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E-BORESU nº 5

This article is focused on the study of the journeys experienced by princesses who came from the Habsburg Empire, Portugal and France to the Hispanic monarchy in order to marry a Catholic king or the crown prince, between the 16th and 17th centuries. The princesses traveled long distances, crossed rivers, mountain passes and, on sea voyages, they ventured to the effects of possible storms and shipwrecks. But the journeys experienced by princesses did not only involve traveling a physical distance. At the border, foreign princesses had to renounce their own identity to become a consort queen of the Spanish monarchy. Therefore, after analyzing the particularities of these crossings in their different phases, we will analyze the scope and limitations of this metamorphosis and identity change process after the culmination of the trip and once the entrance to the court occurred.