Abstrakt
The role of the infanta Filipa of Coimbra (c. 1442–1493) in the history of Portugal in the fifteenth century has been greatly obscured. The diminished position she occupies in the historiography of this period is likely a result of the informal character of her power, deriving as it did more from the network of familial relations around her than from her own person.
This article aims to demonstrate that the infanta was a key figure in the court of Afonso V, perhaps even playing a role close to that of a queen after the death of Isabel of Coimbra and before the rise and fall of her niece, Joana. Yet precisely because this role was never formally attributed to Filipa, this piece can only sketch a series of outlines.