteros, M. Doña María de Molina. Madrid, 1936.
Joseph F. O’CallaghanMÖNCH VON SALZBURG, DER
(fl. 2d half of the 14th c.)
Known variously as Hermann, Johanns, or Hans in the
over one hundred manuscripts in which his songs are
transmitted, the Monk of Salzburg was the most prolifi c
and popular German singer of the fourteenth century.
His six polyphonic pieces are the earliest surviving part-
songs in German. His forty-nine secular and fi fty-seven
religious songs represent nearly every genre current in
fourteenth-century German singing, including the hymn,
the sequence, the new year’s song, the alba, the drinking
song, and the Leich (lay). Virtually nothing is known
about his life except that he moved in the courtly circles
of the archbishop of Salzburg, Pilgrim II von Puchheim
(r. 1365–1396).
His melodies fall between those of two dominant
medieval German genres, Spruchdichtung and Meis-
tergesang. Some refl ect the traditional German e-based
modalities (phrygian), though many tend toward the
modern major, beginning on E or B-natural and ending on
C. The songs are frequently adorned with richly textured
preludes, interludes, and postludes. He sometimes favors
melissmas at the beginning and end of lines and makes
frequent use of refrains. “Josef, liber neve min” (Joseph,
My Dear Nephew), a German Christmas song still sung
today, is attributed to him in one of the manuscripts.
The monk’s secular poetry combines themes of the
courtly lyric and folk songs, earthy but sometimes
simple and affecting, with strong reminiscences of the
rhetoric of Minnesang and of the Neidhart tradition. His
religious songs, some translations of Latin hymns, are
closely akin to and probably infl uenced the songs of the
Meistersinger in the fi fteenth century. The most gifted
German-language lyric singer of the next generation,
Oswald von Wolkenstein, was indebted to the monk in
both text and melody.
See also Neidhart; Oswald von WolkensteinFurther Reading
Meyer, Friedrich Arnold, and Heinrich Rietsch. Die Mondsee-
Wiener Liederhandschrift und der Mönch von Salzburg.
Berlin: Mayer and Müller, 1896 [texts and melodies of the
secular songs].
Spechtler, Franz Viktor, ed. Die geistlichen Lieder des Mönchs
von Salzburg. Berlin: de Gruyter, New York, 1972 [texts and
melodies of his religious songs].
Wachinger, Burghart. Der Mönch von Salzburg: Zur Überlief-
erung geistlicher Lieder im späten Mittelalter. Tübingen:
Niemeyer, 1989.
Peter FrenzelMÖNCH VON SALZBURG, DER